This Iconic New Orleans Breakfast Has Been A Staple For Over A Century

New Orleans visitors eager to sample its famous food can expect their fill of classics like étouffée and gumbo, jambalaya, and its quintessential dessert, beignets, as they explore the historic Louisiana city. But less famous outside the region is an iconic breakfast that has been popular in the Crescent City for more than a century. Eggs Sardou, a decadent eggs Benedict alternative, originated at Antoine's, New Orleans' oldest French-Creole restaurant, founded in 1840.

The eggs Sardou at Antoine's is more vegetable-focused than a traditional Benedict, made with poached eggs resting on butter-cooked artichoke bottoms (instead of an English muffin) atop creamed spinach. It's covered with Hollandaise sauce and topped with sprinkled pieces of black truffle and tasso, a cured and smoked spicy Cajun pork shoulder frequently featured in Creole cooking. The restaurant has made a couple of changes from the original recipe, which didn't have the spinach bed and included anchovies on the artichoke. Antoine's serves its modern version at brunch on weekends and on the three weekdays it's open for lunch.

Other restaurants in the city have added their own tweaks to eggs Sardou. Another well-known eatery, Brennan's, breads and fries the artichoke, and covers the dish with Choron sauce, which is a Hollandaise or Béarnaise sauce that includes tomato. N'awlins cooking legend Emeril Lagasse features spinach that is garlic-sauteed instead of creamed in his version, with finishing bits of prosciutto and his Essence seasoning blend. Some even add seafood to the mix, with New Orleans institution Commander's Palace including crawfish in the dish.

Eggs Sardou was named after Victorien Sardou, a well-known French playwright of the late 19th century who died in 1908. He is most remembered today as the author of "La Tosca," which Giacomo Puccini adapted into the beloved Italian opera "Tosca." It was one of several plays Sardou wrote for Sarah Bernhardt, France's world-famous actress of the era.

As Antoine's tells it, Sardou traveled to New Orleans with Bernhardt for a performance of "Fédora," one of the plays he wrote for her, and they went to Antoine's for a celebratory breakfast hosted by owner Jules Alciatore. He served them his new egg creation and told Bernhardt he wanted to name it after her, but she said the honor should go to Sardou instead. Jules, the son of founder Antoine Alciatore, had taken over the restaurant around 1894 from his mother, who had run it since his father's death two decades earlier.

Another famous dish, oysters Rockefeller, also originated at the restaurant, created by Jules in 1899. It was also the place that helped spread soufflé potatoes in New Orleans, which are puffy fried spuds served with Béarnaise sauce that became a Big Easy favorite. Antoine learned how to cook the dish while apprenticing with a chef in France when it was first made. Today, Antoine's is the oldest family-run restaurant in the country, with a fifth-generation descendant of Alciatore in charge.