Friday, March 13, 2015.
Watching Redemption Grow.
No critic with decent ability to discriminate between the good and the not-so-good can claim to be without prejudice. Certain works of art will fail to appeal to even a thoroughly fair critic, just because he or she doesn’t have a taste for that category. I read a few years ago about Robert Parker, the most accomplished wine critic in the history of that endeavor. He admitted that after many years spent covering all kinds of wine from everywhere in the world, he gave up tasting sweet white wines. Even the best of them (and those can be wonderful and very expensive) didn’t interest to his palate anymore. So he turned over that category to other writers.
This works in the other direction, too. Some restaurants have a stronger appeal to me than they do to other people, even when the people have critical abilities as good as or better than my own. The most obvious of these is Antoine’s, which makes me happier than it does many other customers. I always append to my reviews of the place that it isn’t for all palates.
A similar thing is going on with me and Redemption right now. The promise of having a new restaurant in the space that once was the wonderful Christian’s was cause for gladness. And Redemption was on economically sound ground. But the first attempts at launching it were unconvincing, and they never really took off.
I stuck with it anyway. I always liked Chef Greg Picolo’s food, both at his previous restaurants and here. The fact that owners Maria and Tommy Delaune have as their main business a wholesale seafood house allows them a tremendous source of raw materials.
That most recently resulted in the installation of an oyster bar. It was part of a subtle but deep renovation that wrapped up a few months ago–in time for the 100th anniversary of the building of the church that is now the restaurant.
I meet up with Mary Ann, who also loves Redemption. Soon Maria Delaune was sitting with us. The Marias, I think I’ll call them, because they have become good friends, with the same hard-charging characteristics. When I hang with Tommy Delaune, I detect that he gets bossed around by his Maria about as much as I am by mine.
The party is completed by the advent of a lady selling Maria on some high-end tequilas. (This is how many restaurant owners spend their afternoons–talking to salespeople for everything from wine to toothpicks.) I tasted the tequilas and thought they were good–particularly the double-anejo, with many years of aging. But tequila doesn’t push my button very hard.
Grilled oysters at Redemption.
Chef Greg is out of the building, says Maria. But I stay for dinner anyway. How bad could it be? Not bad at all. Apparently Greg has the team well coordinated. I start with an oyster dish that sounds a lot like oysters Roland, but without the mushrooms and served on shells instead of in an au gratin dish. That leaves garlic, parsley, butter, and seasonings. Good stuff.
Eggplant batons in a stack.
Mary Ann sees an architecturally impressive stack of fried eggplant sticks. Here they come, then, as good as they look. It is even better when I dunk them into the tomato and tarragon soup, which is so fine that I’m already planning to come on the next jour that features it. It even has a small grilled cheese sandwich floating on top.
Tomato and tarragon soup with a small grilled cheese sandwich.
Now the Marias leave the table. The tequila lady stays, and opens a slender, tall bottle of a sweet wine. It is oddly right with the smoked soft shell crab I have next. That’s a rebirth of Christian’s most famous dish. Chef Greg knows it well, but very few dishes successfully leap from here to there, and this one doesn’t either. Chef Roland’s version was smaller and lighter in its coating. On the other hand, “different” doesn’t necessarily mean “not as good.” I get beyond my handicap of having tasted too many great dishes over too long a time, and enjoy this and its brown butter sauce.
Smoked soft shell crab.
Maria swings by to tell me that the pistachio cheesecake is something I ought to try. The notion passes through my brain that we are two blocks away from what is almost certainly the greatest user of pistachios in this part of the world: Angelo Brocato’s. Not only does it make a great pistachio ice cream, but they dip each end of its classic cannoli in chopped pistachios.
Time to go home, Tom.
Redemption. Mid-City: 3835 Iberville St. 504-309-3570.
Saturday, March 14, 2015.
Sudden Show. A Bad Place For Dinner.
I could have sworn that I have the day off from the Saturday WWL radio show. LSU has both men’s and women’s basketball games today, plus a baseball game. All these are broadcast, and roll right over my highly optional program. But I have simultaneous good and bad luck. One of the teams (I don’t follow any of this) lost its game yesterday unexpectedly, pulling them out of the lineup for today. That puts me on the air at three, but I don’t know this until the radio producer calls wondering where I am. Fortunately, I am sitting at my desk, and I connect with the station right away.
That happens just as Mary Ann leaves the Cool Water Ranch for the afternoon. She has been co-hosting the Saturday show for the past few months, and likes it. I prepare myself to be chewed out for cheating her out of this exposure today.
St. Patrick cupcakes by ML.
Mary Leigh, meanwhile, is making six hundred cupcakes and a cake for a reunion-like event next week at her Alma Mater, the Louise S. McGehee School. The usual eye-popping work of the baker’s art. Each of the cupcakes is emblazoned with the school’s iconic front gate or the letter “M.” She does this by stamping thin discs of fondant with rubber stamps she had made especially for this purpose. This also shows in a batch of St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes she has in the works. Her meticulousness is astonishing.
When the radio show ends and MA returns, we head to dinner at a restaurant we all have been avoiding since it opened a few years ago. I had to go sooner or later. It was even worse than I expected, and the one dish that I looked forward to was not only not on the menu, but never has been, according to the server. The Marys are even less happy about all of this. What I can’t figure is that the guy who runs the place has been at a long time, and at one time operated a much better restaurant. I guess I ought to name it, but even that is more publicity than I want to give it.
#10 Among The 33 Best Seafood Eateries
Tommy’s Cuisine
Warehouse District & Center City: 746 Tchoupitoulas. 504-581-1103. Map.
Casual
AE DC MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
New Orleans differs from most other great restaurant cities in that its menus are dominated by seafood. Even in grand old restaurants in which beef and lamb are prime, it’s the allure of the fish and shellfish that sets them apart. Part of this can be explained by the difficulty of buying good seafood. Although that’s easier here than in most places, it still requires spending lots of time on the phone tracking down the good stuff. No chef has a standing order for red snapper or pompano that they can count on. They must track it down.
With a long history of great food and service and a chef who came from Galatoire’s, Tommy’s seafood side is very strong. You could eat here ten times without ever leaving the fish, oysters, shrimp, crawfish, soft-shells, and especially the crabmeat.
WHY IT’S NOTEWORTHY
After decades of managing classy local dining rooms, Tommy Andrade became a culinary entrepreneur. His experience in the front of the house and his staff of veteran chefs and servers make his flagship restaurant (he’s involved in two others) as popular as any other restaurant in town–including his neighbor Emeril’s. More interested in making people happy than in showing how his kitchen can jump through hoops, Tommy and company relax on the traditional Creole-French-Italian side. You’ve seen this food before, but you’re very glad to see it again–especially given the goodness of the ingredients.
Trout with crabmeat.
WHAT’S GOOD
The combination of classic Creole and Creole-Italian dishes is immensely enjoyable. It’s lusty eating, with fresh fish, jumbo lump crabmeat, beautiful shrimp, and several species of fish daily with familiar presentations. Also here are first-class steak, veal and duck essays. The dining is made more fun by the convivial local crowd and the unerring hospitality of the dining room staff.
BACKSTORY
Tommy Andrade became know to lovers of fine dining in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was the major domo of the Fairmont Hotel’s Sazerac Restaurant–a very classy gig. He left that to open Irene’s in the 1980s, and went solo with Tommy’s in 1996. From the outset, Tommy’s was filled with service pros of the old school, including some highly recognizable waiters from some of the city’s best restaurants. A lot of former Brennan’s and Galatoire’s people are here now.
DINING ROOM
It feels like an old French Quarter cafe, with a lively buzz emanating from the largely local clientele. They keep the restaurant full most of the time. Tommy’s bar, in an adjacent building, is one of the classiest watering holes around.
FULL ONLINE MENU
BEST DISHES
Starters
Oysters Tommy (Romano cheese, pancetta, roasted red pepper)
Oysters Rockefeller
Oysters Bienville
Panneed oysters, grilled shrimp. spinach, raspberry vinaigrette
Escargots, vermouth, garlic, in mushroom caps
Crabmeat canapé, béchamel, fresh herbs, parmesan cheese
Sweetbreads, beurre blanc, capers, over eggplant
Turtle soup
Salads
Shrimp remoulade
Duck salad, spinach, orange reduction, mushrooms, pecans
Asparagus salad, Creole vinaigrette
Crabmeat maison, lettuce, ravigote sauce
Entrees
Soft-shell crab, linguini, fresh basil, roma tomatoes, Reggiano crawfish sauce
Pan sautéed fresh Gulf fish, grilled shrimp, roasted red pepper, beurre blanc, corn maquechoux, julienne sweet potatoes
Pollo di Parma (sauteed chicken, prosciutto, eggplant, mozzarella, tomatoes, mushrooms)
Veal Sorrentina (prosciutto, eggplant, mozzarella, green onion, mushroom marsala sauce)
Lamb Provençale, rosemary port wine demi, haricots verts
Duck Tchoupitoulas (crispy, raspberry, wild rice, spinach, toasted pecans and bacon)
Crabmeat au gratin
Fish of the day meuniere, crabmeat, Brabant potatoes
Crabmeat Sardou (artichoke, spinach, crabmeat, hollandaise sauce)
Fish Capri (crabmeat, crawfish, capers, artichokes, beurre blanc) Seafood stuffed eggplant
Filet Royal (béarnaise, brabants)
Desserts
Pecan Praline Bread Pudding with bananas Foster, vanilla ice cream
Tiramisu
Ladyfingers brushed with espresso and amaretto, whipped sweet mascarpone cheese, bittersweet chocolate
»Crème Brûleè
»Chocolate Almond Truffle (mousse with cream anglaise, toasted almonds, whipped cream
Dessert du Jour
FOR BEST RESULTS
If you have four or more, get them to make an appetizer assortment for the table. Make a reservation and show up early. Make friends with the service staff. Plan to have an after-dinner drink in the lounge next door.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The wall decorations look as if they came from a 100-year-old neighborhood restaurant. The large dining room’s ambient sound level can be too high for conversation.
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 +2
Service+2
Value +2
Attitude +2
Wine & Bar +2
Hipness +1
Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
Live music some nights
Romantic
Good for business meetings
Open Sunday dinner
Open Monday dinner
Unusually large servings
Pay valet parking
Reservations recommended
Redfish On The Half-Shell
This is a great and simple way to cook a redfish, drum, or any other fish around four or five pounds. It should be done outdoors, because it has only one drawback: in the first few minutes of cooking, the burning scales give off an aroma that is less than appetizing. It doesn’t show up in the finished fish, however, and is soon gone.
As it cooks, the scales will burn very black. However, they will protect the fish from cooking too much, and the juices of the fish will steam up through the fillet. You don’t even need to turn the fish!
A number of restaurants have adopted this as a specialty. The most famous of them is the drumfish Tommy at Drago’s, the recipe for which evolved into the restaurant’s famous char-broiled oysters.
2 sticks butter, softened
2 Tbs. finely chopped garlic
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
4 fillets of drum, redfish, or trout, skin and scales on, about 10 oz. each
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Mix butter or margarine, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Sprinkle the fish with a little salt and pepper.
2. Heat a gas or barbecue grill and put the fish, skin side down, over the hottest part of the fire.
3. Baste the fish with the garlic butter liberally. It’s best when some of the butter falls into the flames and smokes up over the fish. As it cooks, the scales will burn very black. However, they will protect the fish from cooking too much, and the juices of the fish will steam up through the fillet. The fish is done when the flesh on top becomes opaque.
Serve the fish on the “shell” of its skin, as is.
Serves four
Snails And Tails @ Nuvolari’s
Nuvolari’s menu was long dominated by Italian dishes. Now, even if you stretch the definition of Italian, those account for only about a third of the offerings. The result: significantly more interesting dining. However, a few dishes from old menus are so good that they’re permanent fixtures. The dish now called “snails and tails” goes back to the beginning of the twenty-five-year-old restaurant. Chef Tim Eihausen brought escargots, crawfish, mushrooms, and and a winy demi-glace into one of the two or three most distinctive treatments of snails ever to thrill New Orleans diners. The dish is as good as ever–and, after having it a week or so ago, I’m tempted to say it’s even better, with more pepper. It’s a generous serving, too–two people could split it, especially if you get in there with the restaurant’s ciabatta bread.
Nuvolari’s. Mandeville: 246 Girod St.. 985-626-5619.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
March 23, 2015
Days Until. . .
Easter 13
French Quarter Festival 17
Jazz Festival 33
Food Calendar
Today is Melba Toast Day. That may seem like a strange thing to celebrate here in New Orleans, but we really ought to, because this has long been the World Capital of melba toast, because of the presence here of the Turnbull Baking Company. For decades it made almost all the Melba toast for almost every big-name brand. It shut down for a time in 1910, causing a countrywide shortage of melba toast. It came back but didn’t last.
Melba toast, as well as the dessert peach Melba, is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the superstar opera singer of the late 1800s and early 1900s. She ate dried, thin toast whenever she was “ill” (read: needed to take a few pounds off her Rubenesque body). She supposedly revealed the secret of making the toast on this day in 1901.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Melba, Mississippi is twenty-five miles west of Hattiesburg, in mixed woodlands and open fields. This is dairy cattle and horse country. A few farmhouses are nearby, and perhaps some of them have a spare packet of melba toast to share. A better idea would be to head back in the direction of Hattiesburg on MS 42 into the small town Sumrall. There, six miles away, is Murphy’s Catfish House.
Edible Dictionary
sauerkraut, [SOUR-krowt], German, n.–Pickled cabbage, shredded into thin ribbons and served either hot or cold in a surprisingly large range of dishes. It originated, as many dishes did, as a means of preserving fresh cabbage. Sauerkraut tastes so different from cabbage that a child might not make the connection. One comes to like it quickly enough, and ask for it on a wide range of sandwiches–the hot dog and the reuben sandwich being the most famous. For that purpose, sauerkraut usually remains in its crisp state. When cooked, it becomes quite soft, and takes on yet another flavor profile. Cooked sauerkraut is almost indispensable with a plate of pork shanks or sausages. In the Alsace province of France, which picked up aspects of German cooking during one of its several periods under German domination, a slightly different dish called choucroute is almost as common as sauerkraut is in Germany. Making sauerkraut at home is a notoriously troublesome undertaking, with the danger that the fermenting cabbage can blow up and making an unforgettable mess. Cooking it is easier. Juniper berries are a familiar ingredient in the preparation.
Food Entrepreneurs
Al Copeland died today in 2008. He was the creator of Popeyes Fried Chicken, which began in New Orleans and spread nationwide. He went on to open Copeland’s, a chain of Creole-Cajun bistros, in 1985. Copeland was famous not only for his restaurants but also for his large-living personal style. He was big into motorboat racing, among other things. He was celebrated for having an acute palate. Ironically, he died of a disease of the salivary glands.
Annals Of Food Writing
Fannie Farmer was born today in 1857. The cookbook she published in 1896–which is still being revised and published–contained a major innovation without which cookbooks would not be nearly as useful. She was the first to specify exact amounts of ingredients in her recipes, and precise timings and temperatures. Her cookbook assumed nothing of the reader, and so it became a great help to people whose mothers were not good cooks. Its original name was The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, but now, well over four million copies later, it’s known as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
Food In Outer Space
Astronaut John Young had a corned beef sandwich for lunch today in 1965–in space. He was the first person to do so. On rye, with mustard and kosher pickles. He smuggled the thing on board, an act which got him in hot water with NASA.
Deft Dining Rule #510:
Even though corned beef appears to contain its own dental floss, all dislodging of it from between teeth must be accomplished out of view of other people.
Bizarre Liquor Law #5375
Today in 1896, the New York legislature passed the Raines Law. It prohibited sales of alcoholic beverages on Sunday, except in hotels. You could get a drink in a hotel, but only if you were a registered guest having a meal, or having the drinks served in your room. Intention: to shut down saloons on the one day that working stiffs might be able to enjoy them. Effect: a rise in adultery.
Annals Of Beverage Packaging
The Dixie Cup–made of paper coated with wax to make it waterproof–was introduced today in 1912. The inventor was Lawrence Luellen, who originally called it the “Health Cup.” His aim was to improve sanitation, not convenience. That cleared the way for the go cup used by New Orleans bars and their customers. Go cups are almost unique to New Orleans; in other places, where laws disallow drinking in public, the idea of taking a beer or cocktail with you after leaving the bar is anathema.
The Warren Glass Company received a patent today in 1880 for its milk bottle. It wasn’t the first bottle for milk delivery, but it was the one whose shape set the standard. Even now, when glass milk bottles are rare, a Warren bottle still would be identified by most people as a bottle for milk.
Music To Eat Fruit By
The song Yes, We Have No Bananas was published by its writers, Frank Silver and Irving Conn, today in 1923.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez:
Slightly underripe bananas, sliced end to end and then across to give four pieces, can be browned in butter and served as a starchy vegetable next to almost anything.
Food Namesakes
Francis Berry, Shakespearean scholar and poet, was born today in 1915. . . Architectural engraver Muirhead Bone was born today in 1876. (Funny. . . you don’t see many people with that name anymore.)
Words To Eat By
“To the old saying that man built the house but woman made it a home might be added the modern supplement that woman accepted cooking as a chore but man has made of it a recreation.”–Emily Post.
Words To Drink By
“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”–Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director, born today in 1910.
Gourmet Sharks.
We humans may not be the only epicures in the animal kingdom.
Click here for the cartoon.
Recent Back Editions
Click on any date below to see the entire 5-Star Edition for that day.
5-Star Back Edition FR 3/20/15
5-Star Back Edition TH 3/19/16
5-Star Back Edition WE 3/18/15
5-Star Back Edition TU 3/17/15
5-Star Back Edition MO 3/16/15
5-Star Back Edition FR 3/13/15
5-Star Back Edition TH 3/12/15
5-Star Back Edition WE 3/11/15
5-Star Back Edition, Tuesday, March 10, 2015
5-Star Edition, Monday, March 9, 2015