One of the Best Brunches I've Ever Had

I have an announcement, slow drum roll please! I now have a new favorite brunch place in San Francisco. I went there randomly last Sunday morning with a friend who found it on Yelp. The place is Brenda's French Soul Food and it is amazing. When I look it up on Yelp, I keep getting served Weight Watchers ads. They probably caught on that this place serves delicious yet dangerous giant brunch dishes.Their name says it all; the menu consists of soul food with Creole/Cajun influences (this is where the French comes in) and specialized in breakfast/brunch, but is also open most days for lunch and dinner.

It's in the Civic Center/Tenderloin area, so I was walking through a pretty dodgy neighborhood to get there. When I was a block away I saw this huge group of hipsters milling around outside of a building. On closer inspection, there was a giant frying pan hanging near the top of the building. This had to be Brenda's. My friend had gotten there a little before me and had put out name on the chalkboard waiting list. Even though we were there at 10am (which is a very early brunch for me), there was still an estimated 30-45 minute wait. No one else seemed to mind, so we figured it was worth the wait. However, it was a particularly downcast and chilly day in the foggy city, so we squeezed inside for heat. We found that we were able to bypass the wait if we took seats at a long wooden bar running through the restaurant and promptly did so. The small restaurant was bustling and was filled with mouth-watering aromas. The brick wall across from us had a crack down the middle, then was covering with large antique mirrors of various sizes, shapes and frames. It's what I imagine a studio in Brooklyn to look like.

To start, I ordered the watermelon tea, which had received rave reviews online. I was a little disappointed when it arrived because it was iced and I was hoping for hot. There were real chunks of watermelon in there, so if you're a fan of the fruit you should definitely order one. We decided to split a sweet dish and a savory dish, because too much of one is never as satisfying as having a little of both. Is there a restaurant out there that serves brunch dishes where one half is salty and the other sweet? If you know of such a place, please let me know. They must be geniuses. I ordered off the daily specials board, which was featuring a cream cheese and blueberry french toast dish that sounded too good to pass up. It was possibly the best french toast I have ever had. Each piece was like a half sandwich, with a layer of cream cheese in between the two slices. It was topped with syrup, fresh blueberries and walnuts. There was a side of whipped cream if you wanted to add more sweetness. I'm usually not a french toast fan because I think it tastes like egg soaked soggy bread (which it is) and that's never been appealing to me. However, these slices weren't soggy, but perfectly soft with a little grilled crispiness for texture. The egg was just a faint taste that complimented the other ingredients instead of overpowering it. My friend ordered the Creole style Eggs Benedict and we switch plates halfway through the meal. The Eggs Benedict were served on top of giant, fluffy Southern style biscuits that were still warm and flaky. The slice of ham was thick and not some sad little lunch meat. The egg was poached to perfection. What really brought is over the edge to epicness was the Creole hollandaise sauce. The Cajun spices smothered on top of eggs, meat and a biscuit was an amazing flavor profile. We got the potato hash as a side but it sounds like we should have opted for the grits, which they are known for. Next time I'm back (because I will definitely be back) I need to try the beignets, which they are also known for. They have plain, chocolate, granny smith apple and crawfish. If you haven't been here yet, go next weekend. You'll understand what I mean when I saw life-changing brunch.