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About this time last year, Relish reluctantly announced the shuttering of the Riverside Cafe, a closure prompted by the hospitalization of Scott Harrison, one of the owners. Today, courtesy of the reemergence of his wife, Christine Fried (a.k.a "dinerchick" on the Eat at Joe's forum), comes news of the Carondelet Diner, a newly opened descendant owned and operated by the same family. With the opening comes some equally good news: While Scott remains in the hospital due to complications from a brain aneurysm, he's on track to be released in several months, pretty much fully recovered.
The new diner is located at 321 E. Davis Street, an industrial area at the very southern end of the city, in a building better known as the BadaBing Bar. You remember BadaBIng—happy hour was from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., "kraut" pizza was the big seller, and cans of Busch were $1.25 per. We thought so.
It took the family almost a year to gut-rehab the space. It's all new: new ceiling, new walls, a small breakfast bar, 50 new seats. The back room, former home to a passel of pool tables and the occasional um, disagreement, is now a bright, spacious kitchen. A scratch kitchen. Several of Riverside's mainstays, like the Big Biscuit Breakfast, not only made the menu jump, but received an upgrade: The 2012 version of the BBB (kitchen lingo) is now made with fresh-cut potatoes and homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. At lunch, sandwiches contain house-roasted meats: turkey, roast beef, and corned beef. We were told to expect "mom's food, not convenience food." Works for us.
The new diner is open for breakfast and lunch seven days a week. The only night Carondelet's lights will be lit will be for Fish Fry Fridays. From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the next several months, look for hand-breaded fish—cod loin, fresh catfish, and tilapia—served with their traditional Southside accompaniment, spaghetti. Have a jack salmon on the side, and some homemades: coleslaw, hushpuppies, or mac & cheese. It's all just like mom used to make. When she wasn't making fish sticks...
Carondelet Diner 321 E. Davis 314-875-9994 Breakfast and lunch 6 a.m.- 3 p.m. daily On Facebook: Carondelet Diner Expect the classic "don't judge a book..." diner facade. See image below.
