The Broken Yolk Cafe is an American restaurant chain serving American breakfast foods mixed with Tex-Mex cuisine. Founded in 1979, it has forty locations mainly in Southern California, with others in other areas of the Western United States. The restaurant is most known for its Eggs Benedict.
History
The Broken Yolk Cafe was founded in 1979, in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego.[2][3][4] John Gelastopoulos, a real estate restaurant broker, bought the restaurant in 1993.[1][5][6]
The company began to franchise its locations in 2007.[7]Adam Richman visited one of the chain's restaurants in 2009 as a part of the third season of Man v. Food. He was able to complete the restaurant's BYC Challenge.[2] In 2015, the first location in Arizona was opened, in the city of Mesa.[8] Fifteen locations were opened in Florida in 2016 in the chain's first foray into the East Coast. A Midwest location, in Illinois, was also opened in that year.[9] The first Nevada location was in Las Vegas, opened in 2019.[10] In 2020, the first restaurant in Idaho was opened, in Boise.[11]
The chain also offers the BYC Challenge, where participants have to finish a twelve-egg omelette stuffed with, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and chili in under an hour. Accompanying the omelette are large servings of home fries and two biscuits. Those who complete the challenge will be placed on the Hall of Fame, receive a t-shirt, and not have to pay.[14][13][15]
Locations
As of 2024, the Broken Yolk Cafe has 40 locations. 29 of them are in California and concentrated around the southern part of the state. Otherwise, it has four in both Arizona and Nevada, two in Texas, and one in Idaho.[2]