Thirty-five years ago Tom and I were newly married, and we had lunch at a weird little restaurant tucked away in Metairie on Chastant St. It had an odd name too. The Corsican Brothers didn’t last the year before the name was changed to that of the chef/owner. And why not? The chef/owner was quite the tastemaker.
On that first visit to eat Vincent’s food I remember where we sat and the conversation pretty much in its entirety. Vincent and Tom knew each other from the restaurant that predated Andrea’s as Metairie’s only upscale gourmet place. Tom worked at Romanoff’s for a month as a server to understand service better for a piece he was writing. He and Vincent struck up an acquaintance based on Tom’s appreciation of Vincent’s sense of humor, and vice-versa.
On this day at lunch sitting at a far corner table, I heard all kinds of tales and fell in love with the food from Vincent’s kitchen, often cooked in the wee hours of the morning. I learned that Vincent finally determined that he could cook as well as all the chefs whose food he delivered to patrons through the years.
All this time later, Vincent’s is still thriving, having spawned a second location on St. Charles in the old Campagno’s. That one is run by little Vincent, his only child. who grew up alongside his father in the restaurant business.
We have had so many wonderful meals and Eat Clubs at Vincent’s that it is hard to imagine how much time elapses now between visits. Since 2019, when we had a wonderful meal, we have been back once and had a fine but unspectacular dinner, which explains why we have not been back since.
But we had family in town recently, and the restaurant was very close. Even more important, I needed a picture of their garlic bread for a piece I am doing on garlic bread. It seemed like an idea two-fer to visit Vincent’s.
Looking around the dining room, I felt that I was in a restaurant in Italy. American restaurants tend to make a design statement and are often pretty glamorous, illustrating that dining for us encompasses more than just food. In Italy, restaurants tend to be more humble, unadorned except by family artifacts or religious ones. Vincent’s has that feel of a comfortable dining room in someone’s house in Italy.
There were five of us so we got to sample quite a few things on the menu, starting with the garlic bread, which was the reason for our visit.
At Vincent’s, the garlic bread is not served alone. It comes in a bowl where it is the base for a pile of crumbly meatballs in a marinara sauce. This evening I asked for those to be separated because I wanted to photograph the bread alone. When it arrived the regular way, the waiter returned with a separate basket of garlic bread. It was too herbal for my taste.
Vincent’s meatballs have always been outstanding. They are the meatball sweet spot to me, which is that they crumble when touched. His blend of meats includes veal, which seems to give it a special texture. The marinara is chunky with a sweet tomato flavor, but not too sweet.
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We also got something that said Oysters Vincent, described as a baked gratin dish of seafood with oysters in a cream sauce. This came across as mostly cream sauce. There were a few oysters which had shriveled to a minimal presence.
For entrees, we had Garlic Chicken on the table, Pan-Sauteed Redfish, Paneed Chicken over Angel Hair Pasta with Bordelaise sauce, and Grilled Tuna. There was also the signature Crab and Corn Bisque in the bread bowl. Some of these were special from a separate sheet of specials. We waited too late to order the Grouper, which sounded superb. They had sold the last one by the time we put our order in and Tom got tuna instead. It was prepared in Puttanesca style, with olives, tomatoes, and capers in olive oil with herbs.
Tom loved this grilled tuna, especially since he doesn’t get it as often as he used to. It was rare on the inside and seared nicely outside, with that Neapolitan blend of flavors coming together deliciously.
I loved the garlic chicken, which surprised me when it was placed before me. I expected pieces of chicken but it was an entire half chicken altogether on the bone. Tom has always described the perfect roast chicken as being cooked just to cooked but nothing more. It should be juicy on the inside. I always overcook chicken, so it is nice to see something well-executed like this. It was deep-fried at the end to crisp it. Though I didn’t detect an intense garlic flavor, this was a really good roasted/fried chicken served with an interesting presentation on a plate in a puddle of garlic butter.
My sister was thrilled with her redfish, which was lightly coated and topped with what she described as a generous pile of crab meat. There was a lemon cream sauce underneath. What’s not to love about a preparation like this?
My brother got what he always gets here, which is paneed chicken over angel hair pasta. All the other entrees came with a sad side plate of Penne Alfredo and overcooked broccoli. I ordered a side of Bordelaise because this garlic chicken seemed to belong with Aglio Olio, which was very far away from Bordelaise Sauce.
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Tom has always said that New Orleans Bordelaise Sauce and true Bordelaise sauce, which is a French wine sauce, could not be more different, and he is mystified at how this egregious misnomer got started at all. The Bordelaise Sauce at Vincent’s has a lot of green “stuff” on it. Green onions, parsley, and garlic made it too chunky for me, and the flavors were too strong.
I regretted my Aglio Olio order and should have had a real side of the Penne Alfredo, which was quite good. The Penne Alfredo served on the “sad side plate” looks so unappealing it would be better if there was nothing. The broccoli was so overcooked it’s a wonder it doesn’t just fall apart of its own weight, and the Penne Alfredo is only a few bites, so little that both occupy a plate the size of a saucer. Ridiculous.
The last thing on the table was the signature Crab and Corn Bisque in the hollowed-out boule, which has been a hit there since Day One. This night the boule was over-toasted and sliced hurriedly, but the bisque inside was every bit as good as always.
No one got dessert because we had already had too much food. Going to Vincent's used to be sort of a thrill. The food was exceptionally good. It has been two visits now where the thrill is gone. I hope that's not a permanent feeling. We have too much history here.
