I kicked off this Challenge Detroit year with my three-minute TEDx talk focused on my love of eggs. More specifically, how egg sandwich masterpieces became the starting point of my friendship with the culinary artist, Sara. I talk about her a lot as you may have seen in other blogs about murals with unfinished hand-sketches and trips to Ecuador.

There is one sandwich I remember in particular – an accidental addition of Yerba Mate to this ridiculous asparagus, Gouda on a croissant, pretty much magnum opus of all sandwiches made previously. Completely freaked out when I realized it wasn’t the oregano I was going for, but because of the untouchable sensation the whole sandwich left in our mouths, Yerba Mate was added to the recipe as an ingredient.

Fast forward to today. I needed an afternoon spot to get some work done and grab a bite to eat. It’s almost the end of our Challenge Detroit year and I still have at least eight unused coupons to local restaurants and small businesses around town that we were given on day one.* One stuck out: FREE BREAKFAST SANDWICH at The Detroit Institute of Bagels. Unreal deal, if you ask me.

The featured picture in this blog is of the ‘Le Rouge’ egg sandwich on a toasted rosemary and olive oil bagel.  Ingredients: bacon, egg, goat cheese, red onion marmalade, and arugula. The picture is absolutely terrible because I was way too excited to eat it to capture it in an artsy way. I can’t even describe how delicious this gem of an egg sandwich was – the red onion marmalade beat out any accidental Yerba Mate addition. That bagel flavor – go get one right now. You know what even happened, they FORGOT to add the bacon. Crazy, because who forgets bacon? Albeit, don’t be worried. I happily enjoyed the whole sandwich without the meat addition and am absolutely dreaming about how delicious it would taste with it.

Great work, Detroit Institute of Bagels. I will be back for another Le Rouge and to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere. Hopefully I’ll see you there.

*Can we take a moment to be impressed with my ability to hold onto those things and carry them with me all year? So let’s in the least chalk that up.