Breakfast at Edna's

File this morning under "You can't always get what you want, but you might just get what you need." G Wiv and I had a date for a hot plate of "ISCUITSG GRAVY," but finding Tommy's Grill locked up tight this Sunday morning, we reset our dials and headed to Edna's on Madison to try "The Best Biscuits on Earth." Or, as their lawyered-up sign painter put it, biscuits Edna's "claims to be" the best on earth.

Edna's has been posted on before, so I won't go into details on the setting and service, except to say both are highly pleasant. We naturally enough ordered biscuits and gravy; I also ordered grits and a pair of eggs over easy, G Wiv went for a hot link to accompany his B&G. Both meals came with a nice slice of cantaloupe.

What we received was a surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have been. Rather than smothered in country gravy (i.e., white milk gravy with ground sausage and black pepper), the biscuits arrived on a small plate, already split and buttered, and with an accompanying small dish of brown gravy that probably was prepared for the pork chops. Was it bad? No, in fact it was quite good. The biscuits were small, fresh and had a good crumb and "bite," so I'll rate them a very good biscuit but can't share Edna's own enthusiastic estimation of the product. Still better than 90% of biscuits I've encountered in Chicago, so they have that going for them. The gravy was good enough, too, but this Hoosier bumpkin will admit he was a bit disappointed. Not to invite a threadjacking (oh, why not) ... am I correct in my surmise that biscuits and gravy is basically a white southern (and Hoosier) dish, and to the extent black Soul Food overlaps in large extent with white Southern cooking, country sausage gravy on biscuits is NOT one of those areas of overlap? If so, I shouldn't have been surprised...

That said, it was a very good breakfast, grits were good, eggs cooked right, and all was reasonably priced (under $6.00 for mine). I would certainly do it again, although I think my next trip to Edna's might be at lunch, to try the fried chicken.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:That said, it was a very good breakfast, grits were good, eggs cooked right, and all was reasonably priced (under $6.00 for mine).

Jim,

No Tommy's Grill iscuitsg [sic] Gravy for us, though Edna's sure does make a good biscuit, best, if not on earth, at least on Madison Street at 8am.

Edna's

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I would certainly do it again, although I think my next trip to Edna's might be at lunch, to try the fried chicken.

A good plan, Edna's fried chicken is quite good, as are the rest of her lunch offerings.

Edna's Fried Chicken


Edna's Oxtail (L) Fried Chicken (R)


I'm still looking forward to trying Tommy's and also noticed Moon's Sandwich Shop on Western around Lake, which a truck driver told Steve Z and I about a month or three ago while eating Italian Beef.

Chicago is a town with a lot of opportunities, and not just for breakfast.

Enjoy,
Gary

Edna's Restaurant
3175 West Madison Street
Chicago, IL 60612
773-638-7079

Moon's Sandwich Shop
16 S Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60612
312-226-5094

Despite living within walking distance for two years now, Science Boy and I didn't manage to make it to Edna's until this morning. I had a scrambled egg with corned beef has, grits and biscuits. SB was disappointed to learn they had no rib eye, so went with the Denver Omlette, hash browns, biscuits and pancakes.

Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures (I was starving and just wanted to *eat* the food!). My breakfast was fabulous. The corned beef hash was nicely browned so it had crunchy bits (which I love), under which was delicious, tender corned beef and potato. The biscuits were fantastic, especially with a little grape jelly. The grits had a little more butter (erm, Country Crock) than I usually prefer, but were still good.

SB wasn't as thrilled with his breakfast. His hashbrowns were good and the eggs were "just okay," nothing spectacular. He was disappointed that there was no real butter, just the aforementioned Country Crock and that the syrup was a bottle of high-fructose heavy Aldi syrup. He thought the pancakes tasted like they came from a mix, but were okay. His final analysis: "This place has nothing on Valois."

All in all, I enjoyed our breakfast. I loved the friendly vibe. As an interracial couple on the West Side, we aren't always made to feel 100% welcome; that was NOT the case at Edna's. Our waitress was friendly and I loved how most people who came in seemed like part of a big family and everyone said "Good Morning" to us. We definitely plan to go back, maybe for lunch or dinner next time.

Edna Lewis, soul food pioneer, biscuit maven, dies at 72

As the city prepared to celebrate the Hawks’ Stanley Cup parade this morning, it also lost one of its legendary soul food pioneers. 72 year-old Edna Lewis – who was the matriarch of her namesake West Side restaurant – died early this morning from complications of ovarian cancer, according to her older sister, Alice McCommon.

IN the obit linked above was a unsettling statement:

The restaurant remains open today, but McCommon says she’s not sure who will be able to step up to take it over.

Edna had charm and a sense of both style and place. She will be missed.

Edna Stewart

2004


G Wiv, Edna Stewart

2005

I'm sorry to hear this, and also sorry to say I never did get back to Edna's after the breakfast documented in the first post above. Never having seen me, never (as it happened) to see me again, Edna proved a consummately gracious hostess during that single, singular visit. With Edna in heaven now, I hope the angels get to enjoy "The Best Biscuits on Earth." Lucky them.