Tom Wolfe Moves In At Rib Room
Tom Wolfe–not the writer, but the long-time New Orleans chef–has been named chef at the Omni Royal Orleans hotel and its flagship restaurant, the Rib Room. Tom has operated a number of restaurants over the past twenty years, starting with a bistro near the West End marina, and peaking at the five-star Peristyle. He changed its name to Wolfe’s, the closed it after Katrina.
In the last few years he’s operated restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, first in Pass Christian and then Biloxi. The impression I get is that Tom plans to backpedal the menu at the Rib Room, which despite its middle-of-the Quarter location and hotel connections, always had a strong local clientele. It has not been as potent in recent years, despite the work of a procession of well-known chefs through the place. Its glory years have lately been more in the memories of the regulars, and the good bar community that hangs out every evening.
Good luck, Tom. . . I’ll see you there in about six months.
Rotisserie at the Rib Room, with a table set for 20.
Rib Room
French Quarter: 621 St Louis St. 504-529-7045. www.ribroomneworleans.com.
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Saturday, January 10, 2015.
Grand Reopening, Bombay Club.
Mary Ann and I did our third radio show together this afternoon. She likes it more than she thought she would, to the point of actual gratitude. I like it, too. We might get an act out of this yet.
The Bombay Club held a grand reopening tonight, completing a somewhat confusing split. The owners of the Prince Conti Hotel–where the Bombay has been for many years–took over the space and won in court the rights to the Bombay Club name. Meanwhile, the associates and employees of the late Richard Fiske–who owned the business for some fifteen or twenty years–relocated to the Chateau LeMoyne Hotel, a block away. It is now operating under the name Richard Fiske’s Martini Bar and Restaurant. (I know I’ve said all this before in this space, but I figure if I keep doing it one day I’ll have it memorized.)
So what we get out of this are two sophisticated dinner clubs with great bars and live music every night. If all goes well, the consciousness that there is such a place in that easily-accessible part of the French Quarter will make the customers of both places think about that kind of evening more often.
Although attendees of the party have to get through a cold rain, we are drawn in by spotlights, and the Bombay was quite full when we arrived. They were playing up the British aspect of the place (that has been part of the decor since it opened) with a trio of bagpipers. That allows me to got off the same joke six or seven times as I go around the room:
Definition of a gentleman: A man who can play the bagpipes, but who doesn’t.
That also works for the accordion. (Whose music, actually, I like.)
The food was good. The item I liked best was a big bowl of split pea soup, not only for the sake of another joke (fog in London is often compared with pea soup), but because it was very tasty and welcome on this cold evening.
I meet Bombay chef Nathan Richard. He’s from Cajun country, so his name is pronounced “REE-shard.” He’s also an alumnus of Delgado’s culinary program and a few years at Commander’s Palace. Lately he’s cooked in the Caribbean. He told me that he would put his emphasis on straightforward local dishes, but with verve. If this pea soup is an example, then he’s on the right track. Too many dishes are being ignored right now because they’re not cool.
In the men’s room at the Bombay Club for many years, a pencil drawing of an arresting topless woman hung above the stand-up ceramic facility. It’s a portrait of a real person, whose name I can’t remember. The drawing made the cut for the new owners’ renovation (which wasn’t deep anyway). But I noticed that it’s a print up there, no longer the real thing. I guess it’s acquired some value.
The party ends at eight, the musicians come in, and a normal night of cocktails, jazz, and food begin for the standard customers.
Bombay Club. French Quarter: 830 Conti. 504-577-2237.
Sunday, January 11, 2015.
Brunch At Antoine’s With Sibs.
Mary Leigh turns in the most striking cake I’ve seen her make yet. A five-year-old boy is wild about Star Wars, and his parents asked my daughter whether she could do anything along that theme. Three days later, she has an astounding piece of work completed. The most important aspect is that aside from two wooden sticks running through the center for structural reasons, every bit of the cake is edible–even the light sabers and the spaceships.
The Marys drop the cake off at the home of the customer (who was nothing less than blown away, grinning ear to ear). And then they join me and my side of the family for brunch.
About fifteen years ago, I invited my three sisters and their available families to a lunch at Antoine’s during the Christmas season. It was such a natural celebration that we kept on doing it. We moved it to Arnaud’s a couple of times, but we keep coming back to Antoine’s.
Crabmeat-stuffed mushrooms with hollandaise.
And here we are again, this time for brunch–a new kind of menu for this event. The Christmas season is over. The way the calendar worked this year, we couldn’t get everybody together until now. So the Christmas tree and the other decorations that make Antoine’s so Christmasy are gone. But we brush past that easily enough. Nine people surround a big round table in the corner. My sisters Judy Howat, Lynn Fleetwood and Karen Terrell give our sibling contingent full attendance. (Our parents are long gone.) Judy’s husband Walter and daughter Holly join her. Karen’s son Evan is here. The Marys and I hold up our corner.
Eggs florentine at Antoine’s.
We start with bloody marys and mimosas good enough to have seconds. Soufflee potatoes, of course. Shrimp remoulade, crabmeat ravigote, and crab cakes get passed around. Half the table eats the likes of trout and soft-shell crabs amandine, while the rest get eggs with a wide variety of underlayers. My regular waiter Charles Carter is his usual sunny self.
It’s a happy gathering, and that fact is the happiest thing about it. Judy and Walter–both in their seventies–both had close calls with major health threats this year. “What I got for Christmas was remission!” Walter says, with a laugh and a smile and a knowing nod from Judy.
On much brighter note (literally), this year Judy attended a live performance by Johnny Mathis, who has been her favorite since he first broke onto the music scene in the 1950s. She’s still thrilled.
I hope we meet for many more Christmas brunches at Antoine’s, and that the next generation does too.
Blackened Catfish Salad
Although frying is by far the best way to prepare catfish, the fish is so inexpensive and available that it’s hard to resist using it in other styles. I find that blackened catfish can be cooled off and then added to a salad with good effect. Blackening works best with the larger fillets that are less good for frying.
To blacken fish properly requires a very hot skillet, which will throw off a lot of smoke and perhaps even a few flames when the butter-coated fish hits the pan. Be sure to have a good exhaust fan going. Or take the whole shooting match outside, and do it on an outdoor grill.
4 catfish filets, 8 oz. each
1 stick melted butter
1/2 cup blackened seasoning mix (see recipe on page 311)
2 bags spring mix salad
8-12 spears fresh asparagus, poached
8 wedges tomato
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
8 oz. Creole mustard vinaigrette dressing (see recipe)
4 lemon wedges
1. Heat a black iron skillet over high heat until it smokes all by itself. Turn the exhaust fan on.
2. While the skillet is heating, pass the fillets through the melted butter, and shake off the excess. Then generously sprinkle the blackened seasoning on both sides of each fillet (you can even dredge it through the seasoning if you like).
3. Place the fish in the skillet and sear it for a minute or two per side, depending on thickness. (Check to make sure the fish is done by piercing the thickest part with a kitchen fork. Hold it in the center for a few seconds, then carefully touch the fork to your lips. If the fork seems even a little warm, the fish is done.)
4. Let the fish cool for a few minutes, then cut into strips or large chunks.
5. Mix the feta cheese into the dressing. Toss the greens with the dressing, then place on a salad plate. Top with the asparagus, tomatoes, and catfish. Drizzle a little more dressing and lemon juice over all.
Serves four entree salads.
Double Cut Pork Chop @ Emeril’s
Emeril’s restaurants have always featured a killer pork chop. Its goodness begins with Emeril’s assiduousness in the purchase of first-class ingredients. In this case, the chops come from Niman Ranch, a top producer of naturally-raised meats. The tenderness and flavor are an obvious step up from what you’re used to eating. The thing is cut generously–two bones–and seared on the grill until it picks up some smoke flavor. You can order this one with a blush of pink in the center; it’s perfectly safe, according to USDA rules, and still juicy. Two sauces get slathered and striped (respectively) over it (and the plate around it, in an arresting presentation. The slather is a pale green chile mole, thick and mildly spicy. The stripes are of a tamarind glaze. (Tamarinds are steak sauce on the hoof.) They finish the plate with caramelized sweet potatoes. A hearty plate of food, and the city’s finest pork chop.
Emeril’s. Warehouse District: 800 Tchoupitoulas. 504-528-9393.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
January 19, 2014
Days Until. . .
Mardi Gras–29
Valentine’s Day–26
Observances
Today is the official celebration of the life of Martin Luther King. Somehow, trying to note a food connection to the great man seems too trivial. So I salute him and the large number of Americans who benefited from his life. Really, all of us have. Many offices are closed; many people take the day off.
Today’s Flavor
Today is National Popcorn Day. The Popcorn Board has abunch of popcorn recipes on its site, along with history and FAQ’s about the stuff. We can’t live without popcorn. It’s essential for the movies, of course. But it’s also helpful when you’re trying to lose weight. The Boy Scouts sell great microwave popcorn every year. Popcorn was the first food tested in a microwave oven. My last Golden Retriever, who died in 2005, was named Popcorn. Popcorn is omnipresent.
Popcorn is such a popular snack that it has been studied intensively. The most fascinating discovery was explained by Orville Redenbacher, when he appeared on my radio show a long time ago. He said some kernels pop into mushrooms” (industry jargon for rounded pieces) and others into “butterflies” (with what look like wings). Orville, who did a lot of popcorn research, said that the mushrooms look better but the butterflies taste better.
New Orleans Icons
Today is the birthday of Robert E. Lee, in 1807. Northerners are still amused that we still honor him as a hero in the South. His Confederacy gig may have ruined his national reputation, but he was a brilliant man. His main remembrance in New Orleans is Lee Circle, with its commanding statue facing defiantly north. Several restaurants have opened there over the years, but none of them have lasted long.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Corn, Oklahoma 73024 is in the table-flat western part of the state, some eighty-four miles west of Oklahoma City. All the roads around there run either due north-south or east west, and meet at right angles. A map of the town could be made by making a rubbing of a waffle iron. Its population of about 600 is mostly involved in agriculture, with the namesake grain clearly being the leading crop. Tena’s Cafe is the place to eat. For variety, Cornites drive seven miles to the I-40 for barbecue, Mexican, and Chinese food.
Edible Dictionary
baby corn, n.–The cute, three-inch-long whole ears of corn that you find in Chinese and Thai cooking don’t have a complicated story: they really are baby corn. They’re just regular corn that’s picked when the ear is still so small that the cob is tender and edible. So many people have jokingly picked up a baby corn and try to nibble the kernels like they would on a full-grown ear. Although there are some varieties of corn especially designed for baby corn, the plants themselves are the standard. And baby corn can be taken from a regular corn plant. Usually, the ones lower down on the stalk are the ones chosen for corn infanticide. When the silk appears, it’s time to pick. They’re usually pickled in brine and canned.
Deft Dining Rule #958:
Buttered popcorn is better in theory than in practice. That’s not butter, it’s grease.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez:
Don’t let anybody tell you that better popcorn can be made in a pan than in a microwave oven. It was once true, but is no longer. Unless you have an industrial-strength popper.
Celebrity Chefs Today
Television personality, cookbook author, and Savannah, Georgia restaurateur Paula Deen was born today in 1947. Her entire presentation involves Southern homestyle cooking, which she delivers with a famous drawl and charm. That’s very big right now, and so is she, as she comes back from that slip of the tongue of a couple of years ago.
Food Through History
King Louis XVI was sentenced to death on this day in 1793, as the French Revolution hit its stride. Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, ruled over a period of excess and decadence among the French aristocracy. It’s this over-the-top grandeur that Mark Smith and George Huber (both of whom passed away in 2004) had in mind when they named their new French restaurant after the last ancien regime king of France. When it opened in 1970, Louis XVI French Restaurant was unparalleled for hauteur in the annals of New Orleans dining. The city’s gourmets took to Louis XVI warmly. Few thought the formality, Frenchness, and high prices would last long. But the restaurant was a success for thirty-five years, until Katrina. Louis XVI has not reopened as an a la carte restaurant since Katrina, although it does serve private parties.
Annals Of Restaurant Marketing
The neon tube light used to make advertising signs was patented in the United States today in 1915 by Frenchman George Claude. Expensive at first, neon signs took a few years to catch on. But they soon transformed outdoor advertising. Some local restaurants–notably Acme Oyster House and the extinct Toney’s Spaghetti House–became famous for their neon displays.
Food Patents
Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum became a patented trademark today in 1915, allowing many sets of twins to get acting work in television commercials for the chaw. . . Two New Yorkers patented a process for safely canning oysters and other seafood on this date in 1825. Every time I see oysters in a can I wonder how they do that, and who would want the results.
Food Namesakes
Lysander Spooner, an American philosopher and abolitionist, was born today in 1808. . . Famous billiards player Minnesota Fats (real name Rudolf Wanderone) was born today in 1913.
Words To Eat By
“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”–Paul Cezanne, French painter, was born today in 1839.
Words To Drink By
“Whiskey—I like it, I always did, and that is the reason I never use it.”–Robert E. Lee, born today in 1807.
Most Menus Would Fail A Spelling Test.
We avoid this in New Orleans by just calling it “Lea and Perrins.”
Click here for the cartoon.