Attention folks whose morning commute involves travel along Columbus Boulevard: There’s a new place to stop for a quick breakfast fix.
Shank’s Pier 40 now opens at 7 a.m. weekdays, with a new menu that includes egg sandwiches, pork roll, hash browns and something called “scrapple fries.”
The new early hours, which just launched this past Friday, are both a throwback and an embrace of new opportunity, per GM Ed Brennan. The shop’s original Italian Market location, called Shank’s & Evelyn’s, was well-known as a breakfast spot from its 1962 incarnation through several decades following. But there’s also a lot more morning activity down by the piers these days as development on the waterfront ramps up.
Plus, one of the previous go-tos for sunrise noshing is no longer available. John’s Roast Pork, which started out as a place for dockworkers to feast because nothing else nearby was open, cut back its morning hours recently and now doesn’t begin serving until 9 a.m.
“I didn’t know about John’s changing their hours when we decided to launch this,” Brennan maintained, “but I do remember my mom telling me when they opened at 7 they always had a huge line. She picks up the bus right by there.”
So, what does Shank’s have to sate those breakfast cravings?
There’s the standard egg-and-cheese or egg-cheese-and-meat (pork roll, scrapple, sausage, etc.; $6.50), available on an Aversa kaiser or long roll. You can also get a steak sandwich with eggs (the place does a darn good cheesesteak, if you happen to be there around lunchtime) or one of the loaded combos, like the Gonzo — three eggs, scrapple, bacon, cheese, fries and hot sauce all on one sandwich. At $8.50, that’ll fill you up for cheap.
A side of hash browns go for $2.25, and then there’s the scrapple fries ($4). Basically, think shape of a french fry but content of the classic breakfast meat, which is sliced into sticks and deep fried for a very serious snack.
Coffee’s just $1.50 and OJ is $2, meaning you can easily get a hearty morning start for $10 or less. Happy breakfasting.
