An Italian Dinner is a good coating in preparation for White Linen Night...

Take Away - A Mano Restaurant

This weekend is White Linen Night in New Orleans.  White Linen Night is an annual pre-art season celebration along Julia Street and throughout the Warehouse District.  Multiple galleries open their doors on Saturday evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in order to welcome visitors, show new exhibitions and allow people to drink wine and sweat more than humanly possible.

A photo taken at a previous year's event.

The Contemporary Arts Center always throws a large party, multiple residents in the Warehouse District host invitation-only parties and the Transportation Revolution has a great event where you can settle into some non-pretentious drinking while viewing the art of motorcycles.  The galleries and streets are literally swarming with people, the majority of which are: (1) wearing some form of white linen, (2) drinking copious amounts of white wine to fight the heat and (3) looking and talking about art for the first and only time this year.

In all seriousness, the entire event really is a great time.  This year, there are various new gallery openings, one of which is the Martine Chaisson Gallery.  The gallery, which I recommend you stop by tonight, is located at 727 Camp Street.  It features emerging and mid-level artists and provides a variety of original contemporary art.

Last night, we were invited to dinner with a group of friends that included Martine's parents, Joel and Sandra Chaisson.  Senator Chaisson and Sandra have been present in New Orleans all weekend to support the gallery's grand opening and to attend White Linen Night.  However, at some point, you gotta eat....so Mollie and I joined the Chaissons, Representative John Bel Edwards of Amite and our friends Alton and Allison Ashy at a restaurant called A Mano.

A Mano, which is located in the Warehouse District, is a unique restaurant with an authentic rural Italian menu.  Alton and Allison chose the spot because they have been before and found it to be quite good.  I have to say, I agree and am grateful for their decision.  Mollie and I have often driven by A Mano and remarked to each other that we should try it out.  Thank God we did because it is fantastic!!

Coppa di Testa (Hogshead cheese, deep-fried yard egg and pickled peppers)

A Mano is Italian for "by hand."  Appropriate for two reasons: (1) the place hand rolls a lot of the pastas and (2) I wanted to use my hands to gobble up this deliciousness.  Fortunately, Mollie was able to stop me, and I used the fork. 

After the table tasted some of the house cured meats and olive mixes, we ordered some appetizers.  I ordered the Coppa di Testa (Hogshead cheese, deep-fried yard egg and pickled peppers) and Mollie ordered the Insalata di Anguria (Watermelon, mixed herb salad with goat’s milk ricotta and white balsamic).  For the main course, I ordered the Pappardelle alla Coniglio (Pappardelle pasta tossed with Mississippi rabbit confit, porcini mushroom soffritto and thyme) and Mollie had the Gnudi con Funghi, Burro e Salvia (Spinach & ricotta dumplings tossed with local shiitakes mushrooms, brown butter and sage).  All in all, I would say nobody left hungry...

I am not sure what White Linen holds in store for us tonight, but hope that I can fit in my clothes to find out...

I have included a basic pasta recipe for those of you who would like to get your manos dirty:

Basic Pasta Recipe

• 
  
  1 egg, beaten
• 
  
  1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
  1 cup all-purpose flour
• 
  
  2 tablespoons water

In a medium sized bowl, combine flour and salt. Make a well in the flour, add the slightly beaten egg, and mix. Mixture should form a stiff dough. If needed, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons water and/or olive oil.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 3 to 4 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for approximately 15 minutes.  With a pasta machine or by hand, roll dough out to desired thinness. Use machine or knife to cut into strips of desired width.