Chef Duke Locicero at Cafe Giovanni has kicked off his summer specials. As usual, there is more than one summertime menu. In one, they're following the three-courses-for-$35 pattern that seems to be the magic formula for restaurants this year (and the last few years, come to think about it). It gets you soup, salad, and a pasta entree from a special menu.
An upscale alternative to this is one of Chef Duke's famous Feed Me dinner, a tasting menu of six small courses encompassing all the best specials that day. That runs somewhere in the $50s, but the deal is in the wine: a flight of five paired vintages free. That would typically add around $40 to the check, but it comes free with the dinner.
And there is a third option, which may be the best of all: three small plates and a glass of house wine for $30. This is limited to the bar and between 5:30-7:30 p.m. And you have to say that you read about it in this newsletter. (Duke! This is too damn many rules, making the restaurant sound less hospitable than it is!)
On the other hand, the Cafe Giovanni singers will be there Wednesday through Friday, and Chef Duke himself is a personable, fun-loving guy.
Wait! One more deal and one more rule. If you show up on Tuesday you get a bottle of wine at half price. . . if you get an entree other than pasta.
The opera singers do not seem to be taking a summer break, and are singing well and with power Wednesdays through Fridays. A good party goes on.
French Quarter: 117 Decatur. 504-529-2154. www.cafegiovanni.com.
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