OTR New Orleans

New Orelans OTR Stories

I know that my task is daunting. I have just re-read the Confederacy of Dunces and although the trip has nothing to do with the storied exploits of Ignatius J. Reilly I want to do justice to his keen observation of the blatant obscure. If I get a little teary eyed every time I pass a turbo dog cart on my way to a new New Orleans food experience you will have to bare with me (I was asked to use as many incorrect homonyms as possible in the first paragraph by the coach’s wife in honor of her third grade triumph in the weekend take home assignment in Milwaukee, while other kids worried about their Brewers she took the teacher seriously and returned with 200 sound a likes including four kinds of carrot).

Neither the alcohol free bloody mary on the way to Seattle (the stewardess said someone forgot to stock the bar and since it was the first flight in the morning I was suspicious it was one of the crew members. I looked for the one who took the most aspirins but it seemed to be a tie amongst them although it looked like the pilot may have only had three aspirins). At Sea-tac airport I hurried past the Starbucks stand which had fourteen people in line waiting to purchase $4.99 lattes and arrived at the American Airlines gate where the Seattle Best Coffee had no line. (You may wonder why I flew to Seattle to fly to New Orleans — I don’t know why other than that’s the way they booked me.) I ordered a drip coffee and a toasted bagel. The drip coffee seemed a bit stale (I think 8:00 am was too early and I was getting the pot from the previous night. I guess local knowledge would have helped me here to stand in line at the Big S). The toasted bagel with cream cheese came in a plastic bag. It was hot and chewy. They had put both the bagel and the cream cheese in a microwave. As always when I said I had asked for a toasted bagel the response was, “That’s how we toast our bagels here” and the counter girl went back to texting her friend who was texting her back from the coffee machine located directly in back of the counter).

The First Class fair (Alaska assured me that I couldn’t use mileage for economy seats, there just weren’t any available, but I would enjoy paying extra for the airborne event because I would have more leg room and the toilet in the front of the plane had been cleaned since the last flight) to Dallas included several tenants in the front of the plain who demanded more juggling from the struggling actors/waitors who had to make a Velveeta omelet sound like a French chevre cheese experience with farm raised eggs. The bowl of fruit was a collage of large, pale legos. Strawberries were a pail pink with a green stem scotch taped to the top and the melon was translucent, more of a prism than an edible substance. (To be fare, the biscuit was good and the smucker’s jam packet helped enhance the flavor.)

Just as I was about to board the final leg of my trip to the Big Easy they announced that the thunder, rain and lightning in and around Dallas would delay the plane. After a forty-five minute delay we boarded the plane and the stewardess announced that they had eaten our dinner to keep up their strength so they substituted a package of gourmet snacks (pretzels) for our pleasure in First Class. (The economy class was not so fortunate. The ride was too bumpy to serve them. I found out there were only two bottles of Glenlivet left on the cart so I ordered a double scotch. I arrived safely at the B&B about an hour late. My friends waited five minutes at the B&B and then decided I wasn’t coming so they went out to dinner. A small group — Toro the Guinea and me ventured out into the night in search of our first New Orleans food. (Did I mention this is a series about food?) We went to Magazine Street and found Ignatius. (Oh did I mention that I met a bridge person in Dallas who started hyperventilating because they thought I had died two months ago? Word travels faster than the speed of light in the bridge world but it does make me a little anxious about what lies ahead for me in the near future. The lady admitted she was a clairvoyant so she might have been a week or two premature.)

I asked the waitress if the restaurant was named after Ignatius J. Reilly of Confederacy of Dunces fame or of St. Ignatius. There were a lot of statues of the saint in the rafters holding bottles of beer and wearing mudflap hats. The waitress said the employees breathe the spirit of Ignatius J. (Don’t ask me what that means). So what do you eat on your first night in NO in a little neighborhood restaurant? You have to start with alligator sausage, spicy, lightly mayonnaised slaw and a hump of mustard. Some of the Magazine gang ordered shrimp and grits. (My friends are always buying shellfish to share with me since they learned about my adult onset allergy to shellfish.) I also ordered the red beans and rice with Andouille sausage.I shared that for a few bites of the catfish po’boy. The Guinea had meatloaf and a pecan brownie dessert. Like the ill fated Ignatius J. this restaurant had recently been visited by officers of the law who felt they hadn’t paid their under the counter respect so all liquor sales were terminated. Just the mention of the word “suspension” had closed down the valve of the statues looking down on us.

This led the small troupe to the Le Bon Temps Roule bar where we waited for forty minutes for the first act to start at 11:00 pm. The Roule used to have glasses for their tap beer but the customers complained too much about the film and since the Temps wasn’t licensed by any of the big studios to show feature movies they went to plastic cups. (I’m not sure if they recycled these or not. It was a little dark behind the bar where you were supposed to deposit the cups when you left.) One of the ceiling fans had lost an arm. I felt like Don Quixote preparing to attack a wounded windmill which wouldn’t have been a fair fight until I came to my senses and realized it was more like a one armed bandit than a green machine and I would lose. At that point I thought the heat and Abita beer might be taking over my mind. That calmed me down. The bar was forced by some city light inspector to install facsimiles of light in different parts of the back room where the band was setting up. It looked like the owners had sent a bunch of their patrons out after an all night session at the bar to various garage sales. They came back with all different types and sizes of lights. Some were held together by duct tape, others with electrical tape. One of two of them appeared to have parts of sconces at one point in their life but they were missing a few key elements like light sockets. The only thing consistent about them were the layers of bugs that had met their death during the evening concerts. The pale shades of yellow, green and red cast spotted shadows on the walls. In truth, the dim lighting and the speckled shadows were a welcome relief to the stains that dominated the scene prior to the shakedown. We Three Musketears sat in the corner on a wooden structure that resembled a bench. I moved the aluminum foil that held a numerous amount of bones, many of which seemed to have come from a chicken, a few them must have had other origins.We sat down with our plastic drinks and waited for the band to arrive. I noticed A few temporary tins of food on a counter directly behind us. I also noticed that there weren’t any flies swarming around the food graveyard. Perhaps they had been shot down with Raid or some other chemical. They glistened on top of the gruel. A young woman came up and asked if the food was free and grabbed a mini-bun. You could hear her teeth knife through the stale bread. She seemed to stare at us and sway from side to side, sizing us up. I think she thought we were bouncers since we were sitting like three bumps on a log and not tapping our feet to the rhythmic sound of the fans. I tried to make light conversation but when I mentioned that the three of us were the only patrons not wearing thongs she moved away quickly. (I was later to learn that word has serious generational gap definition.) I tried to explain it to her boyfriend who plays on the line at LSU that thongs were something you wear on your feet which at first infuriated him and caused him to suggest that we were freaks until he finally understood that I meant flip-flops not some garment that a football player would ever wear, (Although he was not sure about the Guinea and seemed to keep a close eye on him). After avoiding the potential severe beating I focused my attention on the food. My assumption was that the tin foil crates of various chicken parts had been served in the heat over the past few nights and that they were now sitting on the counter because the cook was ripening them to use as bait for his morning crayfish excursion. Most of the flies had stuck to the chicken skin and suffered a flypaper death. A few of the larger insects had been immobilized by toxic spray. At first the smell of the food didn’t bother me because it had been a long time since I was in a bar that allowed smoking and the stale tobacco and smoke had closed one of my senses down. But rotting corpses have a way of acting like smelling salts and soon the dominant scent in bar was decaying flesh.

At first we were the only ones in the small back room but as the band warmed up more people filtered through the door. Eleven o’clock came and no music although the warm ups got longer. About 11:15 a guy stumbled through the back door with a pair of sticks in his hand and sat down behind the drum set and started playing which brought the rest of the musicians to life. After forty minutes they were still playing the first “riff” and we decided to leave. The LSU football team followed us to the front door, pointing at our shoes and laughing.

Neighborhood bars — they just aren’t what they used to be. As we got in the car I noticed a faint smell of corpse and saw a few stains at the corner of Guinea’s mouth. I thought I saw him check out the free food. I’m not sure if we will be ten or eleven tomorrow when we meet for breakfast tomorrow.

The preliminaries are out of the way. On the Road New Orleans has been launched. Tomorrow begins the next culinary journal. Collect them all.

NO2

Saturday morning and it is time for breakfast at the B&B. Cereals to please a child (about half our group, some fall into the senior child category);
fresh pineapple, melon, strawberries and blueberries; bagels already cut in half (they heard our surgeon and lawyers were scalpel challenged), coffee from
the South (that means it isn’t the freshly ground lattes we Washingtonians are used to) and a cook waiting to start cooking our breakfast at 8:30 am.
As we congregated around the table and discussed our first adventure (a trip to Laura’s plantation) the barristers who didn’t need to read anything
about the plantation or the era expounded on what they knew and argued the fine points of Creole culture with our hosts. Dr. Science and his wife, Mrs.
Science, calculated the number of false arguments and their two abacuses (Helen and Michelle) were told to cover their ears whenrver lawyers started shouting out Latin phrases most of which had habeas corpus in them. (We were also blessed with a discussion as to the legal technicality of what that meant. We voted later that having two less bodies might be the perfect number for our group and made the doctor pledge not to revive either of them if they were attacked by locals. Perhaps pinning we hate LSU football on their back was a bit of a provocation on our part, but justified.) We were served a hot breakfast of sausage, eggs with some herbs and grits. Our substitute chef kept shaking his head at the conversation, I guess they have a better clientele most of the year. She was the pastry chef at Herbsaint and studied a year at Cordon Bleu. We got lots of tips on places to eat while the lawyers were finishing up their briefs (and in this heat that isn’t a pretty picture.)

Dr. Seuss and his wife, Florence Nightingale, decided not to accompany our group so we went against the Flo and headed out. Dr. Science buckled us in, checked the map one more time so he could confidently lose is way to I-10. We played chicken with a couple of trolley cars at the St Charles roundabout and despite all efforts were unable to lose the car n back.

I’ve been to several plantations in the South, most of them are records of the rich and how they were a separate and privileged part of society. Laura’s was a
bit different. This was a working plantation started in 1805. The house was used for doing business and the main architects of the rise in family wealth was attributed to the women who were the presidents of the plantation. Several times a younger daughter was chosen over an older son because they showed more ability to run a plantation. There were 59 slave cabins and the main crop was sugar cane. The women purchased two male slaves and six women slaves to start their work force. The tour brought you down to the “commerce” aspects of living in the south. The great great grandmother was shot on the porch at the age of 92 shaking her fists at the Yankee soldiers as they came down the Mississippi. The slave quarters were built in 1840 and housed plantation workers until 1977!! As always I was interested in how they served almost 200 slaves food. They had two cabins that produced breakfasts every morning for the workers and dinner in the evening. The slave quarters consisted of two rooms and usually housed 8 to 10 people. Besides the “operational” aspect of this tour my main interest was in the stories that were told here by the West African slaves about Compair Lapin or Br’er Rabbit. The original tales were a bit more risque than the Disney versions or the tales we might have read with Uncle Remus. The family was wealthy, they had seven houses in New Orleans during the off season (December to March) and the brothers partied hard. The plantation was also a study in how they ended up losing all of their money as times changed and they didn’t. The last great president of the plantation died at 102 in St Louis (Laura).

We headed back and made our first stop, more than a half mile past the plantation at a roadside fish market that had homemade boudin sausages. The woman couldn’t tell me what was inside the sausages, depended on what they had around to make them with, she told me. Boudin Blanc is usually made with pig, some heart, liver, dirty rice and spices. It is often simmered in roadside stands along the Mississippi River. Boudin Noir is a blood sausage which includes the pig and blood. Supposedly the name comes from a Belgian King who said the bedrolls the soldiers had looked like “boudinnoir”. The Boudin Blanc was soft in texture and had a bit of a bite to it. Just enough to nourish us until we hit our first scheduled food stop, Gott Gourmet.

The chef, David Gotter, is from Chicago (hence we see Chicago style hot dogs on the menu) — he worked under Wolfgang Puck at Spago, was named the best fish chef in Charleston, SC (where he went to culinary school) before he came to New Orleans to run the restaurant on the 41st floor at the Marriott. In 2008 there were still many restaurant sites available at affordable prices (Katrina did a lot damage to all parts of society here) so he and his wife, Christy Parker, started a gourmet comfort food restaurant on Magazine Street.

The restaurant is plain — worn out linoleum floors with Formica topped tables and chairs that had four legs but some were a bit hobbled. The food was not plain.
The Gott Salad was Panko fried brie over baby organic greens with candied pecans, grape tomatoes and seasonal fruit. The Cochon (pig) de Lait panini was a slow braised pull pork with a Dr. Pepper marinated honey-ham with ancho-honey slaw and chili mayonnaise. You could also get a catfish club sandwich with pepper smoked bacon, ancho-honey slaw, avocado and organic greens. This wasn’t your Denny’s club sandwich.

We rested a bit and then went over to the Columns Hotel for a mint julep before our excursion to Jacques Imo, a local restaurant that has survived many years in business and often has an hour and a half wait to get in on weekends. Standing in the 94 degree heat for 1 1/2 hours, I wanted to see what the locals liked about this place.

Jacques Imo is owned by Jacques Leonardi who can easily be identified by his chef’s white jacket, shorts and birkenstocks. He went to work for K-Paul’s (Prudhomme) as a prep guy and worked his way up to fry cook. He worked several restaurants in town, often two at a time to learn more about cooking and to save up some money to start his own venture. And here are some of the things in fool’s chef’s hat came up with that we were able to try.
One of his signature dishes is Shrimp and Alligator Cheesecake. Although the lawyers kept trying to get me to try this dish I went with the consensus opinion, all three slices were devoured before dinner arrived. We tried several of his side dishes including the Corn Maquechoux which had a sweet, silky texture, the red beans and rice, mashed sweet potatoes, smothered cabbage, beets and mixed greens (mostly collard). All of them had intense flavors and showed off different parts of Southern cuisine.

S ide Items

All Entrees include house salad and choice of TWO side dishes:
Mashed Potatoes, French Fries, Mashed Sweet Potatoes,
Red Beans or Butter Beans and Rice, Corn Maquechoux,
Beets, Mixed Greens, Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, or
Smothered Cabbage

Entrees

Smothered Chicken with Biscuits (dark meat only)…………………………………………….$13.95
Fried Chicken Plate………………………………………..Dark $13.95…………………White $14.95
Chicken Pontalba with Bernaise Sauce…………………………………………………………….$15.95
Stuffed Catfish Des Allemands Catfish with Crabmeat Dressing……………………………$15.50
Blackened Tuna with Oyster Champagne Brie Sauce………………………………………….$18.95
Seafood Platter Fried Shrimp, Fish, and Oysters………………………………………………..$18.50
Roasted Acorn Squash with mixed Seafood in a Curry Coconut Cream Sauce……….$17.95
Grilled Duck Breast with Orange Soy Glaze, Shiitake Mushrooms and Pecans……….$17.95
Stuffed Pork Chop (Ground Beef and Shrimp)…………………………………………………..$18.50
Shrimp Creole with Rice………………………………………………………………………………..$18.50
Shrimp Etouffee with rice……………………………………………………………………………….$18.50
Fried Merliton with fried oysters and Oyster Tasso Hollandaise…………………………….$18.50
Mushroom Stuffed Grilled Salmon with a Oriental Black Bean and Ginger Sauce…..$18.50
Cajun Bouillibaisse oysters, shrimp, mussels, fresh fish………………………………………..$19.50
Blackened Sirloin of Lamb with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Mushrooms………………….$18.95

Specials

Appetizers
$7.50

Fried Rabbit Tenderloin with Creole Mustard Sauce
Duck and Andouille Gumbo
Fried Calamari with Spicy Garlic Sauce
Oyster Brie Soup
Steamed Mussels with Tomato-Basil Broth

Deep Fried Roast Beef Po-Boy $8.50

Entrees
All Entrees include house salad and choice of TWO side dishes:

Pork Osso Bucco…………………………………………………………………………………………$17.95
Grilled Mahi with curry tomato sauce……………………………………………………………….$18.50
Blackened Redfish with a crab shili hollandaise………………………………………………….$18.50
Swordfish with Jack’s Voodoo Mojo Sauce…………………………………………………….$18.50
Grilled Amberjack with a Spicy Green Tomato Crab Sauce…………………………………$18.50
Carpet-Bagger Steak with Bleu Cheese, Onion, Oysters, and Hollandaise………………$21.50
Paneed Rabbit with Oyster Tasso Pasta……………………………………………………………$18.50
Crawfish Etoufee………………………………………………………………………………………….$19.95
Potato Crusted Gulf Fish with caper buerre blanc………………………………………………$18.50
Grilled Mahi Mahi with Pistacio Sauce, Asparagus, and Shrimp……………………………$18.50
Smothered Rabbit with Roasted Pepper Grits and Hollandaise………………………………$17.50
Grilled Escolar with an Artichoke Ginger Mushroom Sauce…………. ………………………$18.50
Paneed Duck with Sweet Potato Shrimp Sauce…………………………………………………..$18.50
Flash Fried Whole Flounder with Crabmeat Stuffing…………………………………………..$19.95
Eggplant Pirogue with mixed Seafood and Lemon Cheese Sauce…………………………..$18.50
Country Fried Venison with Wild Mushrooms…………………………………………………..$18.50
Grilled Seabass with Butternut Squash Puree and Shrimp…………………………………….$18.50
Amberjack Provencal with Tomatoes, Basil, and Feta Cheese……………………………..$18.50
Vegetarian Delight with a Thai Coconut Cream…………………………………………………$18.50
New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp with Rice………………………………………………………$18.50
Bronzed Swordfish with Jalapeno Pecan Menieure………………………………………………$18.50
Chorizo Stuffed Redfish Roulade…………………………………………………………………..$18.50

We went to the Marigny for music which is the new Bourbon Street area. The music was loud, much more rock than jazz but less disco than bourbon street.
The first night we watched people come and go, when the tips girl got up for the third time to sing the same song we decided it was time to go. We stopped to watch the Washboards and Poets for Hire, they sounded better after a few beers but we were beginning to sober up and the washboard seemed to be out of tune and the poet had fallen asleep on his book of rhymes. We left them money to get soap and use the washboard to take in laundry so they might get some income and we put a buck in the poet’s cup. But for a few wrong verses there go you and I.

 

NO3

Day three started as most days — walk out of the air conditioned room and immediately have your glasses fog up because it is 90 degrees and very humid. I wipe my tri-focals on my already drenched shirt, hobble down the front steps, forget about the banana tree hanging over the sidewalk for the third day in a row and slice my forehead, walk between two houses, past the arbor containing six air conditioning units and up the stairs to the air conditioned kitchen for breakfast. Day three brought us a pecan bread pudding french toast, bacon, more fresh fruit and the same old coffee. The Scientists were headed to the zoo, the doctors were going shopping and that left the lawyers, women and me going on a retro-Katrina tour with a driver the company had to get out of bed. They had discontinued the tour but when they heard they had two lawyers going on the tour they brought their van that was wired to the internet and our whole excursion was sent out live on you tube.

The van picked us up at the house and as always the lawyers had to decide who was going to grill the tour guide in the front seat and who would shout up objections from the middle. Toro had read that if you tell the group you might puke if you have to sit in the back your chances were best to sit up front so the tiny tim climbed into the front seat, threw his satchel of propaganda on the floor and immediately wanted to know if the driver knew the best way to get to where he was going to take us. From the back Guinea tried to intimidate the driver by saying that he had been studying maps in his room to make sure we were taking the most direct route. When I pointed out to them that this wasn’t a taxi, it was a flat fee and they couldn’t charge the driver for billable hours they both grudgingly put away their calculators. The cowboyette requested that we visit a graveyard. I knew that she was looking for a place to stash one or both of the legal minds so I immediately agreed that it was a good idea. After a short history of uptown and downtown, the French vs the Americans and a couple of misplaced statues (Lafayette is in the American quarter and Jackson is in the French quarter) we went to St Roch cemetery.

It’s hard to say where to start with a cemetery. A priest back in the 1867 prayed to St. Roch to spare his congregation of yellow fever and they were so he resurrected a cemetery and church in his honor. That might be a good place but the practice of voodoo in the cemetery might be another good spot but some say that is just conjecture where as the actual saving of all of the parishioners can be attributed to St Roch as fact. We might start with the fact that this cemetery floods regularly and during Katrina was under almost six feet of water. You can see the different water marks on the graves, a bit eerie on its own. Since the people are buried above ground one can only assume that many of them escaped during the flood. The rotation of bodies in the family tombs was fascinating, with each burial consisting of removing the old body and setting it on a grate and putting the new body in the coffin and sealing up the grave again. No wonder people think the cemeteries are haunted. This one had a big white wall surrounding it to keep the bodies in at night. The chapel has also been the site of a lot of miracles and there is a room off to the side where crutches, eyeballs, plastic casts were offered to the saint for curing them. His feast day is August 16th so you haven’t missed it. After renouncing all his wealth and wandering in the countryside soothing plague victims he fell ill and laid down to die. A very thin dog brought him morsels of bread and licked his wounds until he recovered. (You got to love these true believers who know voodoo is fiction). So not only is St Roch the patron saint of plagues but also the patron saint of dogs!!

One other note. The Grunder Familie didn’t seem to have enough money for perpetual care so you walk through this very well kept cemetery and see all of the stones and marble in perfect condition except for the Grunder Familie who have broken bricks and no flowers in their vase (many of the graves have permanent vases in the front for flowers. I think the Grunder Familie is waiting to get out to wreak vengeance. Look for it in a future story. (also there was an error on a grave where the beloved husband was buried with his “belover” wife. Now that mistake, etched in marble, must have the cost the engraver his job security.)

Katrina has had lots of press but until you see the houses that are plywooded up with big X’s on them showing who inspected the house and how many people were found dead, etc. it is hard to get the sense of it. When you think that some houses were under ten feet of water for several weeks it is mind boggling and the expansions of overgrown grass were houses near the levy in the lower ninth ward. One bar was completely destroyed but the open sign still hangs in the empty window frame. You can just imagine the gathering place it must have been for the neighborhood, the sign still said “Special tonight — rabbit stew”

After the tour we went to Magazine Street to have lunch at Rue de Course a coffee house with real coffee. (The translation seems to be Race Street which is where the first coffee shop originated but a couple of people think it means Race Course — probably recovering triple crown addicts). I’m only luke warm on muffeletta sandwiches. So many seem to be some sort of blender olive tapenade with luncheon meat and a circular bun that may or may not be fresh. Too many seem to be made up for tourists about a week in advance. At Rue de Course they use Dong Phuong’s’s bread with name defined Sicilian meats, actual cheese and each sandwich is made up as you order. This is similar to the muffeletta but without the muff. Broth lady had the hot soup (which was very good), Judge Ito’s wife had a Sicilian sandwich and I think the Sicilian had a ham sandwich, not sure what was in it but it appears to have been named after him. After lunch we went to Sucre for macaroons, gelato and Tiffany (chocolate raspberry concoction). This is a very chic place, I felt most at home here. It is reported to be the best bakery in New Orleans and one of my goals is to always go to the best bakery in town.

I might mention the tour took us through the garden district we saw the houses of some notables including John Goodman, Archie Manning, Sandra Bullock, Anne Rice and Drew Brees.

As soon as we finished lunch we got ready for the Swamp Tour with Cap’n Jack. We drove out to Slidell which involves going across Lake Pontchartrain. (We took the bridge at the end of the lake not the 24 mile causeway which is the longest bridge over a body in the world. The Lake is the second largest salt water lake in the US behind Great Mormon Lake although it is probably more of an estuary than a lake. It fluctuates greatly in it salinity. It has both fresh water sources and the Gulf.) I’ve been on a few swamp tours and this is the first one where we saw an alligator legend, El Guapo. Here are a couple of videos from the Honey Island Nature Preserve.

EL Guapo

From looking at you tube videos it appears every captain is Capn Jack. Sort of like every parrot is polly and every winemaker has above average intelligence and every lawyer below average ______________ you can fill in the blank. Scruples has been taken.

When we got back to the B&B it was time to get ready for Upperline. The Scientists had already eaten and stayed back at the BB to do some nocturnal experiments. Toro the tour guide immediately got us lost. Our five block ride to the Upperline turned out to be a twenty minute excursion. He had the help of another lawyer who was navigating. Very impressive and when we got there they already had excuses as to why it wasn’t their fault, judge.

Upperline offered us a three course dinner. We could choose an appetizer, entree and dessert. Unable to make a fast decision I opted for a four course dinner starting with a dry martini up. Still unable to decide I ordered a duck and andouille gumbo which is the best gumbo I’ve had. It was a perfect dark roux, a little wet (in latte parlance). I went with the duck and andouille etoufee with corn cakes and pepper jelly (this was a great dish but the gumbo was better). I had the grilled beef fillet with bernaise and slowly cooked collard greens. Perfect steak and sauce. (You could order crab on top and the lawyers, who claimed they could beat the accessory to murder charge, offered to pay for the crab for me. Dr. Seuss said don’t believe anyone that doesn’t wear a hat (and should). I had to go with the Creme Brulee and crushed pecans with cognac for dessert. Others raved about the fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade, pecan pie, three course garlic menu. A connection to the NW the owner’s daughter lives on Bainbridge Island and wrote the Ya-a club books.

Monday people are heading their own direction. We have dinner at Cochon (one of the Donald Link empire restaurants and music at Snug Harbor, Charmaine Neville, sister of the Neville Brothers).

Still on the Road,

NO4

I arose like all mornings and was attacked by the banana tree. (I asked the host for a pair of scissors to use on my way back to the room. He misunderstood me and thought I wanted it for the room. He gave me a pair of pinking shears. Now I always wondered why these odd scissors were called this. According to the legend that is the internet patent number 489,406 got its name from the plant pink which apparently was born with “pinked” edges to its petals.) The barristers were arguing when I arrived at the table. I thought at first it might be over the French toast pudding with syrup, coffee and fruit but it turned out to be some unimportant tort. Ever want to pour syrup over a tort machine? The image was pleasurable but I refrained and waited for the sweet toast.

Several people went to the WWII Museum which was funded in large part by Stephen Ambrose and his foundation. (Among his many books he wrote a biography about Eisenhower. They have a new 4D movie which Tom Hanks worked on. I didn’t make it to the museum, I was too busy being a Gardner, but I am told it was a good movie.) This was a “heat warning” day and I always trust my weather forecaster so I returned to the room to rest in air conditioning and read. I made a short stop in an attempt to turn the banana plant into a pink plant. I had just finished “trimming” all of the leaves at eye level when a woman held out her identification and wanted to know if I lived in the building. Not being able to read with my distance glasses I just mentioned that I worked there occasionally for cash at which point she wanted to know if I was an illegal alien in residence on April 1st of this year. A census worker. We had seen a few notices on the doorstep to call the feds but I left all of them in the kitchen. I think she was satifsfied that I had only recently crossed the border. Although they don’t use the information for anything other than census I noticed she had a book about government fees for snitching with a lot of post-its marking page numbers. As she walked down the street she pulled out a blue post-it and pasted it in the book. I was so glad I had grabbed one of the Guinea’s old busniess cards to give her.

We gathered back at the B&B at 4:00 pm to watch Harvard Beats Yale 29-29. There isn’t much inspiring about watching five Harvard alum watching a movie and trying to see if they can see themselves at the stadium but it is a movie worth watching because it talks a lot about what was going on at the time and the division even at Harvard about the Viet Nam war. You also get a good glimpse of the putzes down at Yale, Meryl Streep during her darkest days when she went out with yalie and a lot of Tommy Lee Jones (all american guard at Harvard) before he started chasing fugitives.

Cochon is pig. This was a good mascot for our group. The owner is one of the new kids on the block in New Orleans with several new restaurant concepts since Katrina.
He is a German Acadian with a desire to showcase Cajun food. The Cochon concept starts with getting the whole pig and using his in-house Boucherie to make local sausages (boudin and andouille), smoked bacon and a few other pig extractions like head cheese.

His menu is unique:

Dinner
small plates
crawfish pie $8
fried rabbit livers with pepper jelly toast $9
wood-fired oyster roast $11
grilled shrimp chow-chow $9
artichoke stuffed crab with garlic pullman $11
fried alligator with chili garlic aioli $10 (I don’t think there is anything spectacular about this meat other than to say you ate it. It doesn’t taste like chicken to me, just another reason to eat the aioli which was fantatic. They could have served it with someone else’s finger to dip and it would have tasted great.)
caramelized onion & grit casserole $9 (They had a little different version of the grits which had so much flavor — read butter — in them).
fried cauliflower with chile vinegar $8
boucherie
boucherie plate $14 (Of course we had to eat this dish being in boucherieville. skip the gator and order this dish)
fried boudin with pickled peppers $8 (I think this helps you understand the picking pickled peppers tongue twister. Lots of different flavors from the mildly spiced boudin sausage to the sweet hot peppers).
spicy grilled pork ribs with watermelon pickle $10
fried pig ears with cane syrup mustard $7
paneed pork cheeks with baked peanuts & radish-turnip salad $11

soup and salad
shrimp & deviled egg gumbo $6
soup of the day $6
mushroom salad with fried beef jerky & lemon $8
mixed green salad with fried black eyed peas, onions & jalapeño vinaigrette $7
bitter green salad with pig ears, strawberries, goat cheese & black pepper vinaigrette $8
cucumbers & herbs in vinegar $5

entrees & wood-burning oven
catfish courtbouillon $19
Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage & cracklins $22 (Someone in your party has to order this dish. It is one of the best pork dishes I have ever had and the veggies are a perfect foil for the entree.)
rabbit & dumplings $20
ham hock with sweet potatoes, pickled greens & black eyed pea ham broth $18
smoked beef brisket with horseradish potato salad $19
oven-roasted gulf fish “fisherman’s style $24
oyster & bacon sandwich $14
sides $5
lima beans (Even Donald Link should be ashamed to serve this dish)
broccoli rice casserole
smothered greens
twice-baked stuffed potato
creamy grits
eggplant & shrimp dressing

You don’t often get pig ears in your salad although we went to dinner every night with a fellow roomie who has pig ears. (You know who you are.) The abacuses tried duck
(the menu changes often so we were able to get a number of different items that don’t appear on the regular menu), some had the jumbo prawns and we drank some local beers as well as a bottle of albarino from Spain.

Here is a recipe you might want to do on New Year’s Day for good luck from Cochon.

Blackeye Pea and Pork Gumbo
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ cup oil
2 cup diced onion
1 cup diced green pepper
1 cup diced celery
3 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1 ½ gallon pork or chicken stock
1 ½ pound okra sliced crosswise ½ inch wide and seared in lard until lightly browned
2 cups cooked blackeyed peas (cook in chicken stock with large pieces of mirepoix that can be removed after cooking)
2 cups bacon braised greens (collards or mustards cooked in bacon and onions with sugar, vinegar, hot sauce and salt and pepper
2-3# Pork butt (raw weight) fully smoked and chopped
File 2 Tablespoons
Thyme 1 Tablespoon
Chile powder 1 Tablespoon
Paprika 1 Tablespoon
White pepper 1 Tablespoon
Black pepper 2 Tablespoon
Cayenne pepper 1 Tablespoon
Bay leaves 3 each
Make a dark roux using the oil and flour. (Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen has some good roux techniques, advice and gumbo recipes
As soon roux is the right color (just past red and turning back to brown but not scorched or smelling really burnt) add the diced vegetables and garlic
Add the stock and stirring very frequently bring up to a simmer. Simmer for about 1hour stirring lots. Skim all of the fat that separates out.
Taste the gumbo. It should not taste pasty and like the roux anymore. If it does you may need to add more stock up to ½ gallon. This is different every time depending on the exact measurement of flour, strength of starch in the flour, degree of cooking of the roux among other things so add the stock in stages and let it cook and come together before adding more.

When the gumbo is the right consistency add the okra, blackeyed peas, greens, pork and seasoning. Allow to return to a simmer and adjust the seasoning. Serve with steamed rice.

The onions, celery and green peppers are known as the Holy Trinity in Cajun cooking. They are the start of many, many recipes. (As opposed to onion, celery and carrots
the Holy Mirepoix — although the French aren’t so holy so they drop the holy reference).

Cochon has also opened Cochon Butcher next door which features sausages, ready to cook stuffed chickens and ducks as well as house-cured sandwiches and a muffeletta. Chef Link also was the James Beard winner for new cookbooks — Real Cajun.

We broke into smaller groups. It seems the weekend had gotten to Toro and he opted out of music on Frenchman. The Scientist had one more experiment to perform — something to counteract sleep deprivation — he called it going to bed on time. The rest of us headed down to Snug Harbor to see Charmaine Neville perform. The club is pretty authentic which mainly means there aren’t any real escape routes. The best thing isshe to follow the band because they seem to know some secret routes that take you outside to smoke something between sets. Charmaine has an incredible backup band. They played for a few songs and then Charmaine came on stage. Lyrics aren’t really her bailiwick, she is more about getting the crowd involved in the music and with the average late night crowd you don’t want to have to teach them more than about four words and move to the right, move to the left is about as complicated as you want to get but Charmaine threw in a new wrinkle “GET UP” and by the end of the evening, the beers were depleted, the bodies were gyrating and you left feeling like you had a fun experience (and maybe shed a few ounces of Cochon.) Dr. Seuss’s wife was our driver and she was able to get all of the kids home safely.

The last night for the children of the maque choux was over. The next phase of New Orleans is bridge cuisine — spanning the gap.

NO5

Don’t worry about the heat wave warnings for New Orleans. It cooled down to 84 last night. It does seem to slow the digestion so I plan on changing my eating itinerary.

First, I have been complaining about the lack of directional sense that Toro has, and it is certainly true, but it worked to my favor on Tuesday when he got lost going from the WWII museum to the airport and noticed me walking towards my hotel with all of the bags. (Actually it was probably Mrs. Saint that noticed me). They stopped and gave me a ride to my new accommodations–the Intercontinental Hotel. At four blocks from the bridge championships it is too far to walk in 100 degree weather, 89% humidity. Occasionally you have to wait out a cloud burst, steam rising from the sidewalk. the tournament was down in attendance, there were about 11,000 tables compared to more than 14,000 the last time it was held in New Orleans (a few months before Katrina). Between the economy, Katrina, the oil spill and warnings of Tropical Storm Bonnie a number of people skipped this event, however, it seemed like there were even more foreign players (Italy, Norway, Holland, India, Austria, China, Australia, etc.)

Ms. Idaho and I went to Mona’s on the bend for dinner. After eating all of the rich cajun/creole food it was nice to have a Mediterranean dinner at a local spot. We took the St Charles trolley from Canal Street to the Bend (about thirty minutes) and on a cool evening it is a beautiful trip through the garden district, parks and Loyola and Tulane Universities. On a 100 degree day it is a bit stifling if the trolley is crowded. Mona’s has a couple of restaurants in town and the food is geared to local — nothing very luxurious about the formica topped tables (although on a cooler day they have the patio setup for food and hookah smoking). We both ordered lamb dishes (about $12) and the portions were huge. The Lula Kebab included a large Greek salad, rice and humuus as well as the skewers of mixed beef and lamb seasoned with mediterranean spices. Clothes are recommended but you don’t have to be fussy. (Yes, they let me in)

Tomorrow — you can eat breakfast in the French Quarter for under $6.00 but you may not want to.

NO6

Breakfast at Daisy Duke’s
I suppose you are wondering why a gourmand would go to a place called Daisy Duke’s. It certainly wasn’t to see the
current waitstaff dressed in cutoff shorts — the pictures on the website must have been when they had a previous crew.
The cream of wheat (read: grits) they served with eggs wasn’t exactly a taste treat. My hostess, the Idaho Flashee, tried to get
free drinks (girls wearing daisy dukes always get free drinks during the saints games) but the manager said it didn’t apply to
re-runs. What amazed me a bit was the article on the door that saide the owner (from Forbes Magazine) had refused to leave
the French Quarter in a 2008 hurrican evacuation order. So what does this place have to offer? It is a bit damp and dingy so you get a feeling of what the French Quarter has become; the prices are moderate, the food is not as good. The booths are worn, so are most
of their customers and staff. (I know I was there and in 104 degree eat I felt a bit worn). If you look at the reviews online everyone seems
to rave about the crawfish (and the Idaho Flashette did order the seafood omelet). Most of the reviews refer to it as a dive diner and that
they succeeded beyond their expectations. I guess I could agree with that assessment.

Between bridge sessions you have about two hours for dinner which doesn’t leave much time to travel and eat. I decided to go to Luke’s — A John Besh restaurant. He calls it a Franco-German brasserie.

Dinner at Luke’s

EXPRESS MENU

cup of soup

entrée of the day

dessert

23.00

SPÉCIALITÉS

Sunday

tripe with tomatoes, onions

and aleppo pepper with spätzle

Monday

blanquette d’agneau

slow cooked lamb with wild mushrooms, house made tagliatelle,

and farmers market vegetables

Tuesday

whole roast “cochon de lait”

with cherry mustard and stewed greens

Wednesday

grilled rabbit sausages with fava beans,

morel mushrooms and house made pasta

Thursday

slow cooked beef brisket with

horseradish ravigote sauce

and bouillon potatoes

Friday

redfish “court-bouillon”

with crab, shrimp, oysters

and rice

Saturday

veal maultaschen

with local tomatoes and garlic

sides 5.00

creamer potatoes

pommes purée

spätzle

sauté of local vegetables

housemade fries

McEwen and Sons grits

gratin dauphinoise

asparagus

housemade choucroûte

stewed greens

MAIN COURSES

fresh gulf fish

meunière or amandine

19.00

add jumbo lump crabmeat 10.00

moules et frites

Prince Edward Island mussels steamed with garlic

and thyme with housemade fries

18.00

shrimp farci

with blood orange hollandaise, crabmeat and shrimp

16.00

ravioli of local crabmeat

simmered with garlic, cream, Meyer lemon and herbs

19.00

jumbo Louisiana shrimp “en cocotte”

with McEwen and Sons cream white corn grits

and Poche’s andouille

22.00

entrecôte grillée au frites

grilled ribeye with maître d’hôtel butter or sauce béarnaise

25.00

with jumbo lump crabmeat add 10.00

choucroûte garnie

of housemade bratwurst, slow cooked Berkshire

pork shin and creamer potatoes

19.00

add confit duck leg 5.00

add cochon de lait 4.00

Lüke burger

tomatoes, Allen Benton’s bacon, caramelized onions

and Emmenthaler cheese with housemade fries

16.00

pressed sandwich of whole roast “cochon de lait”

with cherry mustard and housemade fries

14.00

duck confit and white bean cassoulet

with garlic sausage and smoked bacon

21.00

poulet grand mere

herb roast local chicken, jus naturel,

Allen Benton’s bacon and whipped potatoes

18.00

croque monsieur or croque madame et frites

grilled ham and Emmenthaler cheese sandwich

11.00

add fried organic egg 2.00

crispy pork belly and clams

tossed with housemade tagliatelle pasta and Aleppo pepper

20.00

New Orleans is really a place of chefs to me. In Spokane you hear about restaurants that seem to continually change the head of the kitchen. I’m convinced that we have fewer great places because the person in the kitchen often doesn’t have a stake in the financial well being of the restaurant. I think too often our owners short change their efforts or feel like they can just get another “cook” to replace the one they have. In New Orleans you look for Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Legasse, John Besh, Susan Spicer, Donald Link, Brennan’s or their protegees.

Looking for voodoo dishes tomorrow.

NO7

When your day starts with a cup of coffee from the coffee maker in your hotel room and your first meal is at Arby’s you know that there has to be more to life than just eating. I suppose that’s why people watching at Arby’s at 10:00 am is interesting in New Orleans. Like everywhere you get one or two people who act like they are enjoying their meal (Jabba seems to be relishing his but that could just be the polite side of him). There are no drive-throughs in the French Quarter so you get to see everyone. Many of the people look like they could have slept under the Lucky Dog cart on Bourbon Street and in a few cases the cart must have been located over a sewer opening. I kept wondering why the manager was rubbing vicks vaporub under his nose when we came in, now I know. (I will admit that at first I thought it was just a couple of the bridge players from Canada but soon realized that even their hygiene could be put down as “some” compared to a few of the Arby regulars. One has to applaud opening a new franchise after Katrina (December 2007) to help stimulate the economy but when I hear that many “twitterers” have recorded their Arby attendance as a highlight of their day I know that the city has a long road back yet. One person said, “Finally decent food in the Quarter. Note to NOLA, soaking crap in butter doesn’t make great food.” I wonder if I should cancel my reservation to Emeril’s restaurant on Sunday?

After a long day at the bridge table I decided to take the trolley car up to the Bend and eat at Jacques Imo again. This is a great trip at night, the temperature in the mid-80’s, raining intermittently (no relief this week) and few people walking along St Charles Street. When I got to Rue de la Course there were a number of people sitting outside and the inside was packed with people drinking coffee and mousing their laptops. Even at 10:00 pm there was a long wait at Jacques-imo’s so I decided to sit at the bar where you can order food. I had a couple of Abita beers with my duck and andouille gumbo with lots of cornbread. A very young woman (maybe 40) sat next to me and started talking about her work with the corps of engineers after Katrina and she stayed on to go to school. She seemed to know Kevin our bartender. A couple of other “regulars” stopped by to see Kevin and soon the whole bar was full. A guy walked in and seemed to be staring at me. Kevin later explained that he was a regular and just didn’t know how to handle his stool being occupied. Reminded me a bit of Norm on Cheers. I felt bad, but not bad enough to leave before I finished my gumbo.

Every tourist city has a rhythm. New Orleans is particularly frenetic. There are tourists who get up early, go on the plantation and swamp tours, maybe to a museum or down to the flea market. They eat early and go to bed early. They have water in their hands all day to fight dehydration. Now no one can argue this isn’t a sane way to see a city (particularly if you have a few years on your bones) but sane has never been at the top of my list. Even amongst this group you will get a few braver souls who will sneak out to Bourbon or Frenchman Street for the first set of music, drink a hurricane or two and then retire.

Then there are the bunch that sleep all day, get up for a lunch of red beans, rice and aspirin, hit Bourbon Street early evening and stay until the wee hours. They are the tourists who are there to party, the locals who work and the largest population, the hustlers who want to get money for giving you directions or telling you where you got your shoes. There are some outdoor vendors like the Lucky Dog carts who seem a bit bored with their predicament but don’t know what else to do. These are the people who spend a couple of years trying to figure out how to get out of New Orleans but eventually they join a Crewe and all is good. This group often has the last seating at a restaurant in the French Quarter (the 10:00 pm breakfast) and then begins their day about 11:00 hitting bars or going to Harrah’s Casino.

I like all of that but I really like what the locals are doing. They are going to places like Jacques-Imo, Upperline, Les Bonne Temps Roule, Ignatius, Rue de la Course etc. in the neighborhoods. A lot of the crowd is outside having a tequila snow cone or inside with their laptops. They are having etoufee or gumbo, fried chicken or a Po’boy sandwich. The night is hot but bearable and you hear local bands playing music in the bars. Sad to say I didn’t find much Zydeco.

I took the trolley back to the hotel. Jabba was sleeping and I noticed that Jack Daniel’s had taken his hat off and lost a few inches in height. I poured a drink. Jabba can sleep through movies (although he does seem to have a preference for Australian mysteries with a bit of nudity — those are rated PG in Australia), take a shower and he doesn’t budge but whenever an ice cube hits the bottom of glass he bolts upright in bed and says, “I might have just a little bit of that,” and that was the beginning of the end of Jack Daniels as our third room mate. He was gone by morning.

A restaurant worth seeking out tomorrow — we may have found the missing link.

NO8
No bridge game today so I got up late, had a latte and did a little planning. I got a day pass for the bus/trolley and started out on my trek across New Orleans. I took a bus past the Superdome. Again so many landmarks remind you of Katrina. All those people huddled together as the storm came through. Of course now all they talk about now is — The New Orleans Saints — when they talk about the Superdome. I took the bus up to Napoleon on Claiborne and MLK Drive. This is one of the highest crime areas in town only blocks from one of the best areas of town. I got off in the hundred degree weather to wait for a bus to cross town to Magazine Street. You see a lot of things standing on a corner in a big city in a neighborhood that you wouldn’t ordinarily call your own. It seems like the fast food places aren’t kept up as well, you see buildings that were shut down by Katrina still in disrepair. (Most, if not all, of the damaged buildings have been repaired in the Garden District, St Charles Avenue — at least on the outside). The cars were older that passed slowly by me, the bass was turned up a little more than you would find in downtown New Orleans and despite my desheveled, sweaty look several of the occupants looked as if they didn’t think I belonged at their corner. The bus came and as I road across town in the air conditioned comfort of the bus I noticed that everyone seemed to be going to work in the Garden District or Uptown area. One girl was calling apartment ads, she had been kicked out of her place the night before, it wasn’t her fault she told me, it was those assholes who came over to visit her boyfriend who made all the noise and took target practice out back. I made a mental note to attend a party her house while I was in town (although I suggested it to Jabba — said there would be lots of free alcohol and food — it was just too hot for him). They all got out, one by one, each with their own story I would have to make up at a later date. The last four people got off with me at Magazine Street. I had decided to head back to Ignatius for Red Beans and Rice and walk just a little slower down Magazine Street on this heat warning day.

Ignatius, as I mentioned before, is a bit schizo. They are somewhere between reverence you would pay to the Jesuit Alumni (St. Ignatius Loyola — spawned a few prep schools and universities around the world including NO, Chicago and Los Angeles) and the reverence they do pay to Ignatius Reilly from Confederacy of Dunces. Their liquor license was currently suspended but you could look at the cases of Abita they want to sell. The water is cool but you don’t get ice (I suspect the place isn’t big enough for a freezer and the electricity to run it would be costly). They have a couple of specials on the blackboard, a menu that caters to Louisiana comfort foodies: from jambalaya and muffulettas to red beans and roast beef po-boys. The statues of St Iggy all have cigarettes or bottles of beer in his outstretched hands. The music is some sort of hip-hop jazz or zydeco. Actually a lot better background music than it might seem. When you leave you keep mumbling things like “Feel Good music in your soul, makes your body wanna, wanna rock n’roll, hey, hey, hey, hey Pocky Way” or “My grandma and your grandma sitting by the fire, my grandma says to your grandma, “I’m gonna set your flag on fire.” Iko Iko an nay, jockomo feena ah na nay.” Not sure what it means but I think two different mardi gras grandmothers are feuding. Ignatius is also a place to eat potato salad, they top off the mound on your plate with bacon and scallions. They use Creole mustard here on their sandwiches and the jambalaya has Louisiana crayfish.

I stood in the sun waiting for the next bus, feeling good I was sweating a few calories out of my body because tonight was the big hitter — Herbsaint.

I wandered up to Herbsaint about 6:00 pm. and even though Herbsaint was only three blocks from our hotel I was miserable by the time I got there. (Jabba took a cab from downtown). The contrast in temperature is dramatic going from 100 degree weather (and probably closer to 110 degrees downtown) into an air conditioned restaurant. It is no wonder many people are sniffling by the end of their stay. By the time I downed my first martini I felt comfortable again and the second one, as everyone knows, brings your body temperature down to a perfect temperature for eating or in the winter up to a comfortable temperature before eating. It is sort of like the heat pump of drinks.

Herbsaint

Ambuse Bouche — the first thing you learn is that many of the good restaurants have a small bite that highlights the chef’s creative talents that is “free” for guests. (I thought I had seen this before and I went back to look at an old Emeril’s menu. BTV (before tv fame) and saw that he gave his guests an Amuse bouche. (I used to keep all the menus so I have some old K-Paul, Davenport, Emeril’s etc. collecting durst upstairs). Our table was greeted with fresh ahi, herbs, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and sea salt.

I looked over the menu (below) and opted out for the special prix fixe dinner.

The appetizer was a duck sausage served with a plum mostarda and shaved fennel. The sausage was made in house. Spicy but not hot and cooked moist instead of dried out like many sausages. The plum sauce appeared to be more towards the prune stage, ripe and sweet. The expeditor/cook at the window wasn’t going to give out any secrets but confirmed that they used some dried mustard, black pepper, mustard oil and salt/sugar to taste. Wouldn’t tell me if there were other ingredients so I’ll have to work on this at home and bring some down to the shop for others to comment on.

It was followed by a duck roulade with crispy chickpea panisse and pickled chilies. The crispy panisse is a great idea instead of rice, pasta or potatoes. Chickpea flour is a wonderful ingredient to make a crunchy starch (think gourmet falalfel). I’ve seen chickpea panisse served with a meyer lemon sauce but Herbsaint did some in house pickled chilies which gave it a great contrast in flavors like a tamarind or mango chutney would give pakoras.
The duck roulade was pounded and stuffed with shallot, garlic, several herbs, local mushrooms, maybe some allspice, black pepper and was rolled in parchment paper to keep the moistness in, served with a duck demi-glace sauce. (I really liked sitting next to the window where the waiters picked up their orders. You get to see all of the things going out and when you stand up you can peek into the kitchen and get glimpses of how they are preparing things.)

The summer parfait was light and a beautiful array of fruits — raspberries, blueberries in a pastry cream (looked a little like an individual trifle) but I think one of the secret ingredients because it was sitting on the counter next to the pastry pantry was herbsaint, a type of absinthe, you could taste a faint hint of anise flavored liquor in the cream.

After pleading with Jabba who was ordering ala carte I got to taste his coconut cream macadamia nut crust pie. This was so good that I decided that the two martinis, bottle of wine wasn’t enough to do it justice so both Jabba and I ordered Armagnac. A perfect way to end the meal.

Herbsaint — Dinner Menu New Orleans

DINNER
Chicken, andouille and crayfish gumbo
BABY RED ROMAINE AND GOAT FETA WITH ROASTED PISTACHIOS AND CREAMY TARRAGON VINAGRETTE
LOCAL TOMATOES WITH BURRATA,GRILLED BREAD AND BASIL

SMALL PLATES

JUMBO LUMP CRABMEAT AND WATERMELON GAZPACHO
GNOCCHI WITH PANCETTA AND CHERRY TOMATOES
LOUISIANA SHRIMP AND GRITS WITH TASSO AND OKRA
BEEF SHORT RIB WITH POTATO ROSTI AND SALSA VERDE
HOUSEMADE SPAGHETTI WITH GUANCIALE AND FRIED-POACHED FARM EGG
CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM RAVIOLI WITH PANCETTA AND SAGE

MAIN COURSES

FISH OF THE DAY MARKET PRICE
SLOW ROASTED KUROBUTA PORK BELLY WITH CREAMED CORN AND PICKLED CHILIES
MUSCOVY DUCK LEG CONFIT WITH DIRTY RICE AND CITRUS GASTRIQUE
GRILLED G.F. FARMS CHICKEN WITH SHELL BEANS, BACON AND PEPPERS
SAUTEED JUMBO SHRIMP WITH PEAS, HAM, AND LOUISIANA BROWN JASMINE RICE RISOTTO
GRILLED TOP CUT RIBEYE WITH SEA SALT, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL AND FRENCH FRIES

SIDES
VEGETABLE OF THE DAY
FRENCH FRIES WITH PIMENTON AIOLI
DIRTY RICE
DESSERTS
CHOCOLATE POT DE CREME WITH CHOCOLATE MALT COOKIES
COCONUT CREAM PIE WITH MACADAMIA NUT CRUST
BLUEBERRY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE WITH CREOLE CREAM CHEESE ICE CREAM
BANANA BROWN BUTTER TART WITH FLEUR DE SEL CARAMEL
GOAT CHEESE BEIGNETS WITH LOCAL HONEY AND ALMONDS

This is a great dessert!!

Coconut Cream Pie

Time: 1 hour, plus 2 1/2 hours for chilling
Yield: Two 9-inch pies.

For the pastry cream:
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
5 large egg yolks

For the macadamia nut crust:
8 ounces macadamia nuts,
toasted and cooled
1 cup flour
9 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt

For assembly:
4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut,
lightly toasted and cooled.

1. To prepare the pastry cream, combine in a medium heavy-bottom
saucepan 2 1/2 cups of cream and scrapings from the vanilla bean;
discard the bean. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cornstarch. In
a medium bowl, combine egg yolks with remaining 1/2 cup of cream.
2. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk sugar and cornstarch mix-
ture into egg yolks when cream is about to boil. (There will be slight
movement in the pan.) As it starts to boil, whisk a few hot spoonfuls
into the yolk mixture to temper it. Reduce heat under pan to medium-
low. Pour yolk mixture into the pan, and stir constantly with a wooden
spoon until the mixture is thick. (If mixture separates, transfer it to a
mixer with a whisk attachment, and beat until it is blended.) Transfer
to a shallow container, and cover with plastic wrap to keep a skin
from forming on the surface. Refrigerate until cold and firm, at least
1 hour.
3. To prepare macadamia nut crust, combine nuts and flour in a food
processor. Process until nuts are finely ground, pulsing to keep them
from becoming pasty. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the
butter with sugar. Add yolk, and mix thoroughly. Add nut mixture and
salt, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until
chilled, about 1 hour.
4. Divide dough in half. Roll out a half between two sheets of plastic
wrap to make a 10-inch disk. Repeat with remaining dough. Line
two 9-inch tart pans, and chill in freezer until very firm, about 30
minutes.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie weights in shells, and bake until
lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Remove pie weights, and continue
to bake until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes more.
Allow to cool.
6. To assemble, in bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment com-
bine heavy cream, sugar and 2 cups of pastry cream. (Reserve any
remaining cream for another use.) Whisk at high speed until soft
peaks form. Add coconut, and continue whisking mixture by hand
until very stiff. Spoon into cooled tart shells. Serve immediately, or
refrigerate to chill.

Only two days to go, we were going to have team dinners on Saturday and Sunday.

NO9

Voodoo BBQ on St Charles Street. You can get St Louis Style BBQ pork, Texas style beef brisket, Memphis style pulled pork, caribbean jerk chicken or cajun smoked sausage. Everything has a dry rub on it (no sweet bbq sauces) — they do have three different sauces to dip your food into or spread on your sandwich — Mojo sauce (a souped up tomato based sauce), cane vinegar sauce (North Carolina style) or mango crystal (spicier version of the cane sugar, they don’t go for the sweet, ketchup style sauces here) The sides set this BBQ spot apart from other places. The corn pudding was rich and sweet, gris gris greens, rattlesnake beans, potato salad, cole slaw and macaroni & cheese. They are proud that you can see the pink smoke ring on their meat to signify that they used a slow smoking process. Good place for lunch when you are trying to avoid the Roux.

Nirvana on Magazine Street. If you are in New Orleans for a week you can afford to go visit restaurants that aren’t on your normal NO food tour. An example of this is eating East Indian food. The team loaded itself into a taxi and headed away from Canal Street to Nirvana.

Appetizers at Nirvana run from samosas and pakoras to several different veggie dishes served with crispy wafers. They also had a chicken wrap called Nirvana Kathi Roll. The Canadian dudes ordered two beers and the Garam chicken soup. The table also shared onion pakoras which was served with a tamarind chutney.

From the tandoor the Canadians ordered BP spicy jumbo shrimp. I ordered the tandoori chicken. Tandoor is the clay oven Indians use for barbecue and baking breads. Temperatures can reach 800 to 900 degrees in the enclosed oven. Often the cook will slap the bread on the inside walls of the oven to cook their chapatis or Naan while the meat cooks quickly. The chicken is marinated in spices and yoghurt. I like the whole pieces of chicken best, sometimes the thinner (more shish kebab style) chicken can dry out. Nirvana’s was excellent, we ordered a second order towards the end of the meal.

They had several styles of curried chicken. Chicken Patia had a sweet mango in it and the Butter chicken was smothered in a tomato/butter/curry sauce.
Murgh Sonya was ground breast of chicken stuffed with dried fruit and farmer’s cheese in cream sauce. We had the butter chicken and ordered it hot but it was fairly mild. They also used some coconut milk.

We also tried the chicken biryani which the menu says is similar to jambalaya and I guess it is if you think saffron instead of cajun spices;
cloves instead of garlic and chicken tikka instead of andouille.

We also had Bhenghan Bhartha a pureed eggplant with tomatoes, onions and spices. Jabba grew up eating this dish and his goal was to look like an eggplant. I think he needs to spend more time in the sun.

Nirvana is a great place for lamb. Boti Kebab Masala (roasted leg of lamb in cream sauce), Lamb Achari (cubed lamb in spicy and tart pickled curry), Lamb Jalfrezi (sweet and sour with veggies), Lamb Goa (spiciest dish with coconut curry sauce), Lamb Sikander (thin sliced lamb with onions and tomatoes), Lamb Rogan Josh (cooked in oil and yoghurt) and Dhaniya Ghosht (lamb sauteed with coriander).

It wasn’t the greatest Indian restaurant I have ever been to and the wine selection was one of the worst. Gallo in all of its manisfestations from box wine to undrinkable wine. We stuck with beer and ice tea (probably not a bad choice in 100 degree weather).

We had both regular and garlic Naan. It was back to the tables for bridge. We had a little work to do to qualify for the finals. Indians aren’t used to seeing four large men leave their restaurant chanting “Double” but to their credit, they didn’t call homeland security.

And tomorrow, the final episode of the New Orleans trip.

NO 10

On the Road, The final Day

Huck Finn’s — most of the Huck Finn reviews say something like “My concierege sent me here for breakfast and it was terrible” but when you don’t have much
time at a tournament you often go to the closest place. I think it lived up to its reputation. The catfish po’boy came from an impoverished school
of fish, perhaps federal busing would have helped to upgrade this clan. Jabba had a crawfish po’boy and it appeared to be more craw than fish. The buns
were mature and we had to ask for ice in our ice tea. The rice and red beans were the blandest I had encountered in the city.

A couple of people asked me to describe the bridge tournament, they really don’t know what they are asking for. There were 11,000 tables in New Orleans,
that’s 44,000 bodies that crawl out from under a rock during the week, passing by a mirror and asking who is the fairest of them all and to their surprise the
mirror is skeptical about the honesty and fairness of the person staring into it. We’ve had a number of tournaments where people have been caught cheating,
rumors about foreign players who seem to play above their capabilities too often, slobs who leave the table early to get a cup full of free food (the hospitality
at these tournaments has gone from baron of beef in the 1970’s to pralines in 2010. You can see a few of the players walking around with extra pralines
sticking out of their back pocket and I suspect their front pockets as well. Not sure what walking in 100 degree weather does to a praline in your pocket but
I imagine Bill Nye the science guy would have a theory.

On the final day we played world champions from Norway, Poland, US, Italy, Iceland, France and of course the USA. I’ve been thinking about the days when Omar Sharif was playing (or now we have Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Michael Connelly, Jimmy Cayne and more — some are famous, others infamous) and Joe Conforte. (There is a movie out called Love Ranch about Joe Conforte whose supposed wife’s lover, professional boxer Oscar Bonavena — The Argentine Strong man, alias Ringo– was found shot dead at the Mustang Ranch — the first legal brothel in the USA near Virginia City, Nevada area which was owned by Conforte. This happened in 1976 just when I was beginning to play a lot of bridge. Joe hired a lot of pro bridge players including the world champion Italian Blue Team to play every year with him in Reno at the annual Christmas to New Year’s regional. Joe was supposed to have connections to people who loaned out money to different entrepreneurs in Nevada gaming houses. The movie hasn’t gotten great reviews but I figure any movie with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren about a person I know is worth seeing. Coming soon on Netflix). The establishment was closed in 1999 by the IRS. Joe was born in Sicily in 1926 (enough said) and fled the country after being convicted of tax fraud. The “Godfather of Storey County Nevada” is living in Brazil now which doesn’t extradite people for non payment of taxes in case any of you out there are interested. He still plays bridge every afternoon with other ex-patriots and often attends bridge tournaments. Here is a link to a story about him from 2004. http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/CachedPageMain.aspx?archive_id=0&page_id=702867226&page_url=%2f%2fwww.rgj.com%2fnews%2fstories%2fhtml%2f2004%2f05%2f29%2f71913.php

Our team finished in the middle overalls — 32nd. Certainly not a great performance but better than 33rd or lower. We celebrated by going to NOLA’s.

NOLA was Emeril’s answer to a more relaxed gourment scene. I went to his first restaurant on Tchoupitoulas Street almost twenty years ago. This was before he was a TV star. He was one of the first to open a retail place in the warehouse district, an area you were warned not to walk around in. He had just come from Commander’s Palace and decided to do some new twists on Cajun cuisine. As his reputation grew it became harder to get into his restaurant and I think the attitude changed. It was a place to be seen, you were lucky to be there. The food was always good but you felt like you had to wear long pants, long sleeve shirt and maybe a jacket in the middle of the summer or else you would stick out as a lesser gourmet. I think even Emeril saw this and so he opened NOLA where on a brisk 106 degree day you are welcome to come in and eat truly a memorable meal.

Last night in town so Jabba and I started out with a Duck confit pizza with fried egg, truffle oil and arugula. An amazing selection of toppings that really worked. I”ve always admired Legasse’s love affair with a dark roux so ordering Nola’s Duck and Andouille Gumbo was a must and it showed off his genius for this aspect of cajun cooking.

I had the Hickory-Roasted Duck with Whiskey-Caramel Glaze. Lots of times you go to a place with wood smoke and it seems like they barely passed the carcass over the pit. This was one of the best slow roasted pieces of meat I have ever had. It came as such a surprise, I thought it would be good but I didn’t know it was going to stomp on my taste buds to wake me up. It was served with Buttermilk Cornbread Pudding, Haricot Verts-Fire Roasted Corn Salad, Natural Jus and Candied Pecans.

One of the guests, let’s call him West, had Filet Mignon with Thyme Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes, House Cured Bacon, Maytag Blue Cheese, Toasted Walnuts, Port Wine-Veal Glacé and Shallot Crisps

Another diner, let’s call him North, had Garlic Crusted Drum Cooked in the Wood Burning Oven with Brabant Potatoes, Crimini Mushrooms, Bacon and Sauce Beurre Rouge

And our final team mate, let’s call him East, had the Three Course Dinner which included a wood oven roasted naan, veggie samosa andr tomato/onion salad, kashmiri marinated lamb chops, lentil and pine nut stuffed quail with eggplant tikka, currants and sang paneer. We got four spoons and shared his
Cardamom rice pudding with mango kulfi.

The trip was over. One last taxi ride to the airport with a driver from Uzbekistan. There seems to be a good size community of peole from Uzbekistan, Turkemistan, Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan. He told me that over there they were all enemies (and he had never been to the neighboring country of Afghanistan) but here they were all friends and ate lots of potatoes and meat and even learned to eat fish, something he never ate in his home country.

Les Bon Temps Roule,

Dave Westfall
On the Road and a wee bit tired
but that doesn’t mean I’m not ready for the next adventure
Re-visiting a few places in Seattle