Cuisine Review

It is not every day that you can have an altruistic meal.

A bit obscure, the Mars Hill Café located on Cottage Hill near University (west of Cottage Hill Baptist Church) has only been open again just over a month. With an unselfish motive and a focus on natural, fresh ingredients, young Corky Sullivan, the executive chef and general manager, is a name I expect to hear a lot about in coming years.

A few years ago the owner of the Big Time Diner created the Mars Hill Café as a sandwich place and extension of his original restaurant. While it did not work out, he had spent some money on an earth-toned décor, contemporary lighting and fixtures. It is a warm, casual and wide-open place. The patrons ranged from office workers to college students, some coming in for a coffee or smoothie and others enjoying a quiet lunch.

As the home of a non-denominational church on the weekends, the Mars Hill Café has a Christian mission – and not one that is in your face. They don’t start praying for you the minute you enter or anything. Actually, everyone I met was so friendly and genuine that I felt at home and comfortable.

The Mars Hill is open Monday through Friday for lunch, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and plans to open for breakfast Nov. 26, weekdays, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. They serve dinner and open on the weekends for special events. In addition to being a café and church, it also serves as a music venue. A large stage is set off by curtains, raised off the floor with lighting and in the center of things. They feature Christian, folk and even bluegrass bands. In fact, on Nov. 30 they will feature The McPhersons, a local blue grass band – and they will also serve up some Southern cooking that evening.

Mars Hill serves coffee, lattes and the like along with smoothies during the lunchtime hours and during concerts. Carpe Diem supplies all of their free trade only coffee. Intrinsic to the Mars Hill Café mission is that all of the profits left after operational costs go to fight hunger both here in Mobile and across the world.

Mars Hill has a basic menu of salads, sandwiches, paninis, wraps, pastas and quesadillas. For salads, there is the Mars Garden, where you are allowed to pick all the vegetables you want and a meat of your choice; Balsamic Tomato, which contains a balsamic tomato tapenade, cucumbers, red onions and balsamic vinaigrette on greens, or the Sesame Seared Tuna that has a sweet onion vinaigrette dressing. The soup of the day on my visit was a creamy vegetable. Mars Hill also has a sandwich of the week and panini of the day. The paninis are basic in make-up, and are all $6.25 and range from turkey and Munster on Monday, ham and brie on Thursday or roast beef and cheddar on Friday. Sandwiches are in the $6 range as well, and include a Reuben, chicken salad or oven roasted portabella mushroom.

There are two pasta items on the menu, both served with whole wheat penne pasta. I almost ordered one but was concerned I might have to go back to work and take a nap. The pasta Florentine ($8) is a cream sauce with pan-seared chicken, garlic, shallots, tomato, wilted spinach and parmesan cheese. The other, veggie cacciatore ($7.50), uses a “bold” tomato sauce, garlic, shallots, parsley, basil, bell peppers, red onions and mushrooms. These are served with fresh bread, and all of the sandwich type items are served with one side item.

The wraps and quesadillas caught my eye as the most imaginative. First up, and what I chose, was the Chicken Panne Wrap ($6) with panned chicken breast, cranberry raisins, almonds and a cranberry vinaigrette folded into a whole wheat tortilla. I spread a bit of vinaigrette, served on the side, on each bite.

The chicken was moist and flavorful with crunchy almonds and slightly bitter cranberry. This wrap was inventive, fresh and I was not about to share. In fact, my friend had ordered the Tropical Tuna Wrap ($6) and asked if I wanted a bite. I said no only because I wanted to enjoy every bite of mine. It was that good. His tuna was prepared medium as he requested, even thought the waiter and I tried to convince him to have it rare. The slices were thick and were complimented well with the tropical salsa addition – fruity but not overly sweet. We each selected sweet potato hash browns as our side. Shredded and griddled, these crunchy straws clung together sweetly. The potatoes had been seasoned lightly and were not heavy – a nice change from chips or fries.

My friend ordered a side salad with crisp, bright greens, shredded carrots and onion with ranch dressing. The other side items found are the vegetable of the day (which I cannot remember), chips, and a cup of soup, pasta salad or roasted eggplant salad. If you do not go and eat anything else, get the eggplant salad. It piqued my interest so I ordered it as an appetizer. ($1.50) Mine was served warm, although I was told it is typically served cold. I could have eaten two more bowls of this dish.

Luscious cuts of eggplant had been baked, then sautéed in light vinaigrette and tossed with Greek seasonings. With just a hit of sweetness, the seasonings brought out the mellow flavor of the eggplant. The eggplant was wilted without turning into mush. If I lived near here I would pick some of this up every day.

For dessert, they have quarter-pound cookies, enormous ones, either white chocolate macadamia nut or chocolate chunk. My friend chose the chocolate napoleon ($3) which consisted of a brownie like confection topped with whipped cream and a chocolate pudding laced with the essence of espresso. What was quite surprising to me is that the chef, Corky Sullivan, is only 20. He is preparing some delicious food and all for a good cause.

Go feel good about yourself and enjoy a great lunch, and hopefully soon breakfast, at the Mars Hill Café.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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