These egg-centric dishes are stepping up NYC’s brunch game

‘Tis the season when a young New Yorker’s fancy turns to thoughts of brunch. Here are five dishes dialing up the egg game.

Egg Shop B.E.C. atEgg Shop

This Nolita spot will turn your mood sunny side up before you even take a bite of the breakfast sandwich that claimed a spot on several of last year’s best-of lists. The bacon, egg and cheese concept gets an upgrade with a gooey free-range egg, sea salt-topped roll and a spicy tomato jam that will make you never want ketchup again.

Breakfast Ramen atTalde Brooklyn

The key to a great bowl oframen (breakfast or otherwise) is a soft-boiled egg yolk that you swirl into the soup before eating. This dish takes all the parts of a complete breakfast and turns them into components of a ramen bowl: buttered toast broth, honey-glazed bacon and a six-minute egg over noodles.

China-quilesatFung Tu

Chef Jonathan Wu’s riff on the Mexican chilaquiles (a classic hangover cure) features steamed egg custard (a traditional Chinese breakfast dish) topped with yucca chips and smothered in Sichuan pork sauce. It’s garnished with scallions and cilantro, so you can even tell your mom you ate something green today.

Baked eggs atGemma

This is the dish we bravedwinter mornings to eat, made even better thanks to the restaurant’s old world Italian decor. Baked eggs sit in a skillet of savory, tangy tomato sauce, with Fontina cheese, prosciutto and avocado that we usually save for a breakfast sandwichon the accompanying Tuscan toast.

Eggs Rothko atEgg

The original egg-focused spot still packs them in with this dish, a poached egg on brioche bread with Grafton cheddar that ascends to a whole new level with the optional candied bacon (there’s a choice of seasonal vegetables or meat, but let’s be real.) The hash browns here are also a worthy accompaniment.