The Shadows Restaurant

 The Shadows Restaurant on Lover's Lane in Mandeville as pictured in the mid-1980's.

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New Restaurant Next To Star

 The Tavi Restaurant in the 300 block of North New Hampshire St. in Covington has opened. It is located between the Star Theater and the old courthouse. An attorney's office and barber shop used to occupy the building, but it was recently extensively renovated. 

According to their website: "Tavi is an Israeli restaurant serving made-to-order pita from a wood-fired oven, elaborately finished hummus plates, and small and large plates drawing from the same modern Israeli inspiration as its sister restaurant, Shaya. The name Tavi is inspired by the Hebrew word meaning “good or beloved” and that’s what Tavi aims to deliver to the Covington community. Executive Chef Fariz Choumali leads the kitchen and brings his Lebanese Roots to life through staples from the Shaya menu plus new dishes. The menu will highlight an array of small plates, hummus, sandwiches, and slow-roasted meats."

Here are some photographs and the menu. 

The Tavi Restaurant

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See also:

https://www.tavirestaurant.com/

The Pizza Man

 Memories of good times somehow always include pizza. Meeting the gang for pizza, after the ball game, after the movie, after the prom...

And Covington area residents have great memories of enjoying pizza at The Pizza Man, a legendary pizza place that still makes pizza the old-fashioned way, using old family recipes and the best ingredients that can be found. I visited with owner Dustin Schrems Sunday afternoon, and he shared the history and the highlights of his family's business. 

 

 

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He talked about what made it so special for his customers, who have over the years become loyal fans. Three things came to the forefront: the quality and taste of the pizza, the jukebox, and the show put on through the window into the kitchen.

His grandfather opened his first pizza restaurant in Houma in 1964, then his parents came to Covington in 1976, and opened up their pizza place on Boston Street near Vermont St. In 1990 the business moved to Collins Blvd. near the parish fairgrounds, across the highway from Zoe's Bakery. The front of the business faces the side parking lot, but the sign out front points a newcomer in the right direction.

"So we are now in our third generation of making pizza," Dustin said, "My grandpa and mom and dad did the hard work of getting the recipes together and our job here is to don't change anything."

The Team

All of which creates a unique blend of team work on the part of the eight employees, an appreciation for all the families, coaches, and individuals who have come there for decades, as well as a unique environment decorated with framed artwork, jigsaw puzzles, and one-of-a-kind pizza boxes painted by well-known local artist Suzanne King.

While there are recipes, "not everything is measured," Dustin says. "It's sometimes a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a dash of this and a sprinkle of that. After ten or 15 years of making pizzas you know how much of what to put in, and it comes out to be what people enjoy."

They make the dough, the sausage and the meatballs themselves, preferring to avoid the pre-packaged foodstuffs that some restaurants use. The kitchen is open for anyone to see how pizzas are made because of the large picture window that lets those in the dining room watch the process. The window showcases a bit of pizza making magic, the tossing, the spinning, the sprinkling of flour.

 

 

The Kitchen Window

The window has always been a favorite of the youngsters, since watching someone make pizzas is a form of entertainment in itself. But the window also gives the pizza makers a chance to watch as their pizza customers enjoy the show, then sit down and enjoy the eating when the pizza is delivered to their table. It's a "two-way" street, Dustin said, and the window is just as much appreciated by the staff and cooks as it is by the customers (and their children.)

Keeping Pizza Lovers Happy

The ambience of a pizza place is one of fun and good eating, and Dustin loves seeing the families come in and share a pizza. "It's one of the few meals where folks can just all take a piece and enjoy the same food together, not like where everyone has their own plate of food in front of them."

He gives much of the credit for The Pizza Man experience, however, to the teamwork spirit of his employees. "We have people who are really good at their jobs," Dustin remarked. "The secret of the window is that it brings the kitchen into the spotlight. The customers are fascinated watching the pizza chefs, and the chefs enjoy performing for the customers." It's a fun job, he said, and the interacting with the customers makes it even more so.

The Pizza Box Art

The dining room is lined with an array of pizza boxes, mounted high up on the wall, each one a masterpiece of artwork by Suzanne King. The pizza boxes are, well, just different than anything else, and Dustin is proud of them.

"They were completely Suzanne's idea," he said. "She does them on every subject and every person." The pizza box cartoon renderings feature famous musicians, sports teams, historical events, and key milestones in a person's life (prom, graduation, birthdays). Dustin is most proud of the pizza box near the check out for it shows the tragedy of 9-11 in New York. "She did that one right after it happened, and it's kind of special," he commented.

 

 

A few of the pizza boxes painted by Suzanne King

He explained that viewing  the pizza boxes have become a highlight of visiting The Pizza Man. "When you look around at them, it is amazing the points she makes, the views on life and society." Suzanne is well known for her fair posters and house illustrations, and she has exhibited her work at the St. Tammany Art Association. "She's a huge part of our family," he said.

The Pizzas

His best selling pizza is The Board. It's not a traditional pizza, but it has a lot of interesting and tasty ingredients. How did it get its name? Back in the early days of the Pizza Man, his mom and dad didn't have a "menu" per se, but they would write the ingredients available that day on a chalk board. "So people could read the board and mix and match what they wanted,"he explained. "Well, one day someone came in and said he wanted everything on the board."

That customer liked it so much that they came back the next week and wanted the same pizza, but since the board changed almost every day, they had to go back and try to remember what was on the board on the day the customers' favorite pizza was created. It's been around ever since.

"The Wow" pizza is also a crowd favorite. The Pizza Palace is more of a traditional pizza, he noted, and its recipe includes meatballs. Dustin's attention to detail is nowhere more apparent than in his dedication to the preparation of the meatballs for the pizza. "It's an all-day process," he said. "But it's a labor of love, because it's really good."

Making the ingredients from scratch helps bond the connection between the pizza cook and his customers. That's the way cooking should be done and the way restaurants should be run, "but that's also why I don't have a lot of stores," he said. It requires a lot of individual attention to detail, and especially an awareness of what his customers enjoy.

The Special Occasions

The best part of it all, however, is when families come to The Pizza Man for special occasions - Mothers Day, Father's Day, birthdays.   They have even had a wedding reception. "It is such an honor for us when people come to us and bring their loved ones for those special occasions," Dustin remarked.

And that's another reason why the window is vital. "Without the window the cooks would be way in the back. They wouldn't see the customers. The window allows the cooks to look out and watch the dining room activity,  see the families sharing a meal and conversation. They can see the results of their work."

They can also see when the wait staff might need an extra hand in serving a particular table, so that results in better service, Dustin commented.

The Jukebox

Part of the legacy of The Pizza Man is its jukebox. Many a tune brings back many a memory, and customers love it, especially when they play specific songs at specific times. "The records in there are all pretty much 50's, 60's and 70's," Dustin said. While they do have different records for different holiday seasons (Christmas music for Christmas, Mardi Gras music for the Carnival season), he knows that the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" is a favorite selection in the jukebox.

The Jukebox

 

 

 

More pizza box art 

The Pizza Man has been helping Covington area residents make fond memories for the past 46 years: their first dates, second and third dates, team get-togethers after the big games, making new friends and having good times with old friends. "It's an honor to be involved in our customer's lives," Dustin believes.

 His dad Paul Schrems still comes in from time to time, just to visit or sometimes to flip a pizza. "The five and six year old kids who were looking in the window when he was here, they are now parents who bring their own kids to come look through the window," he recalls. It's become a generational experience for many families.

Evelyn Schrems, his mother, takes care of the business end of the pizza place, doing the paperwork and record-keeping as she has for the past 40 years. "She is truly the backbone of the business," Dustin states.

Dustin Schrems (left) and Corey Wall provide the pizza-making magic behind the window at The Pizza Man. The business has provided longtime jobs for many young people over the years.

 

 

 

A birthday party

 

 

 

See also:

Suzanne King, Artist & Community Promoter

The Pizza Man on Facebook

 The Pizza Man Website

Odder's Ranch House Restaurant

 In the 1960's, parents would load their children into the station wagon and head for the unique Lacombe area restaurant called Odder's Ranch House. Many residents today have fond memories of the family outings that came with taking a drive to the country to see the special attractions it had to offer.

 

 

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The kids loved the place because of the unusual decor (they had lava lamps!), and the parents loved the place because, after lunch the kids could roam the fenced in grounds and interact with the interesting array of animals that were on hand, the most interesting being the peacocks. The kids loved the adventure of being in the country and seeing the many kinds of animals, including, of course, cats.

It was quite a trip, especially over the newly-built causeway from New Orleans, but Sunday dinners and special occasions were made all the more special by the extra effort.  It was apparently a house that had been made into a restaurant, with a long winding driveway.

Owned by Taft E. Odder, the place was on the south side of U.S. 190 between Mandeville and Lacombe, about six miles from the north causeway plaza. In a 1956 article in the Times Picayune it was described as "really a showplace with its beautiful gardens and grounds. The restaurant itself is the ultimate in design and its equipment is the finest."

"A well-equipped bar away from the main dining room offers the finest mixed drinks," the article went on to say.  Its motto was “The South’s Most Charming Restaurant.”

One repeat diner remembers that the owners would often come to a table and welcome the guests, and they knew many of their regular customers by name.

Its advertising mentioned that it was located in the "beautiful Ozone Belt, surrounded by an atmosphere of peace and contentment, where the finest food is prepared with taste and served with care.”  It also noted that “the short trip to Odder’s will reward you with one of your greatest eating experiences.”

It was listed among the hundred or so restaurants in the Louisiana Restaurant Guide of 1958, as published by the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

The restaurant sat on over seven acres and was big enough to accommodate over 200 customers. There were also two cottages and a storage house in the complex.  The interior decor of the restaurant was fascinating, featuring fabrics and fancy lamps not often seen in restaurants.

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner was offered, complete with French Onion Soup, turkey with oyster dressing, cranberry sauce and peas paisan, candied yams, a green salad, along with hot rolls, butter, coffee and dessert. All of that was priced at $3.50.  And frogs legs were also on the menu, as well as a variety of  Louisiana seafood.

In late 1968 owners had to sell the place because of ill health.

 

 

Early in 1969, new management took over. The new owners names were Tony Kent, Charles Parker and Harvey Bingman.

It was not a large establishment, but it was appreciated by the many families looking for a good place to eat, at reasonable prices, in a quiet, serene location among the St. Tammany pine trees. Later in 1969, the name was changed to just The Ranch House.

See also:

Restaurants Over the Years

Restaurant Map From The Files

 I found this "restaurant map" in my files, with no date on it but the names of the restaurants may hint at what year. The restaurants included Seafood Galley, Magnolia Grill, Louisiana Star, Little Bohemian, South China, Gallagher's (on U.S. 190), Crazy Johnnie's, Friends and Morton's. Now I'm hungry just for looking at names on the map.

 

Click on the image above to make it larger. 

I must have drawn the map for a special ad in a local newspaper since the names of the restaurants were "typeset" on a computerized typesetting machine.

Picadilly Cafeteria

 The Picadilly Cafeteria built in the northeast corner of the U.S. 190/Interstate 12 intersection south of Covington was torn down in early November. It was opened in 1999, according to folks over on Facebook. The location was previously the site of the Jet Drive In Theater.

 

 

 (Google Street View)

 

Here are some demolition photographs from a Facebook post by Wendy Campo Webb on the Remember Covington Facebook page.

 

According to the company website, Piccadilly Cafeteria first opened in 1932 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Twelve years later, a budding restaurateur by the name of T. H. Hamilton took the reins with hopes of growing the business.

Over on Facebook Clay Wade said that T. H. Hamilton went by the name Tandy Hamilton. His wife was named Tela. "They had a ranch in St. Tammany Parish in the Goodbee area. The name of the ranch was Tantela Ranch.

There is still a Tantella Ranch Road off Hwy 1077 a few miles north of Goodbee