pretty by the bay

Most of my meals include vegetables. Most of my meals are made at home. Most of my meals are somewhat healthy. But every so often, I go to a restaurant and order something completely unhealthy and completely delicious. I’m especially vulnerable at restaurants that offer Southern cuisine, which is equal parts nostalgic (since I lived most of my adult life in the South) and novel (since I no longer live there and find myself subjected to Bay Area interpretations of classic Southern fare). My most recent moment of weakness occurred at Pican, an Oakland restaurant known for its Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict.

Yup – boneless fried chicken served with the usual poached egg and hollandaise sauce, along with Pican’s amazing house-made hot sauce. There was a lot going on here, and all of it was delicious. It was certainly rich and over the top, but ironically, it was much lighter than I expected it to be. The hollandaise was smooth and not at all greasy. The fried chicken was crispy and tender. The egg was a bit of a disappointment as it was over-poached (= no runny center), but I had no problem pushing it aside in favor of the other goodies on the plate.

Corey was equally curious about this dish, so we swapped plates and I enjoyed a few bites of his Pimento Cheese Burger.

I was kind of surprised to see Corey pick a burger over Pican’s barbecue plate, but it proved to be a winning decision. Tender beef, spicy pimento cheese, bacon and bread & butter pickles served up on the softest bun you can imagine. It was an excellent choice.

I’m so glad our friends Michael and Jess told us about Pican. I’d love to go back for dinner – not only for a dinner-sized portion of their chicken (served with gouda mac & cheese?!?), but also for their impressive cocktail and bourbon selection. After all, you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl…