[title type="h4"]Friday, January 10, 2014.[/title]
The second article in the very first edition of this food newsletter reviewed Restaurant Mandich. That was in 1977, when Mandich's was already over fifty years old, with a large if shrinking base of regular customers.
Mandich's history came to a close with Katrina, at which time owners Lloyd and Joel English decided they were deep enough in their sixties to retire. Especially since their customer base had been slammed harder by the storm than in any other part of the population.
Since then, I have fielded many inquiries as to whether Mandich or its dishes would ever come back. The answer had been: very unlikely. But then Lloyd and Joel's son Erin decided that he wanted to get into the restaurant business after all. He partnered with Lou Tortorich, the former owner of the Ernst Café and, a few months ago, opened a café named Sapphire in Slidell.
And--surprise!--his mother (who was chef of the old place) and father (bartender) came in to help him work out the old recipes.
At first, I thought this arrangement wouldn't last long, and that you'd be lucky to run into Lloyd and Joel. But getting back into the groove was apparently a tonic for the couple. When they were on the radio show a couple of weeks ago, they said that they were spending quite a bit of time at Sapphire, and enjoying visits from many of their Mandich customers.
The restaurant is in the corner of a new strip mall, formerly occupied by the pretty but otherwise unimpressive Bistro de la Reine. It's in Olde Towne Slidell, across from the railroad tracks. Those with long memories will hear a bell ring with this datum: the restaurant stands where the old White Kitchen was, from the 1940s until the 1970s.
Almost from the day Sapphire opened, I heard reports ranging from hopeful to glowing from radio listeners and website readers who remembered Mandich. And no bad reports at all. On a weekend when Mary Leigh and The Boy were off doing other things (ML hates to go to Slidell, for some reason) Mary Ann suggested that we give Sapphire a try.
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Dining room at Sapphire. Note fireplaces hanging on the wall.[/caption]
It's a great-looking place, in an over-the-top modern style that will become a period piece if it remains open as long as Mandich did. The lighting is particularly fanciful. I'd like someone to name a color that is not represented. Television screens around the room were tuned not to sports or even the Food Network, but to a continuous shot of logs burning in a fireplace. A video man entered the frame now and then to stir the fire and add another log. It was a cold night out, and somehow this warmed the place up.
The restaurant was quite busy, particularly behind the bar. I was waiting to be seated--Mary Ann was coming from New Orleans in her own car--when Lou Tortorich spotted me. He thought I'd like the owner's table, up on a platform surrounded by plants. From there, you could see the whole restaurant, but people in the dining room really couldn't see you. The only way to get to this table was through an unmarked door in the hallway leading to the bathrooms. Curiouser and curiouser.
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Eggplant sticks with marinara.[/caption]
Lou touted the cocktail-making abilities of his bartender. I came here with a now-rare taste for a martini, however, and I ordered one. And a plate of fried eggplant sticks to go with it. The sticks and Mary Ann arrived simultaneously.
The menu was interesting. Sapphire seems to be primarily a steakhouse--USDA Prime, all the way. But half the menu is taken up with a comprehensive collection of Restaurant Mandich's old dishes. I looked for turtle soup and trout Mandich, and sure enough both were there. So was chicken bonne femme, a favorite old dish. Not the garlic fried oysters, though--but I was assured those ran often as a special. Straddling old and new were the high-hat filet mignon, a major specialty in the old days, much at home among the other steaks.
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Spinach salad with satsuma sections,[/caption]
Here is a restaurant where a four-course dinner might not be possible without splitting dishes. Everything is oversize, from the soups and salads through the desserts. We began with a good turtle soup (yes, real turtle meat) and a spinach salad with feta, pecans, red onions, and satsuma sections. (By the way, I hear that real estate prices are starting to go up in the Satsuma Section.)
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Trout Mandich.[/caption]
The trout Mandich was a given. Not only was it the signature dish on St. Claude Avenue, but it's Mary Ann's favorite entree: big fillet of panneed fish, topped with crabmeat and beurre blanc. Our verdict was that the fish needed more crispness, and perhaps one less sauce and side on the plate.
The chicken bonne femme had my name on it. I love that old Creole classic. They made it in the old style: a half chicken, roasted to a crisp skin, waiting to be cut apart at the table. The plate was filled out with garlic, parsley, and small potatoes (sliced into thin discs and broiled; they call these "Boston potatoes," and they're all over the entrees). Very, very filling, as chicken entrees have a way of being. I'd say they need to adjust the recipe a little, to roast the chicken more slowly and to brine it before they start. It wasn't as tender as I would have liked. Typical new-restaurant issue.
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Two cannolis at Sapphire.[/caption]
I couldn't find room for dessert, but they pressed it on me anyway. Homemade cannoli. Two of them. Made in house. Set on a screen made with strings of caramel and chocolate. Who could possibly eat two of these? Even one was too much. (But I couldn't resist.)
The restaurant scene in Slidell keeps improving. Sapphire could prove to be the best place to eat in the town, a distinction that has been rotating among five or six restaurants since Katrina.
Sapphire. Slidell: 2306 Front St. (985) 288-4166.
