Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published December 11, 2008 Chef Scott Boswell's Drugstore-Style Soda Fountain And Grill Stanley! Returns At Last After Hurricane Katrina, Chef Scott Boswell couldn't open his celebrated Stella! restaurant immediately. He himself was back in action, grilling hamburgers and sausages on the courtyard of the restaurant. That spread to a building on the other side of the courtyard, fronting onto Decatur Street. Boswell called it Stanley!, continuing the references to A Streetcar Named Desire. Stanley was an enormous hit, serving unique breakfasts and lunches in a very casual, retro style. It even invented a new dish: the eggs Benedict poor boy sandwich. Boswell was turned on by the whole concept, and wanted to develop Stanley! further. But in the meantime he reopened Stella! A five-star restaurant occupies all a chef's attention, and Stanley! closed, allegedly just until Boswell could pull the new idea for it together. Then, a new development. In a rent dispute, the national French bakery chain La Madeleine pulled out of its original New Orleans location, a prime spot on the corner of St. Ann and Chartres, in the Lower Pontalba. Boswell thought this was the perfect location for Stanley. He bid against Starbucks for the spot and won, even though (unaccountably) many other merchants in the Pontalba were pulling for the big national coffeehouse chain. That was over a year and a half ago. Boswell kept working at a New Orleans pace. To make up for lost time, let me make the rest of the story short: Stanley! is now open, with forty-something tables and forty-something at the fountain counter, and a strong appeal to the Norman Rockwell in you. Scott Boswell hopes this will be a phenomenon that will spread all over the place. Stanley! French Quarter: 547 St Ann St. 504-587-0093. Neighborhood Cafe. Sandwiches. © 2008 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com