September 5, 2007
By Maggie Heyn Richardson
After a long hiatus from DiGiulio's, I found the restaurant still has the best vibe in town and can produce a fabulous meal if you order right. But the best part of the night was getting there by bike -- something I could have been doing for past dozen years from our various Garden District homes. Why did it just occur? I wish I knew, except that like everyone else, we default to the car.
Biking along Perkins Road can be a drag, but if you snake through Hillsdale and come out by the Bet-R Supermarket, the trip is a breeze. Also there is Chelsea's, where we started off. Its rusty bike rack is under the freaky, too-close-for-comfort overpass. As we stood there locking the bikes up, I couldn't help but wonder about bridge stability. But it was Saturday night after all, and I forced my thoughts to more important issues: wheat beer on draft and the Georgia Bulldogs. (I love LSU, but self-respecting Georgia natives must pull for the Dogs and whoever happens to be playing Auburn.)
Afterward, we walked to DiGiulio's along a connecting sidewalk that keeps you from having to cross Perkins. How novel! As usual, the beloved restaurant was hopping, but by the time we arrived, a table for two was free in the corner. I've never been wowed by the pasta here, but I think the pizza is outstanding, the steaks are solid and the specials are well-done.
We started with perfect, savory crispy fried green olives stuffed with salami and four cheeses and served with nicely balanced marinara (not the saccharine kind). My pizza with portobello, pepperoni and fresh basil was mellow and smoky, its generous components pushed to the edge of the toothy homemade crust. My husband's veal chop was tender, almost creamy in texture. And Nannette Mayhall's moist three-layer red velvet cake with cream cheese icing just might have been the best rendition of this cake I've experienced.
The service was great. Our waitress loaded our leftovers into a plastic bag, and we threw it onto the handlebars and headed home. Biking to the cache of restaurants and bars in the Perkins Road Overpass District is something we'll do from now on. It was incredibly satisfying.
For the record, the entire corridor from Parrain's to DiGuilio's could be a pedestrian paradise with some minor adjustments.
Here's hoping.
Comments
Posted by sterge on September 5 at 5:46 p.m.
Maggie,
Thanks for reminding us that we need to go to DiGuilio's. I have never been disappointed with either the ambiance or the food. You just need to get there early.
I have trouble passing up the osso bucco. In my opinion it is the best in BR. Luckily, I get a taste of what others order, and it has all been great.
If our food at home was not so great we might eat out more. The next time we do we will head for DiGuilio's.
Posted by spatuladiaries on September 7 at 8:57 a.m.
Oh, and by the way, fellow blogger and 225 contributor Alex Cook cleverly named this neighborhood DUPRO. Down under the Perkins Road Overpass. Viva la DUPRO. -MHR
Posted by sherishiqua on September 11 at 3:16 p.m.
I hate to seem like a jerk, but I must have missed something at DiGuilio's. The atmosphere, was, well, dank. The dining room furniture was woprn and falling apart, or to be easier, rickety. I know its a Baton Rouge thing, but a TV was on in the dining room, and I don't care, its still not proper, much like smoking before your coffee. I'll try it again sometime, but I really was not that impressed.
Posted by spatuladiaries on September 11 at 9:39 p.m.
TV's get my goat, too, and damned if they're not in almost every local restaurant lately from Koto to Vic's Chophouse, but I must say, even though certain things bum me out about DiGiulio's (the pasta, the overdressed salads, the shape of the wine glasses) I still have a soft spot for it and I really like the vibe. Thanks for your response. MHR
Posted by sherishiqua on September 14 at 1:09 p.m.
I've seen Vic cooking on Channel 4 and I can safely say I will never eat there. A lot of friends rave about DiGiulio's so I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
TV's are in ever restaurant, almost ever, Brandt's and Maison LaCour do not have TV's.
Posted by spatuladiaries on September 14 at 3:29 p.m.
Brandt's and Maison Lacour are hard to beat. What turned you off about Vic? -MHR
Posted by sherishiqua on September 16 at 2:59 p.m.
Vic's, and it doesn't pertain just to him and his cuissine. Its hard to explain without going off on some diatribe that could be construed as excessive arrogance. Its a long story, maybe we can discuss over a Negroni one day.
Posted by Jon_Cogburn on November 5 at 4:52 p.m.
Televisions in public places are symptomatic of all of the reasons our civilization will not last a fraction of the time Rome did. The barbarians are already in the gate, and the put noisy, invasive, brain dead, irritating televisions in our hospital waiting rooms, airports, and restaurants.
If you avoided all places with T.V.s in Baton Rouge, you'd never eat out. To compromise, I refuse to eat in restaurants where the volume of the television is on or where the music is defeaning. In Baton Rouge this vetos Halftimes (where the T.V.s are often set to different channels), Serannos (where to be fair the volume is not always on), and La Carretta (where the bass speakers are sometimes tinitus inspiring). That Katrina transplant place on Jefferson that just closed (I forget the name, I'm pretty sure MHR reviewed it), had T.V.s with the volume on. I walked out.
Is Brandt's Maisonette still open? I'm on sabbatical in Oklahoma this year, and right before we left we tried to eat there and couldn't contact anybody. It is or was by far the best place in B.R. by my money. 225 should do a cover story on it.
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