Brenda’s ~ French Soul Food

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." 
~ Eric Hoffer (or Frank Caliendo, I always get those two mixed up)

http://frenchsoulfood.com/


Place: Brenda's ~ French Soul Food
Location: 652 Polk Street (at Eddy Street)
Hours: open for breakfast Monday-Friday at 8:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday & Sunday at 8:00am
Meal: Two Eggs Any Way You Like 'Em ~ with potato hash or grits, plus toast or cream biscuit; a side of Three Granny Smith Apple Beignets[1] ~ sweetened with cinnamon honey butter; and a cuppa Community Coffee® with chicory

http://www.communitycoffee.com/

(There is really no juxtaselection with today's EweToobular songs, I just recently discovered Lake Street Dive and like their sound. Plus, in the first video, I think it is so cool to have the sheer audacity of filming a video in an actual playground in front of a buncha loud, obnoxious, indifferent rug-rats, which is just sheer awesomeness.)


A sunny Sunday morning? Half the city is cut-off by the San Francisco Marathon, anyway? What better destination than to head over once again to Brenda's ~ French Soul Food (see last 'blog-entry from June 17th, 2012). Even though they call the early morning meal "Brunch" on their menus, any place that opens up earlier than 9:00am is breakfast with me, Jake.

There are several items on their standard printed menus that are good for both stupid vegetarians and those that partake of the dead, decaying animal (particularly of the porky persuasion) flesh, and there were a few other good ideas off the weekend Specials chalkboard (which I would like to point out is an actual chalkboard, not one of those new-fangled, fake "dry-erase boards"): Bananas Foster French Toast (w/ warm butter-rum sauce; I had this the last time I ate there, and it was excellent, but I opted for something where I could also enjoy their excellent beignets, too); or Muffaletta[2] Sandwich (w/fries or slaw; the sandwich isn't really stupid vegetarian- or Vegan-friendly, though); additionally, they had a Guava Mimosa as a weekend drink special.

Apparently "I like 'em" over-medium. For a change, I went with the grittier choice of sides ~ and they were nice and buttery, too. I had the cream biscuit (which I can only assume is some version of a buttermilk biscuit) as my bready side. Why would anyone not choose this over plain ol' toast? And this is not insulting plain ol' toast in any way, but fresh-baked always trumps out of a loaf bag any time. When taken as separate pieces of an entire breakfastary puzzle, there really wasn't anything overly exciting with each component (over-medium eggs ~ okay; grits ~ good; cream biscuit ~ very good); however, when you add all of them together, it was truly very tasty. 

Now here is probably as good of a place as any to mention their outstanding homemade jams (I couldn't wait to do so in the condimentary supplementation area). There were two different types on the tables today: strawberry and peach. The peach happened to be on my table and I am very glad of that as I might have missed it otherwise. It was extra chunky and made with cinnamon and cloves in it (I asked the manager/maître d'-guy; my palette ain't that discerning). I generously used a good amount of it (seriously, I thing I used up half the jar) on my cream biscuit. I also saw fit to use a good dollop (or three) on one of my beignets.

I only ate one of the beignets before/with breakfast ("Brunch", whatever), and took the other two home with me to enjoy later in the day. I really liked this N'Awlins version of a jelly doughnut. ("Ich bin ein Louisiana Krapfen."?!) I have had them a few times now there and knew them to be very good. I wonder what a banana beignet might taste like. They don't offer that particular choice at Brenda's, but it is a standard flavour in N'Awlins. Plus, it's just fun to say "banana beignet"; go ahead say it ten times fast, you know you want to.

The cuppa Coffee really turned out to be more of a small bowla Coffee if you ask me, which didn't stop me from getting a few refillas all the same. What is the opposite of "Demi-tasse"? A "Bruce-bol"? (And I know that an "Ashton-bol" would be more current, but Bruce Willis is still much cooler than Ashton Kutcher any day.)

In addition to the abovementioned homemade jams, naturally, Brenda's has Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce on all of the tables. I just used some of my own Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) in with the grits, and some Hula Girl Chipotle Habanero (Thanks, Jim!) liberally all over the eggs.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Two Eggs Any Way You Like 'Em ~ 6.2 (with their homemade peach jam factored in ~ 6.4); Granny Smith Apple Beignets ~ 7.2 (with their homemade peach jam factored in ~ 7.4); homemade peach jam ~ 7.5


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Beignet" comes from French, from Middle French "bignet", from Old French "buyne/buigne" (meaning "bump" or "lump").

2. I had to ask my waiter-server guy if a "Muffaletta" meant a sandwich made with a slice of black bread and a slice of white bread.

Actually, this can be spelled several different ways: Muffaletta, Muffuletta, Muffoletta, Muffiletta, Mufullettc. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffuletta

Brenda’s ~ French Soul Food

Do you think that Oedipus is a wreck on Father’s Day?

http://frenchsoulfood.com/

(I can only assume that the rainbow flag on the building is the State flag of Louisiana or maybe the City banner of New Orleans. Gee, there really must be an awful lot of Cajun and Creole restaurants in the Castro District.)

 

(Sure I could have gone with the more conventional Harry Chapin classic "Cat's Cradle", but that one is too ubiquitously played… and you hear it everywhere, Mr. Shawn Kemp, Sr.)


How do you say "serendipity" in French or Cajun?[1]

I was not really planning on having French toast again for breakfast this morning, as I just had some yesterday and earlier in the week on my birthday at Dottie's True blue café (Are you happy now, Mrs. Huneycutt, I went an entire weekend without having an omelette or main egg dish of some sort?); however, I went back to Brenda's ~ French Soul Food after a long delay (see last 'blog-entry from October 9th, 2011) and as I had just mentioned Bananas Foster[2] French Toast in yesterday's 'blog-entry the three chefs of Serendip must have heard me, as this was the weekend sweet entry on their Specials (an actual chalk)board.

This was my first trip back to Brenda's since they had opened up the other room next door for dining (I think they have had it open since late October-early November now). The "new" space more than doubles the capacity allowed; it is a little bit wider and there are many more tables than in the original space. Even though, there is still a bit of a wait to get in if you don't get there as soon as they open (I was there at 7:50am before they had opened yet and was third in line).

I really didn't want to order French toast again, but Brenda's doesn't have that many items on their "Brunch" menu (they call it "Brunch", but it’s really breakfast at 8:00am in the morning) for stupid vegetarians. So I went with the sweet offering off the Specials board: Bananas Foster French Toast ~ with warm butter rum sauce and whipped cream. I also had a side of hash potatoes (which really are more of a homefries chunky type, not the shredded hashbrowns version) and a cuppa mighty fine Community Coffee (N'Orleans-style with roasted chicory). I really need to try their Sweet Watermelon House Tea one of these days.

This was very good and I will order it again (just not if I have already had French toast twice in the same week) if it is available (I spoke with someone there and he told me this shows up often on their Specials board). It was a lot of food with three entire slices of French toast; however, I still think that the Merchants Way version was better (from memory, everything always tastes better). I probably would have made it with thinner slices of bananas not whole chunks; and if I ever did cook (and could figure out how to make that tasty Butter Rum sauce), I would do just that. I did discover an extra added taste treat by taking some of their homemade strawberry preserves and using it on a few of the slices. (There is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that I will ever attempt to make my own homemade preserves, so Brenda's has got me there.)

Brenda's has just Crystal® Hot Sauce for condimentary supplements; at least it's an original Loosianna brand. So I simply used some of my own Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!) on the hash potatoes.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Bananas Foster French Toast ~ 7.4 (with their homemade strawberry preserves ~ 7.5)


[1] You shouldn't have asked.
 
Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
 
The word for "serendipity" in French is "sérendipité". 
 
For a change, they actually stole a word from English (which was in turn formed from a Persian fairy tale place name). I have mentioned this word origin before here in the past and am too lazy to write out the whole stupid story again. Besides, what is Wikipedia for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

I have no idea what "serendipity" would be in Cajun, though. There is no Google Translate for that dialect.

[2] If you were wondering just who the heck is this "Foster" guy is and why does he rate a dessert named for him, here is the answer from our good friends at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananas_Foster

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.

Just For You cafe

How do you (mis)pronounce the Capital of Louisiana*?



http://www.justforyoucafe.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXvoRRMSSGU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJHcD0kHTGk&feature=related

(No real reason for the Little Feat** songs other than I like them and felt like including them with today's 'blog-entry. I have actually been from Tucson, AZ, to Tucumcari, NM, and I've been to Tehachapi, CA; I have never been to Tonopah ~ neither the one in AZ, nor the one in NV ~ though.)


Trekked it on over to Dogpatch this morning for another stellar breakfast at Just For You cafe. (See 'blog-entry from January 3rd, 2011 for my last visit.) This is really a great place for breakfast, Mister Spock.

My main problem this morning was once again having to decide which of their breakfasts to choose from. I had their most-excellent Huevos Rancheros the last time I was there, and the time before that I had their Omelette of the Decade. The Greek Scramble ~ with Feta cheese, onion, spinach, tomato, and real Καλαμάτα olives looked to be a tasty one, too. However, I settled on the Greg's Scramble ~ 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, onions, garlic, and topped with Parmesan cheese; with mushrooms and zucchini (the veggie version). This is served with home fries or grits (or fresh fruit for an additional charge) and choice of homebaked bread/toast: white, whole wheat, cinnamon***-raisin, biscuits, cornbread, scone, or English muffin.




I mainly went with the Greg's because I knew my North Yorkshire host would probably hate the addition of mushrooms in an egg dish bearing his name (I think he's okay with zucchini, though). I chose the (homebaked) cinnamon-raisin toast and was not disappointed; this was chock full o' raisins and smelled greatly of the barky spice. As usual, I opted for the home fries over grits (or fresh fruit). The scramble had lots of fresh spinach, mushrooms, and zucchini in it. I would also like to point out that this was covered with lots of REAL shredded Parmesan, not that fake Parmesan powder stuff that comes in a can.

I also had to have a good cuppa their N'Orleans-style house coffee (that is with chicory), which is an "imported" blend from Louisiana ~ Community Coffee®. I must have had 3-4 cups of the stuff. I will probably be racing like a piss-horse all day and may not be able to get to sleep until later tonight…

Now, for complimentary supplementation I knew that they have one of the better collections available, but I still brought a few of my own just for the heck of it. I ended up using some of their El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce ~ Salsa Kutbil-ik de Chile Habanero on the scramble, and some of my own Palo Alto Fire Fighters Pepper Sauce (Thanks again, Amy!) on the home fries.

"Round up the usual suspects…":




Dogpatch… the final frontier. Who knew?!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Greg's Scramble ~ 7.0


*(I actually got the guy sitting next to me at the counter today with this old one. I asked him if the Capital of Louisiana is pronounced "New OR-leans", "New Or-LEANS", "N'Arlins", or even "N'Or-leeON". He said his grandfather was from Louisiana and that it is definitely "N'Arlins"!

He was very disappointed when I informed him it is actually "Baton Rouge"… supply your own pronunciation of that one, though.)

**(I once made a cuts-tape of all Little Feat covers. I called it "Tiny Shoos".)

***(Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Cinnamon" comes to English from the Greek word "kinnámōmon", which is taken from the Phoenician word akin to the Hebrew word "qinnāmōn".)

Brenda’s ~ French Soul Food

"Please Eat Responsibly"*



http://www.frenchsoulfood.com/


Brenda's ~ French Soul Food (over on Polk Street in the Tenderloin, near the Civic Center) was recommended to me by another regular customer at Dottie's TRUE BLUE CAFE last month when I ate there; he saw me writing notes about my breakfast and he said if you like Dottie's you will probably like Brenda's, too. Unlike Dottie's, Ella's, Chloe's, Eddie's, etc. there is a real "Brenda" associated with the restaurant AND she actually does the cooking, too. This is another one of those tiny, but good places; the total seating is only 34 (8-½ tables). So get there early or prepare for a bit of a wait; and much like Dottie's, this place is located in a sketchy area of the Tenderloin, so there is not much to do while waiting outside.

Brenda's offers many good breakfast/brunch** options on their regular menu and on their weekend specials board: today they had three different versions of Eggs Benedict (Fried Catfish, Florentine, and Molasses Ham) and a very tempting Pear Brown Betty Pancakes w/Whipped Cream. I liked how the silverware and napkins settings are in empty cans on the tables (Steen's® 100% Pure Cane Syrup, must be a Loosiana thing).

http://www.steensyrup.com/
 



While I was waiting for my order, I was entertained with a little N'Orleans Jazz playing on the house stereo: some Bessie Smith and Louis Prima that I recognized. So I am including a few links here from EweToob for your listening plaisir aussi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX8ptPn3P9I&feature=related

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

As I just had Eggs Benedict yesterday and I knew I was going to have a side order of their Beignets*** (and didn't want all sweet, bread products ~ not to be confused with "sweetbread products", 'cause that would just be gross for breakfast), I went with the Creole Veggie Omelette ~ Corn macque choux**** (Gesundheit!), tomato, onion, pepper, spinach, Cheddar; served with a choice of potato hash or grits, and cream biscuit or toast. I also had a cuppa the house coffee Community Coffee & Chicory***** this is the same brand of coffee that Just For You cafe serves (see my last post from January 3rd, 2011). I went with the Beignets ~ Plain - for the die-hard traditionalist (3 each); they offer four different types of Beignets, and all of them sound good.




The omelette was very good with lots of fresh veggies; the corn was fresh, not frozen ~ always good; fresh spinach (again, not frozen) ~ also good; however, the peppers fooled me, Jerry! I thought they may have been pasilla chilis, but the waiter told me they were just plain ol' green bell peppers. Everything was fresh with lots of flavour ~ a nice all-around combination. I skipped the cream biscuit or toast (I would have opted for the cream biscuit) that come with the meal as I knew there was no way I would have room for that and the beignets and I really wanted to try their beignets. Their potato hash (which was just home fries à la N'Orleans) was okay, just not as good as the rest of the food ~ potatoes, green onions, and lots of spices; their grits looked pretty tasty (a good sized bowl with lots of cheddar cheese in them), so I will definitely get that as the side next time. The coffee was good and strong with lots of chicory, and served in a very large cup.

The beignets were excellent all by themselves, fluffy and hot, dusted with powdered sugar. Then I discovered they had a homemade strawberry jam on each of the tables. I am generally not a big strawberry jam fan (it always seems kinda pedestrian to me), but their version was great and made the beignets even more excellenter. I am not sure what the "Je ne sais quois" ingredient was in their jam: Ginger? Cinnamon? Whatever it was, it really made the jam jam.



For hot sauce condiments, they only offer Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce; so I went with some of my own stash: Sylvia's Restaurant® Kickin' Hot ~ Hot Sauce (a Loosiana-style hot sauce from New York City… Thanks again, Sean!) on the potatoes along with some fresh cracked McCormick's® black peppercorns on the potatoes and omelette.

Responsible eating is something that everyone needs to try. So, get over to Brenda's and "Laissez les bon temps beignet"!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Creole Veggie Omelette ~ 6.8; Coffee ~ 6.7; Beignets ~ 7.0; Homemade Strawberry Jam ~ 7.1


*(This is the slogan on the back of the t-shirts that the waitstaff were wearing.)

**(While they technically call their weekend breakfasts "Brunch", this place opens early enough on Saturdays and Sundays ~ 8:00am ~ for my liking to ignore that snooty sobriquet.)

***(Useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

Beignets are basically French doughnuts. The word beignet is French for "fried dough".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beignets )

****(Macque choux = ??? I tried to look up the definition of this on the Intro-Net, but really couldn't find a decent answer. Let's just say it must mean some kinda N'Orleans-Frenchy corn relish.)

*****(Roasted chicory root is a common additive to N'Orleans-style coffee. I like it; it gives the coffee a pretty unique flavour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicory )