Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Luigi's still doing a great job after all these years
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
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About 30 years ago when I first came to Roanoke, there were only a handful of restaurants out on Brambleton Avenue from which to choose. I remember when the Long John Silvers opened on Brambleton, people stood in line to get into the place. It looked much like Atlanta when "Gone with the Wind" opened. Hard to believe isn't it? Now the Long John Silvers is gone with the wind.
Back in the early '70s when my business partner and I were operating our ad agency out of a cabin on Back Creek, we used to have to drive half way into town to find a meal. When Harold's Deli opened at the present-day El Rodeo location on Brambleton Ave, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. Turns out we'd just gone to Roanoke County. Harold had a great business, lunch and dinner, and we county folk poured into the place. Harold, a sweet and wonderful human being, would be wealthy today, but for unfortunately back-room shenanigans, I'm told.
Eventually, something exciting came to Brambleton: LUIGI'S, a smallish place with fabulous Italian food. The same bunch that stood outside Long John Silvers were also lined up to get into Luigi's, me among them. We experienced a different kind of Italian fare than we had previously known in this area. Since then, numerous similar restaurants have arrived on the scene.
Luigi's has what I call the amazing stretching building. They've added rooms through the years, including a bar. How? I don't know, honestly. But somehow they've stretched the building into a few more rooms than before with a back room, a bar, a solarium. I wouldn't be shocked if they add an upstairs lounge someday.
What's kept them growing is what keeps me going back, even after all of these years: good food served beautifully -- with ample portions.
The story of Luigi's is printed right on the menu. The place claims to take many of its recipes from a chef at Mama Leone's of New York, a once-famous and popular Italian restaurant but now pretty much a stop for the motorcoach crowd and tourists, I'm told. Thank heavens the Luigi's parking area isn't large enough for a motorcoach, so you don't have to fight anything other than the usual ravenous crowd for dinner.
Recently I stopped in on a fairly pokey Friday evening. I knew I could sneak in without the usual reservations. Drinks were served promptly and appetizers brought friskily: mushrooms stuffed with crab meat and shrimp scampi. Nice portions, both, and very delicious. Bread was used to sop up the butter afterwards. I figure I ate about a stick of butter while I was there.
I had one of my Luigi favorites: chicken stuffed with crab meat, sauteed in white wine, garlic, capers (I'll eat capers on cardboard if necessary, I'm so crazy about them), and mushrooms. Served with spaghetti and delicious beyond reason. It was my own strange version of "surf and turf."
The house salad was crisp, the blue cheese dressing superb, and the garlic bread -- well, they kept bringing it so I kept paying for it. One can save big bucks by staying with the house bread when eating as much as this old country boy does sometimes.
I've had many favorites at Luigi's: chicken Florentine, seafood a la Luigi (lobster tail, shrimp, scallops, mussels and white fish sauteed in marinara sauce -- hot or mild -- served with angel hair pasta. It's pricey, but what seafood isn't anymore?
If you're prone to beef, try the beef braocientini. It's tender sirloin steak rolled and stuffed with proscuitto, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese served on spaghetti. Yum.
There are vegetarian platters. A lot of readers ask me about this, so I'm trying to do a better job of covering it when available:
Eggplant parmigiana, rice (rice?), and broccoli, spinach, mushrooms. Glad I'm not a vegetarian. The variety does drop a bit, doesn't it? And of course, there's always BREAD.
There are many pasta dishes: Lasagna, cannelloni, rigatoni Siciliane, fettucini Alfredo, fettucini carbonara, linguini of one sort or another, and spaghetti and rigatoni (wasn't Rigatoni some sort of famous Opera singer?).
Pesce includes seafood scampi, shrimp Caesar, lobster tail, shrimp, scallops and flounder. Frankly, I've never had a seafood item that disappointed at Luigi's.
There are plenty of veal dishes: bella boca, parmigiana, Luigi's, saltimbocca, scaloppine, francese, a la marque, and combination Italiana (veal, shrimp, and chicken all sauteed in a Dubonet sauce).
And of course, the familiar pollo dishes are there too -- chicken Francese, saltimbocca, mofiosa, parmigiana, chicken and shrimp and so on.
You can top off your meal with any number of after dinner drinks, espressos, coffees and a few desserts, though I'm usually so stuffed (like a stuffed pasta) that I wouldn't think of trying.
Luigi's has been a Brambleton Avenue fixture for so long now that we sort of take it for granted. But we shouldn't. If you haven't been there for a while, go back and visit an old friend.
LUIGI'S
3301 Brambleton Ave.
Right near Don and Rod Foutz's Car Fixit Shop
