Wednesday, May 6, 2015.
Another Taste Of Mizado.
Two tropical drinks at Mizado.
It appears that Mizado may be a long-term sponsor on the radio show, along with its affiliated local chain, Zea. I remember that when I started doing commercials for Zea, the task was more difficult than for most other restaurants. I ad-lib the spots, with the facts and viewpoints stored in my memory. But Zea–and now Mizado–have menus so far removed from standard fare that I have to eat there over and over again before I get a grip on the essence.
Mary Ann likes Mexican food almost as she likes cool new places. She comes along with me for a supper sampling of Mizado. I have noticed that she too hasn’t been able to get her head fully around the concept.
Queso and chorizo.
We begin with drinks, of all things. She has a margarita, I have a caipirinha. These are great with the fried chickpeas they bring as an amuse bouche. (It ocurs to me that I ought to find out what the Spanish expression is for that preliminary, French-named mini-course.) The first real eats are what looks like a wagon of queso with chorizo and a cardboard box of tortilla chips. Quick assessment: good enough, not as good as La Carreta’s.
Duck tamales.
Now we have duck tamales, which surely deserve its reputation as one of the signature dishes of Mizado. I have street-style tacos (the kind brought out on that rack made of multiple W’s). They are filled with lightly marinated, raw tuna and an assortment of leafy vegetables adding crispness and sharpness. Very refreshing and with a bigger flavor I expect, with an Asian tang.
Tacos with marinated tuna and spicy caviar.
And there I am. What category does this dish fit? With what can it be compared? How do I tell a radio listener that the enjoyment of this springs both from Mexico and Japan? It makes perfectly good taste sense, but trying to be rational I sound like I’m begging the question.
But if it weren’t good, none of this cogitation would even begin. So there’s my hook, for at least one commercial. A newcomer to Mizado must prepare himself or herself not to attempt comparing this with any other Mexican food.
Beef kebabs with chimichurri.
Mary Ann is not crazy about a beef shish kebab (how do you say “shish kebab in Spanish?) with chimichurri sauce. I remember where and when I tasted my first steak with chimichurri, the Latin American answer to pesto (sort of). I also remember who the chef was: Adolfo Garcia, at an Eat Club at Lucky Chang’s (!) about fifteen years ago. I developed a liking for the beef-chimichurri idea right there, and have had it ever since.
Tres leches with meringue.
Mizado’s desserts are unique, particularly a tri-mountainous range of meringue above a lost-bread-style tres leches cake. Very sweet and rich–perhaps too much so. Brilliant idea, though.
Mary Ann says she likes Johnny Sanchez on Poydras Street better than Mizado. The two places have a lot in common. But Johnny Sanchez has the advantage of being owned by John Besh, who Mary Ann loves. So that explains that.
Mizado Cocina. Mid-City: 5080 Pontchartrain Blvd. 504-885-5555.
12 Best Sunday Brunches.
The meal at which the least business is done is Sunday brunch. It’s a time for families, friends, and other away-from-work folks. The free-flowing “Champagne” (the sparkling wine that pours at Sunday brunch is almost never actually Champagne, although some of the substitutes can be very good), the music, the surfeits of food, and the non-worry about the rest of the afternoon all contribute.
Sounds nice. But there is a dark side. If you’re interested in seeing a restaurant’s kitchen at its best, Sunday brunch is not the time to go. Not only are the best cooks and waiters often not on duty (they’re too pooped from Saturday night), but the restaurant’s management is likely to be hors de combat. What’s more, the menus tend to be fairly cut-and-dried, with specials being rare.
The meal’s name doesn’t need explanation. It’s the hybridization of breakfast and lunch. Or, as a restaurateur friend once described it, “lunch with a few egg dishes added to the menu.”
That wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary to Europeans, who see nothing wrong with having eggs as an entree at lunch or even at dinner. It wasn’t long ago that Antoine’s featured eight egg entrees on its dinner menu.
Brunch as we know it was created at Brennan’s at the suggestion of Lucius Beebe, a hyper-literate writer on the good life who very much liked New Orleans and the Brennans. In the 1940s, the book Dinner At Antoine’s by New Orleans resident Frances Parkinson Keyes was the talk of the town. Beebe told Owen Brennan that he ought to do a take on Keyes’s book by starting Breakfast at Brennan’s.
Egg Sardou.
Although the Breakfast at Brennan’s menu has always made a big fuss over how the rich surfeit of food was how the old Creoles began their days. In fact, the whole idea, the menu, and the recipes were all created from whole cloth, mostly from the mind of Brennan’s first chef, Paul Blange. A classically trained French-Belgian, he knew of many egg dishes that could be passed off as the centerpiece of even a big-deal, expensive meal.
After the 1973 break in the Brennan family and the decampment of the older Brennans to Commander’s Palace, brunch underwent a makeover. The inspiration came from Dick Brennan Sr. (Recently passed away, he was on the front line of Brennan’s and then Commander’s Palace’s management for decades.) He was standing around in the lobby of a grand hotel in London, waiting with his family to check out. He saw brunch being served in the dining room. Naturally, he stuck his head in the door to see how brunch was done there. The room was quiet, even though it was filled with people eating their eggs and fruit.
Then he heard a Dixieland jazz trio playing on the other side of the lobby. (New Orleans jazz always has been much liked by Europeans.) A bell rang in his head. He went back up to his hotel room and called his sister Ella back in New Orleans. “Ella!” he said. “Listen to this! Jazz brunch!”
“Dick! It’s three o’clock in the morning! How much have you been drinking?”
When he returned home, Dick fleshed out the idea. It would have small, portable combos playing traditional jazz at an intimate volume while wandering around the dining rooms. They hired the musicians and did a little publicity, to see if this had as much appeal as Dick knew it would. It didn’t take long. Commander’s Palace filled up and everybody loved the music. That was the first jazz brunch anywhere. Now it’s everywhere.
Since that time, brunch–either with or without jazz–has grown in its extent around town. At this writing we have an all-time record number of brunch restaurants around town at sixty-three. At the same time, the nature of brunch has changed. Before Katrina, one had a big choice to make while considering brunch: would you go to a buffet, or to a menu serving brunch dishes from a menu.
Buffets are immensely popular. All you can eat! are the sweetest words imaginable to the average diner. You don’t have to be a gourmet to know what they mean. At their peak in the 1980s, brunch buffets–particularly those in hotels–wold serve as many as a thousand people in a noontime.
Two kinds of people dislike buffets. First are the gourmets who know that given a choice between a plate of the best food in the world and the opportunity to fill many plates with just-okay food, most people will go for the quantity. Because of that, the restaurants had no incentive to cook great food. It will all get cold and dry on the buffet, and yet people will keep going back for another load.
The other people who hate buffets are restaurateurs. The cost of maintaining even a mediocre buffet is a much higher percentage of the price than it would be for a la carte dining. All the buffets had an excuse to shut down in the aftermath of Katrina. Few of them ever came back. Even the most venerable buffets–the ones at the Hilton, the Marriott, and the longest-running buffet of them all at the Royal Sonesta–went into the Extinct Restaurant category. Only a handful survived, none of them especially good.
Perhaps it was because the big buffets went away, but in the post-K years we have seen that most newly-opened restaurants serve brunch on Sundays, Saturdays or both. It makes sense. Mama isn’t baking a chicken for Sunday dinner like she used to when we were kids. And Millennials and their contiguous generations live under the assumption that when you’re hungry, you go to a restaurant. It’s the normal thing to do, not a big occasion.
Except, perhaps at brunch. Especially if there’s music.
The new main bar at Brennan’s.
1. Brennan’s. French Quarter: 417 Royal. 504-525-9711. After closing for a year and a half, a restoration costing well into eight figures, and a new (but still Brennan) management, Brennan’s is more beautiful than ever, with most of its groundbreaking brunch dishes along with at least as many new dishes. You can get the grandest brunch in town any day but Monday.
2. Arnaud’s. French Quarter: 813 Bienville. 504-523-5433. Not only does Arnaud’s match the menu riches and antique genuineness of the premises that Brennan’s offers, it it less well known for brunch and so easier to get a great table in. Live strolling jazzmen complete the pleasures.
3. Commander’s Palace. Uptown 1: Garden District & Environs: 1403 Washington Ave. 504-899-8221. The only reason that Commander’s ranks below the two above is that its brunch isn’t as good as either lunch or dinner. But the enjoyability of the beautiful premises and its strong kitchen can’t be denied. Live jazz. Brunch on both Saturday and Sunday.
4. Mr. B’s Bistro. French Quarter: 201 Royal. 504-523-2078. Nobody does the classic New Orleans restaurant dishes better than Mr. B’s, and their Brennan bona-fides bring the great egg dishes. Live music at the street end of the longest bar in New Orleans.
5. La Provence. Lacombe: 25020 US 190. 985-626-7662. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, in a French-style country inn eleven miles from the end of the Causeway. The food has never been better, and the relaxation is total. My favorite time to go there is late afternoon. Piano genius and regular customer Ronnie Kole usually noodles away on the keyboard in the bar after his dinner.
6. Broussard’s. French Quarter: 819 Conti. 504-581-3866. Broussard’s had a rough year under its new management, but that seems to be resolving itself. Meanwhile, the brunch has been solid since day one. The bottomless mimosas may have something to do with that.
7. Atchafalaya. Uptown 2: Washington To Napoleon: 901 Louisiana Ave. 504-891-9626. Chef Christopher Lynch and the management have taken a brilliant approach to brunch: they serve it every day but Monday, with surprising polish for a restaurant whose environment and prices are those of a neighborhood cafe.
8. Cafe Adelaide. CBD: 300 Poydras St. 504-595-3305. Hotels have always been the first places to look for breakfast or brunch beyond routine. Cafe Adelaide is run by the Brennan’s of Commander’s Palace, which tells the rest of the story. Free valet parking. Women wearing hats at brunch get free cocktails.
9. Antoine’s. French Quarter: 713 St Louis. 504-581-4422. It could be said that Antoine’s invented fancy eggs dishes in New Orleans. But it didn’t start serving brunch until after the hurricane, when it embraced the idea totally. A jazz trio alternates between the front room (which is preferred, because of its big windows) and the big red room in the rear.
Redemption.
10. Redemption. Mid-City: 3835 Iberville St. 504-309-3570. Chef Greg Piccolo created an array of brunch dishes during his years at the extinct Bistro at the Maison de Ville. After four years here in the converted, century-old-this-year church that was Christian’s, he’s brought them out of hiding. What a perfect place to be on a Sunday.
11. Court of Two Sisters. French Quarter: 613 Royal. 504-522-7273. The Court serves brunch every day, from a buffet that evolves from breakfast fare at nine to decidedly lunch-like at two. It is not as touristy as many believe it is. Best Sazerac in town for the eye-opener.
12. Crystal Room. CBD: Le Pavillon Hotel, 901 Poydras. 504-581-3111. One of the last brunch buffets worth talking about, the restaurant of Le Pavillon Hotel is less expensive and less ambitious than most buffets, but it’s still there. Easy walking distance from the Superdome.
13. Cafe Degas. Mid-City: 3127 Esplanade Ave. 504-945-5635. The surroundings of this little French bistro is immensely appealing, particularly on days when it’s comfortable weather outside. Nobody makes better egg dishes than a French chef.
14. Patois. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 6078 Laurel. 504-895-9441. A fascinating blend of old-time French-Creole dishes, in a restaurant which for most of its history was a neighborhood joint.
15. Restaurant des Familles. Marrero To Lafitte: 7163 Barataria Blvd. 504-689-7834. Here’s the brunch for when you have friends in from out of town. The restaurant’s large windows give onto a primordial bayou that may well bring an alligator to view. (Note: it is not a pet, but a real alligator, with a deep bench. )
Basic Cornbread
Some morning, when you wake up earlier than everyone else in the house, make a batch of this cornbread in time for breakfast. Set out softened butter and cane syrup for dipping. My mother did that for us often enough that just thinking about it makes me want to get the iron skillet out for tomorrow morning.
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
1/4 cup rendered bacon fat, melted
1/2 stick butter, melted
Preheat a well-cured nine- or ten-inch black iron skillet in a 450 degree oven while making the batter.
1. Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl. In a second bowl, beat the egg, add the buttermilk, and whisk in the bacon fat and butter.
2. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones and mix until just combined. Don’t worry about small lumps.
3. Pour the batter into the preheated skillet and return it to the oven at 450 degrees. Bake for twenty minutes, or until the middle of the top begins to brown lightly.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for about five minutes before serving.
Serves eight to twelve.
Oyster Artichoke Soup @ K-Gee’s Oyster Bar
This great little seafood house in Mandeville makes wonderful soups by taking local standards and simplifying them. This soup–which is likely to be found only when it’s the soup of the day, unfortunately–has all the elements of the classic oyster-artichoke soup, but with little or no cream, and a broth more like that of another classic: oyster stew. This allows the big, freshly-shucked oysters to stand out. Yum.
K-Gee’s dining room.
K-Gee’s Oyster Bar. Mandeville: 2534 Florida. 985-626-0530.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
May 14, 2015
Days Until. . .
New Orleans Wine And Food Experience 6
Food Calendar
Today is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. To which I say, preheat that oven, let’s make a batch. Buttermilk biscuits are so wonderful and so easy to make that I wonder why anyone buys those biscuits in a can or a mix like Bisquick. The perfect recipe for biscuits requires only three ingredients: self-rising flour (three cups), butter or shortening (six tablespoons), and buttermilk or regular milk (a cup and a half). Mix the first two with a whisk until the lumps are gone. Add the milk and lightly blend until no dry flour is left. Spoon the dough on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 450 degrees for about fifteen minutes. Butter ‘em up and enjoy!
Gourmet Gazetteer
Biscuit Basin is in Yellowstone National Park, in the northwest corner of Wyoming. It’s a highly scenic area, with one of the park’s densest concentrations of geysers. The well-named Sapphire Pool is there, too. Old Faithful is about three miles south. The entire area is crisscrossed with heavily-hiked trails. The basin is rimmed by 1000-foot cliffs on both sides of the Firehole River, which brings in the water that keeps the geysers going. An exciting place in one of the world’s most geologically active spots. After you have your fill drive the sixteen miles out of the park to West Yellowstone, and have your fill again at the tables of the Outpost Restaurant.
Edible Dictionary
baking soda, n.–Baking soda is almost perfectly pure sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO³). Even the stuff you buy to deodorize your refrigerator is pure enough to use in a lab. Baking soda enhances the action of baking powder, but does not replace it. Baking powder is mixture of ingredients which, when combined with flour and wet ingredients to make a dough, have a reaction that produces gas and causes the dough to rise. Baking powder is made many different ways, but almost always includes a dry alkali (like bicarbonate of soda) and a dry acid (like cream of tartar). Baking powder has a shelf life, because the humidity of the air is enough for the acid and the base in it to react slowly and thereby lose its potency.
Deft Dining Rule #202:
The only real strawberry shortcake is made with what looks like a sweetened biscuit. The pre-made sponge cakes you see in the stores are used only by the laziest of cooks.
Famous Local Chefs
Today is the birthday, in 1928, of Chef Robert Finley. He headed the kitchen of Masson’s in Lakeview for most of its history. During its prime in the 1960s and 1970s, Masson’s was among the most celebrated of local restaurants, nationally as well as locally. Not only did Chef Robert cook excellent and original food, but he took in many budding cooks and turned them into skilled masters. The most noteworthy of those is Chef Dennis Hutley of Chateau Country Club and the extinct Le Parvenu. Masson’s is long gone, and Chef Robert passed away in 2009, but his dishes and proteges live on.
Dining With The Royals
King Louis XIII ascended to the throne of France today in 1610. The most expensive widely available Cognac is named for him. Coincidentally, his son and successor, Louis XIV, also came to the throne on this date at age four in 1643. When he took control of France in 1661, the Sun King (as Louis XIV was known) assembled a lavish royal court culture, which demanded cuisine at the highest levels. He would have liked his father’s namesake Cognac.
Through History With Beer
Today in 1932, New York Mayor Jimmy Walker led an all-day We Want Beer parade in Manhattan. There was another such parade in Detroit that day. The forces of Prohibition began to crumble, and it would be less than a year before beer returned to America.
Food Inventions
The first patent issued for a dishwasher went to Joel Houghton of Ogden, New York on this day in 1850. It worked more like a modern clothes washing machine than a modern dishwasher. So, a lot of broken dishes.
The Saints
Today is the feast day of St. Matthias, the Apostle who replaced Judas. He is the patron saint of alcoholics.
Music To Eat Red Beans And Rice By
Sidney Bechet was born in New Orleans today in 1897, and in 1959 died on this date, too. He was a major jazz pioneer, a self-taught genius whose techniques and compositions were so offbeat that he was constantly in conflict with band leaders and other performers. Playing saxophone and clarinet, he recorded his first sides just before his fellow Orleanian Louis Armstrong cut his. Bechet was internationally famous, especially in his later years.
Music To Eat Anything By
Frank Sinatra passed away this day in 1998. He was 82. “May you live long, and may the last voice you hear be mine,” he said at the close of his concerts in his later years. It still could happen, especially if you die in an American Italian restaurant. I wouldn’t mind having the last voice I hear be that of Old Blue Eyes.
Food Namesakes
Al Porcino, a jazz trumpeter, was born today in 1925. I suppose one single mushroom of the porcini variety would be a porcino. . . North Carolina Congressman Basil Whitener was born today in 1915. . . Honey Cone, a female singing group, had a gold record today in 1971, called Want Ads. . . Apple Corps, the Beatles’ business and recording company, was formed today in 1968. . . Salt ‘n’ Pepa, a two-girl hip-hop group, had a hit today in 1990 with the song Expression.
Words To Eat By
“Americans are just beginning to regard food the way the French always have. Dinner is not what you do in the evening before you do something else. Dinner is the evening.”–Art Buchwald.
We’ve known that in New Orleans for over a century.
Words To Drink By
“I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won’t let himself get snotty about it.”–Raymond Chandler.
Only Men Understand Cast Iron.
The natural urge among women to clean off every speck of residue from a black iron skillet is what ruins the carefully-applied, non-stick coating.
Click here for the cartoon.
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