Tom has had a career-long theory that we proved Saturday night. It is a firm belief that it is a bad idea to go to new restaurants, even if it is a second location of a very good and established restaurant.
Watching closely from the sidelines, ML and I have often overridden this advice, and have had enough luck in that practice as to almost give the theory no credence. Just this month we went to Pat Gallagher’s new Rest-A-While at the Mandeville lakefront and A Tavola in Metairie, both with tremendous success.
Our luck ran out Saturday night, the second night the new Covington Marcello’s was open.
On Boston Street, the main drag through downtown Covington, Marcello’s is located in the block between the Southern Hotel and Acquistapace’s Supermarket, two Covington landmarks. It is one of those revolving door restaurants, with none lasting very long besides Mac’s on Boston.
A string of Latin American and Mexican restaurants were in and out of there, and after a brief vacancy I saw work going on when I passed by. It was a thrill to find out it was Marcello’s going in. We were disappointed to hear of its closure on St. Charles, (a status that is back to indeterminate.)
When Marcello’s first opened about eight years ago on St. Charles we absolutely fell in love with it. In the former peculiar space vacated by Le Chat Noir it became a handsome and eclectic place reflecting the travels of the owners, Sicilian American Gene Todaro and his son Gene Jr., who had made a good name for themselves in the wine wholesale business in Lafayette. The original Marcello’s restaurant capitalized on the Sicilian ancestry with the heart-warming but sophisticated Sicilian food, and a unique approach to wine purchase in restaurants. Racks and racks of wines at wholesale prices made wine consumption in the restaurant a no-brainer. Patrons could peruse the offerings and pick a bottle that would then be brought to the table.
This business model was so successful on St. Charles that Marcello’s opened a second location in Metairie by Bonefish Grill. It was short-lived when someone made Gene an offer he couldn't refuse. A few years later Gene sold the restaurant to his chef and kept only a tiny ownership of it.
Enter COVID, and like so many other restaurants, the St. Charles location is in limbo. The owner lives on the north shore, so this seemed like a natural place to keep going. It was a pretty fast turnaround, and we didn’t really notice that a lot had changed inside. There are a few signature Marcello pieces scattered about the dining room. Ceramic bull heads and odd statement pieces like life-size Indians or knights (like the St. Charles space) put the Marcello’s imprimatur on it. But the rug looks the same as it always has from the Mac’s days.
A caller to the radio show wondered about the wine set-up and how it would travel. Fine is the answer to that. The entire back wall of the main dining room is wine, offering plenty of choices to any wine buff.
The menu is scaled down and on paper, as all menus are these days. There were four of us, and we started with an appetizer of artichoke bottoms with stems. There was a dry pile of arugula and six artichoke bottoms atop a schmear of aioli with tarragon. This was good, as in fine but not spectacular. We also got a fried eggplant stack layered with crabmeat and chopped fresh tomatoes.
There didn’t seem to be much of a sauce with this, and it too was good. Fine to eat. Nothing special.
For entrees we got a meatballs and spaghetti that was too expensive at $16 for what was there. Two meatballs and a smallish pile of spaghetti. Marcello’s thick and rich red sauce was as good as I remember from St. Charles. And the meatballs were also as remembered. Good texture and nice flavor.
The lasagna was the same ample but not excessive block just like at St. Charles, and it was very good. But a complaint I’ve always had with the St. Charles version was present here too. Not enough sauce. There is a lot of ricotta in this lasagna, making it rich, but I always did ask for extra sauce there, and we did here too. The lasagna is superior though, with a lot of clumps of ground meat, and a nice layer of ricotta.
My entree was the dud of the night. Grilled Ora King salmon served over orzo pasta and spinach. This was actually unintentionally cold, which was a chronic problem all night. The piece of salmon was one inch high and one inch wide, and about 5-6 inches long. I didn’t really understand this dish, and I didn’t even finish it.
The best dish of the evening was definitely Tom’s Veal Molli, in a lemon cream sauce with capers. The paneed veal was thin and beautiful, and done perfectly well. A generous amount of tender artichokes were piled on top.
The rest of the dish was angel hair pasta which was almost bare.
Tom got a crispy delicious cannoli for dessert, dusted lightly with powdered sugar .
Everything about this meal was a disappointment, but the biggest problem was that they were two days open. Tom has always said it, and this time it would have been good to have listened. We’ll be back, because it is Marcelllo’s, and we always loved Marcello’s.
