With this edition we return to the newsletter after a three-month Ida hiatus. Tom was hospitalized for two weeks after and we have been working to right the ship since. The first piece takes us back to that time, because we didn’t have a proper goodbye to one of our very favorites.
It was a big weekend. Besides the anniversary of the day that changed our family forever, it was the arrival of another Big One (a weird “coincidence” I found much more unnerving than the weather reports.) That unsettling idea turned out to be prescient. It turned out to be much bigger than we even feared. I will now forever say that Katrina shattered our family, and Ida finished off everything else.
On a far lesser note, it was the quiet closing of one of our all-time restaurant favorites, Oxlot 9. We have enjoyed the bittersweet dining experience of being among the last diners at the Bon Ton and other places that are now just a fond memory. We had hoped to do the same on Saturday the 28th, the day before the hurricane, but when we called for a reservation they were already booked. Our plan to eat outside was further thwarted by the hurricane, which opened up a lot of inside tables as reservation holders hit the road to evacuate.
I knew they would likely not have dinner service, so we switched to lunch, but Tom bailed on the idea. It was weird to go without him. So many meals have been shared there, with each other, with friends, and the wait staff.
The menu was slightly abbreviated, and it was more lunch than brunch. I got the burger, which I maybe only got once and I don’t remember it like this. The to-go order for Tom was the incredible lunch steak, that came with broccoli rabe and roasted potatoes.
At the next table was a couple from New Orleans who had evacuated to the Southern Hotel. They were unfamiliar with the hotel, the restaurant, and the menu, but they made good choices. While I waited for Tom’s steak to be delivered, the crab cake went to the next table. I had forgotten how downright glorious the crab cake is here, and what a value it is. A small softball-sized pile of solid crab sat in the bowl with some vegetables. I asked about ordering one to go because I wouldn’t have another chance. I was told another fifteen minutes and I had to go. Too bad.
The man’s wife was equally delighted with her “chicken and dumplings”, a dish here that I always caution people about. It is very unlike the old-fashioned dish’s expectations, featuring an airline chicken breast in a broth with dumpling-like items floating in it. It too is really very good, just different from expectations.
At my own table, I wished I had ventured into the hamburger a little more. There were always too many other things I wanted here. Pancakes at brunch, the frittata, the incredible biscuit with bacon and egg, crispy Brussels sprouts and fried oysters, a great Fish & Chips, a killer fried chicken sandwich, and of course our lunch steak. I wanted to get them all to take home, but the memory will have to do.
The hamburger was thick, moist, cooked perfectly, and loaded with interesting extras like their terrific thick and smoky bacon, a white cheddar slice, pickled vegetables, and a spicy chili sauce. All these flavors came together to make a great burger experience. The fresh-cut fries that we have always loved here were as good as always, but they looked unsalted. I asked for salt and immediately canceled the request because they were borderline too salty. Then I asked for mustard but discovered the sauce was just perfect. No mustard needed. Maybe those servers won’t miss me!
But I will miss them. There has been a lot of turnover there, especially lately. With one shockingly inept exception early on, we have always had service that made us feel like friends. There was a spirit of saying goodbye to friends at this meal. Except for the evacuees on both sides of me, almost everyone in there was a regular, and there are many, many of those.
They came as we did for Jeff Hansell’s interpretation of our food, Southern-inspired. He and his wife Amy are a young Mom and Pop from Mississippi who recently opened a place in Bay St. Louis called The Thorny Oyster. It is also the hotel restaurant for the new Pearl Hotel.
Amy Hansell first posted a cryptic message on Facebook hinting at a move from the Southern. It generated a lot of rumors about where they were going and who would replace them. Amy told me at this last lunch something the staff told us weeks ago, that they aren’t moving anywhere. Reopening in COVID world seemed too hard. She wasn’t ruling it out, but not committing either way. Seems doubtful to me. Why would anyone open with employees so hard to come by?
As to who is coming in? Quite a few contenders, including BRG. It turns out that the space will be filled by Steve Marsella, formerly at Creole Cuisine, and the place will be called The Gloriette. Amy Hansell’s glamorous and hip design choices will be replaced by something vintage French in look, if our peeks at the progress are any indication.
I am excited by the food. The night before Thanksgiving the Southern Hotel held an event in the courtyard featuring fried fish and shrimp, with fries, coleslaw and a roll. Even after sitting in catering-style chafing dishes, this was pretty great. The fish and shrimp were cornmeal fried, greaseless, crispy, and golden brown, with a very nice spice level. I could have eaten a lot more of this. Unusually good. The coleslaw had a little pique to it as well, and the fries were, dare I say it? As good as Jeff Hansell’s. Very promising!
In the meantime we have had to follow Jeff to the Thorny Oyster in Bay St, Louis. The restaurant is located in another new boutique hotel on the main drag alongside the water. It has the same eclectic vibe and the same exciting food.
We went to brunch recently and I was shocked to find Hangtown Fry on the menu. If you do not listen to the show (weekdays 2-4pm 990AM) you may not know that a Hangtown Fry is a historic dish from the Gold Rush era. The story goes that a prospector who had scored big walked into a joint in Hangtown (now Placerville, CA) and asked for the most expensive thing on the menu. Oysters were in the kitchen, so the chef whipped up an omelet with eggs, bacon, and fried oysters. Someone at the next table asked for the dish and it became a phenom for a while in California. Waiters say the dish stinks and they hate to serve it.
We had a good time discussing it on the show, so I laughed when I saw it on the menu at Thorny Oyster. I asked for it as an appetizer and they split it in two. It came with the chunks of fried potatoes that seem to come with everything at brunch. These were fine but unevenly cooked, with the larger pieces still hard in places. I have always loved Jeff Hansell’s fried potatoes, but these seem to have replaced french fries, an unfortunate change.
The Hangtown Fry was fun. The fried oysters were greaseless and crispy, just like the ones from Oxlot. The rest of the dish was an omelet with bacon, spinach, and cheese, and what could be wrong with that.
Tom got the crab cake Benedict for an entree, so I didn’t have to miss the crabcake at all. It is always great here, and even buried under Hollandaise here, it was divine. More of the weird potatoes.
I wished I had ordered a biscuit, just because. I loved the biscuits at Oxlot, but there was so much sauce on the biscuit halves under the crabcake on the Benedict that it was barely recognizable.
For some inexplicable reason (maybe the distance required to eat there?), we just kept ordering. I got the burger, probably because I so enjoyed the closing day burger at Oxlot it was still on my mind. This burger was great, as expected, with crispy bacon, oozing white cheddar, and onion jam on the side. I love the buns, too. Check both boxes: sturdy, and sesame seeds. This has the added appeal of being rumpled - none of the shiny brioche so prevalent right now. It breaks my heart that he is serving frozen fries at Thorny Oyster, but that is my only complaint.
And we kept going, adding a breakfast sandwich. What is it with breakfast sandwiches? Ever since the late aughts of this century, breakfast sandwiches have been a thing. I remember Jude gushing about Eggslut at the downtown farmer’s market in Los Angeles.. I think the craze started there, at least in my consciousness. They’re everywhere now. This one had avocado and bacon, and on that same rumpled bun, rather than their killer biscuit.
We ate on the patio but went back into the restaurant to leave, and noticed one of our favorite waiters from Oxlot. It was a fun reunion, and we asked if anyone else had jumped there. One other person, our favorite waitress. Perfect!
Thorny Oyster is a destination restaurant for us, but it is very worthy of the drive. We can’t go as often as we went to our beloved Oxlot 9, but we will go. It’s just too good to not make the effort. And to see servers we consider old friends.
