Despite all the evidence to the contrary, we continue to operate in this house much the same as we always did before the world was upended. That means impromptu visits to restaurants. We work pretty steadily and break when a break presents itself. The biggest change in our lives, and it is a big one, is the sheer increase of time spent staying closer to home.
This is primarily dictated by the designated show time. With restaurants opening 11-11:30 ish, and hours so varied, there is often just not enough time to run across the lake for lunch. And after the show it seems like an enormous effort. Yet the idea of eating on the north shore has become tiresome.
On Tuesday we got another reminder that 2020 is no ordinary year. Faced with the prospect of another northshore lunch, I consulted the COOLinary website, looking to patronize an establishment south of the lake. The Rib Room looked good. We jumped in the car and hurtled south, arriving at 11:45 to a dark restaurant.
Why was it closed? The Rib Room is a hotel restaurant, and hotels are slow. New Orleans restaurants are operating with very different hours. Proving we don’t always take our own advice, or learn from hard lessons, we did not do the obvious and simply call the restaurant directly. ML keeps telling us that Google info is very often wrong (hence the phrase in red: hours may vary)
We walked to Brennan’s a block away to discover the big green doors locked. I’ve never seen that, but these are not normal times. It was now noon and we had to make our way toward the bridge. Station 6 had updated lunch information-no lunch. I ran through a mental checklist of who we were least familiar with, and that was Dab’s, the new place from Chef Duke Locicero. It is among the unfortunate new openings mere months prior to COVID. Chef Duke has always been a tireless worker, and we knew he’d be open.
Parking here is much easier at night when the surrounding businesses are closed. We walked into a busy place for a Tuesday lunch. We asked if it was possible to be in and out in a half hour. Tom was highly suspicious of this. He does not speed eat. The waitress told us meatballs and spaghetti was our best bet, but we’ve had it before. We were here to try new things, like the flatbreads we’ve been hearing about, or the burger. The waitress told us those would take time, especially since Duke was one down in the kitchen. I ordered the last spin dip, and when she returned to get Tom’s order, he wasn’t ready. She went to a large party and wound up getting and pouring a bottle of wine, sealing our fate. When she returned it was 12:50. Spin dip would be our lunch snack.
Luckily, it was a great spinach dip. I am a connoisseur of spin dip, something Tom finds cringeworthy. This was the best I’ve had other than the one I make. And they are very similar. It was on the dry side, very heavy on the cheese. And good cheese. We weren’t crazy about the chips, which seemed to be housemade. They were a little greasy.
Tom asked for some bread and got garlic bread, which is not the signature dense brick loaf from Giovanni. Too bad. One thing is for sure. The food going to all the other tables looked great. We have to return.
Since Tom had only spinach dip for lunch and since we had already made one trip across the Causeway, a familiar north shore restaurant was required for dinner. Thrilled by a recent visit to sister restaurant Jacmel Inn, we headed to Nuvolari’s.
This is an unusual but charming place tucked into “downtown” Mandeville on Gerard. The building is an old general store from the days when Mandeville was Mayberry, with a telephone operator and two-digit telephone numbers. The place is owned by Paul Murphy, one of the best restaurateurs anywhere, but his base of operations is Hammond, where he is usually found at his truly excellent Jacmel Inn.
Nuvolari’s is a unique place, with a unique bar scene. In normal times it would be packed with aging single Boomers, but not now. Socially distant couples ate at the bar, no hanging around. There was one couple which seemed to be on a date. He watched in bewilderment as she belted out a Captain and Tenille song. Yes, you read that right. (Luckily it wasn’t Muskrat Love) That should give you an idea how dreadful the overhead mix was. I’ve mentioned before that unlike Tom, I never notice overhead music unless it’s bad. This one took the prize.
The food, on the other hand, makes all things forgivable. And the music was all that needed forgiving. Our server was delightful and the food its usual spectacular. Tom ate light, opting for fried oysters over spinach. These were not over creamed spinach but garlic and oil, with a dollop of melted cheese. With the spectacular toasted light sesame seed bread served here, this was a great meal. Tom also got his favorite soup, tomato basil, which seemed to me quite dense. He loved it.
I ordered what I came for, the most delicious aglio olio around. On Tuesday it seemed extra spicy, borderline. Still, there is no better version of this with the possible exception of Mosca’s. Here it is made with tiny linguini, and a gusher of good olive oil. Divine. A real bargain at $16, and it comes with a soup or salad. I got a crispy Caesar with a great dressing and generous parmesan.
They used to have spumoni here, but have moved to gelato. The evening's choices were chocolate mint or strawberry banana. Tom got the latter and quit after four very satisfying bites, leaving most of it. This comes from a company in Baton Rouge called City Gelato, and it is so sublime finishing every bite of this fruit-based creamy treat was hardly a chore for this chocolate-only non-dessert eater.
We love this place.
