My office sits on 17th and Broadway, smack dab in the middle of downtown Oakland. But it wasn’t always this way.

It was less than a year ago that my offices were two blocks away from Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto. Foodwise, that stretch of Shattuck had a lot to offer with the exception of breakfast sandwiches. For this breakfast sandwich groupie, that was a big hole in my daily food experience.  

Luckily, downtown Oakland has a lot to offer when it comes to breakfast sandwich options. My preferred setup for breakfast sandwiches: on a croissant, with egg, some kind of meat and cheese. And here’s the thing about the egg, it has to be a real egg. The vast majority of places that serve breakfast sandwiches serve some kind of egg - like substances that’s closer to the consistency of egg-flavored soft tofu. If I’m eating a sandwich, my egg needs to stay together and not get my sandwich all soggy.  

With that said, here’s my go-to places for breakfast sandwiches based on my mood. 

Can’t eat again until 2 p.m.

The Fountain Cafe in City Center has its croissant supreme with two eggs, cheese of your choice (I always get the pepper jack) and meat of your choice for around $6 (tax included). This sandwich is loaded. The cafe uses two eggs in its sandwich and a substantial amount of meat. If you order it with sausage, the cooks put in two sausage patties. I usually order the ham and it’s a hefty portion of ham.

Clearing out the change in my pocket

A more affordable option at $4.25 (tax included) is the Colonial Doughnuts on the corner of 17th and Harrison streets. American cheese is the only option, but the croissant is nicely toasted and the egg is cooked through (and really tastes like an egg).  

In a gourmet mood

Newcomer Stag’s Lunchette has a pretty amazing gourmet breakfast sandwich at the reasonable price of $6 (which includes breakfast potatoes and aioli). This is a high class sandwich on a brioche bun (the sandwich is so good I can forgive it for not being a croissant) with arugula, bacon and a fried egg. The quality of the ingredients is phenomenal and Stag's is not skimpy with the bacon. The only downsides are bacon being on the more “done” side of things and the egg being so perfectly cooked, the molten yolk oozes out the side of the sandwich.