One of Tom’s favorite restaurants is on the Northshore, in a nondescript strip mall in Mandeville. When Joey Najola and his wife Brandi opened in 2007 in a converted Burger King at the corners of 190 and 190, it seemed a stretch. They were serving first-class food using their Southshore A-List creds in a ramshackle conversion of a fast food joint.
The transformation was nothing short of miraculous. The beaten-up Burger King never let on that it had ever been a fast food restaurant. It was charming and cozy inside, and very much resembled a French mom-and-pop that you would place in the French countryside rather than a Walmart parking lot in Mandeville.
And from the time the doors opened, they were always full, a testament to their skills in the kitchen and front of the house. Joey did a tour in France guided by his mentor, the late great Kris Kerageorgiou. He returned to Louisiana in the kitchen of the Windsor Court Grill Room before heading home to the Northshore at La Provence. It was there that he met his wife Brandi, who did front-of-the-house in New Orleans at Broussard’s before landing at La Provence.
Eventually, the upkeep on the former Burger King proved too daunting, and they relocated to more secure digs just minutes away, down one of the Hwy 190s. I found the new digs sort of boring in decor and did not appreciate the place as Tom had.
And then the food grabbed me as it had always done with Tom. This little gem is utterly delicious. I wish I could say we’ve eaten our way around the place, but our favorites are so pleasing to us that we really haven’t explored too much of what other wonders might be here.
Tom reliably gets the fried oyster app, which varies only slightly from time to time, but always includes huge oysters fried to perfection, with some Bleu cheese and spinach. This is a favorite dish of Tom’s everywhere, but this is a particularly good one, though the spinach is merely wilted from the heat of the fried oysters.
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After that, Tom will predictably have the fish special of the evening, which is always a local favorite like trout or redfish in an Amandine preparation over pasta or served simply with asparagus and potatoes. Copious amounts of melted butter make everything better.
For people who would like to ease their way into duck, Cafe Lynn has the best gateway duck out there. It is a duck confit leg, as an app, or two, as an entree. This is without a doubt the most delicious version of the dish I have had anywhere. It is so tender as to be in shreds in parts, but the skin is wonderfully crispy, with a sauce that is the exact right consistency with a mellow but very present duck flavor. Perfection!
But to me, the star of this menu is the ultra-delish Persillade Sauce, which is served with shrimp and comes as the sauce for the crab claw special. I mentioned aglio olio in the Two Tony’s piece. This one at Cafe Lynn is the standard bearer for a garlic butter and herb sauce. I discovered that if I got the crab claws in this insanely fantastic preparation, there would be too much sauce left after the claws were devoured. This dreamy olive oil concoction just could not wind up in the garbage, so I asked for a bowl of plain pasta and then dumped the sauce over it and tossed it. And now the poor chef is requested to do that every time I am in the house. One of these days I should just get the dish as it comes. I have no doubt that the Shrimp Persillade would also be divine.
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Most of the entrees here come with thin fettuccine or fresh vegetables. Fettuccine is a pasta shape I don’t normally embrace, but for some reason, I love it here. I could eat an obscene bowl of it with the Persillade Sauce and Parmesan and be totally, in fact, blissfully happy. This same fettuccine is often tossed in Alfredo Sauce, offering another delicious option for the carb. A lot of things on this menu have similar characteristics. That is a simple observation and not a complaint at all. Butter, cream, olive oil, French herbs on basic proteins, garlic, cheese. These are all wonderful things no matter how they are assembled. The Chicken Grenobloise is another winner, because what could ever be wrong with brown butter and capers on anything?
We’ve also had steak here, and at one time we had a summer special of tournedos that was a great example of the quality of the beef and everything else here.
There are two things about this place that stand out above all else, though the "all else" is not to be discounted. Every entree comes with the most adorable tiny house salad that is fresh, crisp, and colorful, so much so it is one of the best salads out there. All the dressings are fresh, housemade, and inventive, like Creole Honey and Oregano-Lemon vinaigrette, plus the regulars.
This free salad makes me marvel even more at what I will say next. Cafe Lynn is a steal. Literally. The prices for all of this are really hard to believe. Another thing that makes me marvel when I’m there is…why aren’t there lines around the block for this wonderful combination of polished food, great service, and ridiculous prices?
