Fried Egg I’m in Love Will Open a Mississippi Neighborhood Restaurant

When Jace Krause opened the first Fried Egg I’m in Love breakfast sandwich cart in 2012, he never thought he’d open a restaurant. “I just wanted to start a business, could cook fried egg sandwiches, and loved music,” he says. “It took on a life of its own, and I changed my mind. I felt like, ‘We need to do a restaurant to get to the next level.’”

So, in 2019, Krause opened his first restaurant, just down the street from the original cart. It didn’t have an oven or a true range; he was working with a flattop and a fryer. But the restaurant drew the crowds of the original cart. So now, almost five years later, Krause is running the same play again: Fried Egg I’m in Love will close its Prost Marketplace food cart in December, and open a restaurant on the other side of Mississippi Avenue early next year. But this time, the restaurant will have a larger kitchen, a dedicated bar, and a takeout window for ease of on-the-go breakfast sandwich runs.

Fried Egg I’m in Love’s new restaurant, opening on the corner of Fremont and North Mississippi, will serve all the pun-laden breakfast sandwiches of the original cart, with some additions to the overall brunch menu. The Yolko Ono with pesto and sausage and the Sriracha-Mix-a-Lot with sriracha and avocado will be joined by things like breakfast fried rice or chilaquiles. The menu is still in development, but many of the hits from the Hawthorne menu will also find a home at the Mississippi restaurant, including the brand’s breakfast bowls and burritos. Krause is particularly excited about the expanded sweets menu, which will include breakfast pastries and bars. “We’re going to have more cooking versatility,” Krause says. “We’ll have a full kitchen location this time, so we’ll have more options once we get our feet under us after the opening.”

The breakfast cafe’s bar will also make room for a wider spectrum of brunch cocktails, which may fuel an evening happy hour, depending on interest. The bar will also shake and stir mocktails, beyond the standard coffee and cold brew. “We are a morning spot, so some people don’t want to get completely blasted on a Wednesday morning,” he says.

The space itself is meant to evoke diner vibes, though a little more modern in approach: A long breakfast counter will stretch down along the length of the kitchen, with stools and a bar for mimosas and marys. The dining room will provide more seating, opening out onto a private, dog-friendly patio via a garage door on sunnier days. To prevent too much crowding in the restaurant, Fried Egg I’m in Love will have a takeout window for online orders and pickup. Another new item in the incoming restaurant: A turntable, so the team can spin records throughout the morning.

“It’s all about breakfast and music and wordplay on the side,” he says. “We just want to have fun, make some good food for people, have a good time while we do it.”

Fried Egg Mississippi will open at 890 N Fremont Street in early January.