Number Thirty-One
Mandina's
Neighborhood Cafe.
Mid-City: 3800 Canal. 504-482-9179. Map.
Mandeville: 4240 La 22, 985-674-9883. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously, seven days.
Nice Casual
AE DS MC V
Website
Say the words "neighborhood restaurant," and Mandina's comes to most Orleanians' minds. Even after the Katrina-forced total renovation, the place was the precise look and feel of a restaurant where you could order almost any dish with a New Orleans accent and get at least a pretty good version of it, from poor boys to trout with fancy sauces. It's not entirely consistent, but the low prices and the enormous portions usually take the edge off most dissatisfactions.
Mandina's cooks certain dishes so well that it's easy to ignore the many things it doesn't. Come here for red beans on Monday, a roast beef poor boy, a fried seafood platter, soft-shell crabs amandine, turtle soup, or a dozen other specialties (many of which run as daily specials), and you can't help but leave happy. Especially if you had a drink or two at the bar while waiting for a table. On the other hand, don't ask whether the trout is fresh or frozen, whether that's turtle in the turtle soup. If it tastes good, it is good. Especially at these prices. On top of that, portion sizes are oversize to an absurd degree.
Although the layout and look changed with the renovation, the essential elements are still in place. You enter from the side into the bar, most of the time is loaded with old guys in suits who may still be there after you wait, dine, and leave. Some of the old waiters are still there, but for the most part its younger, more agreeable people now.
The North Shore satellite of Mandina's has a shorter menu, and the food and scene are not quite as lively. However, given the shortage of neighborhood-style restaurants there, it's an important part of the dining scene in Mandeville.
BEST SEAFOOD DISHES
»Crab fingers in wine sauce
»Fried calamari
»Shrimp remoulade
Seafood gumbo
»Oyster and artichoke soup
Fried shrimp or oyster salad
»Fried oyster, shrimp, trout, catfish or combo platters
»Fried soft shell crab platter
»Grilled catfish or shrimp platter
»»Trout meuniere or amandine
»»Catfish meuniere or amandine
»Soft shell crab meuniere or amandine
Grilled fish of the day
Grilled shrimp over pasta bordelaise
»Fried oyster, catfish, shrimp, soft shell crab, or trout poor boy
Grilled shrimp poor boy
For a more detailed review, click here.
