Friday, July 28, 2017. Filippo Is The House Of Fans.
A certain kind of restaurant--difficult to identify, let alone define--shows an quality that many other restaurants would love to incorporate: the certain something that makes all their regular customers love them.
Even more curious is the way that such restaurants are less than magnificent in their surroundings, and often serve food that's something less than unforgettable. (Remember Tony Angello's?)
Ristorante Filippo is one of those. It occupies a small building with minimal accoutrements (the climb to the bathroom, for instance). Although it has long been a restaurant, Filippo's predecessors manage to inherit their customers.
Here's how such restaurants can be discovered. The customers will be heard waxing enthusiastic about what a hidden gem the place place is. Indeed, if you tune in to other tables, you will hear almost nothing but glowing accolades. If there are four peple at a table, it becomes almost a battle as to who gives the most loving appreciations.
[caption id="attachment_20972" align="alignright" width="236"]
Chef Filippo.[/caption]
I must admit to feeling this way about the restaurant of Phil Galliano, the owner and chef. Even though it's maddening to know that the best dish in his house--the chicken spiedini, a stuffing of bread crumbs, herbs, garlic, a little cheese and a few more herbs--will probably not be available when you want it most. Or ever, for that matter.
I was ecstatic to learn, while I was there last week, that all I ever needed to do was call ahead for a reservation, and ask for the spiedini. The waitress told me that this strategy works. I'll believe it when I see it (my name is Thomas, after all). And taste it, of course.
In the meantime, I must begin with oysters areganata, a variation on the dish that is known by many people as oysters Mosca. This time, I asked them to make up a bowl of angel hair pasta with the same ingredients as the oysters--including the oysters themselves. The server checked on that and then delivered.
The rest of the menu was good, too. The house salad, with it
s excellent Italian vinaigrette. A creamy seafood soup that used to go by the name of Phil's mother. And a crescent of spumoni from Angelo Brocato. One table over was a half-dozen well-groomed young women came to my table to say hello. Worse things can happen. They love the restaurant too, or did I need to even say that?
So we know that the kitchen is trustworthy. Meanwhile, we keep hoping that Phil Galliano moves someday to a bigger restaurant in which he can stretch his taste and abilities, which are not inconsiderable.
In the meantime, you and I can exchange opinions about what a great dining secret is Ristorante Filippo.
Ristorante Filippo. Metairie: 1917 Ridgelake (just off Causeway Boulevard, just river side of I-10. 504-835-4008.
Written by Tom Fitzmorris August 04, 2017 12:01 in
