Mushroom Benedict, Hell's Kitchen, Minneapolis

Mushroom Benedict: A grilled Portabello mushroom cap filled with warm, shaved pit ham, topped with a poached egg, and served with wild mushroom hollandaise sauce plus a side of toast. $12.50. You can get it without ham, but why would you?

The good: Points for creativity--the mushroom works well flavor-wise, and the egg was nicely poached. Toppings for toast (homemade jam and peanut butter) were great.

The bad: hollandaise was a bit bland and not bright enough to counter the salty ham (and there really was too much ham. And I like ham). The potatoes were good-not-great. Toast itself was fairly weak (too dependent on the good toppings?).

Verdict: Go here if it's convenient, but don't go out of your way for it.

Southwest Benedict, Portage Bay Cafe, Seattle

Behold, the Southwest Benedict at Portage Bay Cafe.

What is it? Slices of fluffy cheddar-jalepeno-black bean cornbread, sauteed spinach, poached eggs, house-smoked tomato and roasted red pepper coulis. $12, with an extra buck if you want to substitute fresh fruit or tomatoes for the usual potatoes (I did).

It was mostly good: everything was very fresh (even the tomatoes! Not a trace of mealiness!) and the cornbread had a nice texture which absorbed the oozy yolk perfectly.

The problem? I guess I just kind of assumed the coulis was in addition to hollandaise, but I was wrong: it was instead of hollandaise. What can I say--I kind of missed it.

Next time, I'll stick with a more traditional (fattier!) benedict, but if a lighter version is your thing, you might like this one.

Avocado and Roma Tomato Benedict at Peso's, Queen Anne, Seattle

Perfect may not be the most appropriate word, but it does come to mind. Perfectly poached eggs with oozing but not watery yolk atop a bed of fresh avocado and tomato on freshly baked english muffins (love it when they're homemade!) with a generous dousing of chipotle hollandaise. Oh, and the potatoes, served with a little salsa on the side, are stellar as well.

Peso's, 605 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, www.pesoskitchen.com.

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict. Could it possibly get any better than this? As seen on Serious Eats.