Creole Queue

We went to Brenda's on our way to Slow Food, thinking if we could get there before 10am there wouldn't be too much of a line. Boy, were we wrong.

We waited half an hour, and could see the sign-up sheet getting longer as we waited.  I've been to Brenda's for lunch too; the lines are just as bad. Get there early, or bring camp chairs.

It was just as crowded inside, owing to the postage-stamp size of the restaurant.   At least the coffee was good ... New Orleans-style chicory coffee with molasses.

We ordered what people had raved about at Brenda's -- the beignets.   Pictured at the top of the article are the beignet assortment, including plain, chocolate, apple and cajun-spiced crawfish.  Here are two of the stuffed ones, split.  They were delicious; Brenda's is worth visiting once just for these.  The chocolate was rich and gooey; two of the crawfish could have been their own meal.

After that, we split a veggie omlette, grits, bacon and potatoes.  I'd wanted to get something more specially New Orleans but the rest of the breakfast options included either pork, oysters or both.  The omlette was good if not particularly special.  Kris and I had divided opinions on the grits and she said the bacon was quite good.  The potatoes, though, were a loss, bland and starchy.

When I went back for lunch, my po'boy was too much bread and not enough filling, but my companion's pulled pork sandwich was pronounced superb.

So Brenda's can be a little hit-or-miss, but is mostly hit, and those beignets are not findable anywhere else in San Francisco.  Just get there early!