Fried and typically filled with savory meats and veggies, egg rolls serve as a tasty, compact food delivery system. Here are a few metro Atlanta options that play with some unexpected ingredients and flavors.
Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks. Derrick Hayes added egg rolls to his menu of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches about a year after opening his first restaurant. The idea was to provide customers a way to get a taste of the gooey sandwiches without getting their hands messy, what Hayes calls “an egg roll the Big Dave’s way.”
Made in-house with wrappers from an Atlanta-based business, Big Dave’s offers egg rolls with a choice of grass-fed beef, chicken or salmon fillings (with Buffalo chicken coming soon) along with three cheeses, onions and a proprietary seasoning blend.
Looking for a plant-based version of the original Philly cheesesteak egg roll? Head to Dinkies, Hayes’ stall inside Bar Vegan at Ponce City Market, for a version made with Impossible beef.
57 Forsyth St. NW, Atlanta, 404-343-0259, and 6035 Peachtree Road, Doraville. bigdavescheesesteaks.com/
Eggrollin. One of Daniel Fontimayor’s earliest memories is of accompanying his mother as she would sell lumpia, a traditional Filipino spring roll, at events near his native Augusta.
As an adult, Fontimayor asked her to share her Filipino recipes, then tweaked them a bit to make them his own. Fontimayor, an engineer by trade, has spent the past decade or so popping up with Eggrollin’ at farmers markets, breweries and festivals. Though the pandemic sidelined his side hustle, Fontimayor still does catering deliveries around town, with the hope to get back to pop-ups, and eventually open a brick-and-mortar location, soon.
Eggrollin’s menu features lumpia options made with beef, vegetables and a skinnier Shanghai pork version with minced carrots and onions as part of the filling. Bacon cheeseburger egg rolls have also made appearances on the menu.
Fontimayor uses spring roll wrappers from the Buford Highway Farmers Market, which he said give his deep-fried creations extra crispiness. In the future, look for more fusion egg rolls including lobster mac and cheese and Philly cheesesteak to be offered alongside the lumpia and other traditional Filipino dishes like pancit on the menu.
Orgasmic Airfried Eggrolls. After years spent working in the kitchens of metro Atlanta restaurants and events facilities, chef Chenoa Douglass started working on plans for her own business. She settled on egg rolls, playing around with different recipes while designing what would become the menu for Orgasmic Airfried Eggrolls, which debuted in a Cloud Kitchen facility in September 2020.
Leaning heavily on sexual innuendo, Orgasmic Airfried Eggrolls offers nearly 20 different varieties of egg rolls. The regular $15.99 combo comes with any two egg rolls on the menu, plus a choice of side and a locally bottled beverage (a lunch combo with one egg roll costs $12.99).
The Threesome is stuffed with pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon and mozzarella cheese and served with marinara sauce, while the Too Deep is made with Cajun-spiced crabcake and served with remoulade. Vegan customers have three options, including the Red Light Special with vegan Italian sausage, while those with a sweet tooth can choose from five dessert egg rolls (the Georgia Dome, stuffed with peach cobbler and served with a bourbon dipping sauce, is a favorite).
“I wanted to have a wide variety and please a lot of palates,” said Douglass, who handwrites a short message to customers with each order. “I wanted to be a one-stop shop.”
The decision to air-fry, rather than deep-fry, her egg rolls means customers can indulge “without feeling too guilty.”
Douglass plans to add more vegan and dessert options in the next few months.
4064 Flowers Road, Doraville. 470-772-4597, chefchenoa.com/orgasmicairfriedeggrolls
Pho Cue. Like many of the recipes on Pho Cue’s menu, the egg rolls lean heavily on a family recipe from co-owner Julian Wissman’s wife, who’s of Hmong heritage. Originally made with ground pork, the recipe subs in the restaurant’s smoked brisket as a protein and pairs it with cabbage, vermicelli noodles and a variety of seasonings. Served with a sweet chili sauce, the egg roll packs a sweet-savory punch that Wissman said makes it a dish “that never leaves the menu if we can help it.”
Find Pho Cue’s egg rolls at pop-ups around metro Atlanta until its brick-and-mortar opens in Glenwood Park this summer.
Rollin Up. Two days before the world shut down last year due to the pandemic, Jamal Williams bought a food truck, hoping to launch his new loaded egg roll business.
Why egg rolls?
“They’re fun, I’m a fun person and I wanted a fun food,” said Williams, who has a marketing background but has also worked in the food service industry.
When work on getting the truck ready was delayed, Williams started popping up at events around town, with a rotating list of nearly 40 different kinds of egg rolls. Bestsellers include the cheeseburger (which also has a vegan counterpart) and the shrimp jerk curry, with recent additions including the chicken and waffle egg roll and the All-Star, stuffed with bacon, eggs, cheese, salsa and fried chicken.
He’s been selling his food at Atlantucky Brewery in Castleberry Hill for the past few months, with plans to start selling via UberEats and DoorDash this week., and the food truck will make its long-awaited debut next week. And a distinctly Atlanta item will be added to the menu soon: A lemon pepper wet egg roll.
instagram.com/rollinupeggrolls/?hl=en
Taylor’d BBQ. After opening Taylor’d last year, co-owner Josh McDowell tapped chef Eric Guillot to come up with a way to use up leftover brisket. Thus was born the “OG” Taylor’d egg roll, filled with chopped brisket, a three-cheese blend, peppers, guajillo paste and a spicy barbecue sauce. The menu item was an instant hit, and was quickly followed by a version made with pulled pork, bacon, jalapeno peppers and cheese and served with a spicy ranch, and a Buffalo chicken egg roll paired with wing sauce.
The egg rolls, which are stuffed, rolled with a little bit of water, refrigerated and deep-fried for four minutes “until they’re warm and gooey inside,” have become “a key part of bringing customers in,” McDowell said.
2759 E. College Ave., Decatur. 678-974-8213, taylordbarbq.com/
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
