I have found myself saying this a lot lately when talking about a restaurant, and my guess is that I'm not the only one. It's understandable though. Compared with meals full of guanciale and goat cheese croquettes and steaming bowls of pho, a plate of veal parmesan or red beans and rice isn't as enticing as it once was. But don't fall into the trap of believing that just because a restaurant is old (and its menu unchanged) makes it unworthy of your dining dollars. A meal does not have to be life changing to be good.
Mandina's is the perfect example to illustrate my point. In our April review in offBeat, we harped on how even though the food is the antithesis of innovative, Mandina's should still be celebrated for its persistence. For over 75 years the Mid-City stalwart has served as a reliable restaurant where patrons still flock for good (not great) food. And there is nothing wrong with that.
"I know what I like, and I like what I know." This is what I say to myself when I walk into Mandina's.
I like a gigantic tower of crisp onion rings to start.
I like the turtle soup even though there is not a speck of turtle meat in the cup.
And I like huge plates of spaghetti and meatballs covered in the New Orleans style red gravy that we natives grew up on.A few weeks back I was eating dinner at Mandina's on a Thursday night with The Pope and the Battle House Honey, and there was a table of 2 middle-aged female tourists sitting next to us. I could just tell that they had been so proud of themselves for finding this locals-only place, yet they were not wowed by their food in anyway. I wanted to pull up a chair and try to explain why their meal felt so short of their expectations, but my tablemates held me back. So much for the better though. Consistency cannot be defined in only one meal.
Mandina's - Par
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5 comments:
Is it me, or do a few things on Mandina's menu seem seriously overpriced? 22? for a shrimp poboy, is it 3 feet long. ch
Great review even though I would say Mandina's is better than par. There's no such thing as "New Orleans style red gravy," though. The red gravy here is the same as everywhere else in the country.
Eh, Mandina's isn't as good as it once was. The turtle soup has more starch in it than it should, the roast beef isn't seasoned, and the seafood is over-battered. That said, the onion rings remain AWESOME.
I get the same thing! Except I like the gumbo instead of the turtle soup. The spaghetti and meatballs makes 4 meals for me.
I would argue that there -is- New Orleans style red gravy. It tends to have more non-tomato ingredients than its yankee counterparts. And no basil. The trinity sneaks in.
I have been taught to make sauce by a jersey italian, and it was completely different than my new orleans sicilian grandpa.
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