Ellen’s Southern Kitchen
Chicken Fried Chicken, French Toast with Poached Figs, Biscuit
Cheesy Grits
Located on Market Street and featuring a ‘breakfast all day’ menu with a “Grits Rule” mantra Ellen’s Southern Kitchen was chosen for Monday lunch largely due to its close proximity to museums and the Dallas World Aquarium, the mix n’ match a la carte menu with no lack of comfort food staples well adorned with potential to impress if the recipes were on point. One part hip, one part homey, and decidedly bustling on a chilly day with a sort of French bistro layout seeing me seated at a hightop juxtaposing the bar it was to friendly Southern service that I was treated and laying out a meal of personal favorites for just under $20 it was a short wait before everything arrived – each item nicely presented but none save for the rich, creamy grits particularly memorable as flavors more closely resembled something hashed out in a corporate boardroom than in Grandma’s kitchen. Beginning first by dressing the French Toast – golden outside but doughy and uninspired within – in figs seemingly poached in nothing but the artificial maple syrup provided in a sidecar it was next the flavorless bird beneath equally boring batter that left me deflated, a touch of hot sauce and syrup helping enough to make a fairly decent accoutrement to an average biscuit…at least for a few bites interspersed between spoonfuls of the grits…the only aspect of Ellen’s that even came close to “ruling.”
http://ellenssouthernkitchen.com/