Tom and I share tremendous respect for the restaurateur abilities of Paul Murphy, a New York transplant to Hammond of all places, where he opened his flagship restaurant, Jacmel Inn with his late brother 44 years ago.
Jacmel Inn was the first restaurant of the group that Tom introduced me to, and I returned the favor recently by introducing him to the most casual of Paul’s three restaurants, Brady’s. Near the campus of Southeastern University in Hammond, Brady’s has the look and feel, as well as the food, of a college joint. It is exactly that, though Paul Murphy’s imprimatur automatically makes it a cut above any other in that classification.
Paul has an uncanny knack for finding unique spaces as a backdrop for the delicious food his chefs create. Jacmel is an old house with lots of little nooks, Nuvolari’s is an old grocery store in downtown Mandeville, and the building that houses Brady’s dates back to the 20s.
Brady’s is more of an American pub than anything else. With an enormous menu. We have been wanting to visit Brady’s for years, but if Jacmel is open, no serious diner would go anywhere else in Hammond.
Recently Tom had an eye appointment in Hammond, and we wanted to get some twinkle Christmas lights at the Lowe’s there. Jacmel was closed, so the choice was easy.
If there are cheese fries on a menu and the Marys are present, cheese fries it is. They are not doing hand-cut fries here because the sheer volume is prohibitive, but these are very good fries, dusted heavily with Creole seasoning. They were smothered in cheddar cheese and covered in bacon bits, the salamander crisping them around the edges. The accompanying Ranch dressing was delicious too, making these just irresistible. They are served unceremoniously on a plain paper plate inside a metal dish.
Again, if the Marys are present and there is a burger on the menu, it will be ordered. The same is true for a club sandwich. Mary Leigh followed her predictability, but I surprised myself by deviating to the Shrimp Cobb salad. It just seemed really appealing to me, along with a few others. Brady’s has a list of 11 housemade dressings, and a few of them intrigued me enough to get a salad.
The Southwestern Ranch dressing was really great, though it would have been good on anything. I am still using it for a dipper for a late-night snack of a hard-boiled egg. As for the salad, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I liked it okay. It was a fine Cobb salad with all the right ingredients, and it came to the table already mixed. I like a traditional club with its layered presentation. Everything else about it was fine. I felt that maybe I had wasted my order.
Mary Leigh fared better with a hamburger and more terrific fries. It was a well-formed patty with plenty of cheese, nice dressings, and a good bun. There was a little disappointment with this burger, though we don't even know why. I guess maybe considering Paul’s track record, we expected a magic burger, and just got a very nice one. It’s perfect for the place.
Tom got a roast beef poor boy, which was exactly like the other two things, it too was fine, though not really traditional.
Another eye appointment brought us back to Brady’s a few weeks ago. I couldn’t resist getting more of those toasted cheesy fries. They were as excellent as the first batch.
For an entree, I veered again into the salad world and was again regretful. Sometimes I amaze myself with foolhardy ordering, but as I perused the large menu my eyes fell on a fajita salad with fried tortilla strips. I have no idea why this intrigued me as it did, (maybe because I am frankly giddy about a salad in L.A. at a place called Spitz, which serves fried pita strips on a kebab salad - I know, makes no sense) but I soon heard myself order it. What arrived was a plate of uninteresting greens with fajita fixins like grilled chicken and onions, yes, exactly as the menu stated. Good thing I got more of that Southwest dressing or I would have been devastated by my choice.
Tom fared much better with his fried catfish platter. He couldn’t stop gushing about how much he loved it, even all the way home. It had more of the great fries and a few pieces of fried catfish, along with a pretty large ramekin of coleslaw that was also a bit disappointing.
As I read through this I realize that I have been mostly disappointed with the food at Brady’s. But that can’t be true! I won’t allow myself to think that it’s just what a college pub hangout is supposed to be…ordinary food. Paul Murphy does not preside over ordinary food. We will just have to keep going till we get it right.
