Celebrating their 10th anniversary in October, Egg Plantation surely is doing more than one thing right. It’s a love story that began many years ago before owners Simon and Shannon Mee had even met. At the young age of 14 Simon knew he wanted to own his own restaurant and the Mee’s will tell you how much they love the restaurant business. Each week Egg Plantation uses over 6,000 extra large farm fresh eggs, making each of the delicious dishes from scratch, with no MSG or trans fat. Egg Plantation is also extremely proud to be the first certified green restaurant in Santa Clarita. What does that mean you may ask? The Green Restaurant Association’s program rewards restaurants with points in seven environmental categories: energy, water, waste, disposables, chemical and pollution reduction, sustainable food, and sustainable building materials. To become certified, restaurants must meet the following criteria: accumulate a total of 100 Points, meet a minimum of 10 points in six of the seven categories, have a full-scale recycling program, be free of Polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) and implement a yearly education program. To date, Egg Plantation has earned over 115 points within their program!
They sought out this certification because they know that restaurants have a huge environmental impact. Running a sustainable restaurant is important to Simon and Shannon, and earning this certification helps them show customers, that their environmental efforts are real. In speaking with Shannon I also learned that their goal is to be a completely organic restaurant. With a history of hard work and dedication I am sure Egg Plantation will meet that goal sooner than expected.
For a restaurant that is known for being the home of 101 delicious omelets, I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy three egg-cellent dishes that weren’t all about eggs. When Shannon was deciding what she was going to serve she must have channeled my brain in the process because she chose my favorite, and I mean favorite, breakfast dish in the universe – French Toast. The Crunchy French Toast with Fresh Strawberries and Whip Cream was everything I imagined and so much more. Being my first experience with crunchy French toast, my brain was almost on overload. The crunch popped in my mouth as the soft and tender center melted in my mouth. I added strawberries and whip cream to my next bite and it was pure perfection. Oh ya, I must advise you to try it with the real maple syrup. Being a Mrs. Butterworth lover all my life I had no idea what I was missing with real maple syrup. It is something I will look forward to from Egg Plantation on every trip I make. It was very hard to stop eating this dish and being my first one I had to pace myself.
The next dish I dove into was the Pesto Scram. Now I will admit at first I was like, “Umm it’s green,” but the dish is outta this world crazy good. I’ll be honest and tell you it was my favorite dish of the entire meal. Hands down! The eggs were bursting with flavor and the potatoes… OMG! The potatoes were the best seasoned potatoes I have ever ate in my life. The Pesto Scram is comprised of four eggs scrambled with pesto, chicken, spinach and tomatoes, topped with feta cheese and served with country potatoes. Absolutely something I recommend everyone. If you have a bucket list, this dish needs to be on it.
My last treat wasn’t a dessert, but I enjoyed every bite as if it were a molten chocolate cake. Located on the Employee Lunch Favorites menu, Shannon’s BBQ Chicken Salad was so spectacular I almost called my best girl friend Julie right there to tell her about it. She is someone who takes a BBQ chicken salad very seriously. Piled high with a combination of romaine lettuce, black beans, corn, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, avocado, chicken, fresh cilantro then finished off with extra crispy onion rings and BBQ ranch dressing, this salad is a complete meal. Everything in this dish was so fresh that each individual item really came alive with flavor in my mouth. One thing I must suggest, build a bite on top of one of the onion rings. Add a little of everything and go for it. The crunch of the onion ring adds texture like no other to the salad.
Egg Plantation is truly the home of 101 delicious omelets, but there are so many other dishes to enjoy so stop by today for salads, soups, sandwiches and more. Located at 24415 Walnut Street in Newhall, please call 661-255-8222 for more information. You can also learn more at www.eggplantation.com and for more in green dining, please visit www.dinegreen.com.