Are you up for a meal in a 250-year-old house? You don’t need to travel to one of the 13 original colonies to do so, but you might need to make a short trip, depending on how far you are from Kimmswick, the quaint river hamlet about 25 miles south of downtown that’s best known for antiques, a strawberry festival, and the “levee high” apple pies at The Blue Owl Restaurant & Bakery.
The old house in question is cleverly known as The Old House, a log cabin–style structure whose oldest parts date to 1772. It’s housed at least a couple of restaurants in the past two decades, one of which was called—wait for it—The Old House, but it lay empty for more than a decade until it and the other old buildings that share a square block were purchased by the Delta Queen Company for its headquarters.
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The company expects the namesake riverboat to be based in Kimmswick when it’s recommissioned. Meanwhile, The Old House has been rechristened The Delta Queen Port of Call and serves recipes from or inspired by those served on the boat.
One of the major challenges that eventually overcame the space’s prior occupants was cultivating a clientele for reasonably high-end choices in what’s basically a tourist destination. Port of Call offers selections in a range of prices, and it’s succeeding all along the spectrum.
On the higher end, the two fish entrées—stuffed local trout ($16) and sorghum sweet chili salmon ($24)—are perfectly on point. The trout’s stuffing has the further local influence of whole crawfish tails, and the sweet and mildly spicy glaze balances the soft crust of hashmarked, well-grilled salmon. At $14, the shrimp po’ boy is at the top end of a list of fancy sandwiches: Five lightly breaded shrimp are packed into a small soft loaf amid lightly dressed lettuce. Port of Call also does an admirable version of French onion soup.
One of the “authentic” Delta Queen recipes, the bread pudding is baked to a roasty, toasty flavor and topped with a caramelized bourbon sauce.
The small, low-ceilinged rooms provide a cozy atmosphere to the dining area, and framed photographs and riverboat accessories presage the hoped-to-be-imminent date when the actual Delta Queen will be cruising the American river system from a nearby mooring.
Oh, and yeah, we can do the math: Let’s not quibble about five years—it’s actually only a young 245 years old—for a house with obvious historical atmosphere. This Old House is a worthwhile destination in and of itself, and its new occupants have provided the added attraction of an unpretentious and satisfying menu.
