Big Bad Breakfast

Chef John Currence’s Big Bad Breakfast has been a shining star of cutting edge diners since it opened in 2012. Currence, who became known for the exquisite Dixie/Creole dinners he serves at his very successful City Grocery restaurant in Oxford, said “I want to give breakfast the same consideration we give lunch or dinner.”

To that end, he serves outstanding cathead biscuits with house-made jellies or as the exoskeleton of a lasciviously rich breakfast sandwich. French toast is spiked with brandy and served with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Shrimp and grits outdo their Lowcountry inspiration. What devoted diner lover could resist a kitchen that proudly announces that it cooks omelets in a blend of butter and bacon fat? BBB is definitely the place to come if you drank too much the night before, because here you can order what the menu boasts is “a hangover’s worst enemy”: a chili dog with slaw, cheddar cheese, pickles, onions, and jalapeno peppers all atop a waffle. Seriously large appetites will want to plow into one of the restaurant’s breakfast skillets — kitchen sink affairs served in cast iron pans.

For those who don’t want a meal with oink, the menu has a selection of “Big Bad Lean” dishes: egg whites, granola, bruleed grapefruit, and Anson Mills oatmeal.

Lunch includes artisan burgers, BLTs made with Tabasco aioli, and an Elvis sandwich of peanut butter, bananas, and bacon on white or whole wheat, griddle-fried. To drink, choose from among really good coffee, freshly squeezed juices, milk shakes, and a roster of alcoholic “big bad libations.”

House motto: “Lard Have Mercy.”

Note: Other Big Bad Breakfasts are located in Birmingham, Alabama, and in Inlet Beach, Florida.