Wednesday, May 12. Eat Club At La Famiglia. The restaurant behind the Burger King on the corner of Veterans and Oaklawn has not done well for any of its occupants. If any site proves the old adage about the importance of location, this one does. It's certainly convenient enough: Oaklawn runs uninterrupted to Metairie Road, so the place is easily accessible to both Old and New Metairie customers.
The Beef Baron built the place and moved there from its well-known Canal Street location in the 1990s. It did badly, then closed. T.J. Qutob--the former maitre d' at Andrea's--took it over and renamed it Petra. Petra changed its style a few times, closed and leased the place to a bar that had no better luck, reopened as Petra, then changed its name to the Maple (T.J.'s brother and partner was having luck with the Maple Street Café t that time).
Still the place refused to take off, even though the food was more than good and prices were at bargain levels. T.J. changed the name and menu again about two years ago to La Famiglia, a family-style Italian restaurant. But if there's one thing Metairie doesn't need more if, it's another Italian restaurant. (I think he ought to make it a steak house. Metairie could use another good one.)
I was over there a few months ago and told T.J. that as soon as I had an open space in the Eat Club schedule, I'd slide him in there. This was that week. The price was right, the menu was good--but it still wasn't much of a crowd--only about twenty, which is about half our usual numbers.
What a pity. It was a good dinner. It started with pass-around platters of oysters amandine (a house specialty, and well it should be), fried eggplant, and fried calamari. Only the latter was less than perfect. Next came a Caprese salad of buffalo-milk mozzarella (T.J., who is his own chef, made that himself) and tomatoes with olive oil, basil, and balsamic vinegar. Delicious.
The best dish of the night was next: a thick slice across a fillet of amberjack. I have not been a big fan of amberjack, but this will make me take another look at the Gulf fish. This was juicy, meaty, tender, terrific. T.J. topped it with some crabmeat, which was unnecessary except to crate a perception of value among the customers.
Now osso buco. It was one dish too many, and a big one at that. It was tender and tasty enough, with the classic Milanese brown sauce and pasta. But I had to hold back. I am sensing a possible oncoming gout attack, and this is the sort of thing that triggers it. I hate this getting old stuff.
We finished up with an array of desserts, among which was a superb limoncello-flavored frozen parfait. This was marvelous and refreshing, and everybody went wild over it.
A good dinner for sixty dollars, I thought. But why couldn't we get more people? It's that damned Burger King. Who wants to have a white-tablecloth dinner next to a Burger King? It doesn't make rational sense, but it is a problem. Location, location, location.
La Famiglia. Metairie: 541 Oaklawn. 504-833-8877. Italian.
