At Napoleon Ave, and Dryades Street stands a bastion to timeless New Orleans Creole Italian cuisine –Pascal’s Manale, founded in 1903. In 1953, a frequent customer challenged then owner Pascal Radosta to make an off menu dish that would beat the pants off anything he had ever eaten in New York or New Orleans. Pascal returned from the kitchen with the first order of BBQ Shrimp – the bet was won and a signature dish was born.
Pascal’s Manale has been my family’s go-to restaurant for four generations. My first fine dining memory is being hustled out of the corner dining room by my irate father for tossing french bread at one of my cousins.
2 NOLA Knowledge™ points: Locals refer to Pascal’s Manale as Manale’s – never Pascal’s – and – Manale’s has one of the best oyster bars in NOLA . Buy your oyster tokens from the bartender, the shuckers don’t have a cash register.
For me, a visit to NOLA isn’t complete without a meal at Manale’s. I go directly to the bar for drinks and oyster tokens. Across the front room is the oyster bar where the shucker serves up my dozen the old fashioned way – one at a time, placing each shucked-to-order ice cold oyster directly on the bar in front of me. Savor them and tip lavishly.
My go-to dinner starts with an Oyster Panroast – oysters, shrimp and crabmeat chopped in a blend of shallots and parsley seasoning then roasted and served straight from the oven in a chaffing dish. Then I tie on a bib and grab a loaf of French bread and dig into my BBQ Shrimp entrée – huge shell-on shrimp first simmered then baked in a buttery concoction of spices and herbs. Don’t stop when the shrimp are gone – dunk the bread in your sauce, close your eyes and enter food heaven.
Save room for dessert. Manale’s bread pudding – served warm floating in buttery whisky sauce – is the best in the city. Service is friendly and prompt. Be courteous and ask pro-active questions – your server will go out of his/her way to provide advice.
The interior is much as it was in the 1950’s. VIP signed pictures on the walls and lots of New Orleans Saints graphics. Thank God some things don’t change.
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Address: 1838 Napoleon Ave., New Orleans, LA 70115