Food And Philanthropy

One day on The Food Show someone mentioned a place called St. Mary’s, which seemed an odd name for a restaurant. I thought maybe it was a page borrowed from St. Claire, a restaurant which opened earlier this year on the Westbank, but it followed in the conversation that it was named after an institution in Alexandria where children with developmental disabilities live. One of the owners has a connection to the place, and he has been a benefactor for many years, but on a part-time basis. This restaurant is a permanent way to help on a continuing basis.

The partners in this mission are long-standing successful restaurateurs, cooking and serving delicious breakfasts and lunches to the neighborhood folks at Blue Line Sandwich Shop on Metairie Rd. St. Mary’s occupies the back space in a linear shopping center on West Metairie at Clearview. It is nearly impossible to figure out the parking at this place, which is fronted on West Metairie by Amore pizza.

When Nephews occupied that space, parking was always a problem. Finding the place was a problem. Nephews had a valet to move cars around, but it was still really a huge issue. 

That was at dinner, but this time I went for lunch, though they serve all three meals. (Quite an ambitious project for a new place in today’s post-COVID  landscape.)

The place is welcoming in a Plain Jane way. The menu is appealing and surprisingly large. There were some things that were different from the menu I saw online. We ordered at the counter since this is a fast casual place. We started with a shrimp bisque and gumbo, and for entrees we had a BLT sandwich and a fried chicken sandwich, as well as a waffle. I was shocked to hear that they were doing housecut fries and chips in this fast casual place.

The soups came out almost as soon as we sat down. Both were really hot, so hot we had to wait a minute to eat them. The bisque was pretty with two shrimp and some microgreens on top as garnish, and the flavor was as intensely shrimpy as the consistency was smooth from the cream. The third soup was Tomato Basil the day we went.

The gumbo was very good as well. It was a bit on the salty side, which means it was definitely salty. I have said many times before that I love salt, and whenever I think something tastes really good, it’s because it’s salty. So beware when I say something is salty. It’s way over the top for most people. Its shortcoming aside, this was full of tender braised turkey and chunks of ordinary andouille.

My companion was excited about her waffle. She said it was very good, and she eats waffles all over. It came with two slices of nice bacon not cooked enough for my taste. She left the bacon but finished the entire large waffle. It was crispy on the outside and fat and fluffy in the interior.

I liked the bacon much better in the BLT. It was part of a generously filled two slices of wheat bread stuffed with lettuce and tomato and a jazzed up version of mayo. The bacon was not crispy enough for my taste but it was thick enough. Not smoky, not sweet,  just bacon.And there was enough bacon to make a statement.

This sandwich came with the chips that I ordered but they were a surprise. When I was told they were housecut I imagined simple housemade potato chips, but these were too-thick chips with ridges, and the grease stuck to the chips because of the ridges. They weren’t terribly greasy, but they were limp and soft. This didn’t work at all. I asked to trade these for fries, thinking they might be better, since they were housecut as well. It doesn’t automatically follow that a place with housecut chips is also cutting fries. I have no idea why this woud be, but I see it a lot. In this case, they were doing both, and the fries were much better.

I wasn’t crazy about the chicken sandwich. It too, was also too hot to try right away. It was a nice bun with plenty of fresh dressings, but I expected the chicken slab itself to be crispier and more flavorful than it was. It wasn't terrible, or even bad, just a basic fried chicken sandwich.not. I don't even need a chicken sandwich, but there are places whose chicken sandwich makes me need a chicken sandwich. This isn't one of those.

I asked for pickles because I love pickles, and I really like them on fried chicken sandwiches. The waitress delivered a nice portion of pickles in a little ramekin. After one bite I left them, and I felt bad about this. When I think pickles I think basic dill pickles, especially in a place like this. I even put up with housemade pickles, though I'd almost alwats prefer the commercial ones from the jar. (There are notable exceptions to this.) What came to the table here were sweet pickles. I was sad about the waste but also a little annoyed. If you are going to give someone something entirely different than what they think they are getting, it’s helpful to advise them of the surprise coming. 

I wanted to try something for breakfast too, but after the basic American breakfast I always get, there wasn’t anything I wanted, except maybe grillades and grits. And there wasn’t anything that jumped to me from the dinner menu.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the food at St. Mary’s, and there wasn’t anything notable about it either. To be fair, the place was open less than a month when I arrived. But there wasn't anything I would expect to change here. They were doing everything just fine. The menu was interesting enough, the service was helpful and friendly even though  they just delivered the food. But a big reason to go is likely the desire to be part of the philanthropic mission here. And that’s worthwhile too.