Wednesday, March 22, 2017.
Eat Club At Impastato's In Metairie.
The Eat Club, consisting of about fifty-five eager eaters, convenes at Impastato's in Metairie today, preceded by two hours of radio and an hour's gap in the afternoon for me. The staff is busy--they say they handled an unexpectedly large crowd yesterday. That sort of explains why I only speak briefly with the two Joe Impastatos (the old man's grandson works here too).
Late March isn't the best day of the year for staging our dinners. But Joe managed to acquire soft shell crabs for us. It's a little early for those. Many of the entrees had crabmeat on top, after a month in which of crabs are not allowed to be taken until. . .well, I think today was the end of the prohibition.
The most surprising dish of the night is the first one. It's shrimp au gratin, not something we see very often, mainly because it generically doesn't really work. But Joe's chefs fill the baking dish with medium, tender shrimp, a cream sauce not over the edge with richness, and a thin layer of marinara sauce with a distinctive ppper sharpness. As I walk around the room, everyone says that the shrimp gratin was the killer dish in the first half.
That would put it ahead of Joe's fettuccine Alfredo, which is certainly the best long-running dish here. This makes twice in one week that I enjoyed the dish: Joe was tossing the thin noodles during the Chef's Soiree on Sunday.
This is mostly a seafood dinner in which Lent is being observed, although a veal Parmigiana sneaks onto the menu for reverse vegetarians (those who must eat meat).
That was an entree. My casual survey reveals that this is among the least popular dishes tonight, but those who eat it are happy enough. The aforementioned soft-shell crabs were well received by them what wanted them. For me, it was specked trout with artichokes and mushrooms, my favorite dish over there.
Nice crowd with many newcomers. Clark, the Gourmet Truck Driver, is celebrating the anniversary of his marriage to his wife Cathy. Clark doesn't come to many Eat Clubs, but he has his favorites and this is one of them. Also here is the radio engineer Dominic Mitcham, who sets up the equipment for our remote broadcasts. He has wanted to attend a dinner for years, but he's usually too busy. But he is here tonight. I direct everyone who wants to know more about HD Radio to talk to him. He was the man who actually built the installation.
The only down note tonight is the absence of singer Roy Picou, who has cut back from five days a week to three. He's been at Impastato's singing since the place opened in the 1970s, and when he's not there, there's something missing.
Impastato's. Metairie: 3400 16th St. 504-455-1545.
