Soul Remedy
Order early for THE HARBOR's banana pudding and other Southern classics.
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THE HARBOR owner Juanita Bowie (right) and her staff serve up soul food the way
mama used to make.
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WHAT: The Harbor Restaurant and Bar
CUISNE: Soul
WHEN: Breakfast and lunch daily
WHERE: 2529 Dauphine St., 947-1819
CARDS: None
I've been thinking about lunch for at least 45 minutes by the time my friend
Karen and I step into the Harbor, a restaurant and bar nestled on the east edge
of Faubourg Marigny. As we make our way through the shadowy lounge, I can't
help but smile. The whole building smells like your mama's kitchen.
Inside the restaurant, patrons are lined up at the counter, which
opens directly onto the small kitchen. The staff is beehive busy, turning out a
Friday menu (it changes daily) that includes heaping servings of fried seafood
and chicken, smothered pork chops and turkey wings, stuffed bell peppers and
other Southern soul food classics that head directly for your hips, butt and
arteries.
A woman behind the counter wants to know what I'm having. Am I
really expected to choose between catfish and the golden brown mounds of fried
chicken? Between the pork chops smothered in that delightful gravy and the
turkey wings just off the stove? Can I have fried chicken with a side of
catfish? Uh, no. OK. Karen goes off for cans of soft drinks from the bar, and I
eventually head to a table with the gumbo she has ordered and my plate of fried
chicken, lima beans and macaroni and cheese.
The first thing I do is dip a spoon into Karen's huge bowl of
gumbo. You could mix cake batter in this bowl, and it is full to the brim with
a just-spicy-enough, dark brown gumbo bursting with crabs and two or three
different kinds of sausage. After the first mouthful, I look toward the kitchen
to make sure they don't have my mama back there.
As anyone knows, you can't have gumbo like that without potato
salad, so I swipe another spoonful of gumbo and quickly follow it with a taste
of Karen's side order of potato salad. It is the smooth, old-fashioned kind,
with just the right balance of mayo, mustard and potato. Although I find a
couple of bites a little heavy on the pickle relish, I decide, for the sake of
journalistic thoroughness, to go back to the counter for my own order of potato
salad.
Karen returns with the drinks and immediately banishes me from her
bowl of gumbo, and I finally turn my attention to my own plate. The chicken is
flavorful and nicely fried -- crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the
inside and not too greasy. The limas are Southern-style and perfect: creamy and
well-seasoned with a small, glistening bit of salt pork (yes, pork) floating
among the pale, yellowish beans. The macaroni and cheese is good, but just a
little disappointing. Considering the quality of the other dishes, I expected a
multilayered baked macaroni. I got macaroni with cheese.
Karen has heard things about the banana pudding, so I inquire about
dessert -- despite feeling a little like Eddie Murphy's Professor Klump in
The Nutty Professor.
The banana pudding won't be ready for another couple of hours, so I
get a sweet potato pie instead. They don't make these little individual
servings in-house, and it shows. The filling is too sweet and the crust is
chewy where it should be flaky. "I'm telling you," Karen reminds me, "the
banana pudding is the stuff."
The busboy overhears us. "You want banana pudding?" His face looks
grave. "You need to put your order in right now. It'll be ready around three,
and orders come first." He starts walking quickly toward the woman sitting
behind the high counter to one side of the restaurant. "I'm gonna put your
order in now," he calls. "What's your name?"
When I return at 3 p.m., there are brown paper bags lined up behind
the counter. The woman in charge of banana pudding distribution asks my name,
carefully checking the slips on the bags until she comes to mine.
Inside the Styrofoam container is a generous helping of sin, and
it's still warm. The rich banana pudding enfolds layers of soft vanilla wafers,
and the whole thing is topped off with a sugar glaze. I can only manage to
consume two or three spoonfuls at any one sitting, so it takes me two days to
finish the single order.
The Harbor also does a tasty, hearty breakfast. The eggs are cooked
to order, and the grits are thick and creamy. If you're planning to do manual
labor for the day -- as were a number of customers, dressed in work shirts --
you can have them add a side of meatballs or smothered pork chops. Get there
early if you want the stewed potatoes.
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