Fat Spoon Cafe
Anecdotes & Analysis
The problem with the suburbs--especially newer ones--is that the neighborhoods are hostile to neighborhood cafes. Casual restaurants with inexpensive local food are pushed out onto the arterial roads, which gives them a different dynamic than if they were on backstreet corners. The hottest place to look for such restaurant in West St. Tammany Parish is LA 59. During the past several years, the mix of residential neighborhoods, commercial and industrial development, and a couple of very large secondary schools have created enough traffic for many restaurants serving poor boys, burgers, blue-plate specials, and seafood. Quite a few also serve breakfast. The Fat Spoon is an excellent new example of the genre.
Backstory
Attorney Sonny Garcia and his daughter Lisa Schwing opened The Fat Spoon in mid-2011, in the strip-mall space originally built a few years earlier for the extinct Zydeco Cafe. In the pre-food-court 1970s, Davis operated a few light-bite restaurants in shopping malls called The Red Caboose.
Dining Room
One big room, with walls painted with the logo and slogans and a bar along one of them. It's furnished more richly that the typical neighborhood place, with tables and chairs more handsome than in a restaurant with twice these prices.
Why It's Essential
The Fat Spoon--aside from its less-than-alluring name--is everything one hopes to find in a local neighborhood breakfast-and-lunch place. The owners actively disdain the widespread practice of cutting open cloned plastic bags of food and warming the contents. Almost everything is made in house--including such troublesome items as soups, red beans and rice, roast beef, and hand-made burgers.
Why It's Good
While most of the menu is very familiar, there's enough originality to make a meal here refreshingly different. The daily special lunches and the more complex egg dishes show this off particularly well. And someone should have thought of beignet sticks a long time ago. (They're the size of French fries, but taste just like normal beignets.)
Most Interesting Dishes
<strong>BREAKFAST</strong><br /> <em>Omelettes </em><br /> »Cajun Spoon (crawfish, sausage, onions, mushrooms, Swiss)<br /> Fat Spoon (bacon, ham, sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheddar)<br /> Crabby Spoon (crabmeat, spinach, cream cheese, Swiss)<br /> LA Spoon (shrimp, bell pepper, onion, pepper jack, green onions)<br /> »Cowboy (ham, bell pepper, onions, cheddar)<br /> Greek (bell pepper, spinach, olives, feta)<br /> Cheese <br /> <em>Not omelettes</em><br /> »Standard breakfast combos<br /> »Eggs and meat pie (pork or beef)<br /> »Chicken wings and waffles <br /> Eggs Florentine (scrambled, spinach-artichoke topping)<br /> Eggs Benedict <br /> »Eggs Sardou <br /> »Eggs NOLA (Benedict plus fried tomato and mushrooms)<br /> Fat Spoon Stackers (fried potatoes, chicken-fried steak or pulled pork or corned beef, eggs, cheese, peppers, onions, country gravy)<br /> »Waffles <br /> Sweet potato waffles<br /> Breakfast sandwich (eggs, sausage or bacon, cheddar)<br /> Biscuit and country gravy<br /> Grits with debris <br /> »Beignet Sticks<br /> <strong>LUNCH</strong><br /> <em><strong>Starters</strong></em><br /> »Onion rings<br /> Southwest egg rolls <br /> Chicken tenders <br /> »Fat Spoon salad (romaine, grilled chicken, avocado, craisins, walnuts, feta, blackberry vinaigrette)<br /> House salad<br /> Chicken salad <br /> Caesar salad (options: chicken or shrimp)<br /> »Cobb salad <br /> <em><strong>Sandwiches</strong></em><br /> »Fried shrimp poor boy <br /> Cochon de lait poor boy <br /> »Roast beef poor boy<br /> Grilled chicken on kaiser<br /> Chicken salad<br /> »Reuben <br /> »Cuban <br /> Pulled pork, ham and Swiss poor boy <br /> Meatball poor boy <br /> Italian sausage poor boy <br /> Ham poor boy <br /> Turkey poor boy <br /> »Hamburger poor boy <br /> Turkey or veggie saute on grilled wheatberry bread<br /> »Hamburgers (many variations)<br /> Sliders (three mini-burgers)<br /> <em><strong>Entrees</strong></em><br /> »Daily special platters<br />
Deficiencies
No oysters? Why no oysters? (Maybe they run as specials.) The restaurant has been closed on Saturdays, but plans to open then starting March 1, 2012.
For Best Results
The breakfasts are solid throughout, even to details like the coarse-ground grits. The Monday red beans are outstanding, and can be had with a very good link hot sausage.
Bonus Ratings
2
Attitude
1
Environment
1
Service
2
Value