Monday, July 29, 2013.
Red Beans Italian Style.
Mary Leigh has a steady job--her first one since the holiday months, when she worked as a sales clerk in a chocolate shop. (The only thing good about that gig was the load of chocolate-covered strawberries she was able to get for almost nothing when they went past ripeness.)
Her new job involves the skills she learned during her six-figure sojourn at Tulane. An art shop has hired her to give classes to children attending a summer art camp. She got the job when the store's owner asked whether she knew how to perform a certain advanced technique in ceramic sculpture. That's actually her favorite work, by which she has made dozens of unique, beautiful, large pieces over the past few years. So now she's on three days a week, with the possibility of much more interesting and remunerative projects in the future.
The three of us went to dinner at Mandina's. My idea, for a change. I had in mind the oyster-artichoke soup, which is for my money the best version around. It had not been available at the Mandeville Mandina's for most of the time since it opened, but last time it was. Well, one time is not the charm. No dice today.
Fortunately, my appetite was up for something else I love there: red beans and rice with Italian sausage. Mandina's (both locations) is the only restaurant that serves that combination as standard. (Although a lot of other places have it for the asking.) The flavor combination is so perfect that it's a wonder they don't make a big deal about it. The sausage's anise taste is just right with red beans.
I will compile a list sometime soon of dishes that are both one's best flavor friends and worst dietary enemies. Mandina's has one of these: garlic bread. Unlimited garlic bread at that--always hot out of the oven on French bread. All you have to do is ask, and here comes some more. It's not the very best garlic bread in town--that would be Commander's Palace's version. But it's plenty good enough that it's nearly impossible to stop eating it.
And I know I've said before, I would weigh forty or fifty pounds less if it weren't for my love of bread.
Mandina's. Mandeville: 4240 La 22. 985-674-9883.
