Wednesday, February 18, 2015.
Return To Normal For Everybody.
Mardi Gras is over, bringing to a close the continuous party that set in on Halloween and progressed with no letup through Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, New Year’s, and Carnival. And–in my little world–Mary Ann’s birthday and mine, our anniversary, and Jude’s wedding. If any resolutions were made any time during those 100 days, this is the last chance to get started on them.
Mary Ann, however, goes straight from getting back from California to imminent travel plans involving Germany, the Czech Republic, and who knows where else. She leaves in–eight days? She has an interesting challenge: at this moment, she has no valid passport. I’ll bet she doesn’t get one until the day she and Mary Leigh board the plane.
Further urgency is given to all matters of life by Mary Ann’s need to be marked with ashes. I would have gone, too, but I refuse to arrive for Mass during communion. MA is never–never!–on time for church services. It seems to be part of her faith.
The three of us then adjourn to the Acme Oyster House for the seafood required by our religion. What a penance to have raw oysters, grilled oysters, gumbo, and a fried oyster poor boy. Ash Wednesday is one of those days when one is supposed to abstain from meat. Can do.
Thursday, February 19, 2015.
Making Good At Arnaud’s.
Two weeks ago, we were on our way to Arnaud’s to celebrate my birthday. But the unexpected appearance of parades made it impossible to maneuver to the restaurant. Today, we make up for that. I am not going just for the joy of eating at Arnaud’s, but because I am arranging a dinner there for a large group of pharmacists coming to town in May. I pass the info to Katie Casbarian, who says she will take care of everything.
It’s another cold, wet night. Arnaud’s has the finest insulation against the chill in our drafty city. You enter through two sets of French doors, then walk a rod down a passageway to a spot where you turn left to enter the French 75 Bar, or face forward to report your presence to the hostess, or turn right to enter the main dining room, into which no cold blasts can penetrate. Especially not at our table in the corner.
Mary Ann is not a fan of the grande dame restaurants that I love. But we agree completely on the beauty of Arnaud’s. It’s not just an antique, but a well-cared-for, brilliantly designed collection of dining spaces, all of which more resemble the restaurants of Europe than those of our European city. Even Mary Leigh–who may have the most discriminating eye for great design in our family–says that she loves the place.
We have a modest meal. MA begins with shrimp Arnaud (remoulade, as good as it gets). ML has chicken-andouille gumbo, a favorite dish of hers. She says it’s one of the best she’s had. I hardly ever order that–Arnaud’s has so many good soups that I will ignore at least one of them long-term–but I must say she is right. It’s even better than the turtle soup before me.
Trout amandine.
Beet salad at Arnaud’s.
Then MA has trout amandine while ML lightens up with a very unusual salad, covered with a vortex of fresh beets rendered into ribbons. I pack away a double order of oysters Arnaud. That’s an assortment of five baked oysters on the shells, each with a different and wonderful sauce. I always try to name them to impress the waiter. I identified the Rockefellers and Suzettes easily (one is green, the other dark orange), and the eggplant-dominant oysters Ohan. But I get the Bienvilles and the Kathryns switched. Oh, well. Eating ten of these oysters makes for a very good and ample entree. They are pretty enough that the girls pick at the sauces. The oysters themselves are beyond the pale for them.
Double order of oysters Arnaud.
Baked Alaska a la Arnaud’s.
Chef Tommy DiGiovanni celebrates my birthday with something new: a very pretty take on baked Alaska. The meringue is fluted as it covers the minty ice cream at its center. I don’t think Antoine’s has anything to worry about–this meringue is a little gummy. I think it’s still under development. Nevertheless, I am flattered that they give me this unique chance to blow out my candle.
Arnaud’s. French Quarter: 813 Bienville. 504-523-5433.
#28 Among The 33 Best Seafood Eateries
Seither’s
Harahan: 279 Hickory. 504-738-1116. Map.
Very Casual.
MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
The fact that the parking lot is surfaced with oyster shells should tell you something. It’s the first of many impressions that this is an old-style, close-to-the-water combination seafood market and cafe. It’s like the joints and the people you see after driving a hundred miles into the Louisiana wetlands, except that it’s in Harahan, which is only slightly remote from the city. All the freshness and sense of place that this implies are indeed borne out in the cooking.
WHY IT’S NOTEWORTHY
Wherever you find a seafood market, there’s a good chance there’s a restaurant connected with the operation. One side helps the other: the restaurant gets a better-than-average supply of local fish and shellfish, and the market has a place to sell out any surplus it may have. Seither’s is like that. The dining room isn’t much to look at, and for the most part the menu is simple. But the food is everything it promises to be.
WHAT’S GOOD
One of the advantages little restaurants have is that they prepare everything to order. That’s the story behind the fried seafood platters and poor boys here. But even the boiled seafood–a major specialty–is usually hot right out of the boiling pot. The biggest surprise is an appetizer called eggplant Harahan: panneed eggplant slices, topped with a seafood stuffing and a crawfish cream sauce. They sling a lot of cream sauce around seafood here; get only one per table. Another fine resource: freshly-shucked oysters.
BACKSTORY
The building has been a seafood market for many decades. (I wish it had been this good when my parents live across the street in the 1980s.) Jason Seither took over the place in 2004, and began a steady expansion of the menu, such that every visit showed a great new item or two since the time before.
DINING ROOM
About three dozen seats, a little crowded, with the decor you expect from a neighborhood cafe. No two corners of the place look the same. Service can bog down when the place gets busy, but even that fits in with the bayou atmosphere.
FULL ONLINE MENU
BEST DISHES
Starters
Raw oysters on the half shell
Seither’s boiled seafood platter
Asian seared tuna
Crab cakes
Stuffed artichokes
Eggplant log cabin (a house built of fried eggplant sticks)
Barbecue shrimp
Blackened or fried shrimp salad
Asian seared tuna salad
Fried oyster, bacon and egg salad
Chicken and andouille gumbo
Shrimp and corn bisque
Poor Boy Sandwiches
Fried, grilled or blackened shrimp chicken or fish
Fried oyster
Hamburger
Soft shell crab
Roast beef
Fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade
Barbecue shrimp
Blackened shrimp and avocado
Spicy tuna
Entrees
Eggplant Harahan (panneed eggplant, seafood stuffing, crawfish cream sauce)
Fried shrimp, oyster, thin catfish, or combo platter
Blackened shrimp platter
Grilled tuna platter
Blackened catfish platter
Fried soft-shell crab platter
Chicken or eggplant parmesan, pasta
Crab cakes and shrimp pasta
Oysters Rockefeller pasta
Lemon garlic shrimp, linguini pasta
FOR BEST RESULTS
Seither’s is better at boiling and grilling than it is at frying, which is a bit heavy. The seasoning blends and the skills required for good blackened dishes is far better than in most other restaurants. The seafood cream sauces are also good, but all taste about the same. No problem: just get one.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Some further research on the fried dishes to lighten them up is what I’d do next.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
Dining Environment -1
Consistency +1
Service
Value +2
Attitude +1
Wine & Bar
Hipness +1
Local Color +1
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
Open Monday lunch and dinner
Open all afternoon
Oyster bar
Unusually large servings
Quick, good meal
Good for children
Easy, nearby parking
No reservations
Sauteed Sea Scallops with Squid Ink Pasta
Sea scallops are the big ones–the bigger, the better. See if you can locate “diver” or “day boat” scallops, which have not been processed for shelf life. The squid ink pasta sounds exotic, but shouldn’t be too hard to track down in specialty stores and gourmet markets.
You can swap out the major ingredients in this dish and still get great results. Normal, unflavored pasta in big pieces (penne, bowties, or corkscrews), cooked al dente would be fine. For that matter, there’s no law that says you have to use scallops; this would work well with shrimp, crawfish, lump crabmeat, or even big flakes of white fish.
2 lbs. large sea scallops
1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. melted butter
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. chopped French shallots
1/4 cup chopped leek–inner white portion only, well washed
2 Tbs. chopped celery
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tbs. lemon juice, strained
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (wild mushrooms preferred)
1 medium tomato, with skin, seeds, and pulp removed, chopped
1 lb. squid-ink pasta, cooked al dente, with some of the boiling water reserved
10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1. Heat a heavy skillet over high heat. Dust the scallops with the Creole seasoning and salt, dip them into the melted butter, and sear them on each side for about a minute. Remove the scallops from the pan and reduce heat to medium-low.
2. Add the remaining butter, olive oil, shallots, leeks, celery and crushed red pepper to the pan. Cook until tender.
3. Add wine, lemon juice, mushrooms, tomato, and 1/4 cup of water from the pasta boiling pot. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the liquid by half, and return the scallops to the pan.
4. Add pasta to pan and toss to combine with other ingredients. Serve sprinkled with a little of the lemon peel and parsley, mixed together.
Serves four entrees or eight appetizers.
Lemon Ice Box Pie @ Clancy’s
All of Clancy’s desserts are understated and simple. No flaming, no spun sugar, hardly even any layers. This nice little tart is the restaurant’s most talked-about ending course. Simple, but perfect: a lovely little pie with a rich custard and the ideal lemon component to balance off the sugar. Very good with a glass of Sauternes or Auslese.
Clancy’s. Uptown: 6100 Annunciation. 504-895-1111.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
February 25, 2014
Days Until. . .
St. Patrick’s Day 20
St. Joseph’s Day 22
Easter 34
Gourmets Through History
Enrico Caruso was born today in 1873. just in time to become one of the first stars of recorded music. In Italian restaurants across America, dishes are named after the famous operatic tenor, but they differ from place to place. No one classic dish bears his name. Caruso was such a hearty eater that there really ought to be such a dish. Searches through cookbooks turn up a wide range of namesake Caruso dishes with sauces including everything from cream to prosciutto to spinach.
Deft Dining Rule #120:
If a restaurant names a dish after you and you haven’t done anything of note, you can claim to be either a gastronome or a high roller.
Annals Of Bad Cooking
Today in 1859, the temporary insanity defense was first used to establish the innocence of a defendant. Little did the lawyer involved guess that the innovation would appear in a dining venue. Some years ago, I complained about a dish in a little French Quarter restaurant, now long gone. It paired flounder and pralines. When the waiter returned to the table after passing my comment along to the chef, he said, “We’ll take it off the check. The chef pleads insanity.” True story! I never ran into that chef again.
Today’s Flavor
Today is National Celery Day. For most people, celery is strictly a background performer in cooking. Not even chefs who note every ingredient of every dish on their menus often mention celery. It’s one third of the holy trinity of Creole cooking. But it doesn’t step out into the foreground nearly as onions and bell peppers. It’s hard to think of a dish in which celery is the main ingredient, but I will advance two. Braised celery, served as a vegetable side dish, is better than you might imagine. And celery cream soup is delicious.
In its usual role as a part of the flavor team, however, celery is indispensable. Imagine a bloody mary, tuna salad, stocks, or vegetable soup without it. Its flavor is subtle but distinctive, containing a slight acidity and an aromatic flavor reminiscent of anise. In some uses, celery’s flavor improves a dish dramatically. Triple the amount of celery in your recipe for red beans, and it becomes much more delicious than you might imagine.
Celery has been used for food and cooking in Europe since ancient times. It developed from wild plants that still grown around the Mediterranean. We almost don’t have to say that celery’s good for you. Its natural diuretic properties can actually bring blood pressure down. Eating it fills you up while adding very few calories to your intake.
I also see that it’s National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day. I believe we are mainly talking about Goobers here.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Celeryville, Ohio is in the north-central part of the state, on the south side of Willard, in a large area of farms, mostly growing corn. However, they historically did grow a good deal of celery in the area, hence the name. The popular restaurant is the 224 Varsity Club, with a menu ranging from steaks to pizza, and a sports bar.
Edible Dictionary
celeriac, n.–The widely-used French name for celery root. It’s a heavy, bulbous, crunchy vegetable that is–sort of–what it says it is. It comes from a different variety of celery than the one we commonly eat, with smaller, hollow stalks that nevertheless have an unmistakable celery flavor. The root is about the size of a turnip, and has an irregular shape that makes it challenging to remove the brown, hard peel. Inside is a white, crisp, unstarchy vegetable with a different flavor from that of celery stalks–although there are similarities. It has a bit of a nutty quality. Celeriac is most often served raw as part of a salad. The popular sauce for it in France is remoulade.
Annals Of Food Research
Donald McLean, a Scottish botanist, was born today in 1922. He had a passion for potatoes, and through his lifetime he collected three hundred sixty-seven different kinds of spuds.
Food In Show Biz
Today is the birthday (1913) of actor Jim Backus. He is most famous as Thurston Howell III, the rich guy who was always portrayed with a martini in his hand on Gilligan’s Island. His voice was so distinctive that he had a busy voice-over career, too. His most famous voice was that of the visually-impaired cartoon character Mr. Magoo.
Zeppo Marx was born today in 1901. He was in the Marx Brother’s early movies, but later he became the business manager for Groucho, Chico, and Harpo for their many food-named movies: Animal Crackers, Duck Soup, and the rest of them.
Food Namesakes
Actress Diane Baker was born today in 1938. . . The well-named comedian Carrot Top sprouted today in 1965. . . Big league first baseman Danny Cater hit the Big Basepath today in 1940.
Words To Eat By
“The thought of two thousand people crunching celery at the same time horrified me.”–George Bernard Shaw, about a vegetarian dinner. He was a vegetarian himself.
Words To Drink By
“The soft extractive note of an aged cork being withdrawn has the true sound of a man opening his heart.”–William Samuel Benwell.
A Rising Tide Of Coffee Lifts All Frothed Milk.
Besides, don’t you know that the white fluffy layer at the top keeps the espresso brew hot? Don’t we all have the right to hot coffee?
Click here for the cartoon.