It’s an odd thing, but Interstate 12 seems to have an unusual effect on dining on the north shore. We hear restaurateurs talk about it all the time. Covington people don’t want to drive to Mandeville to eat, and Mandeville residents won’t go to Covington. Pat Gallagher is the one who actively combats this phenomenon by opening new restaurants for his customers.
He is a hometown boy, well-established in Covington, where his father Hubie was a much-beloved high school coach. His life has been the restaurant business, opening and closing and moving locations throughout the years, with escalating success each time. But a decade or more ago, he settled into a space on Tyler in Covington that had been a moderately successful place, and it became a dining sensation.
I have said it many times - Pat Gallagher serves “lusty” food, which is getting increasingly hard to find. By this I mean he unapologetically uses all the ingredients that frighten diners but thrill their taste buds. There is salt, cream, and most of all butter. Each of Pat’s carefully-selected steaks comes sitting in a pool of sizzling butter, on a plate so hot my wife could keep cooking hers, except that here it actually comes as you ordered it.
Which is why his places are so hard to get into. The original location on Tyler was a difficult reservation to get from the beginning. Walk-ins are welcomed in the separate room of the bar, which has a lot of space and its own vibe. But even the extra room couldn’t accommodate the demand for Pat’s delicious food, and he moved into the space near the bridge that has heretofore been a revolving door for restaurants. The matter is settled now. A table at Gallagher’s 527 is also a hard reservation to get, with an even roomier bar - two, really - and a fun communal table or two.
And still, the demand continues. Pat gave his Slidell customers their own place a few months ago. He opened Gallagher’s on Front Street in another space that rotated restaurants. It was previously Sapphire, among others, in the newish shopping center near the curve to Highway 11.
Essentially it is the same here, because consistency is also something you can count on with the Gallagher brand. We took a drive to see what he did with the place. Not much, just like the other space. They don’t really make an impression. You go to Gallagher’s to eat.
We sat in a small space to the left of the large dining room. It was quieter and more intimate than the much larger main dining room. Mary Ann got crab claws, which here mean something different than everywhere else. Pat Gallagher has some source for enormous crab claws that are almost as meaty as stone crab claws. Because of their size, they don’t come as a pile, but are carefully arranged eight to a serving with a sauce so rich and creamy it seems like a mushroom sauce, but isn’t. These are delicious, and not like anything else bearing that name.
I had turtle soup, which was of course real turtle, and as good as I expected. Choosing to go a little lighter than usual, I chose his unique and delicious oyster dish Pablo, which in addition to the requisite baked oysters with spinach, contains tequila and chipotle peppers. This is a great take on the standard local baked oyster dish, and I look forward to it with each visit here.
Mary Ann, who never orders her own steak, got a petite filet her own way, meaning she’d have to eat it all because it was too well done for me. I had a few bites anyway. She thought it great, and I thought it would have been greater rare. She also got a baked potato we shared and some creamed spinach. This creamed spinach had artichokes in it. Who could complain about that?
It was another great meal at Pat Gallagher’s. No new restaurant hiccups here in either food or service. Our small dining room had a very large table of boisterous diners who obviously eat together regularly. By their conversation it was clear they were from Metairie. Uh oh, Does Pat have to get a place in Metairie now??
Gallagher's on Front Street
2306 Front S . Slidell 70458
985=326-8350
gallaghersonfrontstreet.com
Gallagher's 527
527 N Causeway . Mandeville 70448
985-778-2820
gallaghers527restaurant.com
Gallagher's Grill
509 Tyler St Covington 70433
985-892-2992
gallaghersgrill.com
Hours for all restaurants:
Lunch 11-2:30pm Tu-Fri
Dinner Tu-Th 5pm-9:30pm Friday & Saturday till 10:30pm
Closed Sunday & Monday
