Ciao, Marcello!

New chefs and loyal diners know that certain things cannot be touched at Marcello’s: the bolognese and the lasagna, for instance, will always be prepared as if owner Gene Todaro Jr.’s grandmother were still stationed in the kitchen, importing her Sicilian recipes to her new home in New Orleans. The restaurant décor, with gilt mirrors, family photos, and alluring local art, will appear plucked from Todaro’s home. (“I can’t help making it look like this,” Todaro shrugged.)

But as to how you pronounce the restaurant’s name? Eh, there’s some wiggle room.

Marcello Todaro, Gene’s uncle, accepted his Louisiana teachers’ pronunciation of his Italian name from school age onward. The restaurant opened by his brother, Gene Todaro Sr., paid tribute to “Mar-sello.” But when the namesake moved to California and met a host of other Italians who told him how his name should be pronounced, “Mar-chello,” he let his family know it was time for an update. 

Longtime diners can still visit Mar-sello’s for lasagna and feel like nothing has changed since the last lovely experience. But outside of the ironclad classics, lines are loose across the shapeshifting restaurant empire, with locations currently in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette. Baton Rouge executive chef Kevin Anderson enjoys the liberty to bring “light, bright, and fresh” flavors to the menu, an approach he learned from Chef Michael Gulotta at New Orleans’ MoPho. As head of Marcello’s catering arm, Chef Steven Diehl will sooner serve a party sushi than spaghetti. (Not without asking, of course.) And though the restaurant doubles as a wine market, even the tenets of tannins can be tossed out the door if a guest would rather red with the pesce fresco or white with lacquered duck.

For Country Roads’ first Supper Club of 2019, though, Todaro, Anderson, and Diehl have dedicated themselves to the food of love. “Warm” is the word the three come back to when describing the night’s menu, which includes mushroom and taleggio agnolotti and lamb osso buco slow braised in red wine. 

Consider the menu a relationship in miniature: passed hors d’oeuvres break the ice, as you puzzle together over extraordinary creations like the nduja dusted cannoli stuffed with chicken liver mousse or the tuna tartare with smoked tomato sherry whip; catch his dancing eyes over the agnolotti to express mutual affection; move in together to share the cioppino, abundant with Louisiana seafood; take twenty-five pictures of the lamb osso buco to crowd your mantle for years to come; and when that last bite of flourless chocolate cake with foie gras crème anglaise leads you to bickering, remember the foundation you’ve laid over the past few hours. Lean forward, taking one long, final look at the company surrounding you and the twinkling Mid City night, then let love loosen the white-knuckled grip on your fork: Actually, honey, it’s yours.

Dinner will be served on February 14, 6:30 pm, at The Market at Circa 1857. $100 tickets available via bontempstix.com.

This article originally appeared in the February 2019 issue. Subscribe to our print edition here.