Clary’s

Last night we asked the woman at the desk here in the RV park to recommend a nice restaurant for us to go to to celebrate our 41st Anniversary. She told us about Clary’s. Clary had been the head chef for one of the more expensive places in town and headed out on his own many years ago and opened Clary’s. It was completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike but they had rebuilt it and it was as good as ever.

We stopped by in the afternoon to have a look at the menu and to scout it out. It is nothing to look at from the outside and even the inside is not all that posh. The sign said they opened at 5:00 and it was only 4:00 but we were shown a menu. Tons of seafood, not cheap but reasonable. As we were reading, Clary himself came over and showed us around the place. He was very proud of the restaurant and had obviously spent a long time in the business. We told him we would be back.

At about 7:00 we showed up and got a table overlooking the bayou. We ordered a glass of wine and Mike, the waiter came to introduce himself. He said he was Clary’s nephew and had been there from the start. He brought along a small bowl with six large shrimp in it “just to whet your appetite”. He came back to take our order. He explained the house salad dressing, a base of Blue Cheese with a drizzle of Italian made with balsamic vinegar over it. He said it was very good as the Italian sweetened the taste of the Blue Cheese. “Of course it would not work unless it was made with balsamic vinegar”. When he brought the salad he said Clary had told him that we had been there earlier and to do something nice for us so he also brought a complimentary appetizer of Oriental Fish Fingers. By the time we finished the huge salads, a loaf of bread and the two appetizers, we were ready to call it a night. This is as much as we eat most nights! But, the dinner orders were in and it would have been rude to say goodnight now.

The dinners showed up in the regular American portion sizes – huge! I had the fresh Flounder and Norma had the Seafood Platter and we managed to struggle through them. We had told Mike to slow things down as we were in no hurry and did not have to be anywhere until May. He slowed things down nicely and dinner lasted until 9:00. When we were almost finished Clary came over and talked to us. A couple at the next table knew him well and joined in the conversation. They told of us of walking into the restaurant after the hurricane. The wine glasses hanging from the slotted rack over the bar were the only things that survived and they were perfect, not one of them broken. It seemed like it was a signal to rebuild. The rebuilding is not completely finished but everything works and the tables look great with linen tablecloths and silverware. The atmosphere was wonderful and soft jazz played from a CD player on one of the tables in the corner, another thing waiting to be finished.

We paid the bill and asked Clary and Mike to come and have their photo taken with us. It was a great evening!