A curiosity of my occupation is that, while I'm writing about a restaurant or a recipe I often become hungry for the subject I'm writing of. Such a reaction began a couple of weeks ago, when I began working on a piece about barbecue shrimp for Rouses Market's slick magazine. When I finished writing everything I knew about that lusty local dish, I found that I had an article of perfect length.
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Black drum with barbecue shrimp on top.[/caption]
And I felt the urge for a nice dinner at Manale's. Not for barbecue shrimp--I have made and eaten that enough times lately that I had contracted a case of satiety. This phenomenon is known to all chefs, who reach a point in cooking that they can't stand the idea of eating even their best dishes.
This may be the reason so many major chefs stop creating new dishes for the ages. Instead, they just go with the flow of ingredients, and generate dishes that will only remain for the currently-passing season. This may be why a majority of the world's most famous dishes were created a long time ago.
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Oysters Rockefeller and Bienville from Pascal's Manale. [/caption]
Meanwhile, back at Manale's, I began with a three-and-three half-dozen of oysters Rockefeller and Bienville. Although Manale's versions are unusual--the thick sauces baked on top of the oysters are almost fluffy--it's delicious eating. I find it hard to go to Manale's without starting this way.
On the other hand, the great improvements in the food at Manale's during the past eight or nine years have been about daily specials. Some of these have been good enough to be potential classics--a steak with an eggplant garnish and a fantastic sauce in particular. Today I have a pair of crabcakes with pasta Alfredo. The crabcakes are good. But the pasta is a little too rich for my taste. I think this is because it is made with linguini, which I dislike. The ratio of weight to surface area makes linguine unnecessarily heavy. And it doesn't pick up enough of the excellent sauce. I leave more than half of the pasta behind.
Bob DeFelice--the city's most accomplished restaurateur and scuba diver--sits down and updates me on the status. He and his brothers Sandy and Mark and sister Ginny run Manale's these days. Bob tells me--not for the first time--about the rough period Manale's went through in the late 1980s. The management in charge in those years put a big dent in the customer base and the goodness of the food. It took years for the restaurant to return to its former excellence.
Indeed, I think it's better now than it ever has been. And underrated among locals--although the customers who come from out of town never lost faith. Those people, unlike local customers--prefer to have their restaurants remain steady, not changing every day.
One more good recent development at Manale's: The seemingly interminable digging of the new drainage system on Napoleon Avenue seems to have come to an end. You no longer find your car disappearing into holes in the pavement as you ride along.
