As egg prices surge across the country, many home cooks are doing without the kitchen staple. But at Delmonico’s, the birthplace of Eggs Benedict, customers are more excited than ever to try new egg dishes.
“Eggs have become sexier now that they’re more expensive,” Dennis Turcinovic, owner and managing partner of Delmonico’s Hospitality Group, told Quartz.
Eggs are so sexy, in fact, that the restaurant is now launching a $52 Royal Eggs Benedict dish featuring Maine lobster, black truffle, and Ossetra caviar. This meal will be available on the menu alongside the restaurant’s $27 classic Eggs Benedict. Prior to its addition to the current menu, Delmonico’s occasionally served the Royal variation for brunch and always kept the dish available as a secret menu item.
This promotion comes as egg shortages and rising prices remain top of mind for American consumers. The USDA said combined retail egg prices surged 13.8% in January after an 8.4% rise in December. The price of a dozen large grade A eggs reached a record $4.95 in January, up over 96% from just $2.52 a year ago, according to data released earlier this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The rising cost is largely due to two factors: steady inflation and a surge in bird flu cases affecting egg-laying hens nationwide. This has led to shortages in grocery stores, with some, including Trader Joe’s, limiting how many cartons customers can purchase.
Now that there’s “buzz” around eggs, Turcinovic said, it seemed like the right time to bring Delmonico’s luxury dish to the forefront. In recent weeks, the restaurant has even seen an “uptick” in guests coming in for “a glass of champagne, Eggs Benedict, and a dessert.”
Turcinovic notes that while smaller restaurants and home cooks might be struggling to deal with the skyrocketing cost of eggs, the change is marginal at high-end establishments – especially compared to the longstanding volatility in the price of meat or seafood.
“We’re used to fluctuations,” he said. “We’re an expensive restaurant. We charge for so much more than food prices, like service and tablecloths. When the cost of one dish increases by 30 or 40 cents, we won’t really make drastic changes [in price.]”
The price increase is “not going to hurt us,” he added. “We won’t see it. It’ll be pennies at the end of the year.”
Bruce Gil contributed reporting.