Dining Guide

Brennan’s

In business some fifty years, Brennan’s has served generations of Houstonians and hosted innumerable birthdays, wedding receptions, and other special events. We visited for brunch recently, enjoying the clink of china and crystal, comfy chairs, strolling musicians, and brick-lined walls with views of the pretty patio. We encountered a couple of hiccups: dry biscuits and a tasteless artichoke (plus a hard stem) in the Eggs Sardou. Still, our light, refreshing salad of watermelon cubes, feta cheese, and sweet sherry vinaigrette tasted fine. Ditto the beef “debris” (crispy bits) over biscuits, poached eggs, mushrooms, greens, and cherry tomatoes—all loaded with hollandaise. Perfectly cooked eggs Benedict and turtle soup splashed with sherry remain a pleasure, and our guest lauded her duck confit crepe with mushrooms, Saint-André cheese, and foie gras ganache. Also a tradition? Scarfing up a couple of sinfully sweet pralines on the way out.