My dinner with Sylvester Stallone

I’m telling you – ya just can’t get away from the paparazzi even here in the wet heat of New Orleans. I was having dinner with friends at Mosca’s an offbeat Italian restaurant known to locals. A couple of tables over there was Sly Stallone. I would not have recognized him. But my friend, jazz musician/teacher Marc Dobriner, did. I thought Marc was joking. But Sly kept looking at us. I felt uncomfortable staring back long enough to study the long ruddy face. It took our other three friends to convince me it was none other than the Italian Stallion. I couldn’t help but feel in his gaze a plea for us to bother him, ask for an autograph, or say something that proved we knew who he was.  But none of us could honestly say anything positive about his films—outside of “Rocky,” which we all loved all those years ago. Oh, and Jeanne Cimino, gallerist at Heriard Cimino gallery, said she knows of a really good film Sly was in that you probably never heard of, “Cop Land,” which we’ll watch tonight on Netflix. But indeed, the star is still on the trail of blood and violence: He is here in the Big Easy to shoot “Bullet to the Head” — based on a graphic novel by the same name and formerly known as “Headshot.”

I’d rather tell you about Mosca’s menu, known to New Yorkers and locals who love the history—and obviously to Hollywood moguls (Sly was at a table with about five of them). If you get to Nola go there. Around 1944, Italian immigrants started the place—in a plain white wrapper of a house just outside the city. You cross the mighty Mississippi to get there—take Hwy 90. The food is rich and heavy, not trendy or delicate. It’s fresh and delicious, occasionally retro – as in the “Italian Salad,” which is that old classic made with iceberg lettuce, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.  The Oysters Mosca is a mardi gras (emphasis on the gras) of plump oysters in a bath of  butter, olive oil, fresh garlic, seasoned bread crumbs, topped with bacon or prosciutto (we tried twisting the waitress’s arm but don’t believe she gave us the right ingredients so we are extrapolating). The Chicken La Grande was moist roasted with good Italian oregano. Shrimp Mosca was so good we ate the shells and all. New Orleansians tell me the shrimp heads have the most flavor. Oh, I am still full this morning. Walked around beautiful Audubon Park and saw egrets and I think a night heron.

Oh, oh, oh, yes, tango is on my agenda for Friday at former San Franciscans’ Missy McCrosky and Mr. Kim’s place: Embrace Tango at the Tango Ensueño. It is on Felicity at Tchoupitoulas near Religious and Nuns streets. “Sound like pilgrimage?” asks Missy. You bet and I can’t wait. Stay tuned for details.