The Best Egg Sandwich in Boston Is at Flour Bakery

This story isn’t about some hole-in-the-wall, hidden Boston treasure. Joanne Chang, the force behind Flour Bakery and Cafe, was awarded a James Beard Award in 2016 for literally being an Outstanding Baker. The bakery has now expanded to include seven storefronts and one so-called “Breadquarters,” and Flour always shows up on roundups of the best bakeries in Boston. But a good bakery is a good bakery, hype or not, and Flour Bakery and Cafe is a really good bakery—and my favorite breakfast spot in the whole city of Boston.

So let me get this out of the way. Yes, Flour Bakery’s sticky buns are as delicious and addictive as everyone says they are. They are huge, easily the size of my fist, made with a light but chewy brioche dough, drenched in what Chang calls a “goo,” and topped with chopped pecans. The croissants are flaky but chewy and somehow always taste like they were pulled straight from the oven, even when I literally saw the clerk pick it up from the counter display and pop it in a paper bag for me to demolish in the car.

But I really go to Flour Bakery for the breakfast sandwich, because it's truly unlike any other breakfast sandwich I’ve ever eaten, and that is saying something because I eat a lot of breakfast sandwiches.

Granted, when you look at the menu board, the sandwich seems unremarkable. It’s bacon or ham, eggs, and cheddar cheese on bread. But it's really so much more than that. The bacon strips are cooked to that perfect place between chewy and crispy, where there’s a crunch but it doesn’t crumble. Arugula and some kind of Dijon mustard sauce add a spicy kick to offset the melted cheddar cheese and the thick bready bun. (I will also add Sriracha to my breakfast sandwich because I am a glutton for heat.)

Oh, and the egg. It’s not fried or poached or even scrambled. It’s like a slice of tamago, the light Japanese egg omelet often shaped like a rectangle. The egg is airy yet tender, cooked slowly over low heat so there’s no bitterness.

I could write thousands of words singing the praises about the sweet, tender, silky egg on this sandwich, the way it works in tandem with the buttery bun, the tangy greens, the crispy bacon—but I won’t. Instead, I’ll just implore you to go to Flour Bakery in Boston to get your own breakfast sandwich, so you can casually change everything you thought you knew about eggs on bread.