LOCATION: 5.9
Adjacent to Snack Bar, Big Bad Breakfast is located at the back of an unattractive strip mall several blocks north of the square in Oxford. It’s easy enough to get to, but it scores near the bottom on Oxford’s charm scale.
ATMOSPHERE: 7.2
BBB is going for a roadside-diner throwback feel, and it does a pretty good job. Furniture and decor is comfortably shabby and unpretentious, without feeling too deliberate or phony.
FOOD: 6.7
BBB is a John Currence venture, and is the subject of numerous fawning reviews throughout the foodie press. Based on our visit, we don’t see what all the fuss is about. We got the huevos rancheros, which on its own would score in the eights, but we also ordered the Eggs Benedict, which were pretty sad. “But Spoonful,” you say, “you should know not to order something so difficult to prepare, at a simple breakfast diner.” Nope, that’s not the way it works. This is either a legitimate simple-man’s diner, or it’s a John Currence venture doing an erudite and winking reference to a simple-man’s diner. You can’t have it both ways. You put eggs benedict on the menu, they better be good. They were not. Judged on their own, on this morning at least, they would struggle to make it into the fives.
The eggs were overcooked, and not by just a little, but by a lot — not a hard yolk exactly, but no oozing golden goodness when you broke through the whites either. The English muffin, which we ordered instead of the suggested biscuit, was under-toasted (if in fact it was toasted at all). In Eggs Benedict, the role of a properly-toasted English muffin is to offer a crispy counterpart to what should be silky egg softness, but this one offered only a bland, spongy breadiness. The hollandaise sauce was cold and oily, having already begun to separate, and lacked much of the signature eggy/buttery flavor good hollandaise has. The side of grits had a good texture — soft but not too soft, tender but faintly and satisfyingly “gritty” — but was far too garlicky. Garlic cheese grits are by far our favorite way of eating and preparing grits, but the level of garlic should make one say either “Hmm, do I detect garlic?” or “Hmm, a perfect hint of garlic!” It shouldn’t make one say, “Hmm, I suppose I need not fear vampires for at least the next 24 hours.”
Why the tough love for Eggs Benedict, a dish that’s notoriously difficult to do well, and especially in a place that’s trying to be something closer to a roadside diner than white-linen-and-silver? Because it’s a perfect test of a kitchen’s ability to do several simple but delicate things which, when done well, produce the king of breakfast dishes, but which, when done even slightly less than well, produce something that struggles to be even mediocre. Under-poach the eggs and you get slimy whites; over-poach them and you don’t get an unctuous, dripping yolk. Under-toast the muffin and it’s just soft, bready, and unappealing; over-toast it and a bitter, burnt taste pervades every bite. Do a good job with hollandaise, and you have the crowning touch to one of breakfast’s towering achievements. Do a poor job with it, and you get the oily mess that was put in front of us. In this instance, we’re guessing the kitchen tried to hold it too long, then instead of fixing it (return it to low heat, whisk in a few small ice chips, and add a tiny dash of salt) or making a new one, they figured, eh, good enough. Short version: If you put Eggs Benedict on your menu, do it well. Otherwise, take it off the menu. Nothing says “our reach exceeds our grasp” more than poorly-done Eggs Benedict.
SERVICE: 8.3
Our server was friendly, charming, attentive, helpful, and quick — just about everything you could ask for in a server. From what we could see by looking around at other tables, it seemed like she was the norm, not the exception. We’d love to see more restaurants with service this good.
OVERALL: 7.0
The exceptional service kept Big Bad Breakfast out of the sixes, but only by the slimmest possible margin. BBB is a perfect example of the double-edged sword that is the celebrity-chef restaurant: Nail it, and you make it difficult for anyone to argue with your genius. Fail it, and you make people wonder if you’re just phoning it in; or worse, if you’re not everything you (and the foodie press) claim you are. Having had a better experience at another of Currence’s establishments (Snack Bar), we suspect it’s the former, but until we’re completely floored by an experience at one of his restaurants, we’re not ruling out the latter.