"In the Bay Area, the word “beignets” is synonymous with Brenda’s. The soul food spot with an original location in the Tenderloin opened this bigger, brighter outpost in Temescal. The place is mobbed most weekend mornings with families devouring brunch on the patio and hungover friend groups debriefing over a flight of donuts. For an entree in between all of the powdered sugar and fried dough, go with the shrimp and cheddar grits, which are zhuzhed up by tomato-bacon gravy with a subtle kick." - julia chen 1, patrick wong, lani conway