On Tuesday, Grandpère and I went to dinner with our daughter and son-in-law at Tony Angello's in Lakeview in New Orleans. That's Tony up there between GP and me. He is 80 years old and still cooking. The restaurant does not have a website, but here's a review from Brett Anderson in the Times-Picayune.
Tony Angello's is still the dimly lit residential-looking ranch house where diners are known to order by simply saying "Feed me," the signal that you desire a seemingly never-ending parade of Angello's creations: eggplant Tina, meatball-tender braciola, crab in red gravy, rabbit braised in a lemony tomato sauce. Angello's take on Creole-Italian is idiosyncratic in a city with no shortage of idiosyncratic Creole-Italian restaurants. Many in New Orleans figured the magnitude of the damage coupled with the age of its owner meant Tony Angello's was gone for good. They were wrong.
I can't find a menu online to aid my memory, but the food was delicious. GP and SIL had all-you-can-eat dishes, and even they could not eat it all. Amongst their dishes, which I tasted, were an artichoke salad and a steak dish that were both out of this world and chicken rosemary that was quite good. I had an Italian salad, minestrone, eggplant Tina (ummm, delicious!), and manicotti in a tomato sauce. Only my daughter ordered dessert, a bread pudding, but we all tasted, and it was to die for.
The folks next to us had the rabbit dish mentioned above, and they said it was wonderful. Altogether a satisfying evening. GP said that the restaurant was like a scene from "The Sopranos".
Lakeview was flooded by breaches in the 17th Street Canal in the aftermath of Katrina. The neighborhood is coming back slowly, but I'm quite pleased that Tony Angello's is back and flourishing, and that it is still a favorite. The business was brisk on a week night.
Below are the youngsters.
How nice to see the youngsters! And thanks to you and GP again for taking me there for my birthday last May when I was so far from home. You are the best.
ReplyDeletePaul, we went to Andrea's with you for your birthday. That's the Italian restaurant that serves Northern Italian food near Lakeside Mall. But what does it matter? They're all good.
ReplyDeleteYUM! Between you and Paul, we are drooling tonight. And those are handsome photos!
ReplyDeleteJane, yes. And Paul eats mole!
ReplyDeleteGrandmère, It is good to hear that Lakeside is coming back. I last saw it not too long after Katrina when clean-up efforts were being coordinated by Fr. Roger Allen out of Holy Comforter Chapel down by UNO and SUNO. The Lakeside/Gentilly Neighborhood Association was working hard and making every effort to bring their neighborhood back. Looks like they are being successful.
ReplyDeleteBoocat, I've been to Holy Comforter.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see the comeback of Lakeview, slow as it is. Tony showed great courage in rebuilding his restaurant at his age. You can tell that he loves what he does and wants his customers to enjoy themselves.
Suddenly I feel very hungry and desiring of a visit with Mimi!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good looking bunch you all are!
Fran, I don't know if I'm imagining it, but the food in New Orleans seems better than it ever was, and it was always good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words.
Ah, sorry I confused them. But as you say, it's all good. And you're still the best!
ReplyDeleteJust got home and the mole was one of my best. Lovely evening.
Just curious, is "Antoinne's" still up and cookin' in NOLA?
ReplyDeletePaul, flattery will get you everywhere.
ReplyDeleteScott, Antoine's is still up and cookin' in the same old place.
Some of the best Italian food I've ever had was in New Orleans. Little family-run bar / restaurant on St. Charles just a few blocks from Carrollton Ave.
ReplyDeleteCompagno's? And I believe there's another one whose name I don't know. Tom has eaten there (at the other one) and loves it, but I never have.
ReplyDeleteWhile I could walk right to it if I were in the neighborhood, I don't remember the name.
ReplyDeleteIt was about 15 yrs ago when I was visiting a good friend @ his mother's home. Her house was about a block off both St. Charles & Carrollton, on Short St.
David, it was probably Compagno's then. The other restaurant is relatively new.
ReplyDeleteLove the motto - "faith is not certainty so much as it is acting-as-if in great hope."
ReplyDeleteMissing New Orleans. Missing its food. Missing the goodness of its people.
Fr. Roger Allen, formerly of Holy Comforter, Gentilly
Thanks, Roger. Though I posted the words years ago, they still apply.
DeleteJim Hammond took a group from my church, St John's in Thibodaux, to see the organ at Holy Comforter a few years back, because he had refurbished the organ there from old parts. He did the same for our parish. We are fortunate that we could afford a pipe organ, thanks to Jim, to whom the old organ parts were given. He charged us only for parts and labor.
New Orleans is my home town, and I still miss it, though we are lucky enough to be nearby so we can visit and sample the food. If I may ask, where are you now?
The name should be Jim Hammann.
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