The Country Breakfast ($11.99) at The Golden Egg Diner in Portsmouth features a split, grilled buttermilk biscuit topped with sausage gravy and accompanied by two eggs and home fries.
The Country Breakfast ($11.99) at The Golden Egg Diner in Portsmouth features a split, grilled buttermilk biscuit topped with sausage gravy and accompanied by two eggs and home fries.
Reincarnating a beloved restaurant is no easy task, but the Scarlotto family seems up to the task.
The Golden Egg, which closed in 2020, reopened in June in a new location in Portsmouth.
A popular breakfast spot for nearly 40 years, the Egg was sold in 2019 by longtime owners Tom and Debbie Gosselin, whose motto was “we’re more than a couple of good eggs — and that’s no yolk.”
The subsequent owners were clobbered by 2020’s COVID restrictions, and ended up selling the Sagamore Avenue site.
Enter Joe Scarlotto. He owns Portsmouth’s Shanty restaurant with his wife, Shannon. The couple were big fans of the Golden Egg, and in 2021 purchased the diner’s name and recipes, including those for its homemade desserts and granola.
The restaurant’s new location on Mirona Road is the former home of Cafe Nostimo, and still sports the blue-and-white decor of the longtime Greek eatery, which closed in March. A diner counter has been added, with a glass case at the entry holding many of the Egg’s signature goodies — coffee cake, muffins, oversized cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, double chocolate cake, lemon bars and more.
My dining companion started with the cardamom coffee cake ($4.50), and declared it every bit as good as the ones displayed under glass in the counter of the original Egg.
The spicy, citrusy flavor of the cardamom complemented the sweet, moist cake’s walnut interior and went wonderfully with hot cocoa.
After having dessert first, my friend seriously considered ordering a quarter-pound lobster roll ($19.99) from the lunch menu.
Instead she picked a poached egg and a slab of homemade hash.
“Yes, it’s the same,” she said of the grilled hash, “just perfect.”
The original Egg was one of the first breakfast places on the Seacoast to offer sausage gravy and biscuits, a favorite of mine since childhood.
The new Golden Egg’s Country Breakfast ($11.99) comes with two eggs (over easy for me) and just like its predecessor, plenty of sausage-studded gravy. One tiny corner of the buttermilk biscuit was bare, providing the perfect taste test for the flaky bread.
Yummy.
The hearty portion of home fries alongside was tender and nicely herbed.
All around us diners were digging into their old favorites and giving thumbs-up to the serving staff. But we could also overhear “newbies” who knew nothing of the original Egg and were clearly enjoying their omelettes, Belgian waffles, burgers and lunch specials.
Our server grinned as she delivered our table the check. “We’ve been busy since day one,” she said.
A week later, I returned with another dining companion, who also went for their old favorite, Eggs Florentine ($11.99). It is one of eight eggs Benedict offerings, and its sauteed mushrooms and spinach doused in Hollandaise earned praise from my pal.
She prefers her home fries crispier, but agreed that plenty of people like them on the softer side.
For me, the go-to was Eggs Benedict ($11.99), a dish I never encountered until I was in my early 20s — probably because I was too busy eating sausage gravy and biscuits.
The Golden Egg diner nailed the combo of crisp English muffin, smoked ham, jammy egg and luscious Hollandaise. I’d considered asking for a side of Hollandaise ($1.99) but there was plenty on the steaming plate.
I did order a side of beans ($2.99) and their maple flavor gave a dessert-like finish to the meal.
On the way out the door we stopped by the bakery case to buy slices of coconut cream cake to take home.
The next trip will be to sample the lunch menu. I have my eyes on the tuna melt ($12.99). Or maybe the corned beef brisket Reuben ($10.99).
Or maybe we’ll just start with dessert.
The Golden Egg Diner 72 Mirona Road, Portsmouth, 603-294-9475. Online via Facebook. Cuisine: Classic diner. Hours: Open daily, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pricing: Breakfast, $4.25-$18.99; lunch, $5.99-$18.99. {related_content_uuid}c954313d-afce-4b8f-8822-84f2cccdf4ab{/related_content_uuid}
Score for the Golden Egg Atmosphere: 17/20 Menu: 17/20 Food: 18/20 Service: 18/20 Value: 19/20 Total: 89/100 {related_content_uuid}82301c3c-06c2-4a63-9f58-0df55ba44cb0{/related_content_uuid}
