Sunday, December 19, 2010. Cheap Thrills At Macaroni Grill. My office at home has been a real mess since Thanksgiving. Mary Ann--in a rush to clear the floors and counters and tables in the rest of the house--shoved a lot of it in my warren. I spent the better part of the day clearing that out, plus the bigger piles I've allowed to grow on my own. I think I could spend an entire week working on this and not have it quite done.
Mary Leigh spent the last two nights with her cousin Hillary, and today the two girls came over to our side. ML was up for dinner--specifically, an Italian dinner. Sunday evening dining on the North Shore is scanty. Most of the Italian restaurants are closed, including Mandina's, N'Tini's, Gio's, Bosco's, Carmelo, and many of our other regular places. Macaroni Grill was about the only Italian option.
"That's a chain," said ML. "It's okay with me, but you won't go there."
"Sure I will," I told her. "I'll go anywhere you want to go." I don't know why the girls don't believe me when I tell them this.
We met up (in three cars!) at Macaroni Grill, adjacent to one of the major shopping areas in Mandeville. We had a table adjacent to the open kitchen. The chef came over to tell me that his parents used to run a pizza place in Metairie. "We had your review on the wall," he said. "The last line of it was, 'All the food here is good, if not brilliant.'" I couldn't tell whether he was miffed by this or not.
We started with a pizza. A little underbaked, not as good as the really great one we had here on our last visit. Mary Ann beat me to what was foremost on my mind: a bowl of brothy, herbal soup with pasta and beans. It was cold outside and such a zuppa hits the spot. She let me have some of hers.
From there it was pasta all around. Mine was astonishingly delicious, with much more red pepper than I'd expect from a chain place. Pasta Vesuvio was orecchiette pasta (shaped like ears) tossed with arugula, Italian sausage, and beans. Mary Ann took one bite of this and went crazy over it. It was surely a better dish than her dieter's grilled salmon en brochette. Hillary also had a tasty pasta--farfalle, Alfredo sauce, crispy pancetta. Mary Leigh stuck by her current Italian favorite: chicken Parmigiana, served in a portion twice what she could finish.
The Macaroni Grill, after a few changes in management, is the best Italian chain I know--certainly the best in these parts. I'd say they do a better job than a lot of local Italian cafes. I'm biting my tongue as I say that, but there's no denying the goodness of what we have when we come here. They are not watering down the food for American tastes very much, is the biggest surprise.
While we were eating, a young woman member of the wait staff visited the table next to ours, and have forth with a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday. She was so good that I asked her to come sing to us. She did a few Italian Christmas songs I never heard before, and delightfully.
Meanwhile, the girls were enjoying the evening and the company. A near-perfect family night out.
Romano's Macaroni Grill. Mandeville: 3410 US Hwy 190. 985-727-1998.
