Good-Bye To Sweetbreads Sins.
No dish served in a New Orleans restaurant has a better title than Sweetbreads Sins at Arnaud’s. It was named for Lisa Sins, who for 34 years was essential to the operating of that big restaurant on Bienville Street. She wasn’t a cook, a server, a bartender, a hostess or a manager–although I’m sure she served in all of those roles in a pinch. If she had an official title, I guess it was sales manager.
Lisa Sins, having a ball as usual.
Sweetbreads Sins (the dish) also had many identities over the years. Right now, it’s a classic ris de veau meuniere–the thymus gland of a young veal calf, dusted with seasoned flour and sauteed until sizzling light brown in butter. Like its namesake, it is luscious and unique. Tender and wonderful–just like Sweetbreads Sins, the lady, who passed away on Tuesday after a long struggle against cancer.
Through her career, Lisa was the person you’d call if you wanted to have an Arnaud’s experience beyond the already pretty wonderful dinner you could have by just walking in. Arnaud’s didn’t need a lot of selling to anyone wanting a classy, distinctly New Orleans feast. But if you arranged things with Lisa, you would come away from the meeting with the feeling you were on the verge of having the best dinner of your life in one of the best restaurants in the world.
“Sweetbreads Sins.” Sounds like fun. And she was. Hang out with her in the bar or have her visit your table, and all you’d do is laugh the entire time. And somehow all the arrangements for that dinner for 150 next month would be made. (I orchestrated quite a few such dinners at Arnaud’s through the years, and I know.)
There’s a nice, small private dining room at Arnaud’s that will shortly be renamed “The Sins Room.” She would have loved that. Of course, you’ll always be able to have Sweetbreads Sins for dinner. The memory of her just makes it all sweeter.
Thursday, March 5, 2015.
Procuring Beef Consommé.
It feels really funny for just Mary Ann and me to be home without Mary Leigh around. It’s much more peculiar than my being home alone. After nineteen years by myself, I can just shift into my familiar, comfortable bachelor routine, and that’s that.
Mary Ann never really had that chance. She came straight from her parents’ home (where two of her six siblings still lived) to my house. It wasn’t long before Jude was born, and our pattern was set for the next quarter century. Now that we are in a new era, Mary Ann and I have not really learned how to live a deux just yet.
I did the show from home today, because, frankly, I didn’t want to drive into town in the extreme cold (twenties last night).
MA and I go for dinner to Tchoupstix, mainly for a reason not related to our hunger of the moment. This Sunday, my preparation for The Procedure requires me to get by on nothing but clear liquids. The only real food on the approved list is beef consommé. Now there’s something we don’t see in restaurants much. I wonder why. A well-made consommé, served hot and with a little flavor of Cognac, is a delicious soup. The last time I had it was in a big wine dinner some thirty years ago, at the Sazerac. I can remember it was on the menu at Antoine’s, in both forms: hot consommé as described above, and chilled consommé, which is jellied on account of its large amount of beef gelatin. The latter is not especially appealing, and is nearly extinct in restaurants worldwide.
When you first sit down at Tchoupstix, they bring you an Asian-style clear soup with rice noodles and mushrooms as an amuse-bouche. I ask them to sell me a quart of the broth only, which qualifies as a consommé. It’s not the best I’ve ever had, but I like it well enough that when we go there, MA passes her bowl over to me and I eat (drink?) it down. Now I am set for one “meal” this Sunday.
Ramen noodles at Tchoupstix.
We eat for today, too. Mary Ann likes the ramen noodles with vegetables, and that’s what she gets, for the third or fourth time. I don’t understand the appeal of ramen, so I’m glad she does it.
Mongolian beef.
Looking for something new, I find a Mongolian skirt steak. The waitress strongly urges this upon me. The presentation is grand, with a tower of tempura-fried onion rings on the left, and fanned-out slices of beef in a peppery sauce with cabbage and green onions on the right. The flavor is very satisfying, but there’s a problem. Skirt steak is one of those cuts which, if it is not cut thinly across the grain, is very chewy.
Word of that issue gets back to the kitchen, which reacts a little more apologetically than they needed to. This was not a disaster dish–just one that needs a little more polish.
Custard with five-spice powder.
Tchoupstix has a very good dessert, one that comes from Pardo’s next door. It’s a classic caramel custard flavored with five-spice powder. That is wonderful, a just-different-enough rendering of a very familiar dessert. The place gets a little better every time we go.
Tchoupstix. Covington: 69305 LA Hwy 21. 985-892-0852.
#17 Among The 33 Best Seafood Eateries
Café B
Metairie 1: Old Metairie: 2700 Metairie Road. 504-934-4700. Map.
Nice Casual.
AE DC DS MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Old Metairie is old, affluent, and unique. Restaurants there operate under different rules. They find a healthy lunch crowd, a preference for earlier dining than elsewhere, and a desire for retro food and service. One more oddity: people from other parts of town are reluctant to go to Old Metairie to dine, fearing that they’ll get caught at the railroad crossing for a long time–even if their destination doesn’t require crossing the tracks.
Ralph Brennan–the most business-savvy member of his famous restaurant family–saw an opportunity in Old Metairie. Even in a restaurant space where four previous eateries had failed. As usual, his hunch–and his keen ability to match a restaurant with a clientele–was on target. Cafe B was the nicest surprise from Ralph until Brennan’s on Royal Street opened a few months ago.
Cafe B’s dining room.
WHY IT’S NOTEWORTHY
Old Metairie has a preference for at least the trappings of culinary sophistication. Ralph Brennan’s early promise that Cafe B would be a casual neighborhood spot didn’t play out as expected. His customers wanted him to run an upscale bistro, not a blue-place-special neighborhood cafe. He wasted no time turning that around, and now Cafe B’s kitchen here is as ambitious as any of his others. That’s is apparent both on the plate and on the check. The hamburger is just an illusion.
Crab dip at Cafe B.
WHAT’S GOOD
This is a good restaurant for eating light, with many house specialties among the salads, seafood, and salads with seafood. The style of cooking is unambiguously New Orleans, although the gumbos and remoulades are outnumbered four-to-one by more original dishes. Fish is the most impressive specialty and imaginatively turned out. Also here is a scattering of retro dishes like macaroni and cheese (great) and panneed veal (not so great).
BACKSTORY
Cafe B is where a plantation road intersected with New Orleans’s oldest highway in the 1700s. The area underwent redevelopment about fifteen years ago, from which emerged an overpriced sushi restaurant called the Noble Bistro. It was replaced in 2006 by the New City Grille, a slightly upscale neighborhood bistro that did well until the owner’s personal problems shut the place down. Ralph Brennan–of Red Fish Grill, Ralph’s on the Park, and three other restaurants–renovated the space in 2010 and opened in April 2011. Chris Montero, from Ralph’s now-closed Bacco, became Cafe B’s chef.
Chef Chris Montero.
DINING ROOM
Although Cafe B is dressed down (no tablecloths) and set up a little densely, it’s a comfortable restaurant. The well-designed, V-shaped space breaks the dining areas into three, keeping the noise down without obviating the possibility of seeing friends. An attractive bar (where you may eat as well as drink) is at the apex. The service staff is casual and chatty. The parking lot looks bigger than it is; you will probably need to use the free valet service.
Crab beignets at Cafe B.
REVIEWER’S NOTEPAD
More ruminations appear in our Dining Diary. Click on any of the dates below for those reports, each written a few days after a meal at Café B.
2/24/2015 ~
FULL ONLINE MENU
BEST DISHES
Starters
Crispy parmesan eggplant sticks
Crab beignet, ravigote dipping sauce
Oyster artichoke soup
Chicken & andouille gumbo
Chilled wedge salad
Entrées
Lobster ravioli
Fresh Gulf fish, crabmeat, brabant potatoes
Coriander scallops, satsuma-chili gastrique, shaved fennel
Barbecue shrimp
Grilled black drum, aged balsamic
Fried oyster linguine, housemade bacon, garlic, leeks
Hanger steak, demi-glace, garlic frites, brussels sprouts, bearnaise
Dessert
Apple praline cake
Warm whiskey bread pudding
Meyer lemon cheesecake
Satsuma dreamsicle pie
FOR BEST RESULTS
Ralph is promotion-minded, starting with the early-evening menu (three courses, $18.50) and an all-evening happy hour (with 50-cent raw oysters). On Tuesday evenings, they give free wine samples. The desserts are better and much prettier than one expects.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The prices are a shade high, and the entree portions are sometimes a little short. On chilly nights, the single front door allows uncomfortable drafts to pass through the dining room.
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+1
Value -1
Attitude +2
Wine & Bar +1
Hipness +1
Local Color +1
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
Good for business meetings
Early-evening specials
Open Sunday lunch
Open Monday lunch and dinner
Open all afternoon
Good for children
Free valet parking
Reservations recommended
Creole Oyster Patties
Oyster patties are very popular at New Orleans parties as pass-around appetizers. They have a problem, however: most are terrible, because the sauce is too thick and rarely has a flavor much better than library paste. This recipe creates an oyster stew thick enough to stay inside the pastry, but with some flavor, too.
There’s another issue: where to find the “patty shells” in which this concoction is baked and served. For generations, one went straight to McKenzie’s for these. McKenzie’s ain’t dere no more, but fear not: Dorignac’s bakery makes then, as does the Swiss Bakery on St. Charles Avenue downtown and quite a few other places.
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 cups oyster water
1 Tbs. mixed peppercorns (green, white, black, and pink), cracked
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, or leaves from two sprigs fresh thyme
1 stick butter
4 dozen oysters, chopped coarsely
8 oz. crimini or “Baby Bella” mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 bunch green onions, tender green parts only, thinly sliced
6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 Tbs. grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp. salt
36 small (two inches across) vol–au-vents (patty shells), center part pushed down to leave a hole
1. The first two steps will take about a half-hour, but need no constant attention. In a small saucepan over low heat, bring the whipped cream to a boil and reduce by half. (be careful that the pan doesn’t foam over, as cream has a way of doing.)
2. Into a second small saucepan, strain the oyster water. Add the cracked peppercorns and thyme. Bring it to a light boil over low heat and reduce to about 1/4 cup of liquid. Strain.
3. In a skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until it bubbles. Add the oysters, mushrooms, and bacon. Cook until the mushrooms are soft–about two minutes.
4. Add the reduced cream and the reduced oyster water to the skillet, along with the all but about 1/4 cup of the green onions, plus the parsley and lemon peel. Stir lightly until combined and cook over medium heat about another minute
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Using a slotted spoon, spoon the oyster mixture into the vol-au-vents on a baking sheet or pan. This will leave a lot of sauce in the pan. Bake the vol-au vents for twelve minutes.
6. Meanwhile, bring the sauce in the pan to a light simmer. When the vol-au-vents are ready, remove them from the oven and add a teaspoon or two of the sauce. Top with a sprinkling of green onion and serve immediately.
Makes 36 oyster vol-au-vents.
Panang Curry @ Thai Spice
Penang is a city and an area of Malaysia. When its name is attached to a dish in a Thai restaurant, it swaps an “a” for the initial “e” and describes one of the most complex dishes in the Thai cuisine. The ginger-like flavors of galangal are almost always in there, among other things. The pepper level tends to be lower than those of green or red curry, but you can order it to any degree of hotness you love. An admixture of coconut milk completes the profile. It’s best with pork or shrimp, but at Thai Spice they’ll make it with almost anything you ask for. The vegetarian version is excellent, too. Tell them you like it in the very soupy Thai style, with a big spoon to get it all up.
Thai Spice. Covington: 1531 US 190. 985-809-6483.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
March 12, 2015
Days Until. . .
St. Patrick’s Day 5
St. Joseph’s Day 7
Easter 24`
Food Calendar
Today is National Muffuletta Day. The muffuletta has an obvious Italian ancestry, but it was created in New Orleans, from which it has spread to some other parts of the country in recent years. A well-made muffuletta is one of the world’s best sandwiches, and a perfect lunch for a meeting that needs its brains cleared. (As long as everybody is eating it, anyway.)
Although it’s obviously Italian, you won’t find muffulettas in Italy. The word is a rarely-used Sicilian dialect word for a big, round, thick loaf bread. That’s what a New Orleans Italian (there is dispute over who he was) used to make a new kind of panino in the early 1900s. The unique touch wasn’t the bread but the dressing: a chunky salad of olives, peppers, garlic, and various marinated vegetables. Also in there are ham, Genoa salami, mozzarella Swiss cheese (at least), plus mortadella and provolone (perhaps). A muffuletta is essentially an antipasto sandwich.
It’s a fascinating battle between elements with powerful flavors (salami, garlic, olives) and those with mellow, moderating flavors (cheese, olive oil, and crusty bread). The ham centers everything else. It’s a flavor like nothing else in the sandwich world.
Two controversies attend the muffuletta. The first is who invented it. We know that it came out of first-generation New Orleans Italian grocery stores in the French Quarter. The Central Grocery voices the loudest claim to have created the sandwich, but there are too many other stories out there to take that as gospel.
The other issue is whether it should be served hot, as it commonly is these days. It did not start that way, and the old muffuletta mills never have heated their sandwiches. I think that heating a muffuletta upsets the balance of flavors, makes the meats greasy and the cheeses slimy, and ruins the olive salad. But most shops now heat muffs automatically. This is a move away from the sandwich’s origins, and it must be stopped.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez:
It’s bad luck to split a muffuletta more than four ways. Worse luck will come from eating a whole one all by yourself.
Deft Dining Rule #272:
Cheese tastes best at room temperature. Chilling cheese hides its flavors and aromas. Melting cheese takes away its integrity.
Service Hall Of Fame
Gilbert LeFleur (his name tag said “Louis”) had two long stints as a waiter at Galatoire’s. In between, he was a waiter and then the maitre d’ at LeRuth’s. When that legendary restaurant closed in the 1990s, he returned to Galatoire’s. He was one of three cousins from the Cajun country who worked in that classic dining room. He was on the floor right until the day before he died of a sudden heart attack on this date in 2006. Gilbert was one of my regular waiters at Gal’s, as well as a good friend, always smiling and telling jokes.
Annals Of Popular Drinks
Today in 1894, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time. Until then, it was strictly a fountain drink. Bottling caused the product to take off, and it gave birth to an entirely new industry. Coke became so big that on this same date, in 1987, it became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. And if that isn’t enough coincidences for you, this is the day, in 1929, when Asa Candler died. He bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor and began marketing it.
Edible Dictionary
coquille St. Jacques, French, n.The French name for the scallop. Throughout Europe, the bivalve is associated with the Apostle St. James. Iconography of the saint almost always includes the distinctive scallop shell. Italians call scallops cappesante–“hat of the saint”–for the same reason. The connection seems to have originated in Spain, where the famous shrine to St. James at Compostella is not far from where scallops are caught. In this country, coquille St. Jacques usually implies a dish in which small scallops are baked on the scallop shell in a cheesy bechamel sauce with mushrooms and sherry. Until the 1980s–when most faux French dishes of this ilk were swept away by a tide of new American cooking–this was a very common dish on fancy menus. When you see it now, it’s usually made with big sea scallops, and is a much better dish.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Crisp is a crossroads in southern Illinois, thirty-six miles east of Centralia. This is corn country, but with more of a roll in the terrain than in the flatlands of the northern part of the state. Crisp is bounded on three sides by the upper reaches of Crooked Creek, a tributary of the Skillet Fork–one of our favorite Delicious-Sounding Places. (All that water makes it to the French Quarter by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.) You have to drive six miles south to Wayne City to find a restaurant. That would be the Little Red Barn.
Music To Stroll Around The French Quarter By
Arranger, composer, and conductor Paul Weston was born today in 1912. He had a long career during and after the Big Band era. In the 1950s he composed a marvelous pop-jazz-symphonic work called Crescent City Suite. Listening to it gives one a feeling for what New Orleans was like in those days. Weston wasn’t from here, but he liked our city. His wife was Jo Stafford, a strong choice as the finest female voice rendering the American standard songbook.
Food Through History
Today in 1930, Mohandas Gandhi began a two-hundred-mile walk with many of his followers to the seashore, where salt naturally forms by seawater evaporation. However, the British colonial law said that all salt must be bought from British producers. Picking up natural salt was illegal. Gandhi challenged this stupidity, picked up the salt, and was immediately arrested, as he knew he would be.
Eating Around The World
Today is the National Day for Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. It celebrates its independence from England in 1968. Mauritius, one of the most prosperous of African nations, was the home of the dodo bird, which was quickly killed to extinction after the Portuguese arrived in the 1500s. Imagine: a pigeon the size of a turkey! I wonder what that tasted like. A New Orleans chef is from Mauritius: Dominique Macquet, who has been moving around a lot in recent years. He is now in the kitchen of Saveur, a new restaurant in the former Baie Rouge on Magazine Street.of Dominique’s on Magazine.
Food Namesakes
Leonard Chess, founder of the record company that bore his name, was born today in 1917. We wonder if he liked his namesake pie (like a pecan pie without the pecans). . . Pro baseballer Darryl Strawberry came into the world today in 1962. . . Today in 1986, Susan Butcher won the Iditarod dog-sled race, 1158 miles, in Alaska. . . William Thomas Jr., who played Buckwheat in the Our Gang films, was born today in 1931.
Words To Eat By
“A Frenchman in the train had given him a great sandwich that so stank of garlic that he had been inclined to throw it at the fellow’s head.”–Ford Madox Ford, English writer of the late 1800s and early 1900s, who clearly had experience with a muffuletta.
Words To Drink By
“One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”–Samuel Johnson.
No Problems Ahead For These Two.
The hunger she’s ashamed to admit is something he thinks about all day long.
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 Wed. 3/11/15
5-Star Back Edition, Tuesday, March 10, 2015
5-Star Edition, Monday, March 9, 2015
5-Star Edition, Friday, March 6, 2015
5-Star Edition, Thursday, March 5, 2015
5-Star Edition, Wednesday, March 4, 2015