The restaurant business has always been in the blood of the mother and daughter team of Nadine Simons and Tanya McPherson. As co-owners of Café 393 in Hendersonville, the duo has gone out of their way to create a comfortable, mom-and-pop-style establishment that lets them combine their favorite interests of food, fun, family and friends.
Since February 2018, Café 393 has been providing Hendersonville-area customers with outstanding customer service and large portions of some of the best home-cooked meals around.
"We don’t serve fancy dishes with fancy names," Nadine says. "We just serve up food that is good and comforting.”
Customers notice and appreciate the relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant as soon as they arrive. Unlike many eateries that strive to get patrons in and out as fast as possible, Café 393 encourages its customers to hang out and enjoy themselves as long as they like.
"We are not a corporate franchise; we are a community restaurant, and we want to be our customers’ local hangout," Tanya says.
In this feature, Hendersonville Lifestyle takes a look behind the kitchen curtains of Café 393, and we provide you with a peek at how to prepare one of the restaurant’s most popular breakfast items, eggs Benedict.
Ingredients:
2 English muffins
2 slices ham
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Butter or margarine
Hollandaise sauce*
*While the ingredients of Cafe 393's sauce is a trade secret, cookbooks and cooking websites are filled with hollandaise sauce recipes.
Directions:
Heat a large skillet on medium-low heat. Add two slices of ham, flipping occasionally until evenly browned. Pour water into a large saucepan until two-thirds full. Bring to a simmer. Add vinegar and salt to the water. Break two eggs into the simmering water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. While the eggs cook, spread a small amount of butter or margarine on the muffins and toast them until they are browned on the top. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon while the yolks are still soft in the center.
To Style:
1. Place the two toasted English muffins onto a large dinner plate. Add a slice of browned ham to the top of each muffin. Be sure to leave space for a side of fresh home-fried potatoes.
2. Ladle out a poached egg onto the top center of each English muffin/ham combination. Take care to not allow any of the egg to splatter on the rest of the plate. Dab up any excess poaching liquid that remains.
3. Add a generous portion of fresh home-fried potatoes. Take care to not let any of the potatoes spill atop the eggs and muffins.
4. Ladle on freshly prepared hollandaise sauce. Do not let the sauce cover any of the plate other than the eggs and muffins. Wipe away any excess sauce and then add a sprinkle of paprika for garnish.
Cafe 393
393 E. Main St., Hendersonville, Tennessee, 615.265.8578