Diary Catchup 7|8-11|2017: Impastato Times Two. Red's Chinese.

Written by Tom Fitzmorris July 18, 2017 16:08 in

Saturday, July 8, 2017. Impastato Cellars With Our Neighbor. A lady who raises horses and chickens near the Cool Water Ranch has become a closer friend in recent years by way of feeding our two dogs and three cats while we are out of town. We watch her menagerie when she's gone, so that should work out--but we're gone a lot more than she is. We have offered her cash, but she won't take it. She prefers being taken out to dinner at the likes of Keith Young's Steak House, Gallagher's Grill, and other first-class North Shore restaurants. That is better for us, too, giving us an excuse to eat in some of our favorite places. It's time for one of those balancing acts tonight, as we make up for the two and a half weeks we were on the West Coast recently. The restaurant choice is is Impastato Cellars, the spinoff of Impastato's in Metairie, operated by Joe Impastato's wife and their daughter (who are both named Mica). Our neighbor liked the place a few months ago, when she was especially pleased by the barbecue shrimp and pasta at the Cellars. [caption id="attachment_49097" align="alignleft" width="480"]Cellar with table, Impastato Cellars. Cellar with table, Impastato Cellars.[/caption] The menu is pretty much identical to that of the Metairie restaurant, including the $35 five-course dinner of hand every night. The only big change at the Cellars lately is that it's now open for Sunday brunch. But that's another story. I hardly have to relate my menu, but I will. First course is the fettuccine and angel hair asciutta served together. Then artichoke soup, followed by the house salad. The entree is redfish Marianna, the namesake of Joe's mother. (And Mary Ann, for that matter). This is my favorite dish after the fettuccine at any Impastato's restaurant, but they made it different from the normal tonight. Instead of the butter-lemon-sherry sauce, it's a cream sauce. Not terrible by a long shot, but not what I had in mind. (See the book, "Expectations That Ruin Great Cooking," written but never quite finished.) It's a fine dinner, and our neighbor says we can bring her to Impastato Cellars any time we want. Impastato Cellars. Madisonville: 240 Highway 22 E. 985-845-4445. Sunday, July 9, 2017. Mattina Bella Solo. Zea, Tomato Bisque, And Crab Cakes. The weather is cool, dry in the morning, and breezy. I undertake my scheme for pulling the lawn tractor out of the muddy hole where it's been for a week. To my astonishment, the whole scheme works perfectly. I jacked the tractor up about eighteen inches. I place wide, thick boards at right angles on top of the hole but under the wheel. I continue to enjoy the idea that I have built a three-foot-long bridge. I lower the jack and remove it. The wheel sits right on the bridge, hardly sagging at all. I start the engine which, to my amazement, fires up right away. I put my foot on the gas gingerly. The tractor rolls forward. I take a small turn to the right. It rolls along the ground just as I'd hoped. The bridge stood up strong. I will never again worry about getting stuck in the mud, which has happened a total of about eight times over the twenty-five years we've lived here. The eating scheme for the day has to work around my bridge project, singing at Mass, a two-hour radio show starting at one p.m., and the desk-work backlog. I wind up going to two of the standbys: late breakfast, solo, at Mattina Bella. Dinner with MA at Zea. Tomato-basil soup, a trio of crab cakes, and no dessert. Monday, July 10, 2017. A New Legacy Kitchen, Due North. The local chain behind the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company opened a new concept two or three years ago called Legacy Kitchen. The group has expanded to include four more manifestations of the idea. It's an oddity as chains go: every location has a secondary concept that alters the menu while at the same time hangs onto the signature dishes. All of these are more American than Creole, although that might escape one's notice. All the restaurants have fried chicken and waffles, for example. But even that is subject to change: all the Legacy Kitchens have a very good, very Cajun-Creole turtle soup, an oddity in such a place. The latest addition to the organization has the descriptive subtitle "Due North." The waitress told me that this is because its location is on the same parallel as the Legacy Kitchen in Metairie, so to get from one to the other in a balloon you wouldn't have to make any turns. Clever idea, even if is a coincidence. Of more importance is that the Due North location has taken over the restaurant that has been N'Tini's for about the last ten years. N'Tini's owner Mark Benfatti is a silent partner with the Legacy guys, but he takes no hand in the menu. The restaurant also has undergone a modest renovation to make it more like the Legacy Kitchen. Mary Ann and I tried to sample Due North a few days ago, when the Fourth of July closed a lot of restaurants for a few days. Today we followed through. A reminder of N'Tini's showed itself right away: the restaurant was freezing inside. But the servers were very quick to remedy that and any other gripe we might have had. It was a light supper for both of us, with sandwiches as entrees. We began with char-broiled oysters. (What restaurant doesn't have that these days?) I have a crab and corn bisque as the second starter, followed by a fried oyster BLT that fell apart as I ate it, but it was easily enough eating. MA's bread enclosed barbecue brisket with a side of black beans. My dessert was a single scoop of ice cream, big enough for at least three people. I think they had scoped me out by then. This new Legacy is within striking distance from the Cool Water Ranch. And MA likes both the food and the look of the place. (Lots of uncoated columns and concrete floors.) So we will probably come here more often than normal. We had tired of N'Tini's, which had been slipping for some time. Legacy Kitchen "Due North." Mandeville: 2981 US 190. 985-626-5566. Tuesday, July 11, 2017. Three Siblings. The thought of my middle sister's birthday yesterday had me on the phone inviting the other two to dinner tonight. Inconveniently, the birthday girl is celebrating something else in Seattle, where some other family lives. Tonight is the first time in awhile that I invited my big sister Judy to dinner. I am remiss in my absence, particularly since her her husband passed away last year. More often I dine with my baby sister Lynn, who is here tonight. We are all at Impastato's. Mr. Joe was absent. I think he's in Sicily, his homeland. Billym the dining room boss, says it hasn't been very busy, but I know a lot of restaurants who would love to have the roomful of people at Impastato's tonight. We eat and talk about the usual things. Fettuccine Alfredo and angel hair pasta with the house's spicy red sauce. Two soft-shell crabs are eaten, one of them by me. More creamy pasta follows. We update family news, of which there is not much. If this had been a few days later, I would have learned about a great aunt who died and requested that she be cremated with no ceremony. She said she wasn't a believer anymore. She was ninety-two, which sounds as if somebody with influence had liked her well enough. Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Red's Chinese. A Second Look At Cavan. A few years ago, a Chinese restaurant with no sign except for a blank red square in front opened in the Bywater. It was the hit of the new restaurant season, and became difficult to penetrate. Today, owner Amy Mosberger came over with her bartender to the radio station to talk. We didn't unearth any facts other than what hipsters already know. [caption id="attachment_51894" align="alignleft" width="480"]Dirty fried rice. Very peppery. Dirty fried rice. Very peppery.[/caption] The menu is short and an unpredictable mix of standard Chinese dishes with concoctions we've never heard of before. Pastrami from the wok? Now that's different. Open kitchen attracts a lot of comers, even though it's pretty hot in there. They tell me that some renovations around the back will allow some club-like activities. Karaoke, for example, late nights several nights a week. I might want to pop in. I already sang "Once In Love With Amy" to Amy Mosberger, and she didn't tell me that a 1940s-era crooner would not fit in so hip a place. Red's Chinese. Bywater: 3048 St. Claude Ave. 504-304-6030.