OCTOBER 19, 1988
“I wonder what they do with the insides they scoop out of these potato shells,” Constant Companion said as we were eating dinner at Frenchy’s Cabaret last Tuesday evening.
“Dunno,” I said, eyeing his cheese-covered potato shells as I ate a moist, tasty baked potato. CC had ordered a 6-ounce filet mignon that came with sautéed mushrooms for $8.50. I had ordered the 4-ounce top sirloin for $4.50. As a starter, we had a choice of salad, soup, tomato juice or coleslaw. With our entrees, we got our choice of potatoes, and believe it or not—a vegetable. In this case, corn.
We thought it was a pretty good deal since the food turned out to be better than average. I liked the salad because the lettuce was cut finely and so were the tomatoes on top. I liked the red cabbage slivered in with the iceberg lettuce. Instead of salad, CC had dumpling soup. “Tastes good,” he commented. “Though a little salty.”
Our plan had been to revisit the Cabaret dining room in Frenchy’s. We hadn’t been there since shortly after it opened four years ago, and we wanted to see how things were going. The dining room looked nice. There is new carpeting and new white and red paper on two walls. White-covered tables all have red napkins and steak sauce on them. On the west wall, there’s a mural of cabaret dancers.
But we weren’t able to sit in the dining room. It seems there was an emergency when the cook called in sick and one of the waiters wasn’t able to make it. Things were at sixes and sevens, so to speak. So we were ushered into the lounge area for dinner.
This was OK. There were several tables of people dining as well as the late afternoon or early evening bar crowd. There was an old movie showing on the big screen, but I don’t think anyone was watching it.
Our waitress, in tight-fitting jeans, was businesslike and energetic. She was hopping from one table to another, trying to keep up with everything. Later, I learned she is Lori Hollinger, daughter of Hubert “Frenchy” LaCrosse, the proprietor.
“Frenchy” took time out to answer a few questions when we finished eating. “You picked a fine time to try us,” he said, explaining that he fills in at the stove only when the need arises. He also depends on Caryn Swedin to make soups and salad dressings while he does the meat cutting. The kitchen is equipped with a charbroiler, deep fryer, two convection ovens and three microwaves.
LaCrosse went into food service to keep up with the times when the drinking laws were changed. He says that business is pretty good.
“We’re still trying to convince people that we’re no longer strictly a college place, although we still get some of them,” he said. “We are drawing more people from the community. More of a blue-collar and working-class clientele,” LaCrosse said. “Two people can come in here and eat and drink for $15.”
Before we left, we asked LaCrosse what he does with the insides of the potatoes.
“Oh,” he said, “we use them for au gratin potatoes, in potato salad, and in soups.”
Hubert “Frenchy” LaCrosse closed Frenchy’s Cabaret in the mid-1990s.