Friday, November 19, 2010

Weekend Breakfast at Huevos

It's going to be another beautiful weekend in New Orleans, and with the mercury rapidly dropping this may be one of your last opportunities of the season to enjoy one of life's great pleasures: breakfast outdoors. While a courtyard in the French Quarter or Garden District may be a quintessential New Orleans setting, the sidewalk on Banks Street is probably my #1 choice for a no frills, roll-out-of-your-bed-and-throw-on-a-pair-of-jeans kind of breakfast, with great food to boot.

What makes breakfast at Huevos special is that the kitchen utilizes the meats and sausage that Chef Bart Bell makes at Crescent Pie & Sausage next door. As such, carnivorous concoctions make regular appearances as daily specials. Take the Brisket Hash ($10.50), where chopped brisket, cubed potatoes, caramelized peppers and onions form a base for poached eggs and a drizzle of spicy aioli. The everyday menu features The Blue Jay Special (aka the “Huevorito”), which is the best $5 breakfast in town. A large tortilla stuffed with eggs, cheese, and spicy housemade chorizo, paired with a mug of Try Me Mills coffee. There is even a newly added Veggie Blue Jay Special for this who choose not to start their day with red pepper laden pork sausage. (Such a choice is incomprehensible to us, but we respect your decision.)
 
The Breakfast Sandwich has thick cut bacon and eggs on a crusty ciabatta roll. The accompanying hashbrowns are addictive with their crispiness from the flat top grill and sweetness from sautéed red onions. The namesake Huevos con Tamal is a trifecta of tamales stuffed with shredded pork, covered with a smoky, smooth tomato sauce, and crowned with two poached eggs and fresh pico de gallo.
Delicious.

As I have said many times before, weekend breakfast should involve great food without the pomp and circumstance. Huevos fits that description to a T. The menu is short, but there is enough variety to please a crowd. In my many visits, the only recurring hiccup that I have encountered is slightly overpoached eggs, though not to the egregious level of some other breakfast specialists around town. Even taking this into account, for my money, Huevos is one of the best breakfasts around.

Huevos - Birdie/Eagle

4408 Banks Street
(504) 482-6264
Open everyday from 7am till 2pm

4 comments:

Jones said...

Ironically, we went there today. It's within close proximity to the house, so we defer to Huevos more often than not. BJ special is the way to go, as I am close to receiving my "10th" one for free... However, the tamales we had today fell flat for the second time in a row. It's simply a lack of salt (my preference, I know) and a lack of spice emanating from the sauce. I really want this dish to be good, and I wonder if either Bart or Jeff have tasted it fully assembled in the past few months. Perhaps I will grab a beer at the bar over at Crecent Pie & ease into that conversation...

Hey, that's a great thread btw. Does one bring up criticisms such as this to the staff; and if so, should it be directed to the server, chef or owners? I know from personal experience that some chefs care more about the constructive criticisms than the obligatory "everything was great". Apologies if this hijacks the thread...

Peter said...

You bring up a great topic, Jones. Look for us to talk about it in an upcoming blog post.

Peter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Peter said...

Love the setting, love the concept of using local, homemade sausage. Only issue is with the outcome - to me, Satsuma, Coulis, Refuel, and Surrey's remain my top tier, Panola St, Breakfast Club, Russell's Marina Grill, and Cafe Navarre are more reeliable.

Huevos can be wonderful when they are on their game, but the place is just too inconsistent for me.