Brunch (New Orleans)

The New Orleans brunch, as a restaurant meal, belongs to the Creole dining rooms of the French Quarter and the Garden District: a multi-course table taken late in the morning, with cocktails, a cooked-to-order egg course, a fish or meat course and a dessert, served with the same attention as dinner. Tom Fitzmorris — Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food and John Folse — The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine both treat the egg dishes of the old Creole houses as local compositions built from French components. Eggs Sardou, named for the French dramatist Victorien Sardou, sets poached eggs on artichoke bottoms over creamed spinach under hollandaise. Eggs Hussarde sets poached eggs on Holland rusks with marchand de vin sauce and hollandaise. The sauces are French; the architecture, the pairing of artichoke with spinach, and the habit of the long late-morning table belong to New Orleans.

Eggs Sardou is made of two poached eggs set on artichoke bottoms, not hearts, since the broad, concave bottom is what cradles the egg. The artichokes are bedded on creamed spinach, the eggs are draped in hollandaise, and ham or anchovy may accompany the plate. The dish is an architecture of textures: the soft yolk against the firm but yielding artichoke, the creamy spinach beneath, and the rich, lemony hollandaise over everything. The plate should arrive with the hollandaise still shimmering, for a broken or cooled hollandaise fails the dish.

Eggs Sardou is one course in a New Orleans brunch. Before it: a cocktail and possibly an appetiser (shrimp remoulade, crabmeat ravigote). After it: possibly a fish or meat course, certainly dessert (Bananas Foster, bread pudding). The brunch is the meal, not a quick stop between errands. Two hours minimum.