Pork Barbecue To The Limit.
The mania for smoked, barbecued, roasted, and cured pig continues to spiral upward. Nowhere is this more in evidence than at the seventh annual Hogs for the Cause. It’s in the new City Park Festival Grounds–on Wisner at Friedrichs, near Christian Brothers School. It’s a competition, an eating opportunity, a music festival, and a charitable fundraiser all in one. Eighty teams of cooks need follow only one rule: their dishes must center on pork. Otherwise, they can do whatever they want.
It begins tomorrow night with something new: a gala dinner at Popp’s Fountain in City Park, March 26. The dinner has a Moroccan street-food theme, and is orchestrated by the chefs and friends of the Link Restaurant Group (Herbsaint, Cochon, Butcher, and Peche), There will also be music (not Moroccan) and various silent and not-so-silent auctions.
The shank of the event stretches from Friday through Saturday, March 27 and 28. Tickets are $20 per day, which gets you through the gate for a full day of live music. The barbecue artists sell plates for nominal prices all day. Last year, 20,000 people and 80 barbecue teams showed up–despite heavy rain. (The event goes on rain or shine.) Enough money was raised to help 30 families with children suffering from juvenile brain cancer.
If you’ve never attended a barbecue competition, get ready to see some of the most rabidly avid cooks you’ll ever encounter, all striving for both uniqueness and perfection. More information and tickets can be had at the website.
Hogs For The Cause
City Park Festival Grounds: Wisner @ DeSaix Aves.http://www.hogsforthecause.org.
NOMenu invites restaurants or organizations with upcoming special events to tell us, so we might add the news to this free department. Send to news@nomenu.com.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015.
Irishness. NOLA Beer. Rouse’s Does St. Joseph Altars.
Matt Murphy is the perfect guest for our Round Table show on St. Patrick’s Day. He was in the second string at Commander’s Palace when Jamie Shannon died, but Tory McPhail got the tap on the shoulder. Matt knew he’d have to move up or move out at that point, so he moved to the top rung at the Ritz-Carlton on Canal Street. Not exactly a downward trajectory.
His next gig was to open the Irish House under his own aegis. Being a native of Dublin and a very engaging guy, he made a success out of a building that hadn’t done well before–even though it’s in a great location on St. Charles Avenue. With its own parking lot, yet. Matt also knows that the Irish crowd won’t show up unless the bar and the music are good. Which they are. Food’s edible, too.
Also in the room today are Tim Acosta and Marcie Nathan, both of whom have marketing positions at Rouse’s. That supermarket chain is setting up St. Joseph’s Day altars at some of its stores, and displaying the unique foodstuffs needed for the celebration of that holiday. Rouse’s, by making its stores different from others in its chain, has managed to take over the lead among grocery stores in these parts. Its bigger, newer stores–especially the one on Baronne Street downtown, whose gourmet-to-go side is spectacular–have really changed the rules.
Filling out the guest list is Kirk Coco, from NOLA Brewing Company. Abita aside (that’s really in a different catagory), NOLA has been near the top of local craft breweries, and its product line is expanding. But what does beer go with better? Irish or Italian food?
After the show ends (early–there’s a basketball game), I head over to Café Adelaide, where I am to meet up with a producer for Robin Roberts’s television news operation. They are assembling a major report on New Orleans ten years after Katrina. That’s just a few months off. I expect we’ll see a lot of such coverage. My book Hungry Town answers all the questions they ask me, but I’m happy to go through it all conversationally.
Lally Brennan is hosting our meeting. She is one of the co-owners of Café Adelaide (and SoBou and. . . what’s that other one, again? Oh, yeah– Commander’s Palace). She answers another big question: about her uncle, Dick Brennan, Sr., who died last Saturday. Apparently Dick had a kidney issue, complicated by the developments you have when well into your eighties. He had been in an unambiguous decline in recent months, such that he didn’t recognize anyone anymore. Given that he was a man who knew everybody and approached them all as good friends, that is a steep fall indeed. Lally says the funeral is not set, but will probably be this Friday. I will clear my calendar for that.
Fried oysters at Cafe Adelaide.
The kitchen sends us a bunch of bar snacks, including Cafe Adelaide’s astonishingly complex corn dogs. And some oysters and fries and a couple of other things. Although these nibbles add up to supper for me, Lally invites the four of us to stay for dinner. But the producers need to move on and prepare for their departure tomorrow. We end up with anecdotes about this and that, and Lally mentions her ex-husband in passing. He was my civics teacher at Jesuit, thereby proving once again that only 500 people live in New Orleans. The TV producers make a note of that.
Cafe Adelaide. CBD: 300 Poydras St. 504-595-3305.
#8 Among The 33 Best Seafood Eateries
Sal and Judy’s
Lacombe: 27491 US 190. 985-882-9443. Map.
Nice Casual
AE DS MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
It doesn’t matter much who you are. It’s going to be tough getting a table at Sal and Judy’s on moment’s notice. That’s even if you know Sal. Everybody knows Sal. Sal is one of the nicest guys in the restaurant business. He comes across as an Italian immigrant who hasn’t quite figured things out, letting his customers fill him in (some of them talking in a fake Italian accent. But in reality Sal is one of the most savvy restaurateurs around. Nobody except Paul Prudhomme or Emeril can match his success in marketing his sauces, salad dressings, seasonings, and olive oil, which are everywhere in New Orleans supermarkets. (They’re successful largely because they really duplicate the flavors served in the restaurant.) Meanwhile, the food in house is worth a trip across the lake and the trouble of making a reservation well in advance. (Two or more weeks for weekend seatings.)
WHY IT’S NOTEWORTHY
The most popular white-tablecloth restaurant on the North Shore got that way by serving terrific New Orleans-Italian food in tremendous portions, at prices so low it makes one wonder how the place turns a profit. That reputation was set during the restaurant’s first two decades, in a wreck of a building in the middle of nowhere. Its much more atmospheric current quarters cement the relationship with the regulars who keep the place packed all the time.
Trout amandine.
WHAT’S GOOD
Sal and Judy’s makes a lot of friends with its large portions at low prices. But there is never a quality gap. Particularly in the seafood department, Sal Impastato’s cooking is exciting. His pasta dishes (especially those involving shrimp and crabmeat) are light and perfect. First-class sauces make everything a little bit better still.
BACKSTORY
Sal Impastato and his brother Joe (who runs Impastato’s in Metairie and Madisonville) came to New Orleans from their native Sicily when they were in their late teens. They worked for–and learned a lot from–Jimmy Moran, at his La Louisiane in the French Quarter. The brothers went their separate ways in 1974, each opening his own restaurant, but continuing to help each other–which they still do. Joe, who calls Sal the chef in the family, makes the pasta for both restaurants, and Sal makes the sauces. Sal’s place was so small and deep in the North Shore woods that it had to be great to survive. It was, and it did. Judy, Sal’s ex-wife, left to open other restaurants.
DINING ROOM
Two well-furnished dining rooms provide only a few more seats than the old shack did, but the restaurant seems much more spacious and certainly more comfortable, albeit in a suburban style. Sal is always roaming around the dining room, but he spend most of his time cooking, as the splattered condition of his shirt and apron amply prove.
FULL ONLINE MENU
BEST DISHES
Starters
Fettuccine
Fried calamari
Baked oysters Cinisi (mushrooms, Italian sausage, garlic, bread crumbs)
Crab claws, cream sauce
Seafood cannelloni
Crabmeat au gratin
Entrees
Spaghetti aglio olio, grilled Italian sausage, onions and bell peppers
Braciolone (round steak stuffed with bread crumbs, Parmesan, italian sausage, ground beef, garlic)
Cannelloni (stuffed with chopped veal, cheese; red and cream sauces)
Spaghetti bordelaise and oysters
Spiedini (pork loin stuffed with ham, provolone, bread crumbs, tomato, mushrooms)
Seafood platter
Fried oysters
Soft shell crab
Speckled trout prepared numerous ways
Desserts
Cheesecake
»Gelato
Pies with ice cream
»Bocci
FOR BEST RESULTS
Appetizers here are big enough for two, or to serve as an entree. Order one course less than you normally would, to adjust for this. The restaurant’s printed menu displays much less than the entire range of the kitchen. Press the server on what specials might be available beyond what he or she told you about. Just ask if you want something a little offbeat. Sal can cook anything.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
They need to use bigger plates, because the food goes all the way to the edge in many cases.
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+1
Value +3
Attitude +1
Wine & Bar +1
Hipness
Local Color +1
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
Romantic
Good for business meetings
Open Sunday lunch and dinner
Open all afternoon Sunday only
Unusually large servings
Good for children
Easy, nearby parking
Reservations recommended
Pan-Seared Drumfish With Mussels @ Rue 127
Rue 127’s entree list may have the greatest percentage of major specialties of any gourmet bistro in town. This is the best of their fish dishes (at least since the salmon they used to do went off). The fish is already excellent before the mussels, bacon cubes, and poblano peppers come into play. The only thing missing is a big Chardonnay. And several are on the wine list.
Rue 127. Mid-City: 127 N Carrollton Ave. 504-483-1571.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
Oysters Ambrosia
This was created at Commander’s Palace by Sebastian “Chef Buster” Ambrosia, who might have the best name I ever heard for a chef. For many years, Chef Buster hosted a cooking show on WWL Radio. He served this dish in every restaurant he headed, and it was always the best dish in that restaurant at the time. It’s as Creole as something can be: seafood with a brown sauce. “It’s good, hearts!” as Chef Buster would say.
4 dozen big oysters
2 Tbs. Creole seasoning
1 cup flour
2 sticks butter
2 cups red wine
1 quart strong beef stock
6 bay leaves
1 Tbs. chopped garlic
1/4 cup Worcestershire
1 tsp. Crystal hot sauce
2 cups flour
1 Tbs. salt
2 chopped green onions
8 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Vegetable oil for frying
1. Drain the oysters and collect the water. Sprinkle the oysters with the Creole seasoning, and toss around to coat uniformly. Put them in the refrigerator while making the sauce.
2. In a saucepan, make a medium-dark roux with the butter and flour, taking care not to burn it. When the roux has reached the right color, add the red wine and bring it to a boil while stirring.
3. After the wine boils for a minute, add the beef stock, strained oyster water, bay leaves, and garlic. Whisk to dissolve the bits of roux that will be floating around. Lower the Bring the pot up to a simmer and let it cook and thicken for about 45 minutes.
4. Add the Worcestershire and the hot sauce, plus salt and black pepper to taste. Simmer another ten minutes, at most, while you’re preparing the oysters.
5. Get the oysters from the refrigerator and coat them with flour seasoned with the 1 Tbs. salt. Fry the oysters till golden brown, about two minutes. Don’t add so many that the oil temperature drops radically. Drain after frying.
6. Spoon some of the sauce into a bowl and toss the oysters around in it to coat them well. Place six oysters on a plate and top with some green onions and parsley.
Opulent option: Add some lump crabmeat to the bowl when tossing the oysters in the sauce, and serve them both together.
Makes eight appetizers or four entrees.
March 25, 2015
Days Until. . .
Easter 11
French Quarter Festival 15
Jazz Festival 31
Annals Of Famous Restaurants
Either yesterday, today, or tomorrow can be considered the anniversary of Emeril’s. I was there today in 1990, the second evening of pre-opening dinners. The restaurant opened to the public March 26. Things went wrong, as they always do in new restaurants. But Emeril’s former employer–Ella Brennan of Commander’s Palace–told him, “Change nothing.” He didn’t, and the place took off. It’s hard to believe now, but that was not a foregone conclusion at the time. Emeril had not even begun to achieve the stardom he now enjoys outside New Orleans. It wasn’t quite just another new restaurant.
Emeril on my radio show on the occasion of the restaurant’s 20th anniversary.
Emeril’s, as we know now, joined that rarefied list of restaurants whose influence caused major changes in the dining scene. Antoine’s in the 1880s, Galatoire’s in the 1900s, Arnaud’s in the 1920s, Brennan’s in the 1950s, LeRuth’s in the 1970s, Commander’s Palace in the 1980s, and Emeril’s in the 1990s. No restaurant has joined the list yet in the new century, in my opinion.
Celebrity Chefs Today
Today is the birthday (1954) of Greg Picolo, long-time chef of the Bistro at the Maison de Ville, where he distinguished himself. In 2011, the restaurant fell apart (long story, and not his fault). In 2012, Chef Greg joined Redemption, the newly-reopened restaurant formerly known as Christian’s. He was the ideal person for that job; the restaurant had been struggling to find a direction in its first two years. Greg has a direction, all right, and the menu has not only his stamp but that of Christian’s, too.
Deft Dining Rule #200
If you need predictability from a restaurant, find one where the chef has been there a long time. If you want novelty, find one with a history of hiring young chefs who stay a year or two and then open their own places. You can’t have both.
Today’s Flavor
Today is International Waffle Day. Waffles seem special because they’re not often made at home. Waffles are associated with restaurants, with the added touches of which add nice touches like whipped cream, fresh fruit, and real maple syrup, all of which are a lot of trouble in your own kitchen. Restaurants also keep their waffle irons on all the time. That gets around the First-Waffle Problem. For reasons nobody can understand, the first waffle you make is much worse than all the ones that come after.
The best waffles are made with a thick batter containing a good bit of egg and butter. Because butter can be heated much hotter than water, it gives the waffle not only its fine flavor but also a crisp exterior. The other ingredients are milk, self-rising flour (I find that works better than using baking powder) a pinch of salt, a dash of vanilla, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon (not enough to taste, but enough to add a certain something). A really fabulous waffle comes from separating the egg whites, beating them until they foam, and gently stirring them into the batter.
An overlooked possibility is making non-sweet waffles with ingredients like onions and herbs. They are excellent bottom layers of savory dishes. Small oniony waffles carry caviar and sour cream marvelously well. At the street level, restaurants are popping up all over the country serving fried chicken and waffles.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez:
The best waffle irons are the kind with big squares and non-stick coatings. Be sure they heat up a long time before you put the first one in. And be ready to give that one to the dog. Or to Dad.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Coffeepot, Arizona is seventy air miles northeast of Phoenix. But the drive is about thirty miles longer up the twisting mountain roads you need to drive to get there. The final miles of the route are tracks suitable only for rugged four-wheel-drive vehicles. Coffeepot is just a camp with a couple of permanent buildings in Coffeepot Canyon, where the ranch animals can get a drink at Coffeepot Tank. All this is at about the 5100-foot level in the Tonto National Forest, whose trees are spread well apart. Visually appealing desert country, where making a pot of coffee over the campfire while baking biscuits in a dutch oven as the sun comes up sounds good. Better than driving all the way to Butcher Hook Restaurant, a fifteen-mile drive down the dirt road into Tonto Basin.
Music To Eat Chicken And Waffles By
Aretha Franklin, who gets our respect as the definitive female soul voice, was born today in 1943. She takes care of TCB.
Edible Dictionary
pea shoots, n., pl.–Pea shoots are the tender new growth of a pea plant, particularly the tendrils that the plant uses to grab onto vertical structures so it can climb them. They usually also include the new leaves. They taste a lot like peas. Although they’ve been eaten by humans for a long time, it’s only recently that restaurant chefs have begun using them as a garnish, replacing parsley and the like. In that use, they’re usually raw, but they can be cooked. We don’t see them in that cooked form as often as we do, say, spinach, because if you take away too many shoots you don’t get any peas. And when it comes to pea plants, the peas are where the money is.
Annals Of Food Tourism
On this date in 1806, the first people to travel by rail took a train through Wales. Their destination: a place where they would consume a few dozen raw oysters on the half shell. Writer Elizabeth Isabella Spence said about the ride: “I have never spent an afternoon with more delight than the one exploring the romantic scenery at Oystermouth (Mumbles). This car contains twelve persons and is constructed chiefly of iron, its four wheels run on an iron railway by the aid of one horse, and the whole carriage is an easy and light vehicle.” She mentioned nothing about the guy who fell off while looking for the bar car.
Annals Of Popular Cuisine
Today in 1995, Pizza Hut rolled out its Stuffed Crust pizza, inspiring commercials showing people eating pizza crust first. Which, by the way, gets messy when you get to the point of the slice–unless it’s a very dry, cheese-poor pizza. The hard part was finding a cheese that would still look like cheese after baking inside dough.
Eating Around The World
Today in the town of Tichborne, in Hampshire, England, a gallon of flour is distributed to every adult in the town, and a half-gallon per child. The Tichborne Dole, as it came to be known, was instituted by Lady Mabella Tichborne. Her dying command to her husband was to make a donation of bread every year on the feast of the Annunciation (nine months before Christmas). She added a curse to it, which came true for one of her husband’s descendants. Afterwards, the Dole was kept up without fail, and still is. Here’s the whole story.
Annals Of Nuts
Today in 1775 (although there’s dispute about the year), George Washington planted pecan trees at Mount Vernon, his home. Some of those trees are still alive. He may have done this at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson. Both men were strong proponents of pecans, and advised their widespread planting throughout America. It was a good idea. The harvest of pecans–erratic though it may be–is always welcome. And when a pecan branch or a tree falls, its wood is among the finest to burn for grilling food.
Annals Of Food Research
Norman Borlaug was born today in 1914. An American agronomist, he won the 1970 Nobel Prize for the research that evolved into the Green Revolution. He spent much of his career figuring out how places with inadequate food production could grow more and better crops. His notable successes were in Mexico, India, and Pakistan.
Chefs In The News
Today in 2008, Chef Paul Prudhomme was hit by a falling bullet while attending the Zurich Classic golf tournament in New Orleans. He was not hurt.
Food Namesakes
Long-time major league third baseman Travis Fryman hit the Big Basepath today in 1969. . . The mother of film director David Lean yelled “action!” at him today in 1908. . . Kaat Mussel, an outspoken woman in Rotterdam (and seller of mussels, hence her name) was born today in 1723.
Words To Eat By
“He gave her a look you could have poured on a waffle.”–Ring Lardner, American writer.
Words To Drink By
“He that eateth well drinketh well,
He that drinketh well sleepeth well,
He that sleepeth well sinneth not,
He that sinneth not goeth straight through Purgatory to Paradise.”
–William Lithgow.
When A Boy Gives Breakfast To His Dog. . .
The dog may not seem grateful enough.
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 TU 3/24/15
5-Star Back Edition MO 3/23/15
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