More than 12 years after establishing her first restaurant, Brenda’s French Soul Food on Polk Street, San Francisco chef Brenda Buenviaje is spreading her popular brand of Cajun cooking to Oakland. Brenda’s, a fast-casual cafe version of her original restaurant, opens for breakfast and lunch today, with dinner service to follow, at 4045 Broadway — in the same stretch of Temescal as the Clove & Hoof butchery and restaurant and the new location of Umami Mart. To slightly adapt the Big Easy motto, it’s time to laissez les beignets rouler.

With co-owner and wife Libby Truesdell at her side and two more businesses — Libby Jane Cafe and Brenda’s Meat and Three — under her direction, Buenviaje is San Francisco’s preeminent Cajun cook. Her savory crawfish-stuffed beignets and chicken étouffé draw daily lines for brunch, and celebrity diners like Kendrick Lamar are known to join the crowds.

But that prominence means pressure, too. “When we opened a greasy spoon with four people on Polk Street, no one knew what Brenda’s was,” Buenviaje recalls. “[Now] in Oakland, we have to be prepared for — hopefully — the crowds to show up.”

They’re liable to do so, but fortunately for Buenviaje, she’s got backup. Brenda’s team now numbers more than 50. The chef gives credit to director of operations Andrew Bloom who “has been managing staff and the throngs of diners for us for over a decade,” and executive chef John Jackson, an old colleague from New Orleans who has been with Brenda’s for the past two years.

In Oakland, the new Brenda’s serves a list of greatest hits from Polk Street, items like cinnamon-battered brioche French toast, but with some new areas of emphasis. There’s an expanded menu of po’ boy sandwiches: options like shrimp, oyster, catfish, and classic beef pot roast on toasted French rolls from Oakland’s Bui Phong Bakery. And now there’s a vegetarian po’ boy section, too, including a barbecue tofu option that’s already a favorite of Buenviaje’s. “I’m a hardcore carnivore and I crave that sandwich myself,” she says.

A new splash of neon in the style of a “hot doughnuts” sign is still being fabricated, but it will soon announce another central feature of the new Brenda’s: hot beignets. Brenda’s fried pillows of dough, served dusted with sugar or stuffed with Granny Smith apple, chocolate, or crawfish, are available all day, with flights of all four for $12.

More new offerings in Oakland include milkshakes in classic flavors like strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla, plus rotating daily specials. And with families nearby — and Truesdell and Buenviaje being parents of three themselves — a kiddos menu with “po’ babys” is also available. For adults, a full liquor license means Creole bloody Marys and tropical rum punch.

While customers at Brenda’s Oakland will order at the counter rather than from servers, “we want people to come in and definitely feel the same vibe” as in SF, Buenviaje says. Located in a retail space on the first floor of a new development, the restaurant seats 33 inside, with more seating for 45 on an outdoor patio, and to-go orders and delivery also available.

Over a year after announcing the new restaurant, Buenviaje says she’s excited to finally get to know her Oakland neighbors. “We have a lot of people who’ve been patiently waiting, and we don’t want to disappoint them,” she says.

Starting today, Brenda’s is open every day but Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with evening hours coming soon.