after dinner sneeze

t says: g and I found ourselves in San Francisco (and Bay Area) recently, and, like our last trip to Cali, we made sure to go around and frequent delicious restaurants and cupcakes.  But rather than bore you with every single thing we ate, I will instead tell you about the awesomest thing we ate.  On the Saturday morning before leaving, g and I wanted to get some brunch.  Unfortunately, the places we remembered from our research for our last trip were primarily Sunday brunch spots.  The Ferry Building could have been had, however, we did it once before and we were taunted by g’s cousin: “Don’t do that again – you’ve already done it once – do something else!”  We pulled out the iPad and started googling “Best Saturday Brunch” and limiting our scope to within walking distance from our hotel.  A place called “Brenda’s” popped up, and it felt like a place I had heard of before.  Boasting “soul food”, it promised to offer a little something different than we were used to.

When we arrived, we promptly put our name on a giant chalkboard that allowed us to see where we were on the waiting list.  As far as two-top tables were concerned, we were fourth in line.  We secured some seats in the waiting area (g does not like to wait standing) and cast hungry eyes in the general direction of the diners.  The specials on the board in the dining room included Bananas Foster French Toast and Pork Belly with Brussels Sprouts and Grits … simply put: I refused to go anywhere else.

Now, I could tell you all about how the French Toast was delicious (but honestly, Cochon, in the hayday of the Elvis French Toast does it better), and how the watermelon iced tea was very refreshing, blah blah blah.  But really, the dish of the meal was our first dish:

four beignets, lined up in a row

When we ordered them, we figured they’d be tiny, kind of like Talula’s Garden’s beignets.  They were not.  Seriously, one order of Beignets would have KO’d both of us had we finished them (we saved some to go for later).  The three powdered sugar ones consisted of the following: plain (i.e. unfilled), apple-filled, Ghiardelli chocolate-filled.  The last one, which did not have powdered sugar on it, was “crawfish-filled”.  Don’t believe me?  Look for yourself.

get in my belly!

The crawfish one was delightful.  Chunks of seafood in a delectable sauce of creole spices all inside a perfectly fried crust.  Sooo good.  It was like some sort of seafood stew but shoved inside fried dough.  But as good as it was, it was only second place in my book because that chocolate one haunts me to this very day.  It has single handedly ruined beignets for me.  The chocolate tasted exactly like Ghiardelli chocolate chips (trust me, I’ve eaten enough of them in our chocolate chip cookies to know).  It was powerful and rich and wonderful.  It made my bananas foster French Toast seem kind of “boring” in comparison – that’s how good it was.

g, who’s a sucker for doughnuts, was similarly in heaven.  I’m not sure which one was her favorite (maybe the apple one), but I can tell you that by the time we were leaving, she was adding Brenda’s to the short list of restaurants we absolutely have to eat at the next time we’re in town (actually, “the list” only includes Kiss Seafood and Kara’s Cupcakes so that’s pretty impressive!).

Long story short: go to Brenda’s for brunch – the beignets are worth the wait.  That’s right – it’s a brunch spot worth waiting for – a g&t first!