The Pint-Sized Palate

Happy Hour at The Mary Lane

By Churchill Stone

The Mary Lane
99 Bank Street

One day I had been stuck at home reading Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, and dying to get out of the house. My day began to improve when my dad said, ”Hey, put on your shoes, we’re going across the street to The Mary Lane.”

We met my mom and her friend who were sitting outside because it was such a nice day. Since it was between 5 and 7 pm, it was Happy Hour where they have food and drinks for less money. The problem was that Happy Hour was only at the bar and kids are not allowed at the bar. But for kids, the only good things to eat at Mary Lane are on the Happy Hour menu . . . at the bar! Now what?

At first, we were told that we could not have Happy Hour unless it was at the bar. So, I explained the situation to the waiter (and my mother and father helped). He left and when he came back he said that it would be okay for us to have Happy Hour outside. My story turns out to be important — because Mary Lane now offers Happy Hour food and cocktails at the bar and outside.

This was also important for me because the real menu at Mary Lane is not kid-friendly at all: mushroom tartare, crab galette, burrata and beets. The Happy Hour menu is better for kids. We ordered two Cacio e Pepe arancini (fried risotto balls) $8 and a cheeseburger $11 with French fries ($7 more). None of these are on the regular menu. The Happy Hour menu also has trout tartare ($12) and shrimp ($8).

For adults there is beer $6, wine $11, and a cocktail $16. I had their “Mint to Be” mocktail. It tasted fresh, sour, and pretty sweet. It was bright but a dark magenta color which was beautiful. It was so good that I finished it before the food arrived.

The Cacio e Pepe arancini was the best thing I had. It’s crunchy on the outside and soft and cheesy on the inside. The trick is that once you take a small bite, you have to dip the sticky inside of the risotto ball into the Parmesan cheese flakes that are on the plate. That way you get even more cheese. You get three arancini on a small plate. I ate two and could have had even more. It is the most delicious appetizer ever!

The cheeseburger comes with onions, bacon, and cheddar cheese. The burger is really big so I recommend asking them to split it in the kitchen

My mother ordered a strip steak to share. It’s the best thing on the regular menu for kids. The steak tasted perfect — seared on the outside, soft, reddish pink and chewy on the inside. I did not eat too much of the steak but I rate it 100%, and I am a steak expert.

It was so nice sitting outside that we decided to have dessert there too. We got a dark chocolate cake which was good because it came with little knob of meringue which tasted like a toasted marshmallow but much better. The dark chocolate cake is fine, but only if you have it with a lot of toasted meringue, otherwise it tastes a bit bitter.

I also got passion fruit gelato and strawberry sorbet. Both were very good, but the passion fruit was my favorite. While eating my dessert, a couple stopped in front of me and said, “Excuse us, but are you Churchill Stone who writes restaurant reviews for The Village View?” They introduced themselves and it turns out that they were the people in charge of The Village View! We had never met so that was a surprise!

Oh, and by the way, “Mary Lane” is not named after a street in London, it’s a kind of fig tree in California!