French Soul Food.

With the destination set to San Francisco, “What food shall I eat?” was the top priority on my mind. My sister threw out a place she saw on Food Network that had beignets, Brenda’s French Soul Food.  I immediately googled this restaurant and with 4 stars and over 4000 reviews on Yelp, I figured it must be good! My family and I decided to go there for brunch on a Sunday morning. We walked up the street trying to find the place, when suddenly, a crowd appeared. This must be the place. The wait ended up being 45 minutes to an hour. We don’t always wait thaaaat long for food, but when we do, it’s because we’re on vacation.  Another factor was that I read waaay too much on their beignets and my sister and I were dying to try it. We’ve never had beignets before and this place had us sold with the flight of beignets they offered: Plain, Ghiradelli Chocolate, Granny Smith Apple, and Crawfish. Our party was finally called to be seated! Jackpot. WE GET TO EAAAAT! I started off with the Guava Mimosa, while my family ordered the Watermelon iced tea. We are impressed. Next came our flight of beignets:

All delicious!  I am typically a savory, over sweet kind-of-gal, but surprisingly, I really liked the Ghiradelli Chocolate one.  The melted chocolate was perfectly balanced in flavor within the beignet.

Alas, brunch is served!

Hangtown Fry:  Crispy oyster, bacon & scallion scramble, with hash + cream biscuit

French Toast: Cinnamon-battered brioche + butter pecan sauce

Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict: Two poached eggs and pulled pork on cream biscuits with creole hollandaise +  grits

Foster’s Banana French Toast with butter rum sauce

(Excuse the blurry photo, I was starving by then)

Soo good!  Unless you have a huge sweet tooth, I recommend getting the Banana Foster’s French Toast if they’re offering it because the French Toast is more of a dessert. Everything was delicious down to the biscuits that accompanied my Hangtown Fry. We were all pleased with our food.

They do offer meals all day with dinner including gumbo, fried chicken, catfish, and ribs. I really wish I could have indulged in dinner there because they even have hushpuppies, which I love but rarely come across given I don’t live in the south. If you live in the Bay area or plan on making a trip there, do yourself a favor and have a feast at Brenda’s French Soul Food.