Italian American Digest Winter Digest 2018 | Page 20

WINTER 2018
PAGE 20
(cont. from pg. 18)
in friendly banter, making you feel
like you are part of its history and
the city where it was born.
And talk about history! This fami-
ly-run restaurant has served count-
less celebrities, dating back to the
1940s, from A-listers like Marilyn
Monroe and her escort for the eve-
ning, Gregory Peck, in 1959 all the
way up to music legend Elton John
and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Pas-
cal’s was the place to be whether
you were a local politician or an
internationally known sports icon
like Julius “Dr. J” Erving. It was
the food that brought them, and it
is why people keep returning to this
day.
We started with a few appetiz-
ers, including one of both of our
favorites, combination pan roast.
It’s like seafood dressing in a pan
but with less bready filler. Oysters,
crabmeat, and shrimp meld together
with shallots and seasoning to
produce a hot, filling, flavorful dish
served with a fresh lemon wedge. It
can be eaten alone or on a piece of
French bread.
Another favorite appetizer,
eggplant Dryades, is named after
the side street where the entrance
is located and is a good example of
Sicilian-influenced cuisine that is
accompanied by a salad or soup du
often hidden from the commercial- jour. The menu also includes turtle
ly accepted idea of New Orleans
soup, a local favorite from the past
food. Slices of eggplant are breaded which is harder to find every year.
in Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs,
The soup is made with real turtle
fried to a deep, dark brown, and
meat, unlike many places around
topped with a generous helping of
town, so it is worth ordering.
large shrimp swimming in a creamy Oysters Dante, which is found on
tomato basil vodka sauce. The
both the lunch and dinner menu,
sauce is light and chunky—a lightly is a hit. Penne pasta is added to a
cooked marinara with just a bit of
creamy sauce flavored with green
cream, a sprinkling of vodka, and
onions, mushrooms, prosciutto, and
a flourish of parsley. This winning
a touch of brandy; a bunch of flash-
combination complements the hot,
fried, cornmeal-breaded oysters
fried eggplant but did not dominate are tossed in to create a decadent
the flavor.
dish. This is one of
There are some good
many oyster dishes
Pascal’s Manale
lunch specials avail-
available, including
1838 Napoleon Ave.
able, including their
New Orleans, LA 70115 oysters Rockefeller
signature dish—barbe-
and oysters Bien-
[phone]
cue shrimp—as a poor
ville, as well as raw
boy. Tender shrimp
oysters.
cooked in butter and infused with
Pascal’s is known for their oyster
spices and Worcestershire sauce
bar, and Monday through Friday
are the makings of Pascale’s most
from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. they have a
famous dish, which really put them great happy hour, including half-
on the map as a restaurant. (Unfor- off cocktails, beer, and wine by the
tunately, the original recipe is still
glass—but the real deal is the half-
classified information, but Poppy
off raw oysters, which are shucked
does give her personal version that in house.
she believes tastes very close to the
Pascal’s Manale has a very varied
original.) The shrimp are served
menu, so there is something for
in a hollowed-out piece of French
everyone. There are a lot of seafood
bread with a side of the rich sauce
dishes (which is to be expected in
Frank S Roccaforte, AAMS®
Financial Advisor
500 Huey P Long
Avenue
Gretna, LA 70053
504-367-4467
www.edwardjones.com
Member SIPC
Italian American Digest
New Orleans), but they also have
traditional Italian fare such as meat-
balls and spaghetti. Some of Pas-
cal’s veal dishes are in the style of
Marsala and Parmigiana, but they
also have what’s called veal gam-
bero, or paneed veal, topped with a
generous helping of peeled barbe-
cue shrimp—an original Pascale’s
Manale version of surf and turf!
The nice thing about this dish is
that it is perfect if you want barbe-
cue shrimp but do not want to get
your fingers dirty, since the shrimp
are already peeled.
After our lunch I got my copy of
Poppy’s book. As I flipped through
it, I realized that the book not only
has recipes directly from the fam-
ily but also offers a snapshot of the
history of Sicilians and how they
succeeded in the restaurant busi-
ness in New Orleans—as well as
intimate details about the five gen-
erations who owned and worked at
Pascale’s. Filled with photos and
stories, Poppy’s book brings to life
the history of the second-oldest
continuously run restaurant in a
city known for historic cuisine. It
is a reminder of what Sicilian im-
migrants have contributed to the
culture and cuisine of New Orleans.