By 5 a.m. Brigitte Bledsoe has been cooking for more than an hour inside Miss Shirley's Cafe & Bakery. The popular Roland Park restaurant doesn't open until 7 a.m. (7:30 on the weekends), but the executive chef has already fired up the waffle iron, mixed up the grits with applewood-smoked bacon, and turned her attention to the Irish oatmeal. In true Miss Shirley's style, it's oatmeal with a twist.

"If you're looking for healthy, definitely don't get the Irish oatmeal," she says, laughing. "There's buttermilk and heavy cream in there."

The restaurant is owned by Eddie Dopkin, whose family owns The Classic Catering People. It is named for Shirley McDowell, a local cook and longtime employee of Classic Catering whose salmon cakes, meatloaf, and sesame noodle salad were the stuff of legend. Bledsoe never met McDowell, who died in 2001, but she was determined to do her justice at the restaurant named in McDowell's honor.

Bledsoe worked closely with Dopkin to create a menu that blended McDowell's brand of homestyle cooking with Bledsoe's interest in eclectic Southern flair. Some of the menu items came easily. Others, like the tender drop biscuits, went through a lengthy tasting and testing process. "I must have collected fifteen biscuit recipes from my friends' mothers, grandmothers, and neighbors before I found the right one," Bledsoe says.

That's the charm of Miss Shirley's. It looks like a typical breakfast and lunch place—it's small and sunlit and it serves pancakes, club sandwiches, and strong coffee. But it's the little touches that set the place apart. Pancakes don't just come with butter and syrup, unless that's how you want them. Instead, they're served with your choice of seasonal topping, like espresso cream with chocolate shavings, spiced apple, cranberry, and walnut compote, or strawberries with whipped cream. Club sandwiches are made with smoked salmon instead of plain old ham. And even lowly scrapple gets special treatment: It's garnished with a sprinkling of mâche, a nutty-flavored salad green. "I'm amazed how many people like scrapple," Bledsoe says.

Bledsoe is a Baltimore native who has previously cooked at such restaurants as Louisiana in Fells Point and City Crab in Lutherville. She may have moved from searing filet mignon to frying up sides of sweet potato fries, but her creativity in the kitchen is in full bloom. From the coconut-cream-stuffed French toast to the fried green tomato, corn, and crab eggs benedict, it's obvious that she's taking a fresh approach to breakfast and lunch. "I took very simple ingredients and added a twist to them," she says. "Menu development for breakfast can be so much fun."

The food is far from low-fat, but customers don't seem to mind. Those who might order plain broiled fish or chicken with sauce on the side at dinner are willing to let loose at Miss Shirley's, she says. "For the most part, people want a tall stack of pancakes, not egg whites cooked without butter."

Whatever they order, they're willing to wait for it. Outside the front door of the fifty-seat restaurant there's a heated tent to accommodate the hungry crowds that have been willing to wait as long as ninety minutes for a table ever since the place opened last May. "I never imagined we would be this busy," Bledsoe says.

Dopkin is thrilled with the way Bledsoe worked to make his place such a success. "Heading a breakfast and lunch place is a very unusual job for a good chef; here I found a great chef," he says. "Brigitte just has the right pizzazz and positive energy."

Now that she's conquered the breakfast and lunch market in Roland Park, Bledsoe has plans. Big plans. "I'm waiting for Eddie to tell me where we are going to open another Miss Shirley's," she says as she races from stove to counter and back again. "Somewhere at the beach would be nice."

But first there's breakfast and lunch to deal with. By 6:30 a.m. Bledsoe is still the only person in the kitchen. The line cooks will be arriving momentarily, and the waitstaff are on their way. The customers are nowhere in sight, but it's only a matter of time.

Bledsoe turns her attention to the soup of the day, a crab bisque, which needs to be poured into a holding tureen so that she can wash the soup pot and get a batch of Maryland vegetable crab soup going for lunch. "I never eat breakfast," she says. "Except on my day off. Then I come to Miss Shirley's for pancakes."

Miss Shirley's Cafe & Bakery is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch; 410 West Cold Spring Lane; 410-889-5272.

Bayou Strata

Chef Brigitte Bledsoe serves this rich Southern-inspired casserole as a special at Miss Shirley's.

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 c. sliced green onion, including some green

Green onion, finely diced for garnish

1 clove garlic, minced

6 oz. tomato, diced

8 oz. andouille sausage, diced

8 oz. small cooked shrimp

8 slices day-old sourdough bread, cut into ½-inch cubes

2 c. grated white cheddar cheese

8 large eggs

1/2 c. whole milk

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning

Fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. chives, finely diced

2 tbsp. grated parmesan

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. lemon juice

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add green onions, garlic, and sausage and sauté about 5 minutes until onion and garlic are tender. Stir in the shrimp and tomato, mixing well.

Place half the bread cubes in a lightly buttered 9x13 baking dish. Top with the mixture of shrimp, sausage, and vegetables. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Top with the remaining bread cubes.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, heavy cream, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, cajun seasoning, and chives. Pour over bread, covering it completely. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar and parmesan cheeses. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring strata to room temperature before baking. Bake uncovered until set, 45 to 50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve garnished with green onion.