Monday, October 24, 2016.
The Olive Oil And Balsamic Man.
A few weeks ago the sales management at the radio station went along with my request that we cut back on the number of live commercials I voice on The Food Show. We had to do something. The show is too successful. We were been running around twenty such commercials every day. Although I am free to say whatever I want, and I can reject copy lines I'm not comfortable with, I have the feeling for some time that doing all these spots is undermining my credibility.
The new rules call for maximums of twelve spots per show, with a limit of two per show by the same advertiser. I think we can live with that, even it's still more than delivered by any other on-air personality in our station group.
This new policy will cause a few problems, and one of them came up today. There's a shop in Mandeville that would like to buy my show. But we're maxed out on live spots. (In fact, we're still oversold a bit, as we wait for attrition to open up some slots.)
The shop's name is Infusé (pronounced as French, "ahn-foo-SAY.") They sell olive oils, balsamic and other top-end vinegars, and a host of natural additives and flavors from the likes of berries, herbs, spices, and oils from citrus skins. They also concoct their own blends of their ingredients, as well as items dreamed up by customers.
The owner comes across as being the sort of guy you'd know from the Rotary Club--unless you knew his colorful name Papillon Anderson first. The suggestion is that he can perform flavor magic with his potions. I've been to a few shops more or less along these lines, and approached InFusé with a question mark. But after tasting twenty or so oils, vinegars, and flavorings, it was clear that I was talking with a man with an exquisite palate and a deep knowledge of what effects you get from the ingredients he works with. It was pretty fascinating. By the time we were halfway through our tasting, I was imagining how these condiments might be the root of a very good dinner.
In other words, he passed my test for live spots on the Food Show. All we need to do is find a place for them.
InFusé is next door to Pontchartrain Poor Boys, one of the two or three best sandwich shops on the North Shore. I was thinking about which infused oil or vinegar might improve a fried oyster poor boy, but I left that question open and atea a Hot Burger instead. That's Pontchartrain's mixture of ground beef and hot Creole sausage. InFusé has an olive oil based on Moroccan harissa. With its hint of red pepper, it would have been great on the burger, I'd bet.
InFusé. Mandeville: 310 Dalwill Dr, 70471. 985-778-0903. www.infuseoilsandvinegars.com.
Pontchartrain Po-Boys. Mandeville: 318 Dalwill Dr. 985-626-8188.
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Monday, October 24, 2016.
The Olive Oil And Balsamic Man.
I wanted to have dinner at Angeline, another restaurant I'm considering for a piece I'm writing for Inside New Orleans Magazine. But Angeline is closed on Tuesday. I'm glad that happened, because my second choice for dinner turned out to not only terrific, but possibly historic.
That restaurant is Tony Angello's, a much-loved Italian restaurant in Lakeview. Mr. Tony passed away during the past year. Perhaps speculating about that, radio listeners and email inquirers have been asking me about rumors that say Tony Angello's will soon become. . . different. No two rumors have been the same, which tells me I shouldn't believe any of them. I ask Dale Messina--the manager of the restaurant for decades--what's up. He says there is nothing he can tell me at this time.
One of Mr. Tony's many excellent waiters comes to the table and suggests I have an appetizer. How about oysters Bienville and Rockefeller? I ask. He returns from the kitchen with the news that the Bienvilles are available, but not the Rockefellers. Instead, he says I should get oyster areganata. That's what a lot of people call "oysters Mosca." You bet, I tell him. The three-and-three plate is perfect, searing hot from the oven and filled with plump oysters.
Next I have Mr. Tony's artichoke soup. No oysters in here, but it doesn't need them. This has almost always been a wonderful soup, and it is again tonight.
Next course is a combo of braciolone and eggplant Tina. The former is a Sicilian dish that requires so much preparation that not many restaurants serve it anymore. It's a roll of thinly sliced beef, layered with ham, hard-boiled eggs, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese. It's baked first, then simmered in the pot of red sauce.
Eggplant Tina is what you'd have if you made a lasagna with eggplant instead of pasta. It's one of Mr. Tony's signature dishes. Both this and the braciolone share a plate flooded with marinara sauce.
The waiter, still very much on top of things, askes whether I want red sauce on the angel hair pasta that comes with this course. He suggests I get the aglio-olio instead. Great idea.
When I finish with half of that (they really feed you here, in the Italian tradition), it is clear to me that I have just eaten the best dinner I've ever had at Toney Angello's. I think that over, and come right back to that conclusion. And I have been eating here since the early 1970s. I thought it lapsed a bit after 2000, but it never declined in a major way.
But let me say it again: I never had better examples of any of the dishes that showed up before me tonight at Tony Angello's.
As if everybody knew this, the restaurant was as busy as I have seen it in quite a long time.
So, what in the world is going on at Tony Angello's?
Tony Angello's. Lakeview: 6262 Fleur de Lis Dr. 504-488-0888.
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