New Orleans: Brunch at Copeland's

Copeland's Restaurants
(multiple locations)
** 1/2

Justin (my son, age 7) received a certificate from Copeland's for a free kid's meal because he was on the honor roll at St. Ann School here in Metairie.  We were looking for something to do last Sunday, so we decided to go over to Copeland's for lunch.  I didn't realize that they offered a real brunch menu, so were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn't have to just order a burger to get out relatively inexpensively (one of the goals of the trip).

Helen ordered the French Toast Croissant, which was exactly what the name implies.  They took a nice-sized croissant, dipped it in egg batter, and cooked it up just like a regular slice of french toast, with lots of cinnmon. It was served with a fruit salad, homemade syrup, and a good-sized slice of andouille sausage.  Copeland's andouille is some of the best in the city.  I ordered the Eggs Sardou, which is one of the classic variations on traditional Eggs Benedict.  For Eggs Sardou, the poached eggs are served on artichoke bottoms with creamed spinach, then covered with hollandaise.  Copeland's unique twist to the dish is a good helping of cayenne in the water used to boil the artichoke bottoms and in the spinach.  I'll attach the recipe for traditional Eggs Sardou to this article, and leave you to decide how much cayenne you want to add on your own.  The eggs were poached just right--firm on the outside, with soft but not raw yolks inside.  My meal also had the fruit salad included.  Justin had the "Mini Copeland Burger," which isn't as spicy as the regular one (thank goodness), but still cooked well. They also tone down the spices on the fries served with the kid's plate.  This was somewhat of a disappointment for dad, but Justin did just fine.

Service was good--our waitress took the time to congratulate the honor roll kid, ask him where he went to school and such, and still got the food to us in a timely manner.

The Copeland's brunch can become a champagne affair for an additional $2.50, which gets you all the bubbly you can drink.  With Justin's meal being free, we got out for around $25 including tax and a decent tip.

I don't think Copeland's is going to replace Commander's Jazz Brunch or Breakfast at Brennan's anytime soon, but if you're here on a Sunday and you're looking to do something more than staying home or going to Shoney's, you can't beat Copeland's for brunch.

Cheers,
Ed.

Eggs Sardou

8 poached eggs
3 cups creamed spinach
8 artichokes
2 cups hollandaise sauce

Remove the stems of the artichokes and cut off the tops, removing all of the leaves.  Steam or blanch the artichoke bottoms until tender, then scoop out the furry choke.

Mound creamed spinach on four plates and top with 2 2warm artichoke bottoms. Set a poached egg in each artichoke bottom, spoon hollandaise sauce over the eggs and serve.  4 servings.

(This is the traditional recipe, from Brennan's.)

If anyone needs recipes for poached eggs or hollandaise sauce, check out the Cooking section on Virtually New Orleans (the URL is in my sig).