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RESTAURANTS
brilliant. He wore multitudes of diamonds,
earning his flashy moniker — Diamond
Jim — and an occasional sparkler tucked
into a lofty meatball played to the press.
His sons Jimmy and Tony Moran built on
the restaurant legacy, adding Acme Oyster
House, the Old Absinthe House Bar, and
Moran’s Riverside that became Bella Luna
along with Jimmy Moran Catering.
Jimmy spent a six-month apprenticeship at
Alfredo’s in Rome, where the original pasta
Alfredo was created, helping to define his
legendary fettuccine recipe. It ultimately
Jimmy Lee Moran’s
Tomato Sauce
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
2 tablespoons olive oil
1
onion finely chopped
1
rib celery finely chopped
1
28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1
tablespoon red pepper flakes
1
whole carrot, peeled
1
tablespoon dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
HOW TO PREP
Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the
chopped onion and celery. Cook on medium
heat, stirring until translucent, about 4 to 5
minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and whole
carrot and basil. Using a food processer, if
desired, crush the tomatoes and add to the
mixture. Cook over medium heat for 15 to
20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Discard the carrot.
Moran’s Fettuccine
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1
pound fettuccine noodles
¼ pound butter at room temperature
⅓ pound grated Parmesan cheese
½ tablespoon milk or half & half at room
temperature
HOW TO PREP
Bring salted water to a vigorous boil and
drop in fettuccine, stirring until all noodles
are separated.
Boil for approximately 1 minute (over cooking
will ruin noodles) and drain loosely, leaving a
little water on noodles. Add butter and mix
well with fork and spoon. Add cheese and
mix well to avoid lumping. Add milk or cream
and mix thoroughly until mixture is loose and
creamy. Successful fettuccine is the correct
consistency. It should not be watery or too
dry. Add a little liquid at a time until the proper
smooth, creamy consistency is reached.
Serve immediately topped with freshly
ground black pepper.
[TOP LEFT] Circa 1903. A New Orleans milk cart
with a one-horsepower motor in front of what would
become Moran’s La Louisiane. The property was built in
1837 as a residence for wealthy Creole merchant, James
Walter Zacharie. Diamond Jim acquired the lease in 1954
and dubbed it Moran’s La Louisiane. He ran the restau-
rant for only four years and died there of a heart attack in
1958. His sons Jimmy and Tony Moran took over.
surpassed the fame of his father’s diamond-
studded meatballs. The taste memory goes
back to the 1970s when Jimmy would toss
fettuccine at tables throughout Moran’s La
Louisiane. There was no real secret to it,
except the simple ingredients that combine
in a light, silky comeback plate of pasta:
paper thin fettuccine cooked al dente,
butter, half and half (not cream), pasta water
and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
He built Moran’s Riverside, a second
restaurant in a new building at the French
Market in 1975, and ran both places for a
while, but the new restaurant soon overtook
the popularity of La Louisiane, so that was
sold. A Toresani, an imported Italian pasta
machine, was installed on the first floor at
Moran’s Riverside. There he put two of his
children to work, Jimmy Lee Moran and
Ann Moran Brainard. Jimmy worked as
the restaurant’s day manager and had also
worked at Acme Oyster House.Ann worked
in the pasta shop after she graduated from
Tulane University. If you couldn’t afford
to enjoy the fettuccine at the restaurant
often, it was inexpensive enough to pick up
a pound of fresh fettuccine. Copies of the
recipe were always handed out. He felt that
sharing the best was important.
Jimmy works with Freeport McMoRan.
His small Toresani at home continues to
crank out the same thin fettuccine. And yes,
the old recipe works — really, really works.
Ann treasured kitchen time with her father.
“Once or twice a week we would cook
together. What I cook today is an evolution
of what Dad taught me. Everything I do
stems from that,” she says. She has a trove of
family recipes and shares them with an open
hand, except for her grandfather’s meatball
recipe. “I was raised with the warning to
never divulge it.That’s the only one.”
“Even though I live in New England, I
brought my culture and my city with me. I’m
black and gold through and through and think
of myself as an ambassador for New Orleans.
I constantly make gumbo, jambalaya — and
an annual crawfish boil here for friends —our
favorite New Orleans recipes”
Jimmy won’t give up the meatball recipe
either, but he did offer a snappy family
tomato sauce recipe.There’s a lot of conflict
around here about calling it sauce vs. gravy
but it’s simply a personal preference and
who’s your mama.