Cuisine
JUNE 2022
46
“FEEDING PEOPLE AND
SPREADING
THE WORD ABOUT SOUTH
BAYOU TO TABLE
LOUISIANA”
W
SUPPERTIME
The Gate is Open
FOR MOSQUITO SUPPER CLUB’S MELISSA MARTIN, HOSPITALITY EXTENDS BEYOND THE TABLE By April Hamilton
Top umbrella and left: Excerpted from Mosquito Supper Club by Melissa Martin (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2020. Photographs by Denny Culbert. Right: Photo by Todd Cole.
“I
thought strangers talking could maybe save the world.” This is a refrain that guides Melissa Martin, the New Orleans chef who started her communal dining series, Mosquito Supper Club, in a house-turned-restaurant on Dryades Street in the spring of 2014. The original concept featured two farm house tables in a single dining room where up to twenty-four guests gathered to hear stories of the curated multi-course meal celebrating South Louisiana’s fishermen and farmers and traditions. Each platter of fresh-from-the-coast crabs or oysters, basket of biscuits, and petite cauldron of seasonal gumbo was served family-style, passed from person to person, nourishing body, mind, and soul. Since then, the concept has evolved to accommodate more diners as Martin’s following grows. “We are the busiest we’ve ever been,” she said. “Now we’re using the space differently. We’ve given people more options to eat here.” The expansion now includes two 46
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dining rooms outfitted with communal tables, outdoor garden tables featuring four-course pre-fixe for private seating, and plates served family-style. There’s also a well-stocked bar. “You can walk in and sit at our bar and have a drink and a snack, oysters, or my grandmother’s oyster stew.” This stew, which originated in her grandmother Velma Marie’s Magnalite soup pot, is a comforting fusion of salt pork and briny oysters in a garlic, onion, and tomato-enhanced seafood broth. Martin calls it a prayer and compares it to the bouillabaisses of the south of France. “If I’m traveling around the world, the best thing that could happen to me is if they cooked something that you’d have at somebody’s house.” The original spirit of Mosquito Supper Club remains steadfast, despite the experience’s evolution into a true restaurant. “If you want to, you can do the whole original supper club, 7:30 seating at tables of ten to twelve. You will sit next to a stranger, that’s what’s great about it,” she said. “For private dining,
we offer one 7 pm seating inside or on our screened deck, which used to be covered only with a sailcloth. It’s nice out there with a roof and a heater and Scottish blankets for everyone.” The manner in which Martin walked me through her space was reminiscent of a mother welcoming college kids for their first visit back home, her pecan brown hair just starting to reveal highlights of silver. The gentlest spring breeze fluttered a sheer window drape that cozies the space. A bookcase hosts lush cascading plants and relics of the region: a pair of painted wooden ducks, a cast-iron Dutch oven, copper gratin dish, and corked moonshine jug—each appearing to have passed through loving, storytelling hands. A stack of treasured Louisiana books is accompanied by a single copy of Martin’s debut cookbook, Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou, which includes personal essays dedicated to each ingredient and its role in Louisiana Cajun tradition. The storyteller in Martin has another book to write,
