Hungry Pigeon Will Be Philly's Simple, Easy, Unadulterated All-Day Cafe

Scott Schroeder claims that the Egg McMuffin, yes the McDonalds menu item now made available all day, is "one of the greatest sandwiches ever invented." And after a brief Schroeder-education about the rhyme and reason for its creation (McDonalds wanted to make eggs benedict into a sandwich, so they replaced hollandaise with American cheese and called it a McMuffin. The rest is history.), the chef made his own:

That's Pat O'Malley's grilled homemade English muffin topped with a gooey Rineer Farm egg, John L. King ham steak (courtesy of Green Meadow Farm), white cheddar, and dijonaise. If you want, a few shakes of Schroeder's hot sauce Scott Sauce will be just fine. This is like the Egg McMuffin, but worlds and worlds better. And it's a perfect example for what's to come at Schroeder and O'Malley's all-day restaurant, Hungry Pigeon.

Months ago, we heard word that Scott Schroeder's first restaurant will be open from breakfast till dinner, counter service to table service. But after a sit-down with the chefs, Schroeder conceded, "I'm old news. Pat's the exciting factor. "

And it's not that opening Fabric Row's first all-day restaurant isn't exciting. It's not that Schroeder isn't stoked to open his first place after so many years running the show at South Philly Taproom and American Sardine Bar. He's just saying that he's not the only thing that should be bringing you through the door. Rather, it's his partner/co-owner, Pat O'Malley, the man he worked with at ¡Pasion!, the man who returned back to Philly from baking at Balthazar's in New York. Because when O'Malley returned, he brought with him his passion for pastry, and that's something to get excited about.

"Things change once you put food on a truck," says O'Malley, describing his experiences in New York. Although he enjoyed his time at Balthazar's, he really wants to apply his expertise to a much smaller operation: a simple pastry program in Philly, but without that wholesale aspect he fell out of touch with in New York. "There's an advantage to being just a small restaurant," says Schroeder. While High Street on Market is making its "modernist" breads with ancient grains and vegetable ash, and Metropolitan Bakery bakes its bread for most of the city's restaurants, O'Malley is just going to go after the plain ol' sourdough. He's going to offer perfect croissants, and he's going to make sure his english muffins are nothing like the McMuffin's (while Schroeder makes sure that the sandwich stays true to what it is).

With that in mind, Schroeder and O'Malley will apply that same logic across each of the Hungry Pigeon menus (breakfast, lunch and dinner): simple, straightforward, no fussing.