Creole Italian.
Metairie: 4411 Chastant St.. 504-885-2984. Map.
Lunch Tuesday-Friday. Dinner Monday-Saturday.
Riverbend: 7839 St. Charles Ave., 504-866-9313. Map.
Lunch Tuesday-Friday. Dinner seven nights.
Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
Vincent's is the least pretentious great restaurant in New Orleans. It serves familiar New Orleans-style Italian food, combining a lusty flavor with enough polish that its offerings could be sold in a much more expensive restaurant. No restaurant better defines the Creole-Italian cuisine.
WHY IT'S GOOD
Vincent and his cooks (several of whom went on to open their own places) never try to reinvent the local Italian flavor palette. Instead, the fine-tune the classics of the neighborhood New Orleans Italian cafe. Usually, they succeed, creating a few best-in-town dishes (cannelloni, corn and crab bisque, and soft-shell crab with a red sauce). Seafood is especially fine, napped with great sauces. Some of the heartier dishes verge on grossness, but that may be appropriate. Little touches like breadsticks (uncommon in New Orleans) and the blue cheese vinaigrette create nice moments.
BACKSTORY
Vincent Catalanotto--long-time waiter, bartender, and character--one day discovered he could cook as well as any of the chefs who shouted at him. So in 1989 he opened a little, well-hidden restaurant in Metairie and started cooking. The place quickly became a runaway hit, with a packed dining room all the time. Vincent bought the old Compagno's on St. Charles Avenue and made it his second location, as good as the first. Two other locations--in Baton Rouge and Mandeville, both franchises--were less good and folded.
DINING ROOM
Neither location gets and prizes for atmosphere, unless you find haphazardness atmospheric. The Metairie restaurant is cramped and utilitarian. The Uptown Vincent's retains the old-time neighborhood charm of its predecessor, but waiters and customers are always squeezing past something there. The service staff is chummy and quite willing to serve whatever you want.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
Eggplant sandwich.
Artichoke Vincent (with crawfish and shrimp).
Oysters Vincent (baked, with bread crumbs, garlic, crabmeat, and artichokes).
Veal meatballs on garlic toast.
Corn and crab bisque en croute.
Crawfish bisque (in season only).
Italian chicken soup.
House salad with blue cheese vinaigrette.
Tomato-mozzarella salad Caprese.
Veal cannelloni.
Angel hair pasta bordelaise (aglio olio).
Spaghetti and meatballs or Italian sausage.
Beef brisket daube with spaghetti.
Braciolone.
Blackened tuna.
Panneed fish, crab cream sauce.
Soft shell crab with tomato garlic sauce.
Veal or chicken Florentine.
Osso buco.
Chicken stuffed with mozzarella, artichokes and mushrooms.
Garlic chicken.
Tiramisu.
Creme brulee.
Torroncino ice cream.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Come here very hungry. It's often a good idea to split appetizers and entrees, three plates per four people. If you're in the mood for a funny but perhaps naughty joke, ask for Vincent.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
They overcook the pasta more often than not, particularly the side dish of it that comes with most entrees. Same story on the vegetables. They should always toss the sauces with the pasta, but they don't. . There's not a single good table in either location; all are in funny corners or in the middle of traffic.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment -1
- Consistency +2
- Service +1
- Value +2
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar
- Hipness
- Local Color +1
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Small private room
- Open Monday dinner
- Open Sunday dinner (Uptown only)
- Unusually large servings
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- Reservations accepted
This review was updated with new information on 1/6/2010.
A list of all 300 full, current reviews is here.