Fish Frydays: St. Louise de Marillac
St. Louise de Marillac
320 McMurray Road
Don’t be deterred by the long lines outside of St. Louise de Marillac. The people who run this are organized. You’re in good hands. I took my place at the end of a line that stretched way, way out the door at 4:50 on a Friday evening. As soon as you get inside you get a menu and a pen, so by the time you thread your way through to the checkout you’re already ordered. At 5:02 I placed my order, was seated and beveraged at 5:08 and had my whole meal, baked fish with Mediterranean topping accompanied by a slice of cheese pizza, by 5:11.
The Mediterranean topping—roasted tomatoes, Kalamata olives, capers, sweet peppers, shallots and fresh basil—is $2.50 extra and worth every cent. Also well worth the three-buck suggested donation was a pint of Killer Diller Pale Ale from Spoonwood. For $8 you can get a whole pitcher!
The servers at St. Louise are plentiful and young. Very, very young. The average age of the approximately 8,500 servers seemed to be about 18 months. (Note: These approximations came at the end of a very, very long work week and may have been colored by a small amount of work fatigue, but you get the idea. Lots of little, little kids.)
They are helpful—I was asked three times within five minutes if I had any trash—and speedy bordering on reckless. More than once I was in fear for my Killer Diller, but my order got to me three minutes after I sat down so I have no complaint.
One suggestion: Bring your own utensils. The fork I was issued was small and sad, unable to stand up to the force of a roasted cherry tomato. It gave out halfway through the fish and I had to get another one. But if weak cutlery and sometimes-blurry server kids are the only minuses, outweighed by the generous pluses of fast service, good fish, tasty toppings and Killer Diller from Spoonwood, then just bring your own fork.
