Mosca’s restaurant isn’t the kind of New Orleans-area tourist destination you stumble upon by accident. The long-standing Italian joint is a 30-minute drive outside the city, located on the edge of a large swath of forest on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. The squat white building looks more like an illegal fireworks store than a place you’d stop for dinner.

I first heard of the restaurant by way of advice from a stranger on an airplane: “Oh, you live in New Orleans? You’ve gotta go to Mosca’s Italian. It’s run by the Mafia.” As an equal fan of spaghetti and “The Sopranos,” I was sold.