If Busch-fortified, Maull's-slathered Boston butt is a Saturday afternoon cookout, Your Place Diner's (5510 Virginia Avenue, 314-260-9069) smothered pork steak is Sunday supper at Grandma's. Slow-cooked to the point it falls apart at the mere suggestion of a knife prod, the tender pork is both a worthy component in its own right and a canvas for rich, meaty brown gravy that soaks into every crevice. The sauce then drips onto the bed of rice pilaf on which the pork rests, forming a mouthwatering melange that feels like a country risotto. It takes only a couple of bites of this magnificent entree to come to terms with something difficult to say for any St. Louisan: Barbecue isn't the only way to cook a pork steak.
Dwayne Nelson always knew his mom's cooking was capable of eliciting such a response. For as long as he can remember, friends and family have been raving about her food, especially her well-attended Thanksgiving feasts. Born in 1928 in the tiny town of Denmark, Tennessee, Mama Nelson grew up cooking and carried that knowledge with her when she moved to St. Louis after she graduated from high school. Once she had a family of her own, she showered them with her culinary gifts and instilled in them her passion for southern hospitality, which she interpreted as caring for people's bodies and spirits through food and service.
For Nelson, this meant sharing his mother's food with as many people as possible. A second-generation master plumber by trade, he'd always dreamed of having a restaurant that would allow her cooking to reach a broader audience than just friends and family. A few years ago, he got more serious in his quest and began sketching out plans and looking for a space that he could turn into a venue for his family's recipes. His sister and brother-in-law thought he was crazy; his wife knew he was, but they agreed to pitch in and together opened Your Place Diner in Carondelet in October of 2021.
Located in the former Iron Barley space, Your Place Diner has such an unassuming exterior presence, you might miss it while driving by if you aren't looking carefully. Though it's smack-dab on a busy, deep south city thoroughfare, the restaurant has the feel of a small-town diner in rural Tennessee thanks to its wooden facade and residential storm door entrance. Inside, it retains its predecessor's dark tavern feel with wood paneling and exposed brick; a shiny wooden bar with black leather swivel stools and two-seater banquettes provide seating in one room, while the other has more of a formal dining room setup with wooden tables, chairs and a banquette that takes up the length of one wall.
You could be sitting on the floor and not care once you taste Your Place's outstanding food. Though the recipes are all from Nelson's mother Dorothy, his wife, Vera, sister, Pamela, and brother-in-law, Nathaniel Anderson, turn out her soul food specialties with reverence to their matriarch's culinary teachings. A baked half-chicken, for instance, has a delightful herbed and black-pepper-encrusted skin that yields to succulent, fall-apart meat. The fried chicken, too, is an outstanding representation of the form. Here, large plump drummies are coated in a crispy batter enlivened with enough pepper to make your lips tingle. It's the sort of spice that beautifully builds, though if you need a bit of relief, the side of creamy, relish-infused potato salad does the trick.
Your Place offers two kinds of fish, catfish and jack salmon, both of which are coated in a gently seasoned cornmeal crust that crisps up to a gorgeous golden hue. The crunchy exterior is a stunning contrast to the tender, mild meat. The restaurant serves tartar sauce, though I recommend garnishing instead with the pungent and luxuriously creamy coleslaw that accompanies the dish.
Meatloaf at Your Place is not just a delicious entree; it's a taste of childhood nostalgia so strong it almost brought a tear to my eye as I remembered watching my mother mix together the ketchup and brown sugar glaze she used to coat her version of the dish. At Your Place, that glaze has a subtle baking spice flavor, as if the sauce has been sprinkled with just a whisper of cinnamon. It's a beautiful accent for the tender onion-flecked beef — a shockingly juicy take on the form. I can't blaspheme and say it's better than my mom's, but it's the best homestyle meatloaf anyone is cooking in this city today.
Sides at Your Place — a collection of quintessential soul food selections — are just as worthy as the main courses. Cabbage, slow-cooked with hunks of pork, picks up the meat's subtle sweetness, while slivers of red bell peppers add brightness. Green beans, too, benefit from being slow-cooked with pork, though the star of this dish are the chunks of potato, which soak up all the buttery, meat-enhanced cooking liquid. Spaghetti is impressive thanks to its rich, black-pepper-forward meat sauce, though if I could only get one side dish at Your Place — perhaps one dish, period — it would be the mac and cheese. This outrageously creamy concoction is perfection of the form: thick without being gooey, saucy without being runny and sticky without being crusty around the edges. If you closed your eyes and dreamed of all mac and cheese could be, this would be it.
Open Thurs. Noon-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. Noon-1 a.m.; Sun. Noon-Midnight (closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).
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