A Roman Holiday: And thanks to Randazzo's Italian Market in Denham Springs, there is no jet lag.
I sat down with Kyla Randazzo at a table in her Denham Springs restaurant at the end of a lunch service—to talk about Randazzo’s Italian Market—but ended up listening to the story of her unlikely courtship with her husband, Antonio. The beginning of their love affair reads more like a spirited 1960’s romantic comedy than reality.
An Oklahoma girl just out of college runs off to Rome and meets a non-English speaking Italian baker/pasta maker/armed security guard. They communicate only through the international language of love and a mutual knowledge of fractured Spanish.
When I ask her about their initial communication barrier, she can only smile. She almost blushes as she sticks her hands down into the pockets of her cheerily colorful apron and says, “I can’t explain it. It was like we had our own language. We just always understood each other.” Eventually her Italian improved and he learned English. They married in Rome, had a child, hopped the pond and moved to Virginia. After the birth of their second baby, they followed her parents from Virginia to Louisiana, and in 2011 opened an Italian market in a picturesque old house under some oak trees, not far from the historic antique district in Denham Springs. As complicated as this romp that spans two continents seems, the photographic collage that fills our tabletop offers evidence of their life after leaving Italy and settling in Louisiana to run an Italian market together. Photos of Antonio playing soccer with his boys, Christmas with Kyla’s parents, and vacations at the beach all sit protected beneath the glass tabletop.
Antonio Randazzo begins his day by baking the ciabatta bread he uses for their handcrafted sandwiches. It also serves as the base for their brushchetta and is the not-so-secret ingredient that makes their bread pudding angelically light and fluffy.
The ciabatta has an airy texture that doesn’t overpower the sandwiches because Antonio lets it rise twice. While the bread is baking, he starts making the pasta. He makes between twenty-five and thirty pounds of fresh egg pasta each morning to satisfy the lunch and dinner crowds. When Randazzo’s opened, Kyla thought they would cater more to the sandwich crowd at lunch and feature one pasta special per day, but customers kept demanding all their favorites be available. So the regular menu expanded to include the full pasta selection of spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, and ravioli.
All of the pasta is made with their Komby pasta machine and cut to order. This is essential for quality control because fresh pasta doesn’t stay fresh for a long time in the Louisiana humidity. Kyla estimates that their fresh spaghetti has a shelf life of about twenty-four hours during the summer months.
Kyla also makes a batch of their red sauce every day. It slow cooks for at least two hours, and they use only Italian tomatoes because the soil is less acidic. This gives their sauce a milder, smoother finish. Kyla refused to disclose further details of their time-honored recipe, but she would say, “If you start with good fresh ingredients, you end up with a superior product. We aim to do it all fresh and all right all of the time.”
This work ethic is also evident in their sandwich menu. All of their meats and cheeses are imported from Italy. All of the meats are also cut to order, to keep the more delicate cured meats from drying out. I feasted on a sandwich called The Emilio. It featured freshly sliced salami, spicy capocollo, and mortadella, layered with provolone cheese, tomato and lettuce and served with a spicy Italian pepper dressing. It was divine. All of their meats, cheeses and house-made stuffed peppers are available by the pound for take out.
Of course, no lunch is complete without an espresso and a crispy creamy cannoli or some warm white chocolate bread pudding. As I finish dessert, Kyla invites me to visit the backroom to view the recently opened wine shop. They carry only Italian wines and have recently added a collection of Belgium and Italian beers. Randazzo’s has started a wine tasting on the second Wednesday night of the month.
I ask Kyla if they would consider expanding to a second location. She smiles, shakes her head no, and says, “This place is all about our family. If we had multiple locations, I would never get to see them. Things would just be too big.”
Details. Details. Details.
Randazzo’s Italian Market 240 Capitol Street Denham Springs, LA (225) 667-4557 randazzositalianmarket.com {tortags,7266,1}
