St Vincent Supermarket

St. Vincent is a great asset to the neighborhood. This used to be a pretty sketchy convenience store with a rough scene out front at all hours, but has been transformed under new ownership into the ideal neighborhood grocery. And not just any neighborhood, but a store that fits just right into the Irish Channel neighborhood it serves. This is not just the standard outpost of chips, smokes, and five-​hour-​energy that you get anywhere in America, but a place that knows the needs of Channel residents. And the guys that work there are great — they seem to care, and want a real relationship with the neighborhood. If you live nearby and they don’t have the brand you drink/​smoke/​whatever, they’ll probably order it for you and keep it stocked. They make an effort to be a part of the local scene and residents like myself appreciate it. Po-​boys, groceries, local beer, and even snowballs for the kids — they get it, and provide one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in the city with all the essentials we need and then some.

Recently renovated and the owners are great. They brought in everything you would need at a corner store and although there are three po boy shops nearby they are still making great food at a great price. Eat the hot sausage sandwich. Do it. They also now sell bags of ice, a good beer selection and the goods have not been sitting on the shelves for years like previously. I’m happy with the transformation!

I’m not sure if I’d ever witnessed a more intense scene showing the crazy results of gentrification before my visit to St. Vincent’s. The place is a regular old corner store at the corner of Constance and 1^st St, in what is now an extremely up-​and-​coming neighborhood. As I walk in, an old hippie-​type walks in behind me, then a minute later, a group of 5 – 6 Hispanic day-​laborers enter, then a young artist-​type couple, then finally two «Shottaz». I just kind of laughed to myself the whole time I was waiting for my food, wondering where exactly I fit in in all of this. The store is interesting, they have weird knick-​knacks and cheap plastic gifts at the counter, a corner with a bunch of Buddhist statues and heavy incense burning, and I didn’t try one, but they now sell sno-​balls!
Anyway, now to the food… I had a shrimp po-​boy and an order of cheese fries. Both were pretty good and cheap, with the po boy like $ 7-​$ 8 and the fries something like $ 1.39. The po-​boy probably could have used a bit more dressing for my tastes, but otherwise, it was decent. Not comparable to Parasol’s, which is just two blocks down from here, but for some reason I felt like not smelling like cigarettes after lunch today. St. Vincent’s po-​boys were quite a bit larger than Parasol’s as well. They also have a pretty extensive «Chinese» menu in addition to the burgers, po-​boys, and fried seafood stuff they serve.
Anyway, this is a good, cheap, and kind of random place to try if you’re in the neighborhood.