By Susan Hahn
HQ 47 | SPRING 2003
The St. Zita Grille brings the best of New Orleans to Huntington with a wonderful combination of Creole cuisine, great music and an ambience evocative of the heritage of southern Louisiana.
Co-owner Roy Clark was born in Louisiana and spent much of his formative years living in New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf. So when the opportunity arose to establish another restaurant in Huntington, he and his wife, Terre Thomas, who currently own Calamity Cafe, opened the New Orleans style St. Zita’s at 322 10th Street.
“We were looking for a challenge, and Roy always wanted to do a New Orleans style restaurant,” Terre says. The couple has more than 20 years of experience as restauranteurs, and during most of that time Terre and Roy worked together. In fact they met while working at Chili Willi’s. After years of working there, they left in 1992 to open Calamity Café. Both of their restaurants are unique on every level, and that undeniable element is key to their success.
“We don’t have a straight New Orleans menu,” Terre says. The menu features some traditional fare that Roy refers to as “jazzed-up.”
A perusal of the menu confirms that the cuisine is varied and unique but includes something for everyone, from seafood bisque and Louisiana Salmon Cakes to Cajun Strip Steak with a Big Mess of Shrimp, Peach & Pecan Chicken or Shrimp & Crawfish Etoufee.
“We make just about everything from scratch,” Terre says. “We get a lot of fresh seafood in here.”
And, they make their own desserts so you can finish with a Louisiana Crunch Cake. The drink menu is just as colorful offering The Red Rooster, The Big Easy or the Vampire’s Kiss. In addition, they are establishing their own traditions at St. Zita’s.
Every Tuesday is Fat Tuesday which is all-you-can-eat ribs and jambalaya. The restaurant also features numerous drink specials on Tuesdays. Roy explained that the translation from French to English of “Mardi” is Tuesday and “Gras” means fat.
The actual Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Traditionally, households consumed all remaining forbidden food on Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. In France it is a one-day event, but in New Orleans it lasts several days. Many southern cities have Mardi Gras celebrations and it is a holiday in many school districts. At the St. Zita Grille in Huntington, Mardi Gras is every Tuesday.
Even the name of the restaurant is related to New Orleans lore. “In New Orleans it is typical to name establishments, schools or churches after saints because you get the saint’s blessing,” Terre explained. “St. Zita’s is one of the patrons of hospitality.”
While the building St. Zita’s occupies housed another restaurant at one time, they remodeled the facility to create an atmosphere that combines Southern and New Orleans style with Creole and Cajun influences.
“We redid the upholstery on all the furniture, restored the wood, stripped the wallpaper, painted the walls and built walls and a wine rack,” Roy says. They also painted the ceiling in the lounge to resemble a red stone ceiling, while the ceiling in the main dining room blends with the walls. After stripping the tin ceiling in the hallway, they applied patina to give it an aged look.
“We wanted it to have the old Creole restaurant feel where everything is nice but eclectic,” Terre says. From the leopard barstools to the individual lighting on the tables, the atmosphere is chic.
When talking about the artwork in the restaurant, Terre refers to the style as southern folk art. Local twin brothers Carl and Carlos Culbertson created a lot of the artwork in the restaurant. Some of the art was purchased, and Terre and Roy and their children pitched in and painted some of the artwork themselves.
For example, Roy painted the “CARN” skull artwork in the main dining room and Terre created the jazz player that hangs on the wall by the bar. She also made the “Zydeco Lounge” sign that hangs at the back of the bar.
The jazz music of New Orleans, which includes Zydeco as well as a variety of R&B, is as popular and diverse at the restaurant as its cuisine. Zydeco generally features the accordion, rub board or washboard and fiddle. On any given evening, the dinner music at St. Zita’s could be Zydeco, or any other variation of jazz, recorded or live.
Marshall professors Mark Zanter and Ed Bingham also have jazz groups and they generally play the third weekend of the month. Other jazz performers liven up the atmosphere but there is no set schedule.The Backyard Dixie Jazz Stompers usually play on the first weekend of each month. “They are great,” Roy says. “They’re traditional, authentic New Orleans Dixieland jazz.”
“We book other musicians including keyboard blues players, and an old delta blues guy who plays every couple of months or so,” Terre adds.
St. Zita’s also has a private dining room that will accommodate 50 people.
“We cater private parties, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties and business meetings,” Roy says. “We also do off-site catering, and we even opened up after-hours for a private dinner for Tim Conway, Don Knotts and their staff, after a recent Marshall Artists Series performance at the Keith Albee Theatre.”
The restaurant also has a two-room play area with art supplies and a romper room. The willingness to go the extra step to ensure the customer has a great dining experience is key to St. Zita’s success.
Chef Roy Clark offers this St. Zita’s Grille favorite for the readers of the Huntington Quarterly.
Recipe |
| Devil’s Jambalaya |
1/2 cup oil
3 large onions chopped
3 large green bell peppers chopped
2 cups celery chopped
1/4 cup Creole Seasoning
2 heaping Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 lb andouille sausages cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 1/2 lbs chicken chopped
1 Tbsp. thyme
4 bay leaves
4 cups white rice
1 can chicken stock
2 cups water
1 can diced red peppers
1 cup green onions chopped
|
| Heat oil in stockpot. Add onions, bell peppers, celery and Creole Seasoning. Stirring often, brown the vegetables for about 15–20 minutes, until caramelized. Add garlic and bay leaves. Cook for another 2–3 minutes. Add sausage and cook another 5–10 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add chicken and brown for another 5 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat it all evenly. Add broth and water, stir to combine and cover. Cook over medium heat and stir in green onions. |
For more information about St. Zita’s or to make reservations, call (304) 525-2700.
