In keeping with my new method of ordering in restaurants, I employed the same tactic at one of my favorite places today. This process of elimination brought me to the meatball sub at Lola, a place that I would call a hub of masterful sandwiches. I am mildly intrigued by meatball subs of late, mainly because I had an image in my mind of what one “should be” and it appears to be all wrong. I always assumed that we here in New Orleans ate meatball subs filled with crumbled or sliced meatballs, but the Jersey sub place Francolini’s started a curiosity for me on the subject, and I now feel that a meatball sub can be whatever its creator wants it to be, but it seems that more meatball sub creators appear to like whole meatballs.
By process of elimination today at Lola, I arrived at the meatball sub, not because I didn’t want the other things on this very desirable board, but I had just already had them and this I hadn’t. And of course there was the meatball “whole or other” investigation that came to bear on the decision.
What arrived at the table was a toasted cap bread filled with a row of medium-sized meatballs that were whole, with a curtain of melted mozzarella obscuring the meatballs beneath.
The cheese was toasted in the parts where it escaped the bread. I love toasted cheese. This was served with the Lola shoestring fries tossed in Parmesan cheese that I have decided are irresistible.
The meatballs were perfect, i.e., not crumbly but not firm, and not too big. They were part of a nice fresh rather than cooked all day marinara that soaked into the toasted cap bread.
Because this sandwich was constructed by Keith Frentz, I expected a cavalcade of his pickled veggie slaw dressing the sandwich, though that would have been inappropriate. In hindsight I should have asked for it as a side in lieu of the terrific fries. I just can’t get enough of that stuff. The meatball sub was traditional: meatballs, marinara, bread, and melted cheese.
ML had a brisket bowl, which included black beans and salsa, and rice, with a nice dose of jalapeño.
We love this little meandering place, with its original brick space that was the old train station in Covington. An outdoor deck connects the original building to a refurbished rail car that was finished a few years ago. With an interesting atmosphere like this the food doesn’t have to be nearly as good as it is. But it is.
