Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published November 2005 Click here for the current edition Cafe Giovanni Post-Katrina Ratings: B, 3$ French Quarter: 117 Decatur Reservations: 529-2154 Dinner only, Tues.-Sat. AE DC DS MC V The two most entertaining Italian restaurants in New Orleans--Cafe Giovanni and Impastato's--came back from hurribernation on the same day. And the live singers for which both are noted came back right along with the good food. Café Giovanni had the more daunting task in getting the doors open again. It was enough put Chef Duke in lower spirits than I've ever seen. Who could blame him? Looters not only broke into the restaurant, stealing everything that looked as if it might have any value (down to tables and chairs), but liked the place so much that they spent hours partying. The damage they left behind was heartbreaking. Most of it came because they broke out windows and doors, letting rain blow in quantities great enough to ruin the $29,000 grand piano, artwork, and carpets. "I worked five weeks cleaning this place up!" says Chef Duke, who did most of the work himself, with his wife. New carpets and flooring are down, giving the restaurant at least the initial appearance of having been put back together. But that piano. . . it still looks fine, but it will never play again. They're getting a new one, because Café Giovanni without its music and opera singers would be. . .well, a pretty good place to eat. It's not quite up to what it had been--Chef Duke believes that, for now, his best course is to run a menu of the most basic of his dishes, at prices below what he usually charges. Even that is more than a little good. The pastas here have always been first-class, and served in absurdly ample portions. The best of them is a prize-winning dish (literally; ask him about it) called pasta Gambino, made with rock shrimp, a three-cheese cream sauce, and no small amount of pepper. A better strategy is to look into the night's specials. The chef is running the best of his former (and future) menu as such. He did a dinner of them for our Eat Club dinner there two weeks ago, and the flavor is right where we left it the time before. Start with the unique Tuscan asparagus, around which slices of prosciutto and fresh-milk mozzarella. This sounds like nothing much, but I haven't seen a person yet who, tasting it, didn't stop what he was doing and look at what could have brought about so pleasant a flavor. Unless he's still doing the lobster and pumpkin bisque. This time of year, chefs are ever looking for uses for pumpkin. Pairing it with lobster and cream and a bit of pepper is something new, and very good. The best dish of our dinner is a new dish that I hope remains long term. It's a ravioli stuffed with the tender meat and marrow from osso buco, in a mouth-filling brown sauce. I could heave eaten a plate full of these--I think. The flavor was so big one might overload. The filet mignon with foie gras and peppercorns and the roast duck with raspberry and chilpotle glaze are two hits from the old menu. They also are emblematic of the chef's penchant for serving enormous plates of food. It's great to have them back. © 2005 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com