One of my best friends from college always told me that there is but one principle to live one's life by:

"If one is good, then two MUST be better."

In regard to food, many chefs have tried to uncover all-encompassing augmentation which will improve almost any dish. Unfortunately for them, I have never come across a sushi roll which benefits from being deep fried in tempura batter, a dip in a chocolate waterfall cannot mask the texture of less-than-fresh fruit or dry pound cake, and a heavy shower of creole seasoning or Tabasco only overpowers a flavorless pieces of meat.

But if you add a fried egg to just about anything, you have increased the odds of me ordering that dish by about 50%.  And I must not be the only one easily persuaded by the temptation of a rich, flowing yolk because lately chefs have been supplementing all kinds of dishes with a fried egg. Perhaps it's the inner stoner in all of us that craves some combination of breakfast with just about any other food, but no matter whether I am completely sauced or stone cold sober, the phrase "add a fried egg" is as strong a call for me as the song of the sirens.


Below are four of my favorite dishes in the city which feature an addition of a gratuitous egg*:

• Bayou Banh Mi Special (Geaux Plates) - Owners Henry Pulitzer and Andrew Gomila take their version of the Vietnamese po-boy to another level by adding a fried egg to the combination of lemongrass grilled chicken and boudin.
• Tutto Carne Pizza (Domenica) - The staff favorite features four house cured meats - fennel sausage, bacon, salami, and cotechino - plus a fresh egg cracked in the center of the pie.
• Breakfast Burger - I remember when the waiter used to have to check with the kitchen before he let you order your burger topped with a fried egg, but now everyone's doing it. Capdeville, The Company Burger, Cowbell, and Tru Burger all feature a fried egg as an optional add-on to your burger.
• Pork Lovers Rice Plate (Tan Dinh) - How do you improve on a plate full of chargrilled pork, pork pate meatballs, pork chop, and shredded pork? Top the whole shebang with a couple of fried eggs, of course.

Did I miss out on any eggscellent dishes?  Let's hear about them in the comments.

*There, of course, other dishes in which the egg yolk plays an integral (if not) essential role.  The spaghetti with guanciale and deep fried poached egg at Herbsaint and Green, Eggs, & Ham at Vizard's are two which immediately come to mind. But here I am focusing on those dishes which are great on their own but taste even better with a gilding of the golden lilly.

"I wish you would crush a restaurant and write a really nasty review." - half of you.

"I like that Blackened Out only focuses on the positive, yall don't write about crappy restaurants." -the other half of you.

As you can see, much like the nerdy brunette in a college anthropology class, you are sending mixed signals. While occasionally, Peter or I have veered into restaurant criticism that borders on the mean, in general we like to write about what we like (and think you will like) rather than what would just be a waste of your money. This is not to say we only look through rose colored lenses, but in general if we like a restaurant, dish, cocktail, etc... we want to tell you about it.

Complicating this is Twitter. A tool which has boosted our readership to about 5 people a day. This number does not include those entrapped in penal colonies; we are a big hit with those in solitary confinement. The problem with Twitter is that when a restaurant isn't up to snuff, it is incredibly tempting to broadcast it out into that great auditorium where no one is listening.

After a particularly slow, disjointed, and sloppy lunch at Capdeville yesterday, the Twitter finger was itching. But what is the point? Half of you probably aren't on Twitter and the other half were downloading some song by a band I've never heard of. It also isn't very fair to a restaurant to offer immediate criticism to the world, before informing the server or manager of one's displeasure. This website is a much more adequate forum to discuss objective criticism of a restaurant than Twitter.  Expanding on the general rule: we will Tweet about the places we like.

Also, you may have noticed I no longer include photos with restaurant pieces. This is on purpose for two reasons. First, as you are well aware my photos are evocative of the cinematography in a low grade smut movie one would find in the back reaches of the adult room at Major Video. Secondly, I hate taking photos in a restaurant as it feels like I am watching one of those movies. I didn't start this blog to take photos of food; I wanted to write about food. You will just have to use your imagination. Unless you can convince Lindsay to do all the heavy lifting.

Editor's note: We aren't getting rid of photos. Peter will still take pictures, and Rene will try to take photos of food he cooks at home, just Rene isn't going to endeavor to take photos of food in restaurants.

Blogger's Note - Last week we received a piece of fan mail from a reader who explained his weekly struggle in finding a place to eat lunch on Monday with his coworkers. We empathize with his plight and find it likely that many of you often find yourselves in a similar situation. As men for others, your friends at Blackened Out attempt to tackle this problem with our new series: "In Search of Monday Lunch."

Capdeville is the latest project (and first foray into food service) for the Lifestyle Revolution Group. The name derives from the location - sitting in the middle of the one block side street running from Camp to Magazine just behind the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Incidentally, the street was named after a former mayor of New Orleans. For you legal historians out there, the restaurant is actually located in the space which used to be McGlinchey Stafford's cafeteria.

Capdeville is labeled as "an American interpretation of a British social house." What this connotes to me is a place where one would be as comfortable having a bite for lunch as he would downing a pint after work, and having done both, I can attest to the accuracy of the description. Even if a few lunch beers are not on your Monday agenda, Capdeville is still a good place for a bite. The menu stretches beyond typical pub grub with some innovative originals, like fried red beans and rice. These savory calas have a crunchy exterior coating stuffed with creamy red beans, while the truffled mac and cheese is in the style of carbonara and fortified with edamame

But after 3 visits, the burgers have clearly distinguished themselves as the best choices on the menu, with each component of the utmost quality. The burgers are so good that Willy Wonka, my office's resident gourmand de ground beef, has dubbed it one of the city's best. The foundation is a beef patty which is moist and flavorful without being greasy, and the soft onion roll is a noticeable improvement from the typical styrofoam bun. The namesake Capdeville Burger (pictured above) tastes almost as good as it looks. An orthodox au poivre sauce, gruyere cheese and roasted aioli provide richness; bibb lettuce and thin strands of crispy fried onions give the burger a nice crunch. The Manchego La Mancha has a nice fruitiness from green tomato jam and proves that almost any dish improves with the addition of a gratuitous fried egg.

French fries are taken to new heights with variations from Spain (manchego and chorizo) to Canada (mozzarella curd and au poire sauce), but unfortunately the former are a bit too dry and the latter too soggy. Still, there is no denying the deliciousness of Capdeville's long, thin, crispy, handcut fries - especially with a side of roasted garlic aioli for dipping.

Not a bad way to start the week off on a full stomach.