Passionfruit Butter

…because every point needs a counterpoint. I will admit, it’s a very convincing point that I set out to overthrow. And yet, it’s a Mother’s Day tradition in my family to go out for brunch with my mom, my brother, my grandmother, and my mom’s dear friend + children. So when I found out the reservations were for Café Atchafalaya, I settled down with my notes to test the Blackened Out hypothesis.

I did not get that. I think it would be taxing to my mother if I ordered a cocktail at Mother’s Day brunch. But someone at our table got this, and I thought it was so pretty. There’s a veritable garden in that thing: olive, green bean, okra, celery, and more.

My brother got the Bananas Foster french toast, which has appeared on several brunch menus I’ve seen at different restaurants, and I always toss the idea around but decide that it would be way too much, even by my standards. I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to snitch a couple bites of this stuff. It was good. Rummy. The caramel was ridiculously sticky- almost tacky in texture. The bread was a bit less soaked than I’d like, but I’ve been a little bit spoiled by a dad who soaks the stale baguette overnight before cooking it up in the morning. I wished the bananas had been caramelized or softened rather than plopped on raw and freshly sliced (would’ve been texturally more pleasing and also more in alignment with traditional Bananas Foster), but the rawness did kind of make me realize we were, after all, eating breakfast — I might have forgotten, what with the richness of everything else. It was delicious but I was relieved I didn’t order it. Great in small doses but otherwise overpowering, unless you have the sugarholic tendencies and metabolism of a 13-year-old boy.
Overall? Points to my side, in favor of eating out for Mother’s Day brunch.

Points to Blackened Out’s anti-Mother’s Day restaurant brunch for the simple fact that there are revised and special (read: LIMITED) menus. I can’t possibly go to Café Atchafalaya without gobbling a plate of their fried green tomatoes, and the usual fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade were sadly lacking.

So, I got the next best thing (if I recall correctly, it was the only item on the menu that included fried green tomatoes — another tragedy): poached eggs on fried green tomatoes with jumbo lump crabmeat and hollandaise sauce. The tomatoes were excellent; I would’ve appreciated one more slice, but that’s mostly attributed to my insane fandom. The crabmeat was a godsend: do  you SEE the size of those morsels!? Perfect consistency- sufficiently firm (we like crabmeat with dignity) but with just the right give to it. My big issue with this dish was the hollandaise, which was fine until I cracked open the runny eggs, at which point the hollandaise totally fell to the background; I wouldn’t have even known it was there. It definitely could’ve done well were it thicker and fluffier. I also dabbed on some Crystal hot sauce because even with the heavyhanded sprinkling of green onions, there wasn’t enough of a kick to the dish. All things considered, I was pleased with what I ordered, but I definitely would’ve changed a few things.
Point to me: I couldn’t have made this at home. That brings the score thus far to 2-1, with me in the lead.

I’d say what evened out the score was service, as well as ambiance. Service was HECTIC (though with reservations, we were sitting immediately upon arriving at the restaurant), and it took 45 minutes for our food to come out, which made me quite cross. There was an occasionally malfunctioning sound system that put a damper on things; when it wasn’t squeaking and creaking, it was pumping out the band that was playing live at the front of the restaurant WAY too loud. (But that, I think, was just as likely to happen any other day.)
So, final score is 2-2. From my standpoint, it’s your decision whether to have Mother’s Day brunch at home or at a restaurant. All I’m saying is that you must choose your restaurant wisely and for God’s sakes, don’t go to restaurants with lofty expectations. If you decide on a restaurant, base your decision on the grounds of convenience/experience/luxury, not on the more practical and specifically food-related issues that normally draw you to a restaurant.

I’ll leave you with this, my mom’s crabmeat omelette with Lyonnaise potatoes: