From Gambit Weekly

Neighborhood Hangout

Businessmen (l-r) Dan Martin, Jules Schubert and Amede Smith finish a meal at Salvatore Ristorante with libations and conversation in front of a glassed-in garden at the Metairie restaurant.

At Salvatore Ristorante (3226 N. Arnoult Road, Metairie, 455-2433), the owner and executive chef endeavors to combine several aspects of entertainment so his customers will regard his comfortable but elegant restaurant and bar as a place to meet friends and linger for a while.

"I do everything that I can to please everybody and make sure the customer is satisfied," Bollat says. "That is my satisfaction." The chef began working at the restaurant in 1994, three years after it opened, and took over the operation in 2000 after the original owner retired.

The menu features Italian seafood cuisine, spiced up with Creole traditions such as Sal's Delight, which includes mesquite-grilled petit filet, fried softshell crab with lemon-butter caper sauce, and sauteed baby veal topped with jumbo lump crabmeat and mushroom sauce. In addition to traditional seafood and Italian specialties, the restaurant also ventures into more exotic cuisine such as rabbit stew, turtle stew, duckling dishes and rack of lamb.

"We combine a lot of the New Orleans traditions, like the shrimp Creole, crawfish etoufee and turtle meat stew with the Sicilian style of cooking," he says. "Our cooking (style) is from a long time ago -- from Elmwood Plantation, La Louisiane, Lenfant's, those types of places. Customers love it." He doesn't allow the menu to become stagnant, however. He adds things such as rack of lamb with kiwi mint champagne sauce to keep things fresh.

The ambience is romantic and inviting, with fresh flowers, a chandelier in the dining room, statues and a water fountain. Through the windows in the back, customers can gaze into a lush garden.

The lounge, which is separated from the dining room, regularly features live entertainment. "We try to provide the customer with better entertainment, better music and better atmosphere," Bollat says. To further that goal, he has organized a Louisiana Legends at Christmas show Dec. 23, which will feature Percy Sledge, Frankie Ford, John Fred, Jean Knight, Clarence "Frogman" Henry and Vince Vance and the Valiants. Tickets for the show are $35 ($45 for preferred seating), and Bollat is encouraging people to come to the restaurant for cocktails and a food buffet from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Then a bus will pick up concertgoers and take them to the Radisson Hotel, where the show will begin at 8 p.m. After the concert, the bus will bring them back to the restaurant for still another music show.

Salvatore Ristorante is open for lunch and dinner every day and offers a special fixe prix three-course meal for $9.95 to $10.95 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. There's also an evening special that provides dinner for two for $39.95 and includes soup, salad, a choice from seven entrees, dessert and coffee. In addition, Sunday features a brunch with all the champagne you can drink and complete dinners from a sit-down menu.