When John Currence suggested that his new restaurant, Big Bad Breakfast, would put him on the country's culinary map, his wife's response was, "Are you out of your mind?"
Currence, a James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of the acclaimed City Grocery in Oxford, Miss., was already a fine-dining star, famous for his elevated takes on Southern and Creole cooking.
How could humble breakfast food possibly boost his reputation?
But he was determined to give some love to a meal routinely neglected by high-end chefs. Using farm-fresh ingredients, house-smoked meats and the same creativity he employed at lunch and dinner, Currence came up with a menu of irresistible versions of breakfast classics _ a beef chili and cheese omelet, a low-country egg scramble with andouille and shrimp, homemade Pop-Tarts. A resounding hit, Big Bad Breakfast spawned a second restaurant in Birmingham, Ala. Three more branches are in the works.
Risking his restaurant group's bottom line for the greater good, he's just published a cookbook, also called "Big Bad Breakfast" (Ten Speed Press, $30), so fans (and those too far to make the trip) can prepare his food at home.
He argues that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, and not just because it fuels you for work and play. "I truly believe in taking every opportunity to sit down at the table together." It's a lesson he learned young. "My mother taught five or six history classes every day. But she made us a hot breakfast, she packed us a lunch, she came home and cooked us dinner. She managed to pull it off without any conveniences like the microwave or frozen dinners."
Here's a look at Currence's recipe for Sausage Cinnamon Rolls. Most skeptics are won over at first bite. He says, "They kind of cock their head like a puppy at the vet's office. 'Why are you doing this to me?' Then with the majority of them, you can see the light bulb go on."
