Dining at DeAngelo's with Fantastic Friends

Another day, another lunch!  This time I met Hannah, Robert, Kevin, and Shawn at Louis DeAngelo's Casual Italian Dining on Jefferson Highway.  DeAngelo's is a Baton Rouge original with multiple locations around town.  They offer a pretty traditional Italian menu with various pastas and pizzas.

DeAngelo's on Jefferson

We met for lunch as a follow up from the previous dinner at the Romero's house and the lunch at the Roux House.  It was certainly great to see Robert again before he heads off to New Zealand, and it is always a pleasure to hang out with Hannah Lane, artist extraordinaire.  Kevin and Shawn were still in from Chicago, so we had quite a fantastic group.  I ordered the Nona's Lasagna because I had been craving some of the layered Italian dish and wanted to compare DeAngelo's variety to others around town. 

Nona's Lasagna at DeAngelo's

The lasagna was layered with plenty of cheeses from mozzarella to ricotta in addition to the meaty Bolognese sauce and the marinara.  The overall flavor was a mixture of sweet tomatoes and lots of basil.  It was good lasagna, but certainly not my favorite.  I felt like it lacked something in the texture and thought that it almost needed to be eaten with a spoon rather than a fork.  While it was good, I certainly did not think it was spectacular.  I was also able to sample a couple shrimp from Hannah's salad.  They were delightful little grilled crustaceans but the quantity did not meet the price in my opinion and they were rather small for a typical grilled shrimp in Louisiana. 

Banquet Room with Paintings by Hannah Lane

One of my favorite parts about DeAngelo's was the fact that the decorations around the restaurant largely consisted of paintings by Hannah.  Walking around the banquet room felt like taking a tour of Italy as Hannah's collection of paintings from her trip to the European boot were hung around the dining space.  Her artistic style is refreshing, colorful, and just the right amount of abstract to know that it requires a great amount of creativity and imagination.  I left DeAngelo's very happy after getting my fill of lasagna and an art show!

Cheesecakes and Assorted Sweets from L'auberge Du Lac in Lake Charles

My day of delivering delightful dishes to my neverending belly was not over after DeAngelo's.  When I got back to the office I found a box of cheesecakes on sticks and other assorted mini-cakes from the bakery at the L'auberge Du Lac casino in Lake Charles.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the box lid to find such amazing treats staring back at me as if they wanted to be eaten.  Since cheesecake is one of my all-time favorite desserts, I picked out a good one and plunged it into my mouth.  Wow!  First, what a great idea!  Whoever thought of putting a cheesecake on a stick is brilliant!  Secondly, these were really good cheesecakes with a beautiful mixture of cream cheese and sugar.  I couldn't resist and had another.  And the next day, since nobody else in the office was eating anything, I had the carrot cake too.  It was pretty good, but not as amazing as the cheesecakes on a stick!