My dad loved Mark Twain, though I suspect his semi-regular insistence on day trips to Hannibal had more to do with ground beef than Mr. Clemens' wit. The evidence for this was our ritual stop at the Mark Twain Dinette before doing any other activities. An institution dating back to the early 1940s, the dinette was known for a lot of things — its status as the city's oldest restaurant, its location next to Twain's boyhood home and its homemade root beer — but the eatery's biggest claims to fame were its Maid-Rites, a hamburger-adjacent concoction that's generically known as a loose meat sandwich, which consists of seasoned ground beef tucked into a basic burger bun and classically dressed with pickles and yellow mustard. My dad would add onions, order two and wash them down with a root-beer float before hitting the river for a paddleboat tour.
Daniel Boyer has similar childhood memories, though his center around pool rather than Mark Twain. A native of Bowling Green in northeast Missouri, Boyer would regularly travel the area with his dad, who was an avid pool player and equally avid Maid-Rite fan. Growing up on the Missouri side of the Iowa border, the elder Boyer had fallen in love with the region's signature loose meat sandwiches; he carried that love with him into adulthood and would seek out the specialty anywhere he'd go, particularly at Maid-Rite franchises that specialized in the dish. Though they tried Maid-Rites at just about every location they were offered, Boyer's favorite place to eat them was the Mark Twain Dinette, and it was not long before he shared his father's love for the humble loose meat sandwich.
That love and nostalgia are the basis for Boyer's debut restaurant, Lousies on the Loop (567a Melville Avenue, University City; 314-696-2002), a loose meat sandwich shop that he and his wife, Kelle, opened in University City last October. Though it presents as a small, unassuming counter-service shop, Lousies is actually the culmination of Boyer's lengthy culinary career, which began when he was just a teenager working at a Bowling Green pizzeria, carried through to culinary school in Austin, Texas, followed by stints with the Ritz-Carlton locations in Colorado and New Orleans, and blossomed during his time working at various fine-dining establishments around the Big Easy.
Boyer loved New Orleans; it's where he met Kelle, honed his craft, founded a pickle company called the French Pickler, bought a house and had his kids. However, once the pandemic hit, things felt really difficult, and he and Kelle decided that, if they wanted to try to do their own thing in the restaurant business, it made sense to be near Boyer's family in St. Louis.
The pair landed in the University City area in the beginning of 2021, intent on opening a restaurant that would pay homage to the loose meat sandwiches of Boyer's youth. Initially, they'd planned on having a larger, more involved concept, but when they found the storefront on Melville in the Delmar Loop that used to house Bing Bing, they decided instead to tailor their idea to the smaller digs, opening Lousies on the Loop as a fast-casual sandwich counter with a compact menu of loose meat sandwiches, a handful of rotating side dishes, desserts and New Orleans snacks.
In keeping Lousies' menu small, the Boyers have given themselves the energy to be able to focus on the little things that make their restaurant such an unexpected joy. Though he is committed to paying homage to the Maid-Rites he grew up eating, Boyer lets his culinary background shine through with a number of tiny details, like freshly grinding the beef, cooking it with seasoning and diced white onions so that they soak in all of the meat's drippings and add subtle flavor. The result is a sandwich that tastes like a classic diner smashburger, only here, in the loose meat version, you get the pleasure of its slightly crispy, lacy meat edges in every bite. Boyer offers these "lousies" plain, which he and Kelle recommend dressed with housemade pickles, classic yellow mustard, lettuce and tomato. However, you can also add Swiss or American cheese, which meld the meat together and add richness, or blue cheese crumbles that give each bite a bit of earthy funk.
Lousies' loose meat is not only limited to its Maid-Rite riffs, though. The delightfully seasoned crumbled beef is served atop the restaurant's Louchos, which are to the classic bar nacho what a cheeseburger pizza is to a traditional pie. Here, Backer's brand potato chips are smothered in meat, melted American that's evocative of stadium nacho cheese, housemade pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. Boyer adds a chef's touch by placing sprigs of fresh dill on top of the concoction. This marries beautifully with the pickles and mustard, giving an otherwise decadent dish a punch of refreshment.
Boyer also offers two breakfast items (served all day) utilizing the ground meat. The Lousie Omelet Sandwich pairs the loose meat with two beautifully folded eggs and melted American cheese. There is a wonderful black peppery undertone that evokes spicy breakfast sausage. The same meat makes an appearance on the grits bowl, which is a spiritual twin to the Slinger. Here, creamy grits are topped with the crumbly, seasoned meat, gooey cheese, an over-easy egg and scallions; the egg yolk, cheese and grits almost form a mouthwatering sauce that coats every bit of the ground beef.
Lousies does not limit itself to its namesake meat, however. The restaurant's vegan Lousie, made with finely diced mushrooms and onions, is rich, earthy and satisfying. Pork and shrimp boudin balls, a daily special, are flawless in texture — the shrimp, though diced, is still snappy and marries well with the sweet pork and cajun spices that dust the balls' exterior. Vegan risotto is a master class in texture, marrying the snap of individual rice grains with creaminess. And Boyer makes a traditional cabbage coleslaw infinitely more interesting by adding red beets and blue cheese, a stunning combination of flavors.
Desserts are no less thrilling. Boyer masterfully marries lighthearted nostalgia with culinary technique in his Jello dessert, a whimsical jar of cherry Jello topped with gelatinized condensed milk. He uses carbonated water to make the Jello, giving it a light, almost effervescent texture that dances on the tongue. Whereas the Jello is joyful, the bread pudding is positively awe-inspiring. Unlike wetter versions, Boyer's is more like a biscuit or scone; he cooks the pecan- and raisin-flecked dessert as an individual round so that each diner has the pleasure of enjoying the crisped-up edge pieces. My dining companion was so smitten, he said he needed a cigarette after such a pleasurable experience.
That we floated out of Lousies basking in the afterglow of bread pudding as much as the delicious loose meat sandwiches shows the depth of the Boyers' talent. There may be no Huck Finn references or paddle boats to speak of, but dad would still be impressed.
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