Saturday, February 28, 2015.
The Old Bear’s Really Packs Them In.
The first time I heard about Bear’s, I was on the eight-to-midnight shift on the old WGSO 1280 (there’s another station of that name now on 990, but there’s no connection). A guy called me to say that he thought the best poor boy in the whole New Orleans area was at Bear’s. At that time it was in Mandeville, and hard to find. I never did.
At some point before Mary Ann and Jude and I moved to the North Shore, Bear’s moved to Covington, where it remains. The first time I went there, I got an idea why my radio caller liked it so much. There are other Bear’s around the area now, but they’re not operated by the guy in Covington. (There’s a blood relationship, too complicated to be worth telling.)
Mary Ann and I have been in the habit of having poor boys for lunch on Saturdays. Bear’s came up in the rotation. If we’d known that the place was so busy, we would have gone earlier or later. A line stretched across the room and out the door into the parking lot. On top of that, the staff was filling many called-in orders. It took a half-hour before our sandwich appeared.
Remember when that used to be standard? Parasol’s, for example, was notorious for taking so long to deliver a roast beef to the table that you all but had to get a drink or a beer to keep from falling asleep. And I won’t even bring up Mother’s.
We had a large roast beef, easy on the gravy, dressed with extra pickles. It met the venerable criterion of being as long as a man’s forearm. It was already cut in half. I thought about cutting again, but to say that Bear’s offers minimal service is itself minimal.
So there is nothing for me but to eat my entire half. MA came close to performing the same feat. We agreed that it was not quite as good as a few of our other favorites, but also that it is a fine piece of work anyway.
Back to the Cool Water Ranch for the radio show, which for some reason stretched until seven. The extra half-hour allowed Mary Ann to try out some ideas, and at the end of it she felt we had done an unusually a good show. One she could send to radio stations around the country. She would love to get back on the air regularly, now that she is not needed for mommy duty. The listeners seem to really like her. Better than they like me, say some of them.
The poor boy was big enough to leave us hunger-free when rhe show ended. We watched an old movie which, about sixty percent in, I realized I’d seen it before. MA knows she’s seen it, herself. But she watches the same movies over and over.
Bear’s. Covington: 128 W 21st Ave. 504-892-2373.
Sunday, March 1, 2015.
Can’t Resist La Provence.
“We are rid of February, and good riddance, if you ask me.”–E.J. Kahn, Jr.
A agree. March begins its run pleasantly enough, but the cold and rainy weather is on the program for the next week or two. It doesn’t look as if MA will get her Germany trip until after my big engagement at Ochsner on the ninth.
Mary Ann suggests that we call our friends the Swifts and meet up at La Provence for an early Sunday dinner. That’s the best time to go to that restaurant. It’s cleaned up after brunch, getting ready for the serious regulars, starting around four or five.
The Swifts look more youthful than the last time we saw them, which was too long ago. Doug and I have a similar sense of humor. Which, of course, the girls don’t share with us. I probably should have backed away from my usual thinking that the men and women should alternate at the table, instead of sitting next to one another.
Another good day for Chef Erik Loos. We begin by getting hooked on the pâté, which over the years has certainly become the favorite flavor at La Provence. I wonder how much of this chicken-liver-and-butter concoction is eaten in a day. Even people who say they don’t like liver in any form gobble this up.
Oysters Ooh-la-la.
I get an order of oysters oo-la-la, the best new dish to appear at La Provence in many years. The idea is so simple and so good that it’s amazing that it has never appeared before. Main ingredients: oysters, crab fat, and just enough bread crumbs for there to be a lightly toasted exterior. Since last time I had them, the presentation has been polished, while the eating has improved.
Seafood soup.
There aren’t enough green soups out there, I believe, but La Provence holds up its end in that department. They used to make a wonderful vegetable soupe de pistou, but it hasn’t been around lately. But here’s a seafood soup with croutons and herbal olive oil and a few other nice touches, green enough for St. Patrick’s day.
Drum with almonds.
Mary Ann has her standard fish with crabmeat, made with roasted drum encrusted with almonds. (Not the same as trout amandine.) Also cauliflower and a hollandaise sauce, with a thick spiral of green sauce drawn in a circle. I thought his was just delicious. MA says–for the second time in a week–that she doesn’t like her fish cut this thick.
Pork tenderloin and cheeks.
Doug latched onto the pork tenderloin with pork cheeks. The latter is some kind of delicious morsel. We go through a Central Coast Pinot Noir. We finish up with a sort of apple upside-down cake, with caramelized sugar dominating the flavor.
And then I feel two hands grab my shoulders. The first word out of the mouth of the owner of the hands–and what hands!–tells me that it’s Ronnie Kole. He and his wife Gardner are regulars at La Provence, which figures: his virtuosity on the piano is matched in distinction by his palate.
It’s almost time for Jazz On The Bayou. The Koles organize this every spring to raise money for a number of local charities. Ronnie has been in the forefront of events like that for decades. He has enough friends in the music, food and wine worlds that his event is superb. It’s both Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22. Tickets are $75, and can be had at jazzonthebayou.com. (I will run an article with more specifics in a week.)
Somehow, I have persuaded Ronnie that my singing will embarrass neither him nor me. Whenever we run into one another at La Provence, he sits down at the piano and he lets me do a couple of numbers. I have never stumped him with a song–he appears to know them all. But I almost got him tonight with “Street Of Dreams.” He said he used to play it in his dance band a very long time ago, but not since. He said he wasn’t sure he could remember it, but five or six notes later, there he was, well into it, as if he’d played it last week.
He is certainly the pro in this duet, but I must say: I have never sung with anyone who gets more out of my paltry talents.
La Provence. Lacombe: 25020 US 190. 985-626-7662.
#20 Among The 33 Best Seafood Eateries
Blue Crab
West End & Bucktown: 7900 Lakeshore Dr. 504-284-2898. Map.
Casual.
AE DS MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Of all the depredations laid down by hurricane Katrina to the New Orleans restaurant community, the worst was surely the total destruction of West End Park. With a history of dining as long as any other part of town but the French Quarter, the seafood restaurants along the shoreline predated the Civil War. Louis Armstrong’s first great record was “West End Blues.” Getting out there by way of boats, streetcars, and finally automobiles, every year at this time New Orleanians were pulled to West End for a platter of boiled and fried seafood. It truly was a rite of spring–one we can honor again. Sort of.
Deck at the Blue Crab
WHY IT’S NOTEWORTHY
New Orleans aches for restaurants with views of Lake Pontchartrain. All we had for years after the storm was the chain Landry’s, with a fine lake vista but unconvincing food. The Blue Crab is more like we remember from Bruning’s, Fitzgerald’s, Swanson’s and all the other great West End seafood houses. Both in its food and its environment, everything about the place shouts localism. Noisy dining rooms, open decks, a great look at the sunset, and big piles of seafood make it the most nostalgic new restaurant in town.
Raw oysters.
WHAT’S GOOD
Blue Crab’s menu includes all the dishes we remember from West End’s glory days: boiled seafood in its season, gigantic piles of fried everything, the famous West End-style whole flounder, and a good seafood gumbo. But where the old West End places stopped, Blue Crab keeps going: grilled and blackened fish, great raw and pretty good grilled oysters, seafood pastas with creamy sauces and salads surmounted by seafood. And it may be the only old-style seafood house with fresh-cut French fries.
Seafood platter at Blue Crab.
BACKSTORY
The Blue Crab towers twenty feet above the spot where Bart’s stood for decades, alongside what’s left of the New Basin Canal, where private boats line up at their berths. At the Blue Crab’s own dock, mariners can have food brought to their boats, or they can climb up to the dining room. The Blue Crab opened in July 2013, almost two years after the first announcements of its coming. It was the third eatery to appear on the canal since Katrina, following Landry’s and Brisbi’s.
DINING ROOM
The building, being outside the levees and right on the water, rises some 20 feet in the air. (There’s an elevator.) This affords most diners a view of something or other. The outer deck looks across the phalanx of yachts and the Southern Yacht Club itself, with the Causeway and that lake underneath it framing the sunset at the appropriate time. These are, for obvious reasons, the most popular tables in the house, but the indoor dining rooms also give airy views. Unfortunately, when the indoor dining room is full, it is very noisy.
FULL ONLINE MENU
BEST DISHES
Starters
Onion rings
Jalapeño hush puppies
Barbecue shrimp
Blue crab cakes, remoulade sauce
Buffalo shrimp or oysters
Oysters on the half shell
Char-grilled oysters
Oyster & artichoke soup
Seafood gumbo
Entrees
Fried platters: shrimp, oysters, catfish, soft-shell crab
Barbecue shrimp & grits
Whole stuffed flounder
Sandwiches
Shrimp, oyster, catfish, or soft-shell crab poor boy (fried or grilled)
Hamburger
Roast beef poor boy
Desserts
Bread pudding
Cheesecake
FOR BEST RESULTS
If you go out on the deck on a hot day, you will be thankful for the Bali Ha’i-style tropical cocktails the bar makes so well and generously.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
If they’re going to make a big deal of its local fresh fish of the day, they need to apply a bit more quality control in its purchasing and preparation.
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 +2
Consistency
Service+1
Value
Attitude +1
Wine & Bar
Hipness -2
Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
Courtyard or deck dining
Romantic
Good view
Open Sunday lunch and dinner
Open all afternoon
Historic
Oyster bar
Unusually large servings
Good for children
Easy, nearby parking
No reservations
Broiled Fresh Sardines
Here is the Italian recipe for preparing fresh sardines. These are not the little fish in cans, but fresh, eight-inch long Mediterranean or Pacific sardines, four to six to the pound whole.Some people love them (I do), some people find them too strong in flavor. The problem is finding the fish themselves. Not even chefs can be assured of getting them regularly. They’re most popular around St. Joseph’s Day, but I order them whenever they turn up. Chefs Rene Bajeux and Andrea Apuzzo like them particularly and get them in more often than most. Two or three make a great appetizer.
8-12 fresh fresh sardines, gutted
2 lemons
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 sprig fresh oregano
1/4 cup freshly-grated bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
1. On a cutting board, hold the fish by the tail and scrape off the scales (there will not be many) with a knife. Wash the fish with cold water. If you like, cut off the heads, but you may leave them on.
2. Juice half of one of the lemons. Cut the remaining lemons in slices about a quarter-inch thick.
3. Cover the bottom of a glass baking dish (about 8 by 12 inches) with olive oil. Lay down the lemon slices on the bottom, then the thyme sprigs. Place the sardines in one layer on top of the lemons. Drizzle the sardines with the lemon juice. Salt and pepper (go heavy on the black pepper). Sprinkle on the wine and the rest of the olive oil.
4. Chop the oregano and parsley, and mix with the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the bread crumbs atop the sardines.
5. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for about six minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the bread crumbs are toasted and the juices are bubbling. Serve immediately.
Serves four.
Soft-Shell Crab Bisque @ Commander’s Palace
The first time I found a small soft-shell crab atop a bowl of crab bisque was in one of Chef Kevin Vizard’s places. He may have picked up the idea at Commander’s, where he worked in several stints over the years, because that’s the most recent place I found it. The idea is great: the most delectable imaginable crunchy, crouton-like thing, floating above a smooth, light, creamy soup with a mellow tone of saffron and an elusive sharpness. Like most of Commander’s best dishes, this runs as a special, but frequently enough. You can always ask for it.
Commander’s Palace. Garden District: 1403 Washington Ave. 504-899-8221.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
March 9, 2015
Days Until. . .
St. Patrick’s Day 7
St. Joseph’s Day 9
Easter 25
Today’s Flavor
This is National Crabmeat Day. It’s still pretty early in the year for the best crabmeat. However, adding crabmeat to dishes has become such a part of the current New Orleans cuisine that the seasons are hardly recognized anymore. The season for fresh, non-pasteurized, Louisiana crabmeat is the warm months, particularly in the midsummer. What’s used this time of year is likely to be frozen, pasteurized, canned, or from overseas. (Or combinations of the above.) You would be astonished by the number of major restaurant charging major prices that use something other than fresh, unpasteurized crabmeat.
The major source of crabmeat in our part of the world (and all the way up the Atlantic coast, too) is the blue crab, callinectes sapidus. It’s packed in four major forms: claw, white, lump, and jumbo lump. The latter is the muscle that moves the large claws from inside the body. White and lump come from other parts of the body. The claw meat is least expensive, but actually has the most pronounced flavor. Only its dark color keeps the price down. Strange, isn’t it?
Restaurant Anniversaries
Gabrielle opened today in 1992. Greg and Mary Sonnier–both chefs–took over a funny triangular building on Esplanade Avenue near the Fair Grounds, and converted it into a Creole bistro. Greg had been working at Brigtsen’s and K-Paul’s before that, and some influences can be seen. Gabrielle was named for the Sonniers’ older daughter. The premises remained on the simple side, but the cooking was never less than exciting. Unfortunately, Gabrielle’s building was so badly damaged that the Sonniers attempted to move. They bought a former reception hall on the corner of Henry Clay and Laurel and tried to open Gabrielle there, but the neighbors made that all but impossible. Greg is now the chef of Kingfish, which for my money was the best new restaurant of 2013.
Music To Eat Gumbo By
It’s the birthday, in 1933, of Lloyd Price, the New Orleans singer who had a string of hits in the mid-1950s. The best of them was Personality. He also did the definitive version of Stagger Lee, whose lyrics describe a place much like the kind of joint where these songs would play on the juke box.
Edible Dictionary
tod mun, Thai, n.–A thin fried fish cake served as a popular appetizer in Thai cooking. Sometimes it’s also made with shrimp, in which case it’s known as tod mun goong. Other ingredients include red Thai curry paste, eggs, green beans, onions, and cilantro. What makes these different from, say, crab cakes is that the seafood is blended into an almost sticky paste, which makes it so thick that after it’s fried it becomes as firm as fish flesh. It should be barely fork tender. It’s usually served with a spicy cucumber or carrot dipping sauce. Tod mun is on almost every Thai restaurant menu.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Pompano Beach, Florida is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, about thirty-five miles north of Miami. The place is well named: there’s a large beach, and no doubt pompano–which we consider the best eating fish in the world–are regularly caught there. The core of Pompano Beach is noth on the beach but inland; it was founded as a station on the Florida East Coast Railway. It’s a hundred years old this year. The restaurants include a wealth of Latin American restaurants of all kinds, including Brazilian.
Food In Space
This is the birthday, in 1934, of Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut and the first man to orbit the earth (or do anything else) in space. Because the Russians could not obtain Tang from the U.S., poor Gagarin had to make do with only fresh oranges for juice during his trip.
Food In Warfare
The Pastry War between France and Mexico ended today in 1839, after about five months of hostility. It started when a French pastry chef named Remontel complained to French King Louis-Phillippe that his shop in Mexico City had been looted by Mexican soldiers ten years earlier. The king took up the cause and demanded that Mexico pay 600,000 pesos. Mexico demurred, and France sent a fleet to blockade all Gulf ports in Mexico. It captured the city of Veracruz and most of the Mexican navy. Mexico declared war on France. The United States fought on the French side, with one ship. Great Britain intervened, Mexico promised to pay the 600,000 pesos, and the war ended. No weapons of mass destruction were found.
The Saints
This is the feast day of St. Catherine of Bologna, who died today in 1463. She is the patron saint of those beset with all kinds of temptation. Including those involving food and drink, I suppose.
Music To Graze By
“Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.”–
Slurred a bit, that was the opening line of the Number One hit on this day in 1944. Its title was Mairzy Doats. A kiddle dee divy too, wouldn’t you? No, I wouldn’t. Ivy will kill you if you eat it.
Food And The Law
Today in 1981, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed that, for the purposes of creating balanced school lunches, ketchup could be considered a vegetable. This absurdity was widely hooted at by comedians and was quickly annulled, but the memory of the idea lives on. In terms of its healthiness, ketchup is not bad for you–but containing as much sugar as it does, it’s not good, either.
Deft Dining Rule #299:
If ketchup is called for to make food taste good, your own taste’s not as good as it should.
Food Namesakes
Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte were married today in 1796. One wonders whether Napoleon pastries were served at the reception. Over the years, a number of pastry chefs have developed variations on the layered, custard-filled Napoleon that they call the Josephine. Chef Andrea Apuzzo makes one with pastry cream and raspberries–very light and good. . . Coming at the food namesake concept from the other side, we note that today is the birthday, in 1958, of singer Martin Fry, who performed with the group ABC. . . Bluesey rocker John Cale was born today in 1942. . . Pro footballer Sean Salisbury was born today in 1963.
Words To Eat By
“Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.”–Mickey Spillane, crime novel author, born today in 1918.
Words To Drink By
“What’s your house chablis?”–James Buckley, politician, upon being asked by a counter person at McDonald’s what he wanted to drink. Buckley was born today in 1923.
Did Your Mother Overfeed You, Too?
Given how many people have experienced this scenario in their own childhoods, it’s a wonder there aren’t more restaurant critics in the world.
Click here for the cartoon.