Brenda’s ~ French Soul Food

http://frenchsoulfood.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5uYKXcmcb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xB4dbdNSXY

(Happy Birthday[1], John… unfortunately, the War is not yet over… again.)


Je suis retourné à Brenda's ~ French Soul Food (see last 'blog-entry from January 30th, 2011) pour petit-déjeuner, y'all. I got there just before they opened, so I did not have to wait long to be seated… or endure too many of the colourful Tenderloin locals along Polk Street. Brenda's is currently expanding to the building next door (which will double their size and should cut down the wait time for anyone arriving after they open); they said they should be opening in early November.

There really isn't an extensive breakfast/"Brunch" menu from which to choose for idiot vegetarians, but what they do offer all looks good. If I was an eater of the dead, decaying little porkies, I am sure I would love to have tried their Egg & Bacon Tartine just to try their tomato-bacon relish; I am not sure what that would taste like (heck, I am not even sure what a "Tartine"[2] is), but it sounds interesting. As it was, I ordered off their specials board (and, it is interesting to note ~ well, to me it was ~ that this was a real chalk board, not one of them thar new-fangled dry-erase board thingys).

 


I had the Fried Green Tomato & Bacon Benedict (well, again, sans les petits cochons morts) with a choice of grits or (potato) hash. I also started with an order of Granny Smith Apple Beignets and a cuppa very good, N'Orleans-style coffee, Community Coffee (with chicory).





I really like this alternative Benedict; Fannie Flagg would be very proud. It was made with thinly sliced fried green tomato, which really makes a big difference. It was served on cream biscuits (another nice touch) with a spicy Creole[3] Hollandaise sauce (but, like I have stated before, I really couldn't tell a "Creole Hollandaise" from a "Cajun Béarnaise" sauce) ~ which was very tasty, but not overly spicy. I went with the "greets" as my side dish choice, which were good, buttery grits and a very large bowl/portion, too. 

The Granny Smith Apple Beignets were also very good, but I am not really an expert on this particular baked good as I have only had them a few times before; I made sure to eat it with a little of their excellent home-made strawberry jam again; these comes as three (3) large beignets, which is two (2) too many, so I took the remaining ones (1's) home and plan on eating them later today (when I regain my appetite).

Brenda's only offers as condimentary supplements Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce; so I went with some Sylvia's Restaurant® Kickin' Hot ~ Hot Sauce (Thanks, Sean!) on the eggs and a little Trees Can't Dance African Hot Sauce (Thanks, Greg and Cindy!) on the "greets".

This is a good place to check out a few times a year and the beignets are really worth coming back for. (I know, I know, it should read grammatically correct as "… and the beignets are really worth coming back for, y'all".)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Granny Smith Apple Beignets ~ 7.2; Fried Green Tomato Benedict ~ 7.3


[1] Interestingly enough, today is also John's son Sean's birthday.

[2] Stupid, boring cunning linguist pointer of the day, la première partie:

"Tartine" in French simply means "a slice of bread" and usually describes some kinda fancy-shmancy open-faced sandwich. None of which really helps me in any way of figuring out what their Egg & Bacon Tartine would entail.

[3] Loosiana Creole cuisine "is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana which blends French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Asian Indian, Native American, and African influences, as well as general Southern cuisine. It is similar to Cajun cuisine in ingredients (such as the holy trinity), but the important distinction is that Cajun cuisine arose from the more rustic, provincial French cooking adapted by the Acadians to Louisiana ingredients, whereas the cooking of the Louisiana Creoles tended more toward classical European styles adapted to local foodstuffs. Broadly speaking, the French influence in Cajun cuisine is descended from various French Provincial cuisines of the peasantry, while Creole cuisine evolved in the homes of well-to-do aristocrats, or those who imitated their lifestyle. Although the Creole cuisine is closely identified with New Orleans culture today, much of it evolved in the country plantation estates so beloved of the pre-Civil War Creoles. (Despite its aristocratic French roots, Creole cuisine does not include Garde Manger or other extremely lavish styles of the Classical Paris cuisine.)" ~ straight outta Wikipedia.

And just to make it another stupid, boring cunning linguist pointer, la deuxième partie:

"Creole" comes from the French "créole" (amazing, huh?), which comes from the Spanish "criollo" (a person native to a locality) from the Portuguese "crioulo", diminutive of "cria" (a person ~ especially a servant ~ raised in one's house) from "criar" (to raise or bring up), from Latin "creare" (to produce, create); however, it is not related in any way to the crayon people.

"Cajun" is an aphetic variant/alteration of "Acadian".

Now you are all on your own trying to figure where "Zydeco" comes from.