Eggs done crispy or creamy at veteran Toronto restaurants Rosedale Diner and Jacques Bistro du Parc

Ah, the versatile egg, good for any time of day.

Eggs are also a common thread between Rosedale Diner and Jacques Bistro du Parc, two restaurants open since 1978.

Each restaurant has its own take on the egg, with equally delicious if dissimilar results.

Of the many ways to fry an egg — over easy, over hard, sunny side up — the Rosedale Diner proudly aims for crispy: two eggs cooked in very hot canola oil until the edges feather and crackle.

Such eggs are the star of the $12 Israeli breakfast, slipped into a pita with tomato, cucumber and hummus. Customers also regularly ask for them atop hamburgers or duck confit poutine.

“In the old days in Israel, we’d fry them in olive oil until crispy on the side. Here we do it a little less crispy because people don’t understand it so much,” says Tel Aviv-born owner Dubi Filar.

The sandwich arrives with a pile of skinny, salty fries topped with fried onions.

The bottoms of the eggs are brown and dimpled but the yolks are still runny. The golden liquid quickly melds with the lemony homemade hummus inside the grilled pita from Pita Bros. Red circles of plum tomatoes hide at the bottom, while long cucumber ribbons provide cool crunch.

The only false step in this egg sandwich is the garnish of harsh green onion tops. Otherwise, it is most eggsellent.

Rosedale Diner, 1164 Yonge St. (near Summerhill Ave.), 416-923-3122, rosedalediner.com. Open Monday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Jacques Bistro du Parc chef/co-owner Jacques Sorin began cooking professionally at age 14 in France, and the decades of experience show in his chasseur omelette ($17).

This omelette begins, as all 10 varieties on the menu do, with three large eggs. They are whisked and cooked in butter and oil in a non-stick pan. Sorin folds up one side, then the other, before rolling the long yellow cylinder onto a plate.

The omelette is freckled with black pepper and leaks steam from an accidental slit in the top.

“Sometimes the top opens because there’s so much filling in it,” says co-owner Martine Sorin.

Despite its thin firmness, the eggs are amazingly creamy with nary a curd. The filling — a simple affair of demi-glace, tomato paste, onions, button mushrooms and well-cooked chicken livers — is rich and vaguely boozy. It is good on its own but even better with egg on the fork.

With batons of carrot and turnip, steamed broccoli and fried potatoes on the plate, this omelette is worth getting eggscited about.

Jacques Bistro du Parc, 126 Cumberland Ave., third floor, 416-961-1893, jacquesbistro.com. Open Tuesday to Saturday, lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner, 5 to 10:30 p.m.