Is it folly to order biscuits on the side when you have three courses coming? Probably, but for $6, the airy, buttery bread will make you damn happy.
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Is it folly to order biscuits on the side when you have three courses coming? Probably, but for $6, the airy, buttery bread will make you damn happy.
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Lighter eaters might be perfectly content to eat this $9 parfait and call it a day. The honeyed yogurt transforms with each bite thanks to the inclusion satsuma sections, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds and fresh mint.
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Lighter eaters might be perfectly content to eat this $9 parfait and call it a day. The honeyed yogurt transforms with each bite thanks to the inclusion satsuma sections, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds and fresh mint.
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Is it truly brunch without a Bloody Mary? This one is made with a choice of mezcal or cucumber vodka, and a fried or raw oyster. Be warned: It’s spicy!
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Is it truly brunch without a Bloody Mary? This one is made with a choice of mezcal or cucumber vodka, and a fried or raw oyster. Be warned: It’s spicy!
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The field green salad is sweet with matchsticks of pear, beets and spiced candied pecans, and salty with Hook’s Cheese Company’s award-winning Blue Paradise.
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The field green salad is sweet with matchsticks of pear, beets and spiced candied pecans, and salty with Hook’s Cheese Company’s award-winning Blue Paradise.
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Crispy latkes serve as a bed for rosettes of house citrus-cured smoked salmon with a crown of salmon roe. Squiggles of dill-caper crème fraîche coat the crab-filled deviled egg.
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Crispy latkes serve as a bed for rosettes of house citrus-cured smoked salmon with a crown of salmon roe. Squiggles of dill-caper crème fraîche coat the crab-filled deviled egg.
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Spiced peanut soup is elegantly poured tableside, covering meaty shrimp with its rich, African-influenced goodness.
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Spiced peanut soup is elegantly poured tableside, covering meaty shrimp with its rich, African-influenced goodness.
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At $39 for three courses, choosing the Eggs Rossini might be the priciest option, but it may also be the best. Medallions of flat-iron steak and foie gras are bathed in sauce au poivre atop pedestals of buttery crostini, and paired with a pile of truffled scrambled eggs and sautéed veggies.
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At $39 for three courses, choosing the Eggs Rossini might be the priciest option, but it may also be the best. Medallions of flat-iron steak and foie gras are bathed in sauce au poivre atop pedestals of buttery crostini, and paired with a pile of truffled scrambled eggs and sautéed veggies.
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It doesn’t get more NOLA than debris, typically gravy-drenched roast beef. For his Southern Eggs Benedict, Holley replaces the beef with pork tenderloin and gravy with chicory Hollandaise. It’s served on a biscuit with a poached egg and a side of spicy kimchi-flavored collards. ($31 for three courses)
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It doesn’t get more NOLA than debris, typically gravy-drenched roast beef. For his Southern Eggs Benedict, Holley replaces the beef with pork tenderloin and gravy with chicory Hollandaise. It’s served on a biscuit with a poached egg and a side of spicy kimchi-flavored collards. ($31 for three courses)
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What’s better than Holley’s famous fried chicken? How about a fried Cornish hen with a sweet potato waffle? Even the hen’s breast is ultra-tender, juicy and a bit spicy with a crisp, well-seasoned jacket and two over-easy quail eggs for eyes. The waffles are sweetened with sorghum-rhubarb syrup, but savory creamed mustard greens prevent the dish from tasting like dessert. ($32 for three courses)
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What’s better than Holley’s famous fried chicken? How about a fried Cornish hen with a sweet potato waffle? Even the hen’s breast is ultra-tender, juicy and a bit spicy with a crisp, well-seasoned jacket and two over-easy quail eggs for eyes. The waffles are sweetened with sorghum-rhubarb syrup, but savory creamed mustard greens prevent the dish from tasting like dessert. ($32 for three courses)
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Speaking of sweets, if you don’t eat it quickly, the chocolate cake might float away. Duke’s mayonnaise is responsible for its silken texture and smoked peanut butter, dulce de leche ice cream and kettle corn contribute an interest sweet-and-savory contrast.
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Speaking of sweets, if you don’t eat it quickly, the chocolate cake might float away. Duke’s mayonnaise is responsible for its silken texture and smoked peanut butter, dulce de leche ice cream and kettle corn contribute an interest sweet-and-savory contrast.
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You probably already know you love the Down South Coconut Cake. If not, you will soon. Salted caramel and spiced pecans lend the often over-sweet pastry a grown-up complexity.
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You probably already know you love the Down South Coconut Cake. If not, you will soon. Salted caramel and spiced pecans lend the often over-sweet pastry a grown-up complexity.
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Of course there’s bread pudding. It will melt in your mouth, right along with its bath of rye caramel sauce.
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Of course there’s bread pudding. It will melt in your mouth, right along with its bath of rye caramel sauce.
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The most creative dessert, though, is a white velvet cheesecake whose zip is tempered by three presentations of beets: foam, a chip and a coulis. There are corn flakes covered in white chocolate, too.
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The most creative dessert, though, is a white velvet cheesecake whose zip is tempered by three presentations of beets: foam, a chip and a coulis. There are corn flakes covered in white chocolate, too.
If you’re a football fan, this weekend likely felt like a bit of a failure. Personally, I have watched a collective two hours of football in more than 30 years on this planet, but I know a thing or two about brunch. And I scored big yesterday with the prix-fixe at Holley’s Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar.
Though chef-owner Mark Holley debuted the most important meal of the weekend last year, he’s newly ramping up service with a more focused menu and world-class entertainment from singer Yvonne Washington, whom he met close to 40 years ago when they plied their respective trades around the corner at Brennan’s. The à la carte bill of fare includes oyster shooters and ceviches from the raw bar, as well as Holley’s faves such as gumbo and the chef’s Muddled Stew of pork belly, clams, redfish and Gulf shrimp, but the proper way to brunch there is to kick back, listen to Washington croon “Summertime,” and order from the prix-fixe menu. Yesterday, my party of three was able to try each option from each course, so the slideshow here shows every dish on the table d’hôte, as well as a few extras.
Alice joined Houstonia in November 2015 and has been relishing exploring the city’s vibrant food scene ever since.
She began her journalism career at age 13 with a cult film criticism ’zine. As an adult, stints with WWE Magazine and EatingWell led to her job as senior food writer at Vermont’s alternative newsweekly, Seven Days, in 2008. In that capacity, she became one of the state’s most well-known TV and radio personalities. Her first book, Vermont: An Explorer’s Guide, was published in 2015. Alice has won an AltWeekly Award for Best Food Writing, two Daysies for Best Print/Online Journalist, and two "Top Social Foodie" awards from Burlington Social Media Day.
