Diary 9|29|2015: Checking In At Tony Angello's.

Written by Tom Fitzmorris October 01, 2015 12:01 in

DiningDiarySquare-150x150 Tuesday, September 29, 2015. How Is Tony Angello's Restaurant Doing?
I manage to take a one-lap walk today, on the advice of some magazine I read some time ago. Makes sense, mainly for the health of one's eyes. But having taken that twenty-minute respite, I find myself twenty minutes behind in writing my NOMenu newsletter. There is no escape. [caption id="attachment_49066" align="alignnone" width="480"]Tony Angello's dining room on a slow Tuesday night. Tony Angello's dining room on a slow Tuesday night. [/caption] It wasn't until I was four blocks away from Tony Angello's that it occurred to me that tonight might be a good time to visit the old Italian mainstay in Lakeview. Mr. Tony died a couple of months ago at almost 90. His daughter has been running the restaurant for some time, even though Mr. Tony was in the building most nights until just before his demise. So it came as no surprise to anyone that the restaurant kept to its schedule, not even taking off the day of Mr. Tony's funeral. Nobody stated this, but I am sure that if Mr. Tony were able to communicate from the Great Beyond, he would have told his people to fire up that stove and get to work, because people are going to come here for dinner tonight and we need to serve them. Dale Messina, who has managed the front of the house for years, was on hand tonight as usual. Topic A: What the hell are we going to do with these armed robberies? There was a third one over the weekend, victimizing the Monkey Hill Bar on Webster at Magazine. This tells us that whoever these marauders may be, they know something about the Uptown restaurant scene. Kind of the same crowd goes to all three of the restaurants involved. It occurs to me in an egotistic moment that the robbers may be using my fleurs-de-lis ratings and restaurant commentaries as a guide to likely future victims. But I only wish I were that important. [caption id="attachment_49064" align="alignnone" width="480"]Oysters Rockefeller (rear) and Bienville. Oysters Rockefeller (rear) and Bienville. [/caption] The waiter comes over to say that the kitchen has both oysters Rockefeller and Bienville. "And this time, you won't have to beg John Jay for them," says Dale. (The well-known salon master got the last three Rocks at his table next to ours on our most recent visit.) Tony Angello's has always made great versions of the local oyster classics. I ask for a three-and-three. And they are luscious. [caption id="attachment_49063" align="alignnone" width="480"]Beef tripe at Tony Angello's. Beef tripe at Tony Angello's.[/caption] Dale tells me that if I want tripe, it's available. But they tell me that every time I come here, including one afternoon when Mr. Tony invited me in for lunch--a meal served at TA's only to people in the business or really good customers. Dale lets the secret out: they make a batch of tripe in tomato sauce all the time, and it's always available to anyone interested in eating it, even though it isn't on the menu. "I don't like it," says Dale, and the waiter concurs. Mr. Tony himself didn't go for tripe, the inner lining of a cow's second or third stomach (I forget). I've had it enough times that even though I do enjoy the stuff, I don't feel the urge tonight. They brought me some anyway. There must be more of a story to this rigamarole, but I have a feeling that Mr. Tony is the only one who knows what it is. [caption id="attachment_49065" align="alignnone" width="480"]Cucuzza. Cucuzza.[/caption] The most unusual item of the night, however, is braised cucuzza, the long (two feet or longer) Italian squash that a lot of New Orleans people grow on their fences in their back yards. The vegetable is soft on the bottom of the plate, and topped with a spicy sauce containing chunks of veal. Cucuzza doesn't have much of a flavor, but whoever made this took care of that problem. This is the best cucuzza I've ever eaten, and even though it's only the third time in my life, I still say it's exceptional. The number of phallic jokes about cucuzza surely exceeds the number of preparations for it. [caption id="attachment_49062" align="alignnone" width="480"]Chicken Romano. Chicken Romano.[/caption] An Italian salad after that. Then the tripe, followed by chicken Romano. It's chunks of bone-in chicken pieces all but swimming in a pool of hot olive oil, kicking up the aromas from a full measure of seasonings, garlic, rosemary, and who knows what else. It reminds me a bit of chicken a la grande at Mosca's, but not the chicken Romano at Impastato's. I'd say TA's version is better than either. It may be good that the lighting at Tony Angello's is very low, because I have a feeling that this tastes an order of magnitude better than it looks. I ask for spumone for dessrt. I am surprised to see that it is not Angelo Brocato's famous slices of its yellow, pink, green and white spumone. This one was in the blue-purple-red category. Yet it was quite good, if not as light as Brocato's. Throughout the evening, the tables around me are served by a man with a great command of the Italian language, and an equal capacity for sining Italian songs. I don't remember him from previous visits here, but he's a great addition to the scene here. I route my escape from Tony Angello's to pass as near as I can to the street running alongside the infamous 17th Street Canal, at the spot where its levee broke and then flooded the city after Katrina. I believe that if you were to drive at thirty miles per hour on this street, you would rip out the undercarriage of your car, so wavy is the street surface. At least they have fixed Fleur-de-Lis Avenue respectably. FleurDeLis-3-Small
Tony Angello's. Lakeview: 6262 Fleur de Lis Dr. 504-488-0888.