By Larry Bartlett

The Levee House Café
127 Ohio Street
Marietta, Ohio 45750
(740) 374-2233

In bygone days, Ohio River steamboat crews and passengers found love for sale at La Belle Hotel, on the waterfront at Marietta, Ohio.

The erstwhile hotel was built in 1826, and was originally a dry goods store. When it became La Belle Hotel, shady ladies sold sordid goods and attracted crowds of bawdy shoppers. The three-story brick hotel became even livelier in 1911, when a one-story wing was added as a saloon.

In modern times, Marietta’s waterfront has become one of the most scenic and tranquil areas of the historic city. Of the original bars, warehouses, stores and shambling hostelries that once lined the levee, only La Belle Hotel remains. The old Federal-style structure has been tastefully renovated, and is now known as the Levee House Caf√©. On a brick wall of the former saloon, one can still see the word “whiskey” painted in bold, faded-yellow letters. During warm weather months, the whiskey sign is hidden by a broad awning, which shelters tables for outdoor diners.

Within the Levee House Café, a stamped tin ceiling reminds diners of earlier times. Before the Civil War, the Marietta waterfront was a Mecca for runaway slaves. Across the Ohio River, in the area of Parkersburg, West Virginia, there were 12 slave-holding plantations. Abolition activists smuggled bondservants across the river, on the mythical Underground Railroad, to freedom in the Fugitive Slave State of Ohio. A giant map of the Underground Railroad is displayed on the forest-green walls of the café, together with old newspaper advertisements offering rewards for the capture of runaway slaves. Also decorating the walls are historic photos of riverboat musicians and performers.

Levee House owner Harley Noland refers to the caf√©’s cooking-style as “New American Cuisine.” Portions are generous, yet meals are pleasantly light and refreshing. Menu items reflect various ethnic cuisines, brought to the Ohio Valley by waves of immigrant settlers. Noland says: “All food is prepared on the premises, with no preservatives and no additives. If you have a dietary requirement or just a dietary wish, we will prepare a meal your way, per order.”

The Levee’s lunch and dinner menus are extensive enough to satisfy calorie-counting dieters, as well as ravenously hungry meat-and-potatoes men. For the lightest-possible lunch, the cafe offers a Garden Club Sandwich (thinly sliced cucumbers, tomato, lettuce, Swiss cheese and dill sauce on rye, served with a garnished salad). The light sandwich is even better if it’s preceded by the Levee’s Mousse Pate appetizer (a spread of chicken liver, bacon, cream cheese, walnuts and red wine, served with red onion rings and toast points) and, why shouldn’t a dieter conclude lunch with a generous slice of the Levee’s crumb-topped sour cream-and-pineapple pie?

The lengthy dinner menu ranges from Chicken Veronique (a chicken breast saut√©ed in butter and olive oil, with red onions, sliced apples, seedless grapes, nutmeg, parsley and apple juice) to Fresh Salmon Fillet (salmon baked with a sauce of Jim Beam, onion, brown sugar, garlic and lemon-lime juice). A popular favorite is Roughy Florentine (baked orange roughy stuffed with spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, chopped onions, egg and nutmeg). There is a hint of the Orient in the cafe’s Beef and Broccoli (beef tips saut√©ed in olive oil, with broccoli, onions, garlic and soy sauce, served over rice).

On balmy days, patrons can dine at the Levee House’s outdoor tables and enjoy an unobstructed view of the Ohio River. A short distance from the caf√© is a cobblestone boat landing, built in the mid-1800s by Capt. Caius Marcus Cole. The landing is often used by riverboats including the Delta Queen, the Mississippi Queen and the American Queen. During the first weekend after Labor Day, Marietta hosts the annual Ohio River Sternwheel Festival, which attracts dozens of paddlewheel boats from as far way as Alabama. Sternwheel races can be comfortably viewed from the Levee House’s shaded patio.

Toward the north, Levee diners can see bucolic Buckley Island, which is inhabited by bald eagles, blue herons, osprey, waterfowl, beavers and muskrats. Across the Ohio River loom the wooded hills of West Virginia, where Yankee and Rebel soldiers struggled in the Civil War. The city of Marietta (named for beheaded French queen Marie Antoinette), takes pride in its nickname “The Riverboat Town.” Ohio River excursions can be taken aboard The Valley Gem Sternwheeler and the 198 passenger River Explorer. From mid June through October, the Valley Gem also offers early-evening dinner cruises. Along the waterfront, summer days are enlivened by a variety of musical events and festivals.

Details and schedules are available at www.mariettaohio.org

Filed Under: Food Talk