Southern Italian Cooking in the Southern U.S.
It's common knowledge that New Orleans is made up of a blend of cultures, and thus, of cuisines. We know that classic French (and some Spanish) cooking combined with New World ingredients and techniques brought to the table by the West African slave women who did most of the cooking are what gave us French Creole food, in the form served at all of the city's old-line restaurants, not to mention the homes of thousands of South Louisianans. For a primer on this style of cuisine, have a look at the classic Picayune's Creole Cook Book.
Now, take that French Creole cooking style -- the proverbial mother sauce for this melting pot, if you will -- and add a massive dose of traditional Sicilian and Southern Italian cuisine, brought by the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from this area who came to New Orleans between approximately 1880 and 1910.
French Creole cuisine learned more than a few tricks from these Sicilian cooks -- liberal use of garlic, for one -- but the influence in the other direction was more noticeable, to the point where an entirely new cuisine was formed.
The southern cousin to the Italian-American food of New York's Little Italy and countless New Jersey dinner tables, this new Italian Creole cuisine featured a spicy, rich red gravy, made with a starter of fried tomato paste and a liberal dash of sugar (an ingredient which would've been cheaper in turn-of-the-century Louisiana, a sugar-growing state, than anywhere up North).
Italian Creole cooks also incorporated local seafood into their pasta dishes, making, among other dishes, the first crawfish fettuccine (now a ubiquitous menu item). The proprietors of the Central Grocery, inspired by the local love of sandwiches, invented one with Italian ingredients: the famous muffuletta.
Where to Eat Italian Creole Food:
Ask nearly any local where to go for Italian Creole, and their eyes will glaze over a bit as they gently utter the word "Mosca's." This little restaurant is located on Highway 90 about 20 miles out of town in Avondale, on the West Bank. It was a long-time favorite hangout of New Orleans' most famous mobster, Carlos Marcello, whose son still owns the building, and has attracted the attention of Roadfood's Jane and Michael Stern and writer Calvin Trillin, alongside locals and travelers of all stripes. Finding it is half the fun.
There's good Italian Creole to be had in town, too. Of course, there's always the classic muffuletta at the aforementioned Central Grocery, an easy and cheap lunch in the French Quarter. You could also try the Sicilian-New Orleanian dessert selection at Angelo Brocato's.
But if you want to wallow in red gravy, your two best bets are Liuzza's or Mandina's, not far from each other in Mid-City. Most locals will prefer one over the other, usually for the same complicated reasons that approximately 50% of Philadelphians prefer Pat's over Geno's -- a combination of blood loyalty, some random menu item tasting like Mom's, and happenstance.
I casually lean toward Mandina's, for one simple reason: daube with spaghetti, a Wednesday night special that features a hunk o' beef braised in red gravy until it's nearly crumbling, served over fat, toothsome spaghetti. In my opinion, it's one of the city's finest menu items, and one that I eat again and again and never tire of.
You'll find that both Liuzza's and Mandina's serve dishes you'd recognize from any Italian-American menu anywhere (chicken parm, spaghetti with meatballs, etc.), dishes that are clearly Italian in origin but which feature local ingredients (linguine alfredo with crab meat, for example), and dishes that are quintessentially French Creole in origin, perhaps served with an Italian touch (gumbo, trout meuniere, etc.). Also, note that every restaurant mentioned on this page is overwhelmingly family-friendly, so bring the bambini along.