It took a while for me to understand Nuvolari’s in Old Mandeville as my family did. I found the building very interesting and unusual, but also tired and in need of a redo. It was that fact alone that kept me from going there, so I never developed a proper appreciation of the food.
Tom had always been a fan, which should have been more telling than it was. He has always been a committed New Orleans guy, so it’s mysterious that this little place across the lake would have drawn him to Nuvolari’s long before I entered the picture.
But after I took over the business and started living Tom’s life for real, we simply needed to expand our reach in the interest of content. It was then that Nuvolari’s became part of the rotation. It was then that I discovered that Nuvolari’s was really delicious, had fantastic prices, and perhaps the best bread in a breadbasket, rivaled only by the seeded boule that the original chef Michael Gottlieb introduced at Tchefuncte’s.
It is not baked in-house like the boule. I’m guessing that Wally, Nuvolari’s original manager, found it at the nearby Mandeville Bakeshop, and owner Paul Murphy liked it so well that he used it at Hammond’s Jacmel Inn, the flagship of this mini-empire. Regardless, it is a cloud of carbs. Toasted just so, the crust is flaky and blanketed with sesame seeds. Inside, the crumb is light and fluffy, almost like eating air.
The food at Nuvolari’s was northern Italian, with roasted meats and fish and a lot of pasta. And the prices were almost laughably cheap. A generous soup or salad came with each entree, making dinner at this little Italian gem tucked into Old Mandeville a delicious bargain.
And then something big happened. Last fall, owner Paul Murphy sold the place to his longtime chef at Jacmel Inn, Josh Garic, sending an earthquake through the restaurant group. Wally retired, and overnight Nuvolari’s (and Jacmel) became different restaurants.
Josh was doing creative, delicious gourmet food at Jacmel Inn, quite a few steps up the ladder in sophistication from the simpler yet still terrific food at Nuvolari’s.
And then a buzz began. We still hadn’t made it back to Nuvolari’s after the change when a caller or two on The Food Show (airs 2-4 pm on WGSO 990AM) mentioned the “new” Nuvolari’s. These calls followed other emails about the place.
The change was seismic. The first night we went, an appetizer special was dates stuffed with fennel sausage, sitting in mini-puddles of red pepper sauce. Fontina cheese was in this mix. This was divine, but so out of the regular realm of comfortably delicious Nuvolari’s.
I also noticed on the regular menu a basic plate of meatballs and spaghetti, a nod to the ever-present customer who doesn’t want change. ( Restaurateurs have often told us how difficult it is to make significant changes to a menu. Some will approve and others won’t, but the latter group seems to always be more enthusiastic about their opinion.)
We did get the meatballs and spaghetti, which came Pomodoro style. I am not a fan of the Italian way to eat pasta. I am American and like my pasta swimming in sauce. All pasta is merely coated in Italy, and American tourists get Pomodoro, where the sauce lightly coats the pasta. The meatballs were strictly middle-of-the-road: not small or large, not hard or soft. The sauce was rich in that cooked-all-day style, with a nice depth of herbal tomato flavor. Tom had a fish roulade, which I never like, but this was exceptionally great with a sauce that was superb.
A few things did remain on the menu at Nuvolari’s in addition to the meatballs and spaghetti, but everything got tweaked. Modernized. The fried oysters with Brie and creamed spinach that everyone is doing became Crispy Oysters with Caponata, Calabrian Chili, and Lemon Aioli. Modern stars of the hip menus of today like Whipped Ricotta with Honey, Warm Olives, and Chicken Liver Pate have made their way here. There is a Fried Eggplant with Crawfish, and Artichoke sauced with Leek Cream that we have to return to get.
The trouble is that I can’t get past the specials menu, which used to change daily but is now more like weekly.
On a recent evening, we ordered two of the three specials. They had arancini, which we never pass up, and Steak Tips in Gorgonzola Fondue. Both of these were so filling we shouldn’t have ordered any entrees, but the Lamb Caramelle from the pasta section looked interesting.
The previous pasta menu at Nuvolari’s had angel hair and fettuccine, and now Josh Garic is in the back making things like Caramelle and Garganelli among his pasta dishes.
When the arancini arrived I was mildly disappointed because the deep-fried shell was a little dark. It was Fontina Arancini with spicy Copa. Three balls sat in a deep Fontina sauce and each was topped with a small slice of spicy Copa.
Arancini is right up there with our favorite appetizers, and this was spectacular. There was a nice definition in the rice, and a bit of Fontina oozed from the center, But dragging the arancini bites through the Fontina sauce made it stellar. This was a delectable fork of food. I wiped the bowl of that Fonatina sauce with more of the soft seeded bread.
The next appetizer was so similar we probably shouldn’t have gotten it, but who could resist? Steak tips and mushrooms in a Gorgonzola Fondue topped with pickled red onion. The steak was very tender and the mushrooms meaty, but the sauce! Using more of that bread with steak, mushrooms, and fondue was definitely a meal. It was a generous portion for $16 and really enough to eat.
The Lamb Caramelle was a disappointment. I got it because Tom loves gourmet food and his tastes do not deceive him. It is fascinating to watch this phenomenon. Too bad he was not especially interested in this because he was really full.
Call me a heathen, but I do not like al dente pasta. As I sampled this I thought about all the pasta I have had in Italy and I think this is an American thing. To me, this pasta was so underdone as to be distracting. Braised lamb neck was the filling of these little pocketed twists of pasta, dotted with bits of lamb pancetta and watercress and peas as garnish. It was all napped with lamb jus. I am not a lamb fan, though Tom is, and I wish he hadn’t been so full as to ignore it. Or maybe he ignored it because he didn’t like it.
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Nuvolari’s of 2023 is vastly different than the original version. I liked that one a lot, but this one is more sophisticated, definitely more expensive (but justified,) and overall more serious. Someone explained it this way: “the new guy is absolutely shaking things up and taking his own path. It will be interesting to see how it goes.”
And it will.
