Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast (formerly known as The Egg & I) is a Pensacola outpost of a widespread chain established in Colorado back in 1987. However, it is now owned by the Sarasota, Florida-based First Watch family of eateries. Named after writer Betty MacDonald’s best-known work (a 1945 memoir), this is a daytime restaurant with an exclusive focus on breakfast, brunch, and lunch items.
It’s the breakfast-brunch spectrum that most dominates Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast menu, though in the lunch department you’ve got some tried-and-true sandwiches, soups, and salads on offer.
As you’d expect, eggs take top billing on a lot of the offerings, from the plethora of Benedicts, omelettes, and scramblers to the skillets, hashes, and breakfast sandwiches. On the sweeter side of things, you might consider the good-sized pancakes (whole-wheat, oatmeal, and apple cinnamon), the luxurious waffles, or the soul-satisfying French toast. Half the fun of a breakfast place is mixing and matching sides, of course, and you’ll certainly have no shortage of options in that regard at Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast: from bacon and pork/turkey sausages to grits, dressed greens, and steel-cut oatmeal.
Especially health-conscious eaters might lean toward dishes such as the Mediterranean Frittata, the Avocado Toast, or the berry-accoutered steel-cut oatmeal. Meanwhile, a gluten-friendly menu is available by request, though the restaurant doesn’t guarantee 100% gluten-free food given the shared kitchen equipment.
You don’t normally think of a diner-type restaurant being a first choice for seasonally attuned cuisine, but Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast does present an array of seasonal specials in addition to its year-round, everyday entrees.
Supporting the coffee (which has its own enthusiastic fan base), tea, and sodas on the menu, The Egg & I has an in-house juice bar as well, so you’ll have the perfect bevvie to accompany your breakfast or lunch.
Now let’s put the spotlight on a few especially popular eats on Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast (The Egg & I’s), brunch, and lunch menu!
The Hiker’s Benedict
One of the standouts among the benedicts, this crowd-pleaser decks out an English muffin with two poached eggs, smoked ham, asparagus, tomatoes, and some house-roasted crimini mushrooms, and crowns the whole affair with creamy dill hollandaise and hardwood-smoked bacon. What a way to kick off your day!
Bacon Avocado Scramble
Speaking of bacon, it takes center stage in this scrambler alongside spinach, tomatoes, and house-roasted onions, with some avocado and pepper jack as finishing touches. You’ll have an English muffin, seasoned ranch potatoes, and some zesty salsa as accompaniment.
Strawberry Banana Waffle
Sometimes you want a simple and spare breakfast; sometimes you want the whole shebang. The Strawberry Banana Waffle is most definitely the whole shebang: a light and fluffy Belgian waffle suited up with strawberries, banana, toasted walnuts, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.
Vive La France French Toast
More than a few of the regulars swear by the restaurant’s take on French toast, which employs housemade batter to turn two pieces of brioche bread into griddled greatness.
Reuben
It’s not all about breakfast and brunch at Taylor’s Lunch and Breakfast. A highlight of the lunch menu is the Reuben, for which you can go the traditional corned-beef route or opt for turkey. Either way, the meat comes slathered in Thousand Island dressing and Bavarian sauerkraut and served on delicious grilled rye. You can accompany your Reuben (or any other sandwich) with a soup and a salad courtesy of the Premium Lunch Combo option.
So whether you’re in the mood for a veggie scramble or some decked-out Huevos Rancheros, or nothing fancier than a couple of eggs and a side of crispy bacon, or perhaps some good old-fashioned biscuits and gravy, The Egg & I makes a great place to beeline at the start of a busy day out and about in Pensacola!
Insider Tip:
-If possible, come early to minimize your wait time. Pensacola’sTaylor’s Lunch and Breakfast can certainly get busy during the breakfast and lunch rushes.