Tuesday, May 18. A DiBlast From The Past. People who ask me about my work almost always want to know how I decide which restaurants I dine in and write about. The subtext of their question is: Why I have not written about some restaurant that they like? I don't have much of an answer to this. Every day, I go to a restaurant that addresses my hunger of the moment. Just as a normal diner would. I try to act ike a normal diner.
But I do exercise a little discipline in my choices. Otherwise I wouldn't cover the whole scene, threatening the legitimacy of my claim that I review more restaurants than all other local critics combined. (That has been an obsession of mine for as long as I've been doing this.)
A trick--one I used today--is to decide early in the day where I'll have dinner. That way, the place is subconsciously on my mind all day, and I wind up with a hunger for that kind of food. I get used to the idea of the inconvenience involved, if there is any. And--not the least of advantages--I get a reservation.
Café DiBlasi is in Terrytown. Not too inconvenient: just past the radio station's two antennas next to Terry Parkway and down Wright Avenue to the strip mall on the corner of Stumpf. A number of good restaurants have come and gone here, notably Lena's Steak House (which could be called Mrs. Del Frisco's) and the China Blossom (a great place that Katrina killed).
I haven't been to Café DiBlasi in years. The last time, it was for an Eat Club dinner that I thought was mediocre. But DiBlasi's regulars often call and rave about it. Not enough regulars were there to fill the dining room tonight. But it's a Tuesday.
The restaurant looks nicer than I remember. Really, a very pleasant space, better than you'd expect to find given the exterior.
I ordered a glass of Chianti--the equivalent of two glasses, really. And the seafood gumbo recommended by the waitress. I don't know what she saw in it. It was too thick, and the shrimp had been in it too long to keep body and soul together. A nice salad followed, and the server suggested (more accurately this time) that I have the peppercorn-parmesan dressing. I remembered that some of the touts on the radio mentioned this. And it was good.
So what about the braciolone? I was already impressed that the dish's name on the menu was spelled right. (I know only one other such example, at Andrea's.) "That's good, especially today, because Chef Mario made it fresh today!" said the waitress. Sold. Every chef's version of braciolone is unique, but this one was more than a little different. All others in my experience simmer the beef in the red sauce for a good while after it was stuffed, rolled, and seared. If this one was simmered at all, it wasn't been in there long. The slices came out with a little bit of sauce (there was plenty more sauce in the plate with the spaghetti), but it seemed a little dry to me.
The red sauce here is atypical. It seemed to me to have a Sicilian quality. In Sicily--where the food has a great style all its own--they like to cook their ragu for many, many hours, often with substantial chunks of meat in the pot. Pig's feet are common in that employment. I don't know what Chef Mario made his sauce with, but it had a brownish tinge behind the red, and a meaty flavor finish. Many fans of Italian cooking love this style of sauce. I like it okay, but it's an acquired taste I haven't acquired.
I finished with the almond-flavored bread pudding, which was nothing but good. I departed and drove past our antennas again. They have been there since 1939. Both of them were working, which means that all the signal is going south. This should have been re-engineered fifty years ago. It is unlikely that will ever happen now. I expect to outlive the AM radio service. But people were saying that thirty years ago, too.
Cafe DiBlasi. Gretna: 1801 Stumpf Blvd.. 504-361-3106. Creole Italian.
