Every newsletter ends with a list of things happening around town that our readers may want to explore, like special menus, wine dinners, and deals. These range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and the last newsletter had a batch of the latter. I was still curious about them, so I went.
A Tavola had a Back-to-School special offer of kids-eat-free with an adult entree, but I have no young kids here, and I didn’t borrow any to try it out. I'd love that if I did.
The other two went from curious to silly, and I had to go. Nonna Randazzo’s in Covington is offering a Back-To-School special of a croissant sandwich choice with a side of chips or fruit, and a choice of lemonade or iced tea to drink for $9.99. This seems aimed at moms who have dropped off the kids, but it’s a nice deal.
I swung in to get one and chose the croissant club sandwich, with a really generous portion of grapes. When I saw that the lemonade was from a mix, I chose iced tea. Why in the world would I expect anything but a mix for this price?
The croissant club was a really tasty sandwich, filled with meats and cheeses and lots of fresh dressings. I liked it so well I will return for it again. And isn't that the point for the restaurant?
The silly one comes from Ti Martin, who is a girl who just wants to have fun, as Cyndi Lauper’s song goes. Just check out the Commander’s Palace IG page to see what I mean. I want to go play with those cousins. Ti has a few other projects around town that have nothing to do with Commander's Palace. Both are in a partnership with Darryl Reginelli: Reginell’s, and Picnic, Provisions & Whiskey. Reginelli's is a well-known local chain serving far more than pizza, and Picnic, Provisions, & Whiskey is a single restaurant enigma to me.
Even though school wasn’t mentioned at all with this one, Nolapicnic (its nickname) is right now offering a $7.18 lunch special celebrating…the ZIP code 70118??? What fun! I had to go get it. How could this possibly be worth the trip over there?
But it was indeed worth the trip. First of all, the place is just adorable. The decor is like the inside of a fancy picnic basket.
There are fun displays
and coves of cool things everywhere in the tiny space.
Outside is a tiny yard of fake grass with cornhole. I can see why it is popular in the neighborhood. I’d hang there too.
The deal is very generous, offering a flattened chicken thigh fried in that crab boil batter that earned them a Best Fried Chicken nod from Gambit. There are also three hushpuppies with three different sauces, crab boil potato salad, and the sugarcane vinaigrette coleslaw.
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It’s a terrific deal with generous portions. I find most everything here too intense for my taste. The flattened chicken thigh was pounded just right and had a nice crispy batter. This was the least spicy of the items offered. The hushpuppies looked so appealing, but ML didn’t finish them. That’s saying something. She likes spice a lot, and loves hushpuppies, but felt these were over the top. The sauces were all interesting, but didn’t help curb the spice. I also found the potato salad over the top spicy, though the sugarcane vinaigrette slaw was nice. A good coleslaw with an interesting twist gets me every time.
I have been to this place several times, and I just don’t get it, but I do really like the scene. Their pimento cheese dip is good, and the chicken is good, and in looking over the menu for this piece, I see quite a lot here that I need to return to try.
And I will definitely be back to try these things, which is the whole point of fun gambits like this one. The $7.18 was worth it for me, and it was also worth doing for the restaurant. I will spend lots more than that when I return.