When I walk by Andalu, it doesn’t invite me in. It’s one of those places in the neighborhood that just feels too new and too upscale. When I walk in I feel a little out of place. But wait, apparently it did invite me in, because here I am, on last Sunday, ordering brunch. The thing is, I really like eggs benedict. Sometimes when I’m hungry I’ll browse the Flickr pool. But it’s not easy to make at home and it’s not especially cheap. Especially at Pork Store, which is the nearest eggsbenedicteria to my home.

At Pork Store I have to shell out something like $13 for the dish and, sure, it comes with coffee and juice, but I don’t always want all that liquid. (their online menu says that the benedict is $8.95, but maybe that’s only at the Haight Street location, or I’m just plain wrong) Plus, there’re the lines and the scene (which is maybe a plus and a minus?) and the quality, which is just so-so, but what they don’t have in quality is definitely made up for in bigness.

Boogaloos also has the lines and the scene, their benedict is great, but also 5¢ more expensive than Andalu, and comes with fruit or hashbrowns, not both.

Valencia Pizza & Pasta has a pretty good and very filling benedict, and there usually isn’t much of a wait or a scene there. Plus you get a whole orange.

I had the eggs florentine at Weird Fish once, it was good, but smothered in sauce.

At Andalu the benedict is $9.95 (pictured above) and is delicious. The eggs were cooked into little orbs that squirted their warm yellow yolk all over the place when popped. Which is a good thing, I think. And the polenta fries (not pictured, we got those with the french toast, which was also very good, but I’m not talking about that) were great dipped into the hollandaise. The only downside to the food was that I was still a little hungry afterwards.

So, what do you think? Eggs benedict – overhyped? Is there a better spot in the neighborhood (under $10) that I left out? Or should I just eat at home more?