Retro Revival
When a beloved local business fades out or simply closes down, it’s natural to mourn its loss and remember good times passed there. The musician Benny Grunch even has a song about it, called “Ain’t Dere No More.” The pathos behind the funny-sad song proved so strong, and the list of extinct business names so long, Mr. Grunch had to write “Ain’t Dere No More, Part II.”
But if this yat poet laureate ever gets around to “Part III,” two special New Orleans dining institutions will not be included, thanks to new energy and investment in their future. One, Ye Olde College Inn, was revived from its waning days by new owners while the other, Parkway Bakery & Tavern, was literally brought back from the dead. Both seem to be enjoying brisk business now from patrons who get a big serving of nostalgia along with casual New Orleans food.
The Rufin family opened the College Inn in 1933, the year Prohibition was repealed. It had its first heyday in the 1950s and 1960s when young people came for burgers and chicken delivered car hop style and a parking lot that was a well-known make-out spot. But in recent years the place had become moribund, and its customer base was diminishing through natural attrition. Then early in 2003, proprietor Emile Rufin, at age 85, sold the place to John Blancher, owner of the nearby Mid-City Lanes Rock ‘n’ Bowl.
Mr. Blancher runs the place with his son, Johnny Blancher. Together, they have pulled off something special and rare by revitalizing an old New Orleans neighborhood establishment without alienating the regulars who kept the place going for so many years and help give it its defining color.
“To some people, I’m changing the place. But really I’m bringing it back to how it used to be,” the senior Blancher told me earlier this year. “Places like this were popular once because they were lively. But they skipped a generation, my son’s generation. You need to reintroduce it to people.”
To do that, they have revved up the classic but dated menu with interesting, moderately priced dishes that wouldn’t seem out of place at a fancier bistro. They’ve also made the place into a music attraction on Sunday mornings, when the restaurant hosts its “Zyde-Cajun Brunch,” modeled after the event held at Café de Amis in Breaux Bridge each week. It’s been a success here, and by 9:30 a.m. diners are eating omelets with etouffee, drinking Bloody Marys and pushing back tables to dance on the dining room floor to Cajun or zydeco performers.
The regular lunch and dinner menu now starts with an offbeat turkey and andouille gumbo, which is deeply smoky with a thin roux. The vegetable soup, an indispensable classic from the old menu that has plenty of beef despite its name, remains as good as ever.
I remember the fried chicken being better before, with more seasoning in the batter, though regulars I conferred with insist nothing has changed. One specialty that has definitely remained constant is the excellent hamburger. There is really nothing extraordinary about it, just a hand-formed patty with the normal condiments. To elevate this burger to greatness, order it on the round, softball-sized French bread rolls made for College Inn by Leidenheimer Bakery. It is a better roll than virtually any other place in town uses for burgers. It is also the steal of the menu at $3.50, a negligible rise from recent years.
I was initially leery of the fancier menu additions. After all, the selection of dressed up filets cost nearly twice as much as some of the old standbys, like the breaded veal. The first slice into my grillades filet, however, vanquished any skepticism. The filet was cooked beautifully to medium rare, as requested, and was crusty on the exterior with a deep, sensuous purple within. The meat was clearly of high quality and the small filet could easily stand on its own. But it didn’t have to: it was accompanied by veal grillades in rich, peppery gravy and a triangular cut of fried grits.
The new seafood dishes are also successful, especially the grilled amberjack with a shrimp and lobster sauce that seeps down to flavor the mashed potatoes beneath. The catfish Manchac was well seasoned and sauced with crab and brie. The broiled flounder, stuffed with seafood dressing, is still there from the old days and seems to have improved with a new hand in the kitchen.
RETURN FROM THE GRAVY
Parkway Bakery, established in 1922, truly was dead and buried until local contractor Jay Nix got his talented hands on the building that once housed it by the banks of Bayou St. John. Though I never had a chance to experience the original place myself, stories are legion of the surly countermen and the filthy conditions in which they worked. It was popular nonetheless but finally closed without ceremony in 1995. It’s telling that many former patrons believe it closed much earlier; it had simply faded to the point where people assumed it had gone under.
In appearance and service, the new Parkway is nothing like its original, gritty incarnation. Mr. Nix has done a museum-quality renovation of the building and employees are to a person friendly and attentive. The interior is decorated with New Orleans nostalgia, including old restaurant menus and pennants from defunct local high schools. The barroom is particularly appealing, dominated by a newly-crafted bar that looks like a 100-year-old relic lifted from a Decatur Street tavern. Cans of Schlitz or Pabst cost $1 and the Miller High Life is $1.50. There’s also a large outdoor dining area, where the restaurant hosts bands on Saturday evenings.
In the gleaming new kitchen, however, is where Mr. Nix has revived the old shop’s past. Patrons of the original Parkway will surely judge the new version on its roast beef, for which the old place was famous. Mr. Nix was smart to make this a specialty, and it does not disappoint. The beef is tender and properly ropey. The gravy is rich but not overly seasoned, and it is applied without restraint. The result is everything you could want from a roast beef po-boy, in all its sloppy, napkin-churning glory.
The fried seafood po-boys are also very good, especially the oyster po-boy stuffed with enough medium-sized, crispy and salty oysters that a few spill out and make a nice side serving.
The turkey and the ham po-boys are not exciting, but that’s what people who choose these over seafood, roast beef and burgers expect. Asking the kitchen to apply roast beef gravy to either improves them substantially, however. The French fry po-boy is a classic and a bargain at $3.50. The shop’s name notwithstanding, no one has baked bread on the premises since the 1970s, but the Leidenheimer po-boy loaves used here work perfectly.
The old Parkway building could have been anything, including demolished. Instead it is exactly what it should be: a corner joint, a neighborhood anchor and a purveyor of distinctive New Orleans culture, both culinary and social.
REVIEWED THIS MONTH
Ye Olde College Inn, 3016 S. Carrollton Ave., 855-3583
Parkway Bakery & Tavern, 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047
