Brenda’s French Soul Food – Dinner with My Fave Filipino Foodies

Restaurant: Brenda's French Soul Food
Address: 652 Polk Street at Eddy, Civic Center/TL, SF
Phone Number: (415) 345-8100
Date Last Visited: October 1, 2011
Dining Partners: Fantastic Filipino Foodies - Keaton (honorary Filipino), Lara & Chip (kapaMEALya Power Couple), Albert (Filipeanut), Arnold (Inuyaki), and our special guest Marvin (Burnt Lumpia and Manila Machine)

Imagine this was in front of you:

Gorgeous, ain't it?

The colors, the scents, and flavors. They all worked. This, my friends, is what you can have at Brenda's French Soul Food for dinner. When Brenda's first opened about 4 years ago, they only served brunch and lunch. In fact, when I first came here, I was not impressed with the service, but the fried chicken I had that day in 2007 was really good. I did drop by for lunch a couple years later and had their Fried Shrimp Po'Boy which was legit. 3rd time here and all I wondered was if it got better.

The space was definitely different. It actually doubled in size and there was a wonderful natural light coming from the skylight above. They opened up for dinner about a couple of months ago, so I was excited to see what was on the dinner menu. Before I move on, the reason why we came here was because our friend Marvin came up from So Cal to spend the weekend in SF. The Filipino-American International Book Festival was going on at the Asian Art Museum and Public Library in the Civic Center area. Since some of us were attending, we decided to make a full experience out of it and have dinner at Brenda's.

Brenda is Filipina-Creole (wow, that's sexy), and it only made sense to eat at a place where a Pinay cooked. Unfortunately, Brenda was not around at dinnertime. I cried inside. It would have been great to converse with her. Anywho, who is ready for some food porn?


Sweet Watermelon House Tea
I was thirsty from walking from our rendezvous spot at the Asian Art Museum. Those 4 blocks were killer. I kid. But I was thirsty. This watermelon tea was on point! Not too sweet like those horrible canned drinks at the store.


Spicy Fried Black Eyed Peas
As a snack to munch on while you peruse the menu, you get these fried BEPs. Wow, did they have a kick to them.


Broiled Oyster Flight
One of Each Kind Provided
Oysters! I love them any which way you prepare them. We all thought, "go big or go home" and each trio shared a flight. Keat is allergic to seafood, so he did not participate. Poor guy.


Close Up of the Broiled Oysters
There are 4 different types on the plate:

1) Casino: Bacon, scallion, biscuit crumbs, parmesan, gruyère
2) Saint Charles: Andouille sausage, cornbread, holy trinity
3) Tchoupitoulas: Cayenne butter, garlic, herbs
4) Orleans: Blackened Voodoo bbq sauce

Each oyster had its own flavor and they were all awesome. We ended up dipping our crawfish beignets in the leftover sauces on the shells!


Crawfish Beignets
Spiced with Cayenne, Scallions & Cheddar
Speaking of the crawfish beignets...they were fantastic!!


The Interior of the Crawfish Beignets
The dough was pillowly and the filling was creamy and nicely seasoned. You have to try these when you are at Brenda's.


Smoked Pork Rillettes
Watermelon Pickles, Creole Mustard, Croutons
Spreadable pork. Yes. The buttery meat was on the rich side but the watermelon pickles were a nice tangy contrast as was the mustard with its pungent vinegary quality. Who knew the rind of a watermelon would make great pickles? I admit, I am not a pate person. Can't do liver, but this is a nice alternative.


Chicken, Sausage & Okra Gumbo
Because Keat didn't to try the oysters or the beignets, he ordered himself a cup of gumbo which he verified was seafood-free. I loved it.


The Burger
Our Spiced-Up Version Served on a Toasted Kaiser Roll
with Caramelized Onions, House Catsup, and Bread & Butter Pickles
This was Keat's man dish and it was a legit burger. Lots of flavor and the addition of the egg made it perfect. Everyone eyed the BFC - Brenda's Fried Chicken, and to our delight, our server informed us that you can order a piece of the fried chicken to go with your entree. Yes, Keat got one.


Catfish des Allemands
Bronzed Catfish, Crawfish Etouffée, Pecan Rice Pilaf
...and I did as well to go along this beautiful plate of food. The creamy étouffée on top made it such a sophisticated dish. The catfish, not browned nor blacked, was bronzed leaving a light lovely crust on the outside. You got your rice, fish, veggies, and luscious sauce.


Brenda’s Cream Biscuits
A meal is not complete without these cream biscuits. They are HUGE, first of all. Ramekins of butter and strawberry jam were set before us, but the butter really isn't necessary because the biscuit itself was already so buttery. A spreading of strawberry jam was just perfect. If only I can have one of these every morning...


Happiness
Look at the table. The rest of the gang ordered other outstanding dishes such as the Shrimp & Grits - sautéed shrimp, cheddar grits, spicy tomato-bacon gravy. Lara let me steal a couple bites of it and it was sinful. I hate to sound cliche, but it WAS! Albs got (check this): the Cornmeal-Fried Catfish Po'boy with chipotle rémoulade on toasted french roll AND a piece of Brenda's Fried Chicken AND an order of fried shrimp on the side! Chip ordered the BFC - Three pieces of Brenda's secret recipe fried chicken, the famous cream biscuit, hot pepper jelly & collard greens. Winners ALL AROUND!


Dessert Beignet Flight
Plain, Chocolate, Apple
You don't skip on dessert when you eat with us. The crawfish beignets treated us well and the dessert ones were great as well.


Rice Pudding Brulee
Vanilla Rice Pudding with Burnt Sugar Top
I liked that the rice pudding wasn't too sweet and the burnt sugar on top lent a little bitterness which I liked.


Chocolate Pot de Creme
Pot de Creme, regardless of what flavor is something I adore. Something about a luscious dessert that melts effortless in the mouth yet has a full feeling on the palette. We made some bootleg champurado by combing the rice pudding and chocolate pot de creme. We always find a way, us Filipinos.

I was incredibly satisfied with this meal. I'd like to thank my dining partners for ordering some fabulous food and their willingness to try new things. The conversation we had was also eye-opening. I love having friends like these! So the 1st visit was so-so, the 2nd visit was better, and the 3rd visit was outstanding. Whatever impressions we had prior to this visit were erased and now I am looking forward to future visits.

xoxo,
Jo

PS: Dear Marvin, hope we didn't traumatize you too much. =)