First Bite: Big Bad Breakfast

We need to talk about tomato gravy. When I visited the original Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, Miss., a decade back, I didn’t order it, and that may be the biggest culinary tragedy of my life. The ingredients are simple: onion, thyme, tomato, scallion, heavy cream, cayenne and a whole damn stick of butter. It tastes like vodka cream sauce and tomato soup had a baby, and if that doesn’t sound like something you want on eggs, you haven’t tried it. It’s zippy, rich and acidic, an ideal condiment for the decadent food at BBB. 

That brings us to a question: Do you really need to add cream sauce to the eponymous Big Bad Breakfast, a skillet stuffed with bacon, sausage, ham, onion, potato, cheddar and three eggs? Honestly, yes! It’s that good. But I recognize that my answer is disgustingly gluttonous, and that’s telling. Yes, BBB has some lighter options, but based on what I’ve seen, most folks are there to get down, so plan the rest of your day accordingly.

Here’s what you need to know: 

Crowds

Spoiler alert: Big Bad Breakfast is slammed during breakfast. Sometimes you can score a seat at the bar, but I’d just wait until 10:30 a.m. or so, when most of the crazy dies down. Weekends, however, are full-on apeshit, so come ready to wait.

Breakfast

In another shocking twist, breakfast is the best thing at BBB, with a few stellar lunch exceptions. We'll get to those in a bit.

Biscuits

John Currence is a James Beard Award-winning chef, and this is his seventh BBB, so yeah, he’s got biscuits down. His cathead biscuits — named for being as big as a cat’s head — are made with frozen butter and lard, both of which melt while baking to create buttery pockets inside and crunchy crust outside. (Find the recipe here.) They are the cat’s pajamas, especially topped with the bright, zippy housemade jams. Go for peach or strawberry; raspberry and blackberry are too seedy.

Bacon

The Big Bad Breakfast concept was built on bacon — and not just any bacon. Currence manufactures his in concert with the Fatback Pig Project in Eva, Ala., curing it with pepper mash left over from making Tabasco. Currence was close with Tabasco CEO Paul McIlhenny before he passed in 2013, and BBB is the only place that gets this special mash for curing. You can practically taste all that history in the finished product, and the sweet-and-spicy variety is arguably the best thing on the menu. 

Flapjacks 

BBB’s buttermilk pancakes are fluffy and tangy with just a hint of vanilla, so they’re not overly sweet or heavy. My niece, The Pancake Princess of West Meade, heartily approves of them, and that’s really all you need to know.

The Jack Benny 

Under the “Eggs & Such” section of the menu you’ll find “classics given a chef’s shot in the arm,” and that’s an apt description of this benedict in particular. Made with poached eggs, sliced ham, wilted spinach and hollandaise, it’s a standout because of its twists: First, it’s built on hashbrowns rather than English muffins, which adds crunch and depth. Secondly, it’s topped with ham powder, which is just as magical and umami-boosting as it sounds. Fries come with it, but I’d skip them — they were under-seasoned and you’ve already got potatoes on the plate — and sub in the creamy, well seasoned Grit Girl grits. 

Fried Oyster Scramble “Hangtown Style”

A Hangtown fry is essentially a bacon-and-oyster omelette made popular during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s. BBB scrambles the eggs, fries the oysters and adds onion, tomato, potato and, of course, mayonnaise, lest your cholesterol plummet to normal levels. Topped with sliced serranos, it’s equal parts fancy and comforting. Give it a healthy splash of their zingy, not-too-spicy green hot sauce for maximum punch. 

Drinks

As with the bacon, BBB’s coffee is custom-blended for them, so it’s a no-brainer. If booze is on your agenda, the breakfast margarita is good — “breakfast” just means “topped with Prosecco” — but there are better margaritas in town. Go with the Corsair Gin Cucumber Smash, a strong, refreshing sipper that’s a nice complement to the menu’s more overindulgent items. 

My only real beef is with the “Buena Vista” Irish Coffee. Don’t get me wrong: It’s fine, but anyone who’s made a pilgrimage to The Buena Vista restaurant in San Francisco to taste its famous version is going to be disappointed. There is no sugar-cube throwing, no scalding-coffee-pouring and definitely no magic-floating-cream trick. There is only cold whipped cream made with an immersion blender. I hate to be a buzzkill, but if you’re going to namecheck the greatest, you’ve got to be ready to compete with it. Just call this “Irish coffee” and move along. 

Lunch

Avocado Toast

When a dish is so ubiquitous it becomes shorthand for a whole generation, you have to do it right or not do it all. The day I tried BBB’s avocado toast, it was light on avocado, heavy on arugula, and the poached eggs were lost in the equation. In short, other places do it better, and for my money, BBB doesn’t need it on the menu anyway. 

Turkey Club Wrap

Some days you need to keep it simple, and this wrap fits the bill: turkey, arugula, tomato, bacon, Swiss and basil aioli. Yes, it’s basic, and no, that’s not a slam. It works. 

Grandmother’s Chicken Salad

As a Southerner, I believe you can judge every lunch enterprise by its chicken salad. Currence’s is excellent — dressed but not drowned, seasoned but not salty — which I’m glad to report since it’s his grandmother’s recipe, and Southerners also believe that you should never step to grandma. Most importantly, there’s no godforsaken fruit in this, and these days that’s cause for celebration. 

The Screamin’ Demon

I knew this was going to be a slam-dunk or swing-and-a-miss based on its description: “Adrift in an ocean of mediocre chicken sandwiches, meet the Queen Mary of its class.” That is a ballsy statement, especially when your restaurant is across the street from the current best fried chicken sandwich in town at Hattie B’s. I’m shocked to say I think that honor now has to be split. This pickle-brined chicken breast is fried golden-brown, stacked on a fluffy bun and topped with gem lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, Duke's mayo, American cheese and comeback sauce. It’s creamy, crunchy, salty and satisfying, and I could eat a dozen. The only tweak I’d make is to melt the cheese — if a sandwich is hot, the cheese should be melted — but honestly, I’m going to order this every time either way.