Brunching in the Bay

In my opinion, one of the best ways to spend a weekend morning is "brunching." Brunch is the best of breakfast and lunch, combined into one delicious meal. The only downside is having to wake up a little earlier, but as I get older, the option to sleep until noon because less and less feasible. This weekend was perfect because I made it to brunch both mornings!

On Saturday morning I met a friend at the Mission Beach Cafe. This place has great reviews on Yelp and I've heard there can be quite the line. When we went there was only a 15 to 20 minute wait, which for a buzzed about brunch place in San Francisco is not bad at all. I've spent multiple times waiting 45 minutes at Brenda's. The restaurant is pretty small and cozy, so we ended up being seated along the bar facing the window. This was actually a great spot to be on a sunny day, soaking up rays and people watching in the Mission. Our server was super friendly and hilarious, so that automatically made the dining experience better. We ordered some Blue Bottle iced coffee, although MBC just ended their contract with Blue Bottle and will be switching to someone else moving forward. We ended up splitting the pork and duck confit hash and the crab and shrimp eggs benedict. I started with the confit hash, which was tender pieces of braised pork and duck over a sweet potato- butternut squash hash, topped with two over-easy eggs and creme fraiche. The flavor profile was well-balanced and fresh, with everything prepared well. The only downside is that the dish was a little on the greasy side and since it was served in a bowl, whatever ingredient was making it greasy made everything a little greasy. The benedict was two english muffins slathered in their house-made guacamole and topped with shrimp and dungeness crab. The eggs on top were slightly over-poached but good for people who don't like runny yolks. The hollandaise sauce drizzled on top was good and balanced out with an orange reduction to cut the creaminess a bit. Overall, I had a pretty good experience there. It wasn't amazing for me, but definitely enjoyable and affordable. And apparently they have Pot Pie Tuesdays, which I wouldn't mind going back to try. We Midwesterners love our pot pies and I never see them out here.

Sunday morning I went with the boyfriend to The Liberty Cafe in Bernal Heights. I'd only been to Bernal Heights once before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This cafe ended up being near the top of the "heights" so there were plenty of nice houses with amazing skyline views. The neighborhood was very quaint and family-filled (although the fact that it was Father's Day may have been a factor in this). The Cafe has inside dining, patio dining and a back area dedicated to the bakery. Once again the wait was approximately 15 minutes, so not too bad. I had not heard of this place before so I went in with no expectations, which was kind of refreshing. Sadly they were out of the seasonal frittata, so I opted for the meat lover's scramble. The scramble was delicious. The eggs were served with bacon, sausage, chorizo, onion and Monterey cheese. It would probably be hard to go wrong with such a combination. The breakfast potatoes on the side were average. I chose the whole wheat walnut toast, which was pretty tasty so I think it's safe to assume their bakery selection has a lot to offer. Parking in this area is a lot better than most spots in the city, so if you have a car and your headed that way, this cafe is worth a stop.

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.