Why stop with a ham or sausage biscuit when you can add cheese and fried egg?
After living in Memphis for more than two decades, I discovered Sunday morning what most natives have known since 1968: To rekindle favorite food memories or fill up for the entire day, head to Bryant’s Breakfast on Summer Avenue.
Located next to Nagasaki Japanese House and across the street from Grahamwood School, the breakfast-only diner started serving Sunday brunch several months ago. Apparently, the novelty hasn’t worn off. Even at 1:30 p.m., the customers kept coming, ordering with gusto from a long menu of biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, and half-a-dozen different pancake combos, including blueberry and pecan.
I had my heart set on the diner’s signature home-made biscuits and center-cut country ham, but added an egg and cheese at the last minute. When my plate arrived, the fried egg escaped both sides of the biscuit like floppy yellow ears. I ate the sides to even it up then dug into the lovely combo: a biscuit, soft on the inside but lightly browned on top; a melted American cheese slice with egg; and a hearty circle of ham, deeply satisfying and not too salty.
While ordering, I spontaneously tossed in a home-made cinnamon bun, promising myself I’d only take a taste and save the rest for later. Right. Tony and I polished off the bun, sweetened with a pearly swirl of cream cheese icing, before our hot food made it to the table.
Tony did tote his sausage biscuit home, because he couldn’t handle another add-on after his stack of bacon pancakes. I wasn’t crazy about the pancakes’ texture, but he loved the crunchy bacon bits mixed into the buttermilk batter. Whisked quickly from grill to plate, the steaming stack came with a side of maple syrup and a topping of more bacon.
Bryant’s is closed on Tuesday, but operates from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every day except Sunday, when the restaurant opens a little later (7 a.m.) and doesn’t close until 2 p.m.
Bryant’s Breakfast, 3955 Summer Ave. (901-324-7494)
