Down on the Bayou!

I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But let's face it, who has time? A typical weekday morning consists of a cup of coffee and a maybe a bowl of cereal. That's why weekends are so exciting for me. It's when I actually have time to relax and enjoy a great breakfast.

A really good and ,most importantly, consistent breakfast is hard to come by in this city. Believe me, I've done the circuit since I stopped making brunch myself. I had been to the Bayou Kitchen years ago and wasn't too impressed. I decided recently to give it another try since it had been so long. I was far from dissapointed!

I started with the "mudbug madness" a perfect omelet made with crawfish, cheese and homemade salsa. Good crawfish are hard to come by in these parts. Very often dry and mealy.

Not these buggers! They had that familiar "snap" like a miniature lobster tail and the best part was this omelet was crawling with them! Ok, probably not the best description to use, but you get the idea! With the breakfast entrees you get your choice of grits, homies, or beans. For toast you get the usual suspects as well as the standout bluberry-corn or jalapeno-cornbread. I opted for the grits and blueberry-cornbread. Both cooked to perfection!

My DP (Domestic Partner), Denae, had the Huevos Rancheros with black-bean chili and homies. A great vegetarian option. The huevos was HUGE and cooked perfectly. The homefries the best in the city! There was so much food that she had enough to take home for breakfast the next day. With us was her daughter Iris who had the biggest and best macadamia~white chocolate chip pancake I had ever seen and tasted! Of course I had to try a bite so after a quick distraction (Look! An alligator!) I deftly "stole" a bite of one of the most perfect pancakes ever. A beautifully crispy edge with a fluffy center. Amazing!

This entry has been a long time coming and since the initial writing over a month ago we've been back every week. That says a lot about a place! I'm now hooked on the Bayou Scramble (Crawfish, Jalapenos and Andouille Sausage with a generous side of red beans, beef and rice) and promised myself to broaden my horizons and try something else although it's hard to top perfection.

I've opted to not comment on the service since Wendy, our once faithful server at the Blue House, is now working here so it would be rather biased. She is still however, one of the best!

You can visit their website at www.thebayoukitchen.com

During this busy pig roasting season I'm going to try to be better at following up here since although this post says 5/24/08 it was actually published on 6/19/08.
Stay tuned for my experience at Portland's newest "it" place. Evangeline.