Mason’s Grill is one of those watering hole type of restaurants like the old Hawks Nest and Chelsea’s. Got a rep for a few standout food items, but mostly a place to get something to eat while you’re indulging in your favorite pastime. Long bar with plenty of tv’s, lot of burger options, plenty of fried seafood and southern standards, and a famous brunch. I was there on a Thursday so I missed out on brunch. Instead, I checked out their version of Catfish Acadiana, fried catfish over rice topped with crawfish étouffée. I went with onion rings and slaw as side and salad. Catfish was cooked right, and the étouffée was really good, thinner, with a darker roux than most and a deep flavor throughout, but someone left it on the stovetop too long. The tails had shrunk and turned grey and while the flavor was there, the pop and texture of fresh cooked crawfish tails was absent. Old school o-rings. Thick cut. Hand battered. Slaw was a grade above most places, but not the best I’ve had. There’s only one location. Sometimes mom and pop joints have staffing issues which means both food and service can be up and down depending on when you visit. Mason’s didn’t build their reputation with overcooked étouffée, so I guess I caught them on an off day. Still, everything was good enough that I definitely plan on trying their brunch if I can, especially some of the cocktails everyone raves about, but, like Katrina, it’s very difficult to know how many businesses will have the resources to survive the pandemic. Let’s hope that all of them do. Unfortunately, given the thin margins restaurants operate under, it,s no more realistic to predict a 100 percent recovery rate for businesses than for people.
