Out of the blue last week I was invited to lunch by someone I don’t know that well, but he has been on my distant radar since the halcyon days of The Food Show. He was one of the very first Eat Clubbers, which was a small group. The idea gained such traction that we went from a table of 8 to 15 tables of eight, but these early dinners were small, and pretty gourmet.
But this voice from the past was in town with his wife for a high school reunion, and they wanted to visit Mandina’s. He mentioned that they are here 4 times a year. I wondered to myself if he liked it that much, and for someone who was discerning about food, the choice surprised me.
I have been a vocal critic of Mandina’s forever, and I went with skepticism. While waiting for them to arrive I scanned the menu. My eyes fell on the Wednesday special, which was daube and spaghetti. We talk about daube and spaghetti all the time on The Food Show. It is a classic New Orleans Sicilian dish very popular in the last century. But it is very old-fashioned so it has all but disappeared from menus around town. Maybe its elusiveness is part of its appeal, at least for me. I had to order it.
When it came to the table it looked exactly as I expected. A gigantic pile of angel hair looming like a hill over the plate, with a layer of thick red sauce. Somewhere in this pile was the daube. I had ordered some Parmesan cheese with this pasta, forgetting where I was. When I asked the waiter for some after he placed the dish before me, he motioned to the table, where a shaker of grated Parmesan resides.
There was enough for all three of us at the table, so I gave a big section from the pile to my host, and his wife declined her share. The sauce was very thick and rich and smooth, but it didn’t integrate much into the pasta. I went in search of the daube underneath it all, and found several slices. This was a presentation I am not used to seeing. Usually I see daube as a block of meat, but there were slices about ⅓ of an inch thick. There was enough fat on each piece that it required attention, but it was also tender. It wasn’t the best version of this Sicilian specialty I’ve had, but it was very tasty.
There are only a few places in town that will serve it. All are neighborhood restaurants with some age to them. And all serve similar versions of the local classic.
A guy called the show today to correct all the daube and spaghetti talk, by explaining that he was truly Sicilian on both sides, and his mother served it with calf rather than chuck roast. I had been talking to a caller and we both agreed that our moms used chuck roast, which he said annoyed him. So he called to straighten us out. Whatever works!
I didn’t want to mention that a place in town is serving it with brisket. He wouldn’t have been able to handle it. So a discussion about proper daube has commenced on The Food Show, and that’s all that matters to me. We talk about food. Any way. Any time.
And I will continue to seek out daube and spaghetti around town, which is turning up more lately. That makes me happy. Traditions should be upheld, whether it’s chuck or calf. I don’t need to have Mandina’s version again, not because it wasn’t good. It actually was. It’s just that I’ve had it, and I want to see what others are doing.
Based on the lunch last week I have discovered other reasons to return to Mandina’s. A full report on the entire lunch will be in the next newsletter.
