Big Bad Breakfast isn't all that big — it's not exactly cozy, but you can see pretty much the entire restaurant from any vantage point. And it certainly isn't that bad — we wouldn't say the food is excellent, but it's decent, and you get very large portions for what might otherwise be hefty prices.
And as a new chain place (well, it's actually a franchise, but that's semantics) in this market, it's packed out on weekends. And crowded on summer weekdays. With waits of 30-90 minutes for a table, even spilling outside into what at mid-morning was still some oppressive heat.
Though single diners and smaller parties can get nearly immediate seating at the bar. Which is how we encountered, over the course of a few visits, Big Bad Breakfast's brunch.
It's good to have goals in life. Our goal is, eventually, once things settle down a bit at Big Bad Breakfast, to actually be able to sit at a table like normal customers.
The Big Bad Breakfast Plate gives the patron two eggs in the style of their choice; choice of breakfast meat (we chose ham); choice of bread (toast); and a side item (we picked a fruit cup of berries and watermelon). (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison) Ben Brainard, formerly of Yellow Rock Concepts, is the co-owner of the local franchise for Big Bad Breakfast, a Birmingham, Ala.-based chain offering a Southern-style breakfast-brunch menu created by James Beard Award-winning chef John Currence.
The space is a former Arvest Bank building that BBB shares, at least for the time being, with a David's Burgers outlet, which makes weekday-Saturday parking and traffic a bit of a challenge. (Word has it that David's Burgers is planning to move across the street to a new building on a shopping center parking lot.)
You'll see general manager Heinz Kurt, who has managed Yellow Rocket's ZaZa Fine Salad & Wood-Oven Pizza Co. and, all-too-briefly, his own South American-centered restaurant, Lulu's Latin Rotisserie & Grill, on the floor, managing the staff, who are clad in BBB T-shirts of various colors with cutesy Southern brunch-related messages emblazoned on the back — "Kiss my grits," "Grit happens," "Lard have mercy" and so on. You may even see one of the three Keets, who operate JTJ Restaurants and who are minority partners in the enterprise, running food.
Right now, they're only serving 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily, so their goal of offering an all-day breakfast/brunch menu "breakfast for lunch, or lunch for breakfast," as Brainard noted at one time — is still a goal for them.
Prices are comparatively high compared to, say, competitor chains with nearby outlets, including IHOP or Cracker Barrel, but the portions are enormous and the quality is top-notch.
Chicken and Waffle — three crisp-fried tenders on one Belgian waffle, drizzled with honey (house-blend syrup is available) — is probably the "brunch-iest" option at Big Bad Breakfast. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison) We dipped into the menu for primarily breakfast items, including, among the "Big Bad Specialties," the enjoyable house French Toast ($12), which according to the menu is made with deep-fried, "brandy-spiked French bread," topped with strawberries and "whip cream" and the BBB House Syrup Blend, served with choice of meat (we got an impressive slice of ham).
We also enjoyed our Cheese Omelet ($12), a three-egg concoction wrapping grated Cheddar, Swiss and crumbled goat cheese. And while we normally eschew stuff in unlabeled bottles, we were assured that the green stuff inside this one was a zingy house-made salsa that supposedly goes particularly well with eggs. So we tried some and by gosh, it measurably enhanced the omelet. We easily and gratefully substituted other sides for the menu-promised tossed greens and fries: some rich cheese grits and a berry-watermelon fruit cup. (Other omelet options: Ham and Cheese, Creole, BLT and Veggie.)
We made quick work of our on-the-weekend Big Bad Breakfast Plate ($12), which consisted of two eggs (made, as we ordered them, over medium, and with a minimum of salt), choice of meat (a somewhat smaller slice of ham), bread (wheat toast) and a side item (a fruit cup with the same combination of berries and melon). But not quick enough — during a trip to the restroom, an overzealous bus person cleared away our plate that still had on it a bit of unconsumed ham, toast and some fruit. The management, in an apologetic frenzy, sent us home with four more slices of toast and another to-go fruit cup.
Our Chicken and Waffle ($13) was the most brunch-like item we tried; the menu floweringly explains, "Roscoe's started it, and we like to think we just improved it." We got a made-to-order Belgian waffle topped with three very crispy fried chicken tenders, all topped with a drizzle of "local honey." We could have used more honey, and it's available on request; we decided not to mix the honey with the BBB House Syrup Blend, which you can pour from table-top (or in our case, bar-top) vessels. The portion was so large we took some of it home.
Big Bad Breakfast's kitchen makes French Toast, one of the “Big Bad Specialties,” with deep-fried, "brandy-spiked" French bread, topped with strawberries, “whip cream,” the house syrup blend and a choice of meat. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison) We can recommend the house-squeezed orange juice (the squeezing machine at the bar looks really cool), though it's certainly not cheap — we paid $5.50 for a "large" glass that was, well, medium-sized at best.
Something for a future visit: The fluffy "cathead" biscuits, available with gravy or as the frame of sandwiches, looked really good on other people's plates.
Considering how busy it was on all of our visits, the kitchen turned out our food in a comparatively short time — we don't think we waited above 10 or 12 minutes — and the staff behind the bar, who had an awful lot of things to do, still managed to pleasantly make time to take our orders, supply our liquid needs, check on our meal progress and provide our checks. The front-desk hosts, though subject to considerable pressures, were generally gracious, with the exception of the one on our final visit who was a little surly.
Big Bad Breakfast
- Address: 101 S. Bowman Road, Little Rock
- Hours: 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily
- Cuisine: Brunch
- Alcoholic beverages: Wine, beer, brunch cocktails (mimosas, Bloody Marys, screwdrivers, “breakfast margaritas,” etc.)
- Wheelchair access: Yes
- Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE
- Information: (501) 406-0195; bigbadbreakfast.com