Just returned from my very pleasing first trip to Edgebrook Diner. As I mentioned to a friend, I'm not sure I've ever been out of flour, milk, and eggs at the same time, and normally discovering this late on a Friday night would send me scrambling to the nearest 24-hour supermarket. But a quick check of the CTA Trip Planner showed that the Peterson bus around the corner would get me to the Edgebrook within half an hour, and it seemed like all the stars were aligned.
Got there just about high noon, a few folks ahead of me; I amused myself by cooing over a few babies (who fortunately seemed equally amused) until my turn for a seat came around 12:15. Biscuits and gravy was still on the blackboard, so all the stars were staying in place for me.
I leaned over the counter as I ordered and whispered conspiratorially to the blonde teenager taking my order, "You know how I really like them? I don't know if you can do this. But two eggs over easy right on top is really amazing." She repeated the order to make sure she'd be giving me just what I wanted (which is a menu option at Jeri's Grill, my other Church of Biscuits and Gravy) and put in the order. (I'd added hash browns as well, just wanted them straight off the griddle the first time.)
Took no time at all for the plates to arrive. The hash browns were ideal, a good-sized portion with a crisp brown crust hiding the treasure underneath. But (while I know this will discredit me a bit in the eyes of many B&G lovers here) I have to rank the biscuits and gravy just a notch under Jeri's Grill. Edgebrook's gravy, while still very good, was a bit thinner and less rich, a bit watery, and the taste seemed mostly peppery to me, while Jeri's has a more well-rounded savory flavor. (The downside of Jeri's gravy is that it can be floury at times -- I think this is why the eggs over easy on top works so well there, as once the yolks break they help make that occasionally floury taste much less noticeable.) Still, the biscuits were top-notch, about as light and fluffy as I've ever had. Again, still a very good plate, worth trying there again to see if today might have been a bit off, but right now they're a close second for me.
Service, I have to say, was perfect; I gather the two teenage girls are probably those mentioned above, but they were prompt and attentive (I never once drained my cup of coffee, as they always noticed when there was only one sip left) and, as I noted, handled my unusual request just fine. As I was sopping up the last of my gravy, one let me know my total was $7.85; I put down a $10 and left my change there. I left at about 12:35, just an hour after I'd first gotten on the bus; if I'd gone to the tony brunch spots in Andersonville just around the corner, I might still be waiting for a seat, certainly still waiting for my food.
I have an unrelated question about that area -- the Peterson bus went down a stretch of Sauganash I haven't seen since the late '90s, when a girlfriend and I used to love a little coffee shop tucked into the neighborhood, Buzz Cup. I understand it's long gone, but is anything else of note in that space, does anyone know?