Brenda's Meat & Three

http://brendasmeatandthree.com/


Place: Brenda's Meat & Three

Location: 919 Divisadero Street 
(between McAllister Street and Golden Gate Avenue)

Hours: open everyday[ sic ] except Tuesday at 8:00am (they call the early morning meal breakfast for everyday usage, but insist on calling it "Brunch" on Saturday & Sunday; they can be forgiven for using that snooty-*ssed faux breakfastary term because they open up plenty early enough for me and their food has always been very good)

Meal: Eggs Florentine with Creole Hollandaise ~ two poached eggs on our famous cream biscuit, served with greets or hash(browns); and a tall glassa Grandma's Molasses-Black Walnut Iced Coffee ~ topped with whipped cream

("Hey, Brian, what gives ('Gibbs'?)? There ain't no one named 'Brenda' in 'Romeo [or Romeu] and Juliet [or Julieta]'!" 

Well, here is a little-known Cliff Clavinistic fact. Wild Bill Shakespeare was originally gonna title his famous tragedy-play about these two young star-crossed lovers "Bill and Brenda's Excellent Adventure", but did not want to feel the wrath of Keanu Reeves for that obvious bit of titular plagiarism.[1])


Of course, my going back to a restaurant with a name like Brenda's Meat & Three (see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, February 22nd, 2015), would be like a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan returning to a local bar/restaurant named "Connecticut Y*nkee"[2].

This Western Addition location had virtually no line and no wait to get in this morning. I arrived at 7:55am, found a parking space directly in front, and there were only two groups/tables ahead of me. Even then, it was only about one-third filled when I had finished eating. On the other hand, (on the other side of town) their Tenderloin location rivals Dottie's True blue café for ridiculously long lines and longer wait times.

There are also fewer items offered at this spot than at their Tenderloin restaurant, but I would still like to check out Fried "Veggie" (ugh!) Po' Boy ~ cornmeal-fried cauliflower, yam & okra with lettuce, tomato, bread & butter pickles (which are homemade... well, restaurant-made; they even sell these in jars for take-home use ~ I know this because I bought me a jarra them, plus a jarra pickled watermelon, too) & vegan chipotle rémoulade, choice of fries or cole slaw. Additionally, on their weekend "Brunch Specials" board they had Bananas Foster French Toast, which I have had at their Tenderloin location and knew to be very good, but I wanted to try something different this morning (besides, I just had a "sweet breakfast" yesterday). Unfortunately for me, they no longer offer Sweet Potato Pancakes (topped with butter pecan sauce). Oh, well. You snooze, you looze(ianna).

I prefer a good N'Arlins-style Coffee with roasted chicory, but this was not that bad. It had a very interesting flavour and was good enough to be served as a dessert, and not overly sweet either. I bet it would also make a very good hot Coffee drink, too.

While this dish may not be "My Favourite 'New' Eggs Benedict Dish of 2017" (see 'blog-entry from Sunday, September 17th, 2017 for that particular honourific), it was one of the better Eggs Benedict dishes (new or old) that I have had this year. There were two major pluses (as opposed to one Captain Minus) in this dish: the Creole Hollandaise was very tasty (but not extremely spicy) and I really liked the cream biscuit (one, split in half) as the base (in lieu of ol' Mr. Thomas' faux crumpets-things). Not that I would ever attempt to make this at home, (and I am sure that Popeye would "Blow me down!" if he ever heard me say this) but I bet it would have been even better (and more Loozianna-ey) with either collard, turnip, or mustard greens (take your pick; I likes 'em all) in place of the spinach.

I went with the greets side-choice and was asked if I wanted it "with cheese". H*ck, yeah! This came out with a whole mess o'  (I have never heard of a "half mess o'") Cheddar cheese melted all over the top.

For condimentary supplementation, Brenda's Meat & Three only has Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce on all the tables. I came prepared with a few of my own hot sauces and only used a little (well, it poured out quickly, so it ended up being a lot) Dragon's Lair Extra Hot Cayenne & Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mon!) mixed in with the cheesy greets. I made sure to taste their Creole Hollandaise before messing it up with any extra spiciness and determined it was good enough as is.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Eggs Florentine with Creole Hollandaise ~ 7.0;
Grandma's Molasses-Black Walnut Iced Coffee ~ 6.9

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1. Nah! I had both of these songs in mind yesterday, but just didn't feel like posting five EweToob videos in one 'blog-entry.

Besides, I just happen to believe that Mark Freuder ("Freuder"?) Knopfler, OBE, is one of America's* finest songwriter/musicians of the 20th Century.

http://www.markknopfler.com/

*(Yeah, okay, he's really Glaswegian-born and Geordie-raised, but that is almost the same as being 'merican. Just ask anyone from Great Britannia, they will agree with me 100%.)

2. Which is actually a local San Francisco Boston/New England Sports-fan bar/hangout.

http://www.pourguys.com/connecticut-yankee/

I probably should check them out for "Brunch" one of these days. I used to work right across the street from the restaurant for about fifteen years, and have had lunch and dinner there plenty of times.