Saturday, March 3, 2012.
Bad First Dinner, No Movie, Better Second Dinner.
I don't often get the urge to listen to 1970s music, but I did today. Although most of that decade's sounds were derivative and repetitive, 200 or so of the tunes trigger nostalgia for me. The passion I had for pop in the 1960s--my teen years--was still alive, if declining, until around 1974. Nostalgia for Sixties music was washed out by the oldies radio stations of the 1980s and 1990s, which played all that stuff more than when it was first popular. So only the Seventies remain as a source for reminiscing.
Mary Ann stuck her head into my office when she heard this music. She thought there might be something wrong with me.
She did not suggest breakfast this morning, and I know better than to do so myself. So it was my usual oranges and café au lait, with a buttermilk biscuit from a batch I froze a couple of months ago. After first microwaving it then running it through the oven, it came out better than ninety percent of the biscuits I get in restaurants. So good I had another one.
That tided me over until MA suggested we go out for a quick supper, then to a movie. We left a little late, but that wound up getting us out of what could have been an embarrassment for the restaurateur involved. His operation is so pathetic that I don't have the heart to identify it in public.
We went there because of a few good reports on the radio. I suspect these were engendered mostly by newness. And because of enormous portions for a very low price. Both of those are blinding to most customers. When they come together, they're both irresistible and the strongest possible predictor of bad food. And this restaurant had a good story concerning its origins. You would think a background like that would surely produce decent eats.
Well. The meats involved were of poor quality, and the assembly into finished dishes was slapdash. Yeah, but look how much they give you! And how cheaply!
The reality was dawning on us when Mary Ann called the theater for movie times. Seven o'clock! But it was quarter to seven then, and the theater was miles away! Let's just pack all this up and eat it when we get home from the movie, I suggested, loudly. The people who own the place had recognized me, and were looking to see whether I liked the food. The movie emergency made our two-bite sampling of the food plausible.
All the shows we were interested in seeing were sold out when we got there. What we'd eaten was enough to injure but not kill our appetites. There was no chance we would be eating any more of that stuff. So where will we go for a small meal now?
Mama D's is a little pizzeria in the center of Abita Springs in the old Abita post office, two locations ago. We went there in its first months in 1999, but never since. A number of recent reports have been good. Why not?
The place looks like takeout from outside, but has as many tables as could possibly fit into the space. It's a bit worn, but only to the homely stage, not the gross one. If Mary Ann can stand it, anyone can.
We ordered a salad and two pizzas. The salad was overcheesed but otherwise good. Mary Ann got a kid's pizza with sausage and mushrooms. She ate the entire thing, leaving not a bite for me. That is a very good sign. My pizza was of normal size, but I could only get two slices down. It was piled high with artichokes, mushrooms and feta cheese, on a crust with pesto instead of tomato sauce and whole-milk (!) mozzarella. The dough was clearly made by hand, and baked in a big old Blodgett oven, as God intended. I'd stop short of calling it a brilliant pizza, but it was very good, better than I would have guessed.
We went home, thinking about watching a movie on the small screen. But we didn't. Instead, I went back to fiddling around with the website--a bottomless pit for the disposal of free time. Mary Ann distributed the meats from our aborted first supper to the animals. The cat Twinnery wouldn't eat it. The dog Susie did, of course. It occurred to me that the appetite differences between cats and dogs is comparable to those of chowhounds and gourmets.
Mama D's Pizza. Abita Springs: 22054 Highway 59. 985-809-0308.
