Drive down Canal - way down Canal - away from the lights of French Quarter - into what appears to be the deserted part of town - your mental images of the aftermath of Katrina heightening the sense desolation - when the colored lights appear - far off on the left - first as a flicker - then beacons of light - beckoning - finally - the pink box with slight overhang of a building - Mandina's -
Totally wiped out by Katrina - now - totally rebuilt - funky but not quite as much as it used to be -
Up the ramp - in the door - pass the bar - looks the same - a bit cleaner - varnished wood appears almost - just done - still the large front dining room - behind the kitchen - gone is the long - narrow - back dining room - space claimed by the chef -
No Credit Cards - No Checks - No Smoking - printed on every menu -
Right off the bat - a Sazarac as only Randy can make them - everything may be physically new - but nothing has changed -
Turtle soup - I remember that one from three years ago - Oysters - shrimp - soft-shells (fliers up on the walls) - calamari - catfish - trout - fried - broiled - steak - not here - lots of Italian dishes -
Daughter - Tulane based - the reason for the trip - studies and debates the choices - cautiously leaning towards Chicken Parmesan - how good could it be - maybe its not good - outright bad - after all this place is definitely on the funky side -
Time to order - she asks the waiter - "should I get ????? or Chicken Parmesan" - he positively lit up - responding without hesitation "the chicken" - see - that wasn't so hard -
I was easy - Fried Oyster Loaf "fully dressed" - Crawfish cakes to start -
Shared the Crawfish cakes - just wonderful - slightly crisp on the outside - warm - moist - full of flavor on the inside - √√√ -
Mains came -
Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti was massive - a breaded - flattened - chicken breast atop a mount of Spaghetti topped with red - Red - RED sauce covered with a free form pattern of melted cheese -
From the first bite - the vote was - √√√√ - in fact the final verdict was - "probably the best Chicken Parmesan I've ever had !!!" - only it was too much - "lets take it back to school" - which prompted the New Orleans ritual of the server bringing an empty Styrofoam food container to the table - handing it over - i.e. - you're on your own - package whatever you want -
My loaf - the crisp fried oysters were fighting to get out of the light crusted oil called a po-boy downtown - a sub in new york - a hoggie in Philly - fully dressed means with lettuce - tomato - mayo - there was tartar sauce on the side - but why add something with might detract from the taste - again - √√√√- perfect - by the by - passed on the roll after the first few bites - almost a sense of "why add bread" - when the filling was so delicious -
We passed on dessert - heading down to a club to hear VaVaVoom - new favorite Gypsy jazz band - more on that - on another post -
Do Mandina's - as only a NOLA joint can be -
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