The Elephant Room in Lafayette?

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The family responsible for the popular Marcello’s Italian restaurants in Lafayette in the early eighties and who now run successful wine cafes in Lafayette and Baton Rouge will launch a new steakhouse in Lafayette early next year. The retro Elephant Room, a Todaro family brainchild, draws inspiration from safari and old-time burlesque themes, says Gene Todaro, Jr. Renovation of a former Fazoli’s restaurant at Kaliste Saloom and Pinhook kicked off earlier this month and will likely be complete by January. The venture follows two other restaurants opened by the Todaros in the last two years, Marcello’s Wine Market Café in Lafayette and Enoteca Marcello in Baton Rouge, which feature Italian cuisine and fine wines at just over retail prices, considerably less than the standard 300% markup restaurants generally follow. The Elephant Room will repeat the unconventional wine-pricing policy, and will serve high-end cuts of Argentine grass fed, American corn fed and Japanese Wagyu beef. More than half of the wine cafés’ patrons are women, says Todaro, which he expects to also be true at the Elephant Room. Thus, the spot will offer smaller portions and filet “flights,” a sampler of different beef varieties. A raw bar departs from oysters and includes tartare and ceviche. “We’re going for something other than stodgy steakhouse,” Todaro says. — Maggie Heyn Richardson

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bone marrow

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