Cuisine Review

Daytime eating in Fairhope conjures up the image of “ladies who lunch,” you know the type – they look like walking clothes hangers? Loaded down with shopping bags and a delivery tag for the chest-on-chest just purchased at the antique store, they file in to pick at green salads, chicken salad or half a sandwich. Nothing hefty. They are a market to be catered to, but I want a substantial meal for lunch.

The Lunch Lady, in Downtown Fairhope at 58 Section St. North has both substance and delight. There is no real atmosphere here, since the building began as a commercial space. But the Lunch Lady has done her best to make it comfortable with black and white paint, tablecloths and “cute” accessories scattered around.

Southern Living would be all over it. There is plenty of seating with a main room of booths and tables, the kitchen area and a cavernous dim space in the rear that is open to the dining room. It is clean and tidy, but don’t go here for some long romantic meal.

One cold Saturday we found ourselves over the Bay with another family, hungry. For a while, people had been telling me to eat at the Lunch Lady. Thank goodness she opens up on Saturdays or I never would have gotten there.

The three of us adults and four children were warmly welcomed and there was enough room for kids at a booth and the adults just far enough away at a table so as not to hear them. The lunch menu is lengthy, but rather simple. Each day there are two soups, and I chose the Tomato Basil (cup $2.95, bowl $4.75). I am not complaining, but it seems you cannot go anywhere in town without seeing tomato basil or a seafood bisque as the daily soup. This tomato basil was heavy with rich tomato and while creamy in texture, it was tart and sweet. It was not spicy, but it did not need to be. The overall taste was satisfying and comforting.

Chicken, tuna and egg salad are all present on the menu as either a sandwich or served on top of greens. These as sandwiches are in the $5 range, as salads from $7 for one alone, or $8 for the trio. The Lady also tenders a good looking Cobb salad ($8) that with chicken is one more dollar.

Had I not been hungrier, I might have ordered the Greek salad ($8) with traditional ingredients but with grilled chicken and artichoke hearts. I veered toward the sandwiches and wraps. My wife has never ordered tuna salad in a restaurant, but took the plunge with the Lady. She raved about the white tuna and found it not to taste as overwhelmingly sweet as it could have been with the inclusion of relish and diced granny smith apple. My daughter ate a rather admirable egg salad sandwich – bland, but then what egg salad isn’t?

The sandwiches may not be ground-breaking in description, but there are touches to each – homemade dressings, that bring them up above the pale. A few worth mentioning are Rita’s Pita ($6) a turkey and cheese pita that when doused with creamy garlic dressing jumps over the hurdle. The Chi-Chi’s Club ($8) is traditional in all ingredients but is placed on a toasted crusty baguette. Mattie’s Turkey Melt ($7) has bacon and cheese melt into a pile of turkey, expected, yet is drizzled with honey mustard.

There are wraps and quesadillas that round out the menu. For quesadillas, on a previous visit they had a special of the day – roasted vegetables with goat cheese that you should not pass up if you see it again. On the menu you can get chicken and cheese, chicken, bacon and cheese, black bean or chicken and black bean.

My son ordered the chicken and black bean ($7) and the slices were almost an inch-and-a-half thick. Strips of grilled chicken and chunky black beans were enveloped in between a large tortilla along with homemade salsa, pico de gallo and sour cream.

The best and largest items are the wraps. I ordered the Magnolia Wrap ($5.75) with grilled chicken, roma tomato, crumbled bacon, red onion and mix of grated cheeses wrapped in a sun-dried tomato tortilla and drizzled with homemade ranch dressing. The ranch dressing was full of herbs and was not poured all over the wrap.

The Lunch Lady gives you plenty to eat; even I could have shared the wrap with another person. I wanted to have the Rillowitz wrap ($6.50) grilled chicken, sliced Granny Smith apple, bleu cheese crumbles and toasted walnuts wrapped into a spinach herb tortilla and drizzled with honey lemon dressing, but my friend ordered that and never let me take a bite. Overall, it is the quality of ingredients used at this place that make it a good place to eat.

At night, the Lunch Lady turns into the “Dinner Dude,” with cooking by Billy Kistler, most recently of Guido’s. No, no this dude does not look like a lady. Billy is overseeing the daytime operation where sandwiches, wraps, salads and quesadillas are served. He has also begun offering a daily plate lunch.

At night, the menu is changed toward seafood, steaks and chicken. Billy made a name for himself while at Guido’s in the area of brunch food. His cornflake crusted French toast is tempting, in addition to incredible Gouda grits. These, along with shrimp and grits and crabmeat eggs benedict are available each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Also, each Tuesday night is quesadilla night, where these and other southwestern influenced plates are presented.

Whether you like to hook up with ladies, or dudes, you will find that this place will satisfy your appetite.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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