Matt Cormier and Jackie LeBlanc are missing their moms' cooking.

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The Starving Students were homesick for their parents' home cooking, so they decided to find a place that could fill that void. They say you can't go home again, but you can go to Beairsto's Family Restaurant, situated at 146 Main St., in Fredericton, and get a taste of home cooking.

Jackie's verdict:

I haven't been home to see my parents in a long time. It's only a two-hour drive, but I've been busy with school, work and Starving Student outings. I miss the comfort of a homemade hot turkey sandwich or a fresh piece of lemon meringue pie. So when Matt suggested we try Beairsto's Family Restaurant, I thought it was one way of going home, if only for a couple hours.

The truth is Beairsto's is nothing like my family's home. But, for some reason, the home cooking and 'Ma and Pa' feel of the small restaurant unlocked some nostalgic feelings, and made me feel right at home.

Or almost.

When we walked in, I immediately noticed some of the customers eyeballing me. Their eyes darted back and forth over my face, trying to see if I was so-and-so's youngest daughter Kelly. We had just walked into Fredericton north's equivalent of Cheers, but nobody knew our names.

But it's better that way. We don't want to reveal our top secret identities, or our mug shots will be plastered over every kitchen in the city.

However, once sitting, we no longer felt alienated. Our server was very pleasant, polite, and speedy. She took our order, and mere moments later, our food was sitting in front of us.

We ordered mozza sticks to start. We had our choice of dipping sauce, so we chose sour cream. They also gave us some amazing homemade spaghetti sauce to use for dipping.

For my main meal, I ordered a crunchy chicken wrap with french fries. The wrap was scrumptious. It was filled to the brink with chicken, lettuce, mayo, tomato and real cheddar cheese. The side of french fries was equally delicious. They were homemade and weren't drenched with salt. (My arteries are still thanking me.) Beairsto's also gives you your own water pitcher, so you don't have to spend your meal trying to flag down your server to get a refill. Instead, you can concentrate on the good food, and the even better company.

The décor at Beairsto's is a little old school. The bathroom needs a little reno, and the overall feel of the dining room could use a little update. But this didn't ruin the evening for me. If anything, it made it all the more genuine.

The prices were reasonable too. Our meal, with taxes, was under $30. Not bad for two Starving Students.

I give Beairsto's Family Restaurant 7/10.

Matt's verdict:

We Frederictonians like to think we live in an urban setting. Though dubbing it "the big city" might be a stretch for even the most imaginative denizens of the capital region, all it takes is one foray into weekday morning bridge traffic to dispel any lingering misconceptions of simple, small town living.

With that said, finding a place that offers an alternative to the urban sprawl can be an appealing getaway at times. Enter stage left: Beairsto's Family Restaurant. Visit Beairsto's on a slow North side traffic day, sit down on one of the simple wooden chairs, and close your eyes. With a little imagination, you might just be able to picture yourself on the road somewhere, stopping in a random country diner for a bite to eat. That is, you might be able to as long as the waitress agrees to turn off the blaring radio station. There's something about top 20 pop hits channels that makes true rural escapism rather difficult.

Still, for the most part, Beairsto's succeeds in transporting you to a place where life would be simpler if only so-and-so's daughter Darlene hadn't gone and married that troublesome Connor boy from down the street. You know the one "" his grandfather used to fix trucks all over town.

Being particularly famished on the evening in question, we decided to start our dinner with mozza sticks as an appetizer. They were good, as mozza sticks go "" nice, crunchy, filled with cheese, all without being over or undercooked. Our order was composed of about a half dozen sticks, and came complete with two dipping sides, sour cream and what I believe might have been spaghetti sauce.

As a main course, I decided to opt for seafood. After deliberating for a time on whether to go for shellfish or basic fish (henceforth referred to as "fishyfish!"), I settled on a basic order of scallops and fries.

Now, to be honest, I tend to avoid ordering scallops at most restaurants. This is certainly not because I don't like scallops, in fact, there is little a love more than a plate of the bite sized balls of joy. The main problem behind ordering scallops at most restaurants is that the portion given is virtually always miniscule.

Let me be clear""if you decide that offering five or six scallops is sufficient, your shellfish better be suffering from elephantiasis. Otherwise, you're far more likely to incur the wrath of most true scallop lovers.

On this evening, however, I decided that I would give it a shot. Unfortunately, the scallop curse would prove to be too powerful to be allayed by a mom and pop dive. I received my plate and was discouraged to find a measly handful of small scallops, floating amongst a sea of french fries "" disappointing, but not unexpected.

All in all, I'm afraid I was hoping for more out of my experience at Beairsto's. The ambiance remains the most rural to be found in town, with the only glaring exception being the choice of music. The service was great and the serving speed was fine. Maybe I just chose the wrong night to try and dispel an unfortunately enduring malediction like the scallop curse. Nonetheless, I review what I eat, and what I ate was a bit subpar. As such, I offer Beairsto's Family Restaurant a moderate grade of 5/10 overall.