After more than four years of hauling griddles and coolers to borrowed kitchens around Oakland, the breakfast sandwich pop-up Egg Pals is finally putting down roots. The operation is opening its first brick-and-mortar restaurant, called Egg Palace, at 4101 Broadway in Temescal, taking over the space recently vacated by Trueburger.
The move marks the end of a long search. According to The Oaklandside, co-founders Brack DeFries and Chris Morgan started as a nomadic pop-up, holding about 70% of their appearances in Temescal, before deciding the concept had outgrown borrowed kitchen space.
DeFries and Morgan met while working at restaurants and bars including Kronnerburger and Fish & Bird, and both have spent the last 15 years bartending, per the Oaklandside's report. DeFries told the outlet that Temescal made sense because Egg Palace already has a built-in regular crowd in the neighborhood, a following built up over years of pop-up residencies.
From Borrowed Kitchens to a Growing Following
Egg Pals built its name through regular pop-up residencies at Ramen Shop on College Avenue and States Coffee on 40th Street, according to The Oaklandside's earlier coverage of the pop-up's rise. The business grew from selling around 60 sandwiches a day in its early days to roughly 200 sandwiches a day as its following expanded, per the Oaklandside's reporting.
The name Egg Palace itself has an origin story rooted in that pop-up era: customers repeatedly mishearing Egg Pals as Egg Palace, according to the Oaklandside. The concept was originally inspired by a friend of the founders who opened Rosey's, a breakfast eatery in Pine Plains, New York, as detailed in the Kickstarter campaign the pair launched to fund the buildout. KQED reported in 2023 that DeFries and Morgan first met a decade earlier while working in Oakland's restaurant and bar scene before launching Egg Pals.
What's on the Menu at the New Spot
The signature Egg Pal sandwich, built with bacon, egg, cheese, pickled onions and herby mayo, will run $13, while the Pickle Pal and the vegetarian Vegg Pal, which features seasonal vegetables, will each cost $12, per the Oaklandside's report. SFGATE noted back in 2022 that those Northern California touches, like pickled onions and dill mayo, were what set Egg Pals apart from traditional East Coast bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches.
Egg Palace plans to expand well beyond sandwiches, adding grain bowls, biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, mushroom and grits, fried chicken sandwiches, and salads, according to the Oaklandside. The restaurant also plans to add a more budget-friendly sandwich option and rotate in seasonal sandwiches, plus weekend brunch specials. At night, the space will shift into bar mode with the signature Pal Burger, a medium-rare thick beef patty on a potato roll, alongside rotating bar snacks like tater tots, vegetable dishes, pimento cheese and marinated cucumbers.
A Bar by Night, With Cocktails Throughout the Day
DeFries described the vision to the Oaklandside as combining casual breakfast in the morning with a full bar and food service in the evening, with the restaurant closing in the afternoon before reopening for dinner. Cocktails will actually appear on both the breakfast and dinner menus, including a Pimm's Cup, a dirty martini, a frozen piña colada, and a carbonated margarita, according to the Oaklandside's report. Coffee service will come from Mother Tongue Cafe for drip coffee and cold brew, with teas supplied by Molly's Refresher, per the same account.
Filling a Storefront Left Empty by Rising Costs
The space at 4101 Broadway sat empty after Trueburger closed its Temescal location in June, citing ongoing economic challenges in Oakland, according to Berkeley Eats. That closure, after 11 years at the address, saw Trueburger consolidate operations at its original flagship on Grand Avenue. Hoodline previously reported that Trueburger's closure came alongside Uptown's Malibu's Burgers as part of a wider wave of East Bay restaurant shutdowns driven by rising operating costs and shifting customer demand.
Egg Palace will join an established cluster of morning dining spots on the block, including the 52-year-old Mama's Royal Cafe and San Francisco import Brenda's Oakland, both fixtures on the same Broadway corridor, according to Berkeleyside. The Kickstarter campaign funding the buildout, which had raised over half of its $50,000 goal as of the Oaklandside's report, will cover dining room and kitchen remodeling, a built-in beverage bar, upgraded kitchen equipment, and a second hot water heater. The campaign is set to close on Thursday.
Egg Palace plans a soft opening in November, operating five days a week once it launches, per the Oaklandside's reporting. For a neighborhood that just lost a longtime burger spot to rising costs, the arrival gives Temescal diners a new all-day anchor built from years of pop-up loyalty rather than a fresh, untested concept.
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