At 8:55 AM on Sunday morning 10 of us were waiting to get into Caiola’s for brunch.  The popular West End eatery was running late, opening 5 minutes past its 9:00 AM appointed hour.  Yes, I’ve written about Caiola’s brunch prowess many times and here I am again.   Yes, other Portland restaurants have distinctive brunch menus beyond the usual eggs Benedict. And I should venture forth.

Still, my hopes were this: what brunch concoctions did the chefs dream up for the day’s specials? It’s always a high point of expectation here.  And there it was:  fried chicken with red-eye gravy.

North of the border, fried chicken in red-eye gravy, with potato hash and three-bean salad

Fried chicken for breakfast?  Well, why not?  I thought I was at some cafeteria in the Deep South, those places with steam tables with greens and smoked hocks; where grits replace home fries and legendary fried chicken with biscuits and gravy reign supreme.

That was the one flaw of Caiola’s rendition.  It was served without biscuits such as those buttermilk orbs that accompany lots of fare in the south.  Even cornbread made with white meal would have added further authenticity.   Otherwise this was great fried chicken: crispy coating (buttermilk brined perhaps?) and sitting in a pool of red-eye gravy in which the little potato cubes were sloshing in the gravy perfectly and a beautifully made three-bean salad that was invigorating without resorting to a sweet dressing that’s so typical. .  There was a little cup on the plate of a dipping sauce that looked like mustard.  But it wasn’t.  After inquiring I was told that it was red-eye gravy aioli.  You’ve got to love the names chefs dream up for their creations.  I’m not sure, though, what it was really.

It tasted very much like sorghum.  It’s not often that you encounter sorghum north of the Mason-Dixon Line, so I’m not so sure what it was.  I have sorghum in my pantry, which I get from a producer in Missouri (www.sandhillfarm.org).  If you’ve never had it try this brew made from boiled down liquid from the sorghum plant, something akin to a derivative of molasses that makes southern cuisine so different.

Caveat Emptor?  Great fried chicken at Caiola’s, which should be on their permanent menu.