Impastato's: A shrine to New Orleans Saints, city's Creole Italian food (2024)

Joe Impastato, wearing a black sport shirt with aNew Orleans Saints emblem on the pocket, balances six salad plates on his arm as he pushes past the swinging door of his kitchen into the dining room at Impastato's Restaurant in Metairie.

The 78-year-old restaurateur delivers those plates expertly to a table of well-dressed men having lunch in the empty space.

The restaurant serves only dinner Tuesday through Saturday, but one understands after talking with Impastato for just a few minutes that he takes care of his good customers, his friends, and the New Orleans Saints.

The restaurant on 16th Street behind Morning Call is a shrine to old-style New Orleans Creole Italian food and to football, with the scale tilted heavily in favor of the hometown team.

A SAINTS FAN'S DREAM

Impastato is no Johnny-come-lately Saints fan. He bought his first two Saints season tickets in 1967.

When he moved to New Orleans in 1957, he'd play pick-up soccer games with other young immigrants in a parking lot where the Royal Orleans hotel now stands. Soon, he was introduced to American football and he never looked back.

When John Mecom Jr. and Sr. bought the team in the 1960s, they came to Moran's La Louisiane Italian Restaurant, where Impastato was working, and he got to know them and the players.

The Saints and Impastato's food have been entwined ever since.

Impastato worked in New Orleans bars and restaurant for 20 years, until 1979 when he opened his Metairie restaurant. That year, he hosted a welcome-to-town party for then-Saints coach, Dick Nolan, who led the team for three years.

He maintained a connection with the team's successive owners, coaches and players, so much so that his menu reads a bit like a greatest hits of that ball club's characters: Rickey Jackson's crab fingers; Veal Payton; Bum Philip's Combination Salad; and Tom and Gayle Benson's Crab Meat Salad.

"At that time, under Bum Phillips, I was over there all the time," he said. "I'd travel with the team. I went to most of the out-of-town games. Phillips, Mike Ditka, Jim Mora, they'd all come over here all the time.

"Every time any of the old players come to town, they come here," he said.

"At one time, it was easy to know the players because we never had this change like we have right now," he said. "You get a guy like Rickey Jackson, Jim Wilks, those guys would play for years.

Impastato, who has been president of the Saints Hall of Fame in Kenner for decades, has filled the walls of his restaurant with glossy photos that include Archie Manning on signing day, and one of he and Morten Andersen clowning with forkfuls of pasta.

(Fortunately, the 8 inches of flood waters that filled the restaurant after Katrina did not reach the photos, which include ones of him withMuhammad Ali, Barbara Eden and Kevin Costner. The restaurant reopened on Oct. 13, 2005)

Football helmets from every NFL team are mounted overhead and a near-life-size portrait of Rickey Jackson adorns one wall.

Impastato said he knew Benson, but it was in 1985, after Benson purchased the team, that he developed a better acquaintance.

Impastato proudly shows off a Super Bowl ring -- with a "Look what Mr. Tom gave me" -- from the team's 2010 championship game, which he attended; and he plans to travel to London to see the Saints vs. Miami Dolphins game.

THE FOOD AND THE FAMILY

Impastato, whose brother owns , has worked in the restaurant business almost since he arrived in New Orleans from Palermo, Sicily six decades ago.

Joe and Sal Impastato are the only two of his five siblings – four still living -- to settle in the United States, but the family members fly back and forth across the Atlantic to see one another.

Restaurant work came naturally to the brothers. Their relative, who also is named Joseph Impastato, had been running the Napoleon House since 1914. (The family sold that restaurant to Ralph Brennan in 2015, and the elder Impastato's photo hangs over the bar.)

"Uncle Joe from the Napoleon House brought me to this country on April 27, 1957," he said, noting that he lived upstairs from the landmark bar and soon went to work at Tony and Jimmy Moran's swanky La Louisiane, with his brother Sal. Impastato was later maître de at Moran's Riverside.

He and his wife, Mica, met in 1959 on the Riverboat President. They married in 1962 and have a son, Joseph Michael, and a daughter, Mica Capritto, and five grandchildren.

Today, he owns two restaurants, the original in Metairie, and Impastato Cellars in Mandeville, which opened four years ago this September and is run by his daughter.

REGULARS AND TRADITIONS

On a recent Tuesday around 6 p.m., singer Roy Picou, who has been with the restaurant for 25 years, crooned Frank Sinatra-era love songs to longtime regulars who filled the main dining room for an early dinner. Big platters of fettuccine were tossed table-side. Waitersgreeted folks by name as they helped them find their seats and took orders.

"I've got a lot of regular customers," he said. "I've got people who eat with me two or three days a week.

"Most people don't even look at the menu," he said. "If I go to the table and say let me take care of you tonight, they trust me and let me do what I want to do."

If you're a certain age and grew up in New Orleans, this is the food you were expecting when someone said, 'Let's go have Italian': veal parmesan, heavy on the melted cheese; fettuccine Alfredo; cappellini with tomato gravy and hearty Bolognese over spaghetti.

Impastato insists on feeding visitors: "Most of our customers get the fettuccine. Once you eat it, you'll know why," he said as cracked a little fresh pepper on top.

"Even though this is a very tough business, I love what I'm doing. I love taking care of people," he said. "I enjoy making somebody's day better, if I can."

He features five veal dishes, including the Veal Marianna, which is named after his mother.

"My momma and daddy were both great cooks - not for a business, for the family," he said. He serves many dishes he grew up eating, but with south Louisiana embellishments, such as lump crabmeat.

"We never had lump crab meat in Sicily, but we had veal every Sunday," he said.

It may seem like every seafood dish on Impastato's menu features lump crab meat, from the expertly fried softshell crabs to the Fresh Fish Payton, a breaded, pan-sautéed fillet.

Four 30-pound boxes of the white, sweet meat, picked at B & G Seafood in Des Allemands, arrived at the kitchen door on a recent weekday afternoon: "This will last about a week," he said.

Impastato is proud of the consistency of the service and the food.

When he opened in 1979, Impastato created a multicourse, prix fixe menu for $12;"Chef Joe's Dinner Special" continues, now starting at $31, depending on the entrée chosen.

Pastas are house-made as are most desserts, with the exception of the cannoli and cassata, which come from Angelo Brocato's on South Carrollton. His bread is from Angelo's Bakery in Metairie.

His softshell crabs, which come two to a plate no matter how big they are running, come from Cocoderie, he said.

He likes to shop for his own food to ensure the quality: "Every Sunday morning, I go to 9 o'clock Mass and right after Mass, I go to Restaurant Depot and get the food that I need for here and what I need for across the lake. In 20 minutes, I can fill up the Suburban."

The Metairie kitchen is run by head chef Mark Fontanille, who has been there for 36 years, complemented by Darryl Jones and Mike Henderson, who have worked there for more than 33 years, Impastato said.

Billy Fontanille, the chef's brother, who is maître d, has been there for 37-1/2 years.

Impastato's son and his grandson, both named Joseph as well, help run the restaurant, too.

Impastato does plan to retire – one day.

"I turn 79 in October. My goal is to retire at 90," he said, noting that by then his grandson can step up: "Joseph should take over. I think he'll be ready by then, he'll be 40."

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Impastato's Restaurant, 3400 16th St., 504.455.1545

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A flyer in the restaurant touts a "Meet the Saints Luncheon," sponsored by the Touchdown Club of New Orleans. Here are the details:

MEET THE SAINTS LUNCHEON

What: The Touchdown Club of New Orleans, Inc., invites Saints fans, 14 and older, for a lunch. Auction items and Saints merchandise will be sold.

When: Aug. 30; doors open 11:45 a.m., lunch is at 1 p.m.

Where: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal St.

Tickets: $75 per person, with cash bar. Deadline to order tickets is Aug. 23. Pick up a form at Impastato's or visit, tdcno.com.

Information: Business casual attire; no jeans, T-shirts, jerseys or shorts. Call 504.242.4545 or send an email to info@tdcno.com

This story is part of the Where NOLA Eats series on neighborhood restaurants in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Do you know a restaurant whose story deserves to be told? Leave your suggestion in the comments below, or emailAnn_Maloney@nola.comwith your suggestions. Follow him on Twitter:@AnnMMaloney

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