Angelo Brocato
I had to wait to write this post because I had to go back a second time because I didn’t get what I intended to on the first trip. I really need to go a third time and try something else. Angelo’s is a well-known Italian dessert shop with gelato, coffee, cookies, cannoli, and other pastries. I’ve eaten the gelato there once in the first few years of living here. I remember it being good but I never went back. I think I just forgot about it and I typically go to Creole Creamery to go get ice cream (which I know is not the same as gelato). I added it to the list because it seemed a shame to love dessert as much as I do and not know their products as intimately as I know other places. Also, it could become my go-to shop when I get a craving for something sweet.
On the first visit, I got their regular sized cannoli, filled half and half with vanilla and chocolate flavored ricotta and covered in pistachios, powdered sugar, and cinnamon. I also tried some of their more popular cookies. I had intended to try the tiramisu, but it looked like they were out (they weren’t, I just missed it), hence my second trip. As much as I hoped it would, I don’t think this will be my dessert drop-in. Nothing really called out to me. I’ve not eaten much cannoli but what I’ve had was in little Italy in NYC, and aside from the chocolate chips on those, I remembered really liking the shell and filling. I didn’t love Angelo’s cannolis–I ate one and left the other three for my husband, who to be fair, really loved them. The cookies were also a ‘take em or leave em’ situation; they weren’t bad, they’d satisfy my sweet tooth in a second, but I wouldn’t go out of my
way for them. I went back more recently to get the tiramisu, and as much as I was looking forward to it, it was completely underwhelming. Now this could all be as a result of having other, less authentic versions of Italian desserts, such that now that I’m eating the real thing, my expectations are all off base. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m going to try a third time, maybe revisit the gelato and see about their more seasonal pastries; something has to pique my interest.
Harbor Seafood
I don’t eat out much in Kenner, it’s really not far but in my head it’s a journey to plan a meal out there. Folks have been telling me about this great seafood place for years now, and it’s always been in the back of my mind. More recently my husband even said that his friends mentioned to him that we should go to Harbor for 
dinner. So we finally made a plan and went. There’s a restaurant on one side and a seafood market on the other where you can just pick up stuff and go. There was a bit of a wait to sit down in the restaurant, despite what looked like an abundance of tables, but it wasn’t bad, and we browsed the menu while we waited. The outdoor area is a bit more modern than the cafeteria-esque inside, but since the termites had been swarming the last couple of nights, we opted to stay indoors. They have a ton of options on their menu; basically as long as you like seafood you’ll find something you want to eat. That being said, it truly is a no-frills, basket/boil/platter-with-a-large-drink-on-the-side type of place…where you go to get your fill of all things ocean life, maybe watch whatever sports game is on, and go home without a fuss. We got some oysters and gumbo to start out with and then we both ordered our own dinner.
I went with the swamp platter: fried alligator, fried crawfish tails, fried frog legs, turtle soup, crawfish etouffee, and cajun boiled alligator sausage. It was a ton of food, most of which I ended up taking home, and everything was delicious EXCEPT the turtle soup. I’ve only ever eaten turtle soup at Commander’s Palace, and I love it, but whatever was served in this cup seemed unrecognizable to me: I took one bite and left the rest on the table. But I scraped at the bottom of the cup of etouffee, and of course, how do you mess up fried seafood/swamp food. We didn’t get dessert, both of us were pretty stuffed and it really wasn’t a place either of us wanted to linger around in (not dodgy just not a place with that kind of ambiance). I will certainly go back the next time I have a serious craving for seafood, because you really can get any and all types of seafood, cooked any type of way, alone or in a combination platter, for a really decent price.
like black butterflies 