Saturday, October 13, 2012.
Shades Of Rocky & Carlo's, In Covington.
For the fourth consecutive day, the temperatures dropped into the mid-fifties overnight. It was in forties one of those nights. Fall--officially inaugurated three weeks ago--is unambiguously here. Seems early, but we're pretty much dead on the average temperature.
I need to perform one more grass-cutting before we let it go for the year. It was well over a month ago that I did the job last. Three times today I tried to get the lawn tractor going, but no dice. Mary Ann says that if I fail this weekend, she's calling the kid across the street. Another blow to my masculinity.
A two-hour radio show cleft the day in twain. Mary Leigh was across the lake hanging with The Boy. Neither breakfast nor lunch were served at home. All I have to do is wait Mary Ann out, and we will either grill the two beautiful pork chops I bought at Fresh Market this morning, or (more likely) we'll head out for dinner somewhere of her approving.
The people who own DiCristina's are related somehow to the people who run Rocky & Carlo's. The latter is the Antoine's of Chalmette, an establishment so saturated with local color that after its several closings (for fires and stuff) over the years, there was mourning until it came back.
But for some reason the place is off our radar, and it's been at least a couple of years since we were last there. I don't know what put it in my mind tonight. It's somewhat hidden in the old part of town near the courthouse--not a busy area on a weekend night. But the place was almost full.
We were both delighted by the choice. A big part of the pleasure was supplied by the waitress. Her brain was clearly not under the control of some house routine. She was a personality, and ready to joke around with us, make variations on menu items, and generally be friendly.
We started with a plate of fried artichoke hearts. As I knew it would be, this came out in a high hillock--far too much for two people to eat. Although, because it was the first course, we managed to do it. Or our hunger might have been enhanced by an idea Mary Ann had. She saw crawfish cream sauce appearing on a number of entrees. We asked, we got. That was a great combination with the artichokes.
Then a huge and very good Italian salad (at Rocky's, this would be called a wop salad by its Italian owners).
Mary Ann was actually excited by all this home-style cooking. Her entree was the famous Rocky's-style macaroni and cheese. It's just macaroni and cheese, I think--although it's as good as that gets, with the possible exception of the truffled mac 'n' cheese that Smith & Wollensky used to serve when it was here.
On my side of the table was panneed chicken atop pasta Alfredo. This wasn't what I thought it would be--the chicken was fried, then cut up, instead of panneed. But no big deal. I still had the cup of red sauce that had come with the artichoke hearts, and did both sauces.
I wasn't going to have dessert, but our waitress mentioned something called a spumone pie. What? Better get it. It wasn't Brocato's--too sweet, not fluffy. But it tasted all right, and the presentation was rococo.
Since then Mary Ann has been talking about how satisfying this meal was. I am on guard against our coming here often. That could really pump us up. The portions are way out of line with every known diet. On top of that, it's pretty cheap. Uh-oh.
DiCristina's. Covington: 810 N Columbia. 985-875-0160.
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