The Fried Dough Ho

One of the stalwart breakfast restaurants in the city is Brenda’s Soul Food, known for producing “French Soul Food.” Mostly, in my mind, they specialize in down south, Cajun-inspired cuisine. Only open for breakfast and lunch, I have enjoyed many savory dishes like cheese-laden shrimp-and-grits, andouille omelets, and spicy gumbo. Their house-made biscuits are huge, flaky, and served with a housemade jam in seasonal flavors.

Just like any New Orleans inspired restaurant, Brenda’s offers beignets. But these are not your classic Café du Monde beignets. Brenda’s makes larger, 3″ across pillows of fried dough. While they offer the classic, sugar-dusted plain beignets, what gathers the lines outside Brenda’s are three stuffed beignets — two sweet ones filled with Ghiradelli chocolate and Granny Smith apples with cinnamon honey butter and a spicy, savory version stuffed with seasoned crawfish spiked with cayenne, cheddar cheese, and scallions.

It is possible to order a sampler of all four flavors, but know that the one savory beignet is dusted with cayenne while all three are topped with powdered sugar so there is a little intermixing of sweet with hot. On my last visit, I ordered the savory crawfish beignets and was sadly disappointed. The dough is heavy and thick and gummy. The interior filling is delightful and I would be more than happy to eat a bowl of the redolently rich and heady seafood is so gooey and good, but to get to it, you have to eat through so much chewy, partly raw dough.

A good friend was visiting from New York when I suggested Brenda’s and especially touted the beignets. Instead of the entire sampling, we opted for just the crawfish platter which went back to the kitchen mostly uneaten. We cut them open to reveal the interior and enjoyed scooping out the delectable filling, but the dough was so heavy and chewy. Surprisingly, even sending some back uneaten did not illicit a response from server or the kitchen on how inedible they were. So sad for so much potential considering that everything else they serve is so exceptional. I love Brenda’s for an enticing breakfast for brunch. I’m just sorry what should be a signature dish is so mediocre.

Bob’s Donut and Pastry Shop is one of those establishments that is a stalwart landmark in San Francisco. It the place that my darling Lisa acquired my giant Birthday Doughnut. Not only do that have giant doughnuts as novelties, Bob’s provides the best quality, hand-made, classically-prepared doughnuts in the city. These are not gourmet doughnuts with unusual flavors like Voodoo or Gourdoughs. You won’t find anything with bacon or childrens cereal as a topping.

The interior is incredibly old fashioned; just a plain counter with a handful of two-seater chairs lining the wall. There is an old sign on the back wall worth looking at which reads “Cheaper by the Dozen – Plain, Powered, Maple, Glazed, Raised, Crullers, Crunch, Brownies. Take Home a Dozen. 2 for 15¢” I would have thought earlier, but they have been in existence since the 1960s. And the bulk of their business is not the morning crowd, but the late-night club-hoppers.

This is a stalwart favorite for a reason. The quality of their doughnuts is exceptional. Slightly misshapen indicates they are hand formed. The cake offerings are dense and rich with a moist crumb. The crullers are light and eggy and ethereally enticing. And then there is the apple fritter. Outside of Randy’s Doughnuts in Los Angeles, this is the best apple fritter I have experienced. It is a tad thicker than I prefer, but it has all the requisite dark crunchy bites that make a fritter fabulous.

Like Mrs Johnsons in Austin, if you go late at night, you can get these doughnuts fresh and warm. Many doughnut shops are preparing doughnuts throughout the evening for sale in the morning, but there are few establishments that enable you to acquire these warm, decadent morsels as they are being made. Kudos for Bob’s for staying open, for longevity, and for excellence.

One of the top destination restaurants in the city for the last six months has been Melissa Perillo’s Frances. I had the distinct pleasure to dine at the Fifth Floor under Perillo’s command and was looking forward to experiencing her new endeavor. The reservations at Frances are booked up weeks in advance and it is only the fact that a handful of bar seats are left open for first-come diners that enabled me to plan my birthday celebration.  Lisa and I arrived a few minutes before they opened and a line had already been established for a few of those choice non-reservation seats. We were lucky, getting a great seat at the bar with an optimal view down the hallway and into the kitchen where we could watch the action of waitstaff, Chef Perillo, and her kitchen crew. Ironically, June 1st was also Fraces’ sixth month anniversary so I felt that much more special celebrating along with them.

Bobby was our server behind the bar and when I explained that we were not eating an entire meal service but had only come in as part of my Fried Dough Ho obsession, he smiled with a twinkle in his eye and whisked away the menus, “I know exactly what you are having then,” he chuckled. While we waited, we savored a small, round shot glass full of their daily Market Shot – a concoction of fresh fruit juices and a touch of alcohol. Pixie mandarin, Meyer lemon, blood orange, pommeau, and Pedro Ximenez sherry. Also while we were waiting, we were served a small bowl of sage-scented roasted almonds; hard to not eat a lot of but I knew we had a long, dining night ahead of us.

Before I knew it, we were presented with two offerings, the rather infamous Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignets served with maple crème fraîche studded with chives and Panisse Frites, crispy chickpea fritters served with Meyer lemon aïoli. It was hard to choose which one to bite into first, but since it was the beignets that brought us here, I succumbed to the golden globes of goodness. These were tender, light and with tiny bits of bacon speckled throughout. So often a beignet can have a chewy, hard exterior but here, it was silky and rich. The accompanying maple crème fraîche was especially decadent, worthy of licking off one’s fingers (as Lisa will attest).

The chickpea fritters were a revelation. I know what beignets are supposed to taste like. And I know what the classic hush puppy-like fritter tastes like. Making a fritter from chickpeas, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery. Is it a matter of frying a hummus-like concoction? What is used to bind the chickpeas into the perfectly square logs? Dusted in a bit of cornmeal, the exterior was crunchy and firm but the interior was the surprise — absolutely creamy and smooth, almost molten; the way I have tasted fried goat cheese in the past.  Several minutes into savoring, that almost liquid-like interior never dissipated or hardened, the way a molten cheese would. The Meyer lemon aïoli is a natural complement to the rich flavors of the garbanzo, providing a bright counterbalance to the redolent fritter.

Lastly, a note on service. Everybody — and I mean everybody — was smiling. Big, bountiful, we-are-really-happy-to-be-here smiles. It was infectious. There is so much to be said for a restaurant when the general goodwill pervades the atmosphere. I was feeling a tad guilty about coming in for only a few courses, but Bobby was not only amenable, but helpful and understanding. Watching us enjoy the fried goodness, he knew we would be back for more and it is my hope to go back sooner. If the fried dough offerings were this exceptional, the rest of the menu will undoubtedly knock my socks off.

Last week was a sad one for me; I had to put down a beloved feline companion after 18 years together. To cheer me up, my Best Foodie Friend, Lisa, took me out for cocktails and to get my mind off the deed. We actually started off at 1300 Fillmore, so I already had some savory fried dough and a cocktail in me when we arrived at Gitane. Located in a secluded and atmospheric alley, getting to Gitane feels like traveling down an historic pathway in Europe with its speckled lights and al fresco setting.

We dined at Gitane’s bar and had a great time and a great meal with just their appetizers. Starting with sardines, moved on to the quail, and finished up with beignets. All served with fabulous cocktails which were innovative and paired well with the food. With the sardines, I had a Sin Nombre (Van Gogh gin, creme de gingembre, cucumber, lemon, egg white, and cracked pepper). With the quail, I had a Gypsy (right gin, green chartreuse, St. Germain, and lime juice).

But this is about their beignets, which we also paired with a cocktail, a Castillan cup (bierzo roble wine, Pimm’s no. 1, sliced cucumber & strawberry, ginger beer, mint). Their beignets are very light with no hint of grease, and served with three different sauces; honey, lemon curd, and a rich, creamy chocolate. Dusted with a bit of powdered sugar, the perfectly-formed pillows of puffed dough provide a not-too-heavy finish to a great meal. The pairing with the cocktail was surprisingly successful; a bright and fruity concoction balances well with the doughy goodness and was not too harsh against the powdered sugar or any of the dipping sauces.

After the long, wet winter, an early Spring Sunday brought about a lovely brunch with Dave and Gina at the San Francisco’s Fillmore District restaurant, Elite Cafe. This was a very special day in so many ways. You see, Darling Gina is the bad-ass, leather-clad, motorcycle-mamma, hot-chick who helped me craft the too-cool-for-words banner you see here at Fried Dough Ho. When I initially came up with the name, I had an idea that a 1950s Burlesque Queen would represent the sultry sauciness of my fried-dough-whoredom, brainstorming that someone like Tempest Storm or Blaze Starr could be Photoshopped with doughnuts masking her attributes. Well it was Gina who thought to go back a few years early and look at the Ziegfeld Girls and when I stumbled on the image of the lovely Evelyn Groves holding a giant hoop, I knew that her naked naughtiness would be the perfect representation of demure and enticing as she grasps the cakey goodness. So here’s a shout-out to Gina!

I like the brunch at Elite Café because of their New Orleans-inspired dishes; shrimp and grits for breakfast can’t be beat. They also have these home-made biscuits that I swear have crack cocaine in them. Even the servers call them Crack Biscuits. And their skillet-served corned beef hash with poached eggs is pretty darn good too. But one of the specialties that invokes New Orleans are their beignets and miniature doughnut holes. The holes come warm and fresh, about a dozen morsels in a small bowl, each less than an inch in diameter, dusted with granulated sugar and cinnamon. They are very addictive and must be eaten while still fresh and warm. Once cold, they lose their charm. At $2.75 a bowl, these should be ordered as you sit down and peruse the menu (along with a Kir Royale or spicey Bloody Mary). 

Elite goes full force with its NoLa menu and no New Orleans knock-off would be worth its salt without a beignet. At $2.00 each, this is where Elite falls short, I’m afraid. Approximately 2″ x 3″ and heavily dusted with powdered sugar, these are heavy and laden and on several occasions, still doughy and gummy inside (as in these pictures). Instead of light and fluffy and addictive, one bite of this door stop was enough for me. Go to Elite Café, yes, but stick to the holes and the biscuits!

2049 Fillmore St
(between California St & Pine St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
Neighborhoods: Pacific Heights, Lower Pac Heights
(415) 346-8400