{"id":317306,"date":"2026-05-15T14:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/317306\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T14:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T14:41:16","slug":"brendas-meat-three-old-favorite-in-western-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/317306\/","title":{"rendered":"Brenda\u2019s Meat & Three \u2013 Old Favorite in Western Addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know, I know, Brenda\u2019s Meat and Three has been around forever \u2013 12 years, maybe? If you live in the neighborhood (Western Addition\/Nopa), you know it, you love it, you may quibble weakly about authenticity \u2013 whatever the fuck that means \u2013 but it\u2019s still going strong for a reason.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Born as the sister to the beloved Brenda\u2019s French Soul Food in the Tenderloin, both the brainchildren of Brenda Buenviaje, a New Orleans transplant, BM&3 brings us the Southern concept of meat and three:\u00a0 select a protein \u2013meatloaf, pork chop, fried chicken, etc. \u2013 and three side dishes.\u00a0Every day of the week features a new protein, and there are a plethora of sides to choose from.<\/p>\n

BM&3 has a warm, diner-like ambience, with a giant horseshoe counter dominating the space. Sure it\u2019s manufactured, but it\u2019s giving cozy like nobody\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

On my first visit, two of us shared a crawfish beignet with strawberry pepper jelly, and a side of one fried chicken thigh.<\/p>\n

\"ACrawfish beignet and Fried Chicken. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

I found the beignet aromatic and rich, yet with a light exterior and a pleasantly tender center.\u00a0 The jelly went really well it, as well as with that heavenly piece of yardbird.\u00a0I can easily see coming back just for the fried chicken, but I was thrilled to be able to order just a piece with the rest of my dinner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My sister got the Meat & Three.<\/p>\n

\"AMeat & Three. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Consisting of meatloaf with gravy, garlicky green beans, mashed potatoes, and a fluffy biscuit, this combo just screamed folksy, homespun goodness.\u00a0You\u2019ll be ready to plow the north forty after a farm-hand meal like this. Or take a good long nap.<\/p>\n

For my main, I got the Low Country Seafood Gumbo with Andouille:<\/p>\n

\"AGumbo. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Rich and peppery, with a bit of heat and a good amount of well-cooked seafood, the snappy Andouille did its job of providing a spicy contrast.\u00a0Requisite okra added to the pleasure of this savory standard.\u00a0I further indulged in a small bowl of red beans and rice, a good, smoky rendition.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think that would have been enough, but no\u2026<\/p>\n

\"AChocolate Cream Pie. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Our arms were twisted into getting the special dessert \u2013 a big, fat slice of chocolate cream pie!\u00a0Beautifully fluffy whipped cream over silky chocolate mousse, doused with a caramel sauce.\u00a0 Nice interplay between salty and sweet on a fudgy crust.\u00a0I got over (barely) not getting the Bananas Foster bread pudding.<\/p>\n

On my second visit, I started out with fried oysters.<\/p>\n

\"AFried Oysters. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Oh lawdy!\u00a0 The crunchy, craggy cornmeal crust was a perfect foil to the hot, juicy tenderness of the meaty oysters embedded within.\u00a0A tangy chipotle remoulade rounded out the flavors of this seductive bit of foreplay \u2014 er, I mean \u2013 side dish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My dining companion went with the fried chicken meat and three\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AMeat & 3 \u2013 Fried Chicken. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Sides were collard greens, cheese grits and a wonderful stacked potato gratin. Of course she shared a piece of her bird with me, and I had a bite of each of the sides \u2013 all quite delectable, especially those spuds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My fried chicken cravings temporarily sated, I was free to dig into the shrimp and cheesy grits with bacon tomato gravy.<\/p>\n

\"ACheesy Grits & Shrimp. Photo by Maria C. Ascarrunz.<\/p>\n

Another wow.\u00a0Some may say the cheesiness is overplayed; I say bring it.\u00a0 The decadent gravy cut through it all, giving zing and oomph to a lushly rich dish.\u00a0And the abundance of well-prepared seafood was far from lost in the mix.\u00a0The devil\u2019s in the details when concocting such a thing; it takes skill to get the balance right.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s much more to try here, too\u2026 po\u2019boys and burgers and salmon and pork belly, sweet potato fries and kale salads, ube beignets and that Banana\u2019s Foster bread pudding (next time!)\u2026 the permutations are seemingly endless.\u00a0(The breakfast menu makes me feel like I\u2019ve missed the boat and will have to get there some morning soon.)\u00a0To imbibe, there a low-ABV cocktails, beer and wine on tap, as well as by the bottle, soft drinks, and watermelon sweet tea. Prices are fairly reasonable, considering that for a few items you can order a cup instead of bowl, or make a meal of the sides if you\u2019re so inclined.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A big thanks to Chef\/Owner Buenviaje for continuing to grace our city with a little love from NOLA.<\/p>\n

Brenda\u2019s Meat & Three
919 Divisadero St.
S.F. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I know, I know, Brenda\u2019s Meat and Three has been around forever \u2013 12 years, maybe? If you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[579,412,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-317306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-restaurant-reviews","tag-restaurants","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}