GOING SOUTH WITH STYLE AT BABBLIN' BABS BISTRO >>>
"Not Your Mother's Chicken Fried Steak" with pork loin, Japanese panko and Gorgonzola sherry wine sauce? "Babs Bodacious Biscuits" and gravy with roasted chili pepper sauce topped with custard egg and green tomato salsa? "Where North meets South" pork sausage with Lone star spices, tart Rainier cherries on a burst of South Carolina barbecue sauce?
This ain't deep South. This is haute South. This is Babblin' Babs Bistro, the tiny Proctor District restaurant that dishes out huge flavors the likes Tacoma has never seen.
"I'd love to invent a new cuisine right out of Tacoma," says Chef William with a smile.
He's the one to do it, too. Chef William and his better half, Shannon, have just added new gourmet creations to their breakfast menu. My wife, Kate, and I sampled three over the weekend.
Arriving in a bowl, Babs Bodacious Biscuits takes the standard biscuits and gravy concept and gives it a diamond shine. First, their homemade buttermilk biscuits are baked crisp on the outside yet soft as a pillow on the inside loaded with creamy cheesy ham and roasted chili pepper sauce. It's then topped with a custard egg and garden fresh green tomato salsa. A crazy good sweet potato hash of yams, caramelized onion, red bell pepper, thick hickory bacon and spices complements it brilliantly.
You know the frozen waffles that come 24 to a box, 72 if you shop the chaotic aisles of Costco? Yeah, no, not even close to the Babs' "Banana Walnut Oatmeal Waffle. No, their waffles - whole wheat, oatmeal, chewy, simultaneously savory and sweet, toasty and loaded with banana and whipped bleu cheese - are golden morning glories. Sweet? Oh, yes. Port wine syrup, chopped walnuts and homemade Mission fig gelato and rosemary are right there too to wake your ass up.
I skipped the new "Back to School Daze" - French bread stuffed with organic strawberry preserves and cream cheese dipped into a vanilla egg custard, grilled and laced with organic peanut butter/honey/cinnamon sauce - for the chicken friend steak mentioned above served with the hash, which was absolutely fantastic.
Fifteen signature breakfast dishes, five homemade sausage patties, the waffle and French toast and four vegetarian options make for a very difficult decision. And priced $11 to $19 (the ingredients don't come cheap), makes it an expensive decision. However, people don't seem to shy away. Babs was packed Saturday with a wait, and they have regular customers from Seattle, Portland and Chicago.
Chef William tells me his new autumn menu is right around the corner. My new diet has headed south.
8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
2724 N. Proctor St., Tacoma
253.761.9099