Dining With The Saints

Growing up as a Connell (my grandfather dropped the “O” when he came here from Ireland) and marrying a Fitzmorris, it’s a wonder my St. Patrick’s Day obsession didn’t kick in until this year. For the last few years I’ve been fixated on St Joseph’s Day, and I’ve been to more altars than I knew existed for the entirety of my life. This year I decided to focus on St. Patrick’s Day.

It started when I went to an under-the-radar coffeeshop in downtown Covington called The Haven. I went in to get some hot chocolate and saw a special of Mulligan Stew with Colcannon. Huh? What was Colcannone? I ordered one and was told that they were out of it. But now I had to have some Colcannon. The St. Patrick’s Day whirlwind started the following day which was actually St. Patrick’s Day,  after I texted my friend and a good friend of the show Stan Meadows, who is an owner in Trenasse, a wonderful seafood restaurant in the Intercontinental Hotel. I am crazy about their food and I asked Stan what they might be doing for the holiday. Stan is fun amd it follows that Trenasse is fun, so I figured they’d be doing something wild.

It wasn’t all that wild, but it was indeed different. Chef Matt Farmer at Trenasse was doing pastrami eggrolls and a Guinness short rib pie. The very suggestion made me jump in the car to have one before the show. But when I called to order one for pick-up, they told me they weren’t serving it until after 4pm, so the closest I got to it was this pic that Stan sent. He said it was as superb as it looks.

I was already  planning to make a few stops if I had time.  I had plans to go to the Commissary  but when I called there I learned they only had food packaged for takeout. When I heard that the food for takeout was Colcannon, I had to have it. And the other thing was corned beef.

The Commissary is deep in the Irish Channel by the old Kingsley House, so the St. Patrick’s Day festivities were right there. By the time I reached it, there was only one very large catering portion of Colcannon. I was still looking for the corned beef when a couple asked about it and the girl behind the counter gestured to right where I was. I saw the last package of corned beef and took it. Then I saw that the guy was wearing a kilt, and instantly I felt guilty. I also noticed that these two items would be over $60. I suggested that the girl split them into two packages each, thereby reducing by half the $32 Colcannon price and the $32 for 2 lbs. of corned beef. This was a lot more palatable. The couple was happy about that and the girl working there was happy to oblige.

But I wanted to eat something Irish so I called around to Katie’s, and to Porter & Luke’s in Metairie, which I chose because it was on the way home. I called Lola in Covington because the evening before I ran into Keith, the chef/owner at Acquistapace's and he told me he was doing a plate. I knew it would be good. I wasn’t going to make it back in time, so I asked him to hold one for me to pick up the next day. 

And on the way to the bridge I stopped at Porter & Luke’s to pick up what turned out to be the very last plate of corned beef and cabbage.

When I opened it up, it looked like the last of the special. A big pile of watery corned beef was topped with a few straggly pieces of corned beef

I was underwhelmed but started to eat it for the ride home. I couldn’t believe how terrific this was. Eating it in the car on the fly and it was still superb. I wondered how it might have been if I had gotten a real one and eaten it at the restaurant. The corned beef was perfectly cooked, and the cabbage had a taste I didn’t want to stop tasting. 

I went home and put into the oven the Guinness stew I started the evening before. It still wasn’t ready to eat that evening.

The following day I picked up the corned beef and cabbage plate from Lola. It was corned beef with cabbage and Brabant Potatoes. The portion of corned beef was so generous I only ate half. This was corned beef perfection. Thickish slices perfectly tender with a blush of pink, I loved this. The cabbage was fine but not as good as the Porter & Luke’s version, and the Brabant potatoes were too dark.

I tried the Commissary version and was shocked. The corned beef was too thick, and not cooked enough. It was rubbery. I saved it to cook some more later. Finally I could try this Colcannon, which is a mixture of buttery mashed potatoes with some greens in it like kale and green onion. This wasn’t any better than the corned beef. There was a vinegar and lemon taste to this, completely eclipsing the mashed potatoes. I couldn't believe people whose ladt name is Brennan offered this for St. Patrick's Day! 

But the biggest disappointment of the day was missing the Trenasse offerings. I did have a pleasant surprise  the following day, when I tried the Guiness stew I made. It was much better than I expected. I let it braise in the oven for hours. The first time I tasted it the Guinness was pronounced, and there was a tinge of burned flavor. All of that had mellowed out and I really liked the consistency and the vegetables, but the stew meat had a quality I dislike and find fascinating in equal measure. It was tender and overcooked at the same time. I’ve only had that experience a time or two, and I have no idea how it happens. I still really liked this Guinness stew, even though it wasn’t made into a pie with short ribs.

After the hits and misses from St. Patrick’s Day, I was determined to do better for St. Joseph’s Day. The best altar in town is at Irene’s, but the place was fully reserved by the time I called, and there were no walk-ins. Even the bar was reserved. I decided to not cross the lake and stay right here to eat some Italian food.

We went to Marcello’s in downtown Covington and sat outside to enjoy the lovely spring evening. I miss the original Marcello’s in New Orleans. It was located on St. Charles and was beautiful, interesting, and delicious. The chef moved over here after they closed during COVID, and though the place isn’t as beautiful or interesting, the food is still delicious.

We ordered arancini to start, and the Mista salad, following that with two Italian cliche dishes of meatballs and spaghetti and lasagna. It just seemed right to eat Sicilian red sauce rather than something upscale and fancy on the feast of St. Joseph. They had no special St. Joseph’s Day offerings.

The arancini was large and came in a huge pool of their wonderful red sauce. On the menu is a Saffron Risotto, so maybe that was what was inside, because it was yellow. This was not the best arancini I’ve had, but we enjoyed it. Anything with this red sauce is  great by osmosis.

The Mista salad was always a favorite at the original Marcello’s. It is, or was, a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, with olives, artichokes,  and meats, dotted with fried eggplant croutons and topped with grated Parmesan cheese. This version was much reduced from the glory of that one, with a bit of olive salad, no tomatoes or artichokes, no meats, and no Parm. The vinaigrette was as good as always, thankfully. And the croutons were soft, crispy, and perfectly fried. These fried eggplant croutons are what sets apart an already outstanding Italian salad even further.

When the meatballs and spaghetti came to the table I remembered how great it was, and wondered why it had been so long since I had it. The meatballs were a tad firmer than I remember, but the sauce was the same thick and smooth cooked-all-day sauce without the sweetness. This is a fantastic red sauce.

This is that same sauce that makes the lasagna as luscious as it is. I remembered thinking that Marcello’s and Katie’s had my two favorite lasagnas around town. This was a portion the same size as I remember, with plenty of cheese and noodles and meat. It was lava hot and definitely worth waiting for as it cooled.

It was a fun two days this past week, observing timeless traditions through food. In New Orleans, that’s what it’s all about.