Marvelous Marcello's

Gene Todaro father and son had been selling wine at wholesale prices in Lafayette for many years before they came to New Orleans around 15 years ago. In Lafayette, they attached a restaurant to the wine warehouse, and it was very popular there. For fun, they made trips to their ancestral home in Sicily, collecting interesting things from the old country, like a fake knight in armor. These unusual design items found their way into an empty old theater on St. Charles just doors from Herbsaint, that became the New Orleans outpost of the restaurant Marcello's.

Le Chat Noir was an odd but charming little venue for actors in town, but I much preferred the new tenant. The Todaros created a beautiful restaurant in the former theater, with an open kitchen in the rear, and walls lined with wine bottles, encouraging customers to peruse the inventory and choose one for dinner. The bar and the entrance to the building were to me the best part of the restaurant. The actual bar was quite large, with a lot of seating filling out the space. This was its own dining room. Banquettes with large black and white stripes, rattan chairs, and tile floors made for a glamorous space with a casual vibe. But the food at Marcello’s was not casual. It was sophisticated, modern, and delicious Sicilian food. And from the very first visit, it was a favorite of our family.

And then COVID came to town, and Marcello’s was one of its casualties. That was one of the biggest surprises, in my view. The restaurant was thriving, as was the one in Lafayette. They had one in Metairie that closed, but only because a lot of money was offered for the space. Maybe the biggest reason for the closure was the personal life of Gene Sr. He married a wine saleswoman and wanted to cut back on work to travel more. His son was at first going to keep it going but in the end, they sold it to Blakely, the chef at Marcello's on St. Charles.

I was heartbroken by the closure of this wonderful place. And then I noticed a cottage on Boston in downtown Covington that was one of those revolving door restaurants, usually Latin or Mexican. I asked the construction crew who was moving in and was told Marcello’s. It couldn’t be, I thought, until I found out that it was the chef from the St. Charles location who had bought the name and logo, and was now the owner of this one. 

The beautiful physical space of The Marcello’s on St. Charles was a big part of my fascination with the place, and that didn’t make the trip to the Northshore cottage. I’ve just never been keen on this space or any old-cottage-turned-restaurant. We went a few times, and the food was still terrific, but we just stopped going for no particular reason. And then recently, out of boredom with everything else, I remembered our old favorite. We went to Marcello's and sat outside on the patio one beautiful early evening, and had such a wonderful meal, we started going back regularly. That first time was in March for St. Joseph’s day. There was no St Joseph’s altar, but there was that familiar sensational Marcello’s food.

We got arancini, which was good but not as good as some others out there. It was impossible not to love anything surrounded by that superb Marcello’s red sauce. 

We also had the Mista salad that was a signature of the old place. The defining characteristic of this wonderful salad is the fried eggplant croutons, which are perfection. I am not an eggplant person, but these make me want a plate of fried eggplant. The vinaigrette is great too.

For entrees, we ordered two American Italian cliché restaurant dishes: meatballs and spaghetti, and lasagna. As I said, the food here is sophisticated and modern, so there was nothing cliché about them. A big pile of spaghetti and two biggish meatballs were served with a generous amount of the thick and smooth cooked-all-day sauce here.

The lasagna is also wonderful. I loved this duo on St. Charles, and they are just as good as I remember them. 

We returned during Lent on a Friday.  I got the Shrimp Calabrese with shrimp, except I made it vegetarian. It had spinach, pine nuts, Calabrian chilies, garlic, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, breadcrumbs, and basil. This came with angel hair pasta in aglio e olio sauce.

The mound of sautéed vegetables was great, but what impressed me most about this plate was the pasta. I loved the way it was cooked. It was perfection. I was surprised how much I loved this dish.

And then Marcello was back on my radar. I keep wanting to go back. On the last visit, I ordered big plates. This time, I got something I had been looking at for a while, the braised pork cheeks Marsala with mushrooms in a demi glacé over Parmesan polenta. And we got the Chicken Molli. which is done Scallopini style. The chicken breast is pounded thin and pan sautéed with artichokes and capers in a lemon butter sauce. This is served with angel hair pasta aglio e olio.

We couldn’t believe how decadent the pork cheeks were. Creamy polenta is always luscious, and the sauce was intensely flavorful and studded with mushrooms.The meat was so tender this was divine.

We weren’t crazy about the Molli, which seemed to be mostly devoid of flavor. There wasn’t much sauce on this at all, so the pasta registered as plain pasta. There was enough artichoke and capers, but not enough salt or sauce. 

Disappointing, but it was the only disappointing thing I have ever had here. We love Marcello’s and I’m glad it’s back in our lives. It’s nice to be a regular again, even without the knight in shining armor. I wonder what ever happened to him.