Mod Mobilian asked Mr. Steiner about his self-published book Old Mobile Restaurants:
MM: What is your background?
MS: I was born in Mobile and have been a lifelong resident. My interest comes not only from a lifetime of enjoying the city’s famous seafood, but also from years of exploring its many multicultural restaurants, cafés, and food emporiums.
My interest also stems from my family’s ownership of a Mobile institution, Steiner’s Dairy. Steiner’s supplied Mobile’s families and restaurants with milk and dairy products from 1845 until it closed in 1959.
My legacy in the family business, as well as a modest collection of memorabilia from the dairy’s heyday prompted me to search for other sources of information and physical reminders of what I remembered and was told about Mobile’s rich and varied dining heritage.
The result is Old Mobile Restaurants. From the modest, hot dog stands to the most “uptown” of white tablecloth establishments, I tell the story of the people, places and events that shaped the culinary life of Mobile and quite often the Gulf Coast and the entire South.
I graduated from the University of Montevallo and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. At Naropa, I studied writing with such luminaries as William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey. When I am not eating at one of my favorite Mobile restaurants, I work in the real estate industry, enjoys writing poetry, and am an accomplished guitarist.
MM: What inspired you to write the book?
MS: A search for a recipe I had at Constantine’s restaurant years ago: Shrimp and crabmeat a la Rector.
It came from the great restaurateur George Rector in who’s restaurant Mr. Constantine had worked as a young man In the 1950s a friend of Mr Constantine, Mr. Kaller, who had worked with George Rector, had a restaurant in Mobile called ”Rector’s” where this dish was also served.
MM: What is the most interesting story in the book?
MS: Many…the story of Mr. Lemisle, Mobile’s first baker, is little known. The fact that the first recipe for jambalaya came from Mobile, I don’t believe has ever been published before now. Palmer Pillans’ story of oyster’s on the hot shell is wonderful, and the story of Evelyn Golbaker.
MM: Thank you Mr. Steiner.
You can order Old Mobile Restaurants from the Mod Mobilian Store: modmobilian.com/store
or from www.oldmobilerestaurants.com
Warning: This book will cause laughter and hunger.
