Friday, April 23, 2016.
Not Fun.
It’s not often that I dine on the North Shore when I spend most of the day on the South Shore. But Mary Ann calls with the idea of having dinner at the Lake House in Mandeville. That works right into my needs: the big old white building on the old Mandeville lakefront has had me ad-libbing commercials lately, and I was running out of material. I also hear that we will be doing an Eat Club dinner there in the next few months.
Lake House in the gloaming.
The sun is setting just as we arrive from different directions. The weather is so perfect that people are dining on the first and second floors, on the patio in front, and into the lawn. This is Mary Ann’s favorite kind of dining environment. And since it’s not raining, blasted with sunshine, windy, or any other deterrent, I like it too.
We know a lot of the people there, both on the staff and among the customers. The two guys named Scott who used to operate a coffee shop and dining room a few blocks away are there with their beautiful dogs. Helen, a waitress who turns up in many restaurants at one time or another, is making cocktails here.
A little bit darker.
The menu is much wider than I remember from the last two or three years of dining at the Lake House. I begin with corn and crab bisque while Mary Ann devours a wedge salad. I get a Hereford filet mignon with a garlic butter. Very tender, very flavorful. Who grows Hereford cattle in these parts? Mary Ann thinks it’s good, too, and takes about a third of it, and gets a side order of braised spinach as a side.
Also on hand is an Italian guitarist and singer. He is quite listenable, and kept his gig going non-stop for a couple of hours. This is a very pleasant way to spend an evening. I’m always very happy to find this kind of goodness in restaurants who run commercials in my various media.
Lake House. Mandeville: 2025 Lakeshore Dr. 985-626-3006.
Saturday, April 24, 20176.
A New Character On The Radio.
Among the least pleasant aspects of my very pleasant radio career is dealing once in awhile with cranks. My show gets fewer of these than any other I know, probably because the nature of the program weeds out most of the oddballs. But every now and then one of them decides to become a regular caller. We have one of these on every Saturday lately. He has a typical modus operandi. He sounds normal to the call screener, and even starts out with reasonably intelligent questions or comments. Then he mumbles something about my getting a check as I leave the restaurant (if it’s one that I like) or not getting a check (if I don’t like the place). I think what he’s trying to say is that I surely must be paid off by places that he thinks are less good than I think, and that I am not being paid off by the places that he likes but I don’t. He uses a different voice every time. And when he’s finished, he hangs up.
I’d actually be happy to address his feelings without his having to go through all this trouble. But cranks are not very good at comebacks. So I am left with one recourse: I will turn him into a star. I will promote his appearances on the show, and make up a funny story about the guy and what he does in the rest of his week. Regular listeners will look forward to these, and suddenly the crank will see that, far from detracting from the program, he has become an interesting part of it.
I only wish I had a show next Saturday. It’s the annual NFL draft, which WWL turns into a big festival.
Mary Ann and I lunch at La Carreta in Covington. which is in the middle of a few stores I need to get to, for items needed in the Big Computer Meltdown. That will occupy my every waking hour the rest of the day. The process of moving all the data from the old one to the new is maddening, and when I go to bed at around midnight I am in a logjam of procedures, each of which takes me farther away from getting the job done. It is not helping that the dog Susie, whose life is near its end, casts a pall over our household. I do not sleep well.
Seared Salmon With Spinach And Beurre Blanc
The Steak Knife is an excellent Lakeview restaurant that has long been liked by its many regulars from the neighborhood. (Quite a few people from other parts of town make it there, too.) There’s much more to it than steaks. Owners Bob and Guy Roth include quite a bit of seafood in the Steak Knife’s menu. This dish isn’t on the menu anymore, but I always liked it.
Seared salmon with spinach
10 oz. fresh spinach, washed and picked of large stems
3 Tbs. flour
3 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. milk
Pinch pepper
1 oz. baby Swiss cheese, shredded
1 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup olive oil
1 Tbs. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
Juice of one lemon
4 salmon fillets, 8-10 oz.
1/4 cup chopped French shallots
1/4 tsp. green peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 sticks butter, softened
1. Prepare the spinach by transferring it with all the water that clings to the leaves after washing to a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but still with some body. Remove the spinach to a bowl and set aside.
2. In the same saucepan, make a bechamel sauce over medium-low heat by stirring the 2 Tbs. butter and the flour together until the two are blended. Then whisk in the milk, a little at a time, until it blends into a fluffy sauce. Add the cheeses and stir in until incorporated. Add the spinach back to the saucepan and combine with the sauce. Set aside.
3. Blend the salt, pepper, and lemon juice into the olive oil. Dip the salmon fillets in the oil, shake off the excess, and place on a hot grill or under a preheated broiler on a preheated rack. Sear the salmon for about three minutes on each side, then set aside and keep warm. (Test for doneness: insert a kitchen fork into the thickest part of the fish, hold it there for five seconds, then carefully touch the tines to your lips. If they feel warm at all, the fish is ready.)
4. While the salmon is cooking, make the sauce. Combine the shallots, peppercorns, bay leaf and wine together and bring to a boil. Cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Add the cream and reduce the liquid by about one-third.
5. Strain the sauce into a warm skillet. Whisk in the butter, a little at a time, over very low heat. Add the lemon juice and the capers.
6. Divide the spinach among four plates. Place the salmon fillets atop the spinach, and nap with the sauce.
Serves four.
Rabbit Terrine @ Chateau du Lac
Chef Jacques Seleun makes a number of terrific pates. This one is, like most rabbit dishes, has a lightness that you don’t expect. That, and the flavor of rabbit livers (or duck livers, if the former isn’t available) make for a great start to a meal. They finish it off with pistachios and those little cornichon pickles that go so well with the terrine. (A terrine is a chunky, solid pate you eat with a fork instead of spreading.) Perhaps the greatest accolade for this classy appetizer is that my wife–who steers clear both of rabbit dishes and most patés–finds this one irresistible.
Charcuterie at Chateau du Lac. The triangular items on the left are the rabbit terrine.
Chateau du Lac. Old Metairie: 2037 Metairie Rd. 504-831-3773.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
April 25, 2015
Days Until. . .
Mother’s Day 13
Edible Dictionary
rabbit wings, n.–I won’t insult your intelligence by noting that rabbits don’t have wings. However, the number of similarities rabbit has to chicken inspires more than a few kitchen jokers to call the front legs “wings.” Like chicken wings, they’re not loaded with meat, but the upper parts are very tender and light. Most recipes call for frying them. But if you stew a rabbit, the results are all good, including the way the wings come out.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Rabbit Creek flows about nine miles through northeastern Iowa. It’s hilly enough that the many streams in that part of the state form distinct valleys, with good farming at their bases. The creek joins Bear Creek, which flows into Turkey Creek, and then into the Mississippi River. The end of Rabbit Creek is forty-eight miles west of Dubuque, and five miles from Edgewood, where is Graffiti’s, the nearest local cafe.
Food On The Air
Today in 1874 Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio and the man for whom Marconi Drive next to City Park is named, was born in Bologna. His patent (number 7777) came from England. Where would we be without him? We’d have to sit around writing letters or something. In Marconi’s honor, tune in our radio show, from three to six p.m. today on 1350 AM.
Drink And Topology
Felix Klein, the inventor of the Klein bottle, was born today in 1849. A Klein bottle has no inside or outside; the two merge into one continuous side. Problem: it requires four dimensions. If you find yourself drinking from a Klein bottle, you’ve had too much. (Or, really, nothing: a Klein bottle has no volume.) Klein bottles have their own web site, with pictures of projections of Klein bottles in three-dimensional space.
People We’d Like To Have Dinner With
This is the birthday, in 1940, of Al Pacino. Of course, we’d go someplace Italian, but which place? It would have to have cannoli. We’d also invite Talia Shire, the sister of Francis Coppola. Talia also has a birthday today (1946). Both Pacino and Shire were in The Godfather, and since Francis himself might be in town for the Jazz Festival, he could come too. What an unforgettable dinner!
Deft Dining Rule #520:
In a restaurant, the person who sits with his back to the wall is the one most likely to pick up the check for that table. If he doesn’t, he’s a fraud.
Music To Dine By
Ella Fitzgerald was born today in 1917. “The only thing better than singing is more singing,” she said. The same is true of listening, if it’s to her. She was one of the creators of scat singing. Her records with one of the other scat masters–Louis Armstrong–are delicious in their contrasts.
Annals Of Canned Milk
Today is the anniversary of the 1974 Carnation Revolution, which changed Portugal from a dictatorship to a liberal democracy. Although the first thing I thought of when I saw this was a famous rhyme allegedly sent in by a contestant for a contest put on by Carnation Milk. Maybe you’ve heard it:
Carnation Milk is the best of all
No teats to pull, no pails to haul
No barn to clean, no hay to pitch
Just punch a hole in the son of a bitch.
Today’s Flavor
Zucchini Bread Day sounds appealing–for about ten seconds. That’s why it’s evolved in Louisiana into Crawfish Bread Day. Crawfish bread is made by covering an underbaked loaf of French bread with crawfish, cheese, a sauce like crawfish etouffee and herbs, then baking it. It is not widely available except at festivals–notably the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival, which begins this Friday.
The Saints
It’s the feast day and birthday (1270) of Louis IX, king of France. He achieved sainthood for his exemplary life and devotion to the Church. On the other hand, he was captured during the Eighth Crusade by the Egyptians, and had to be ransomed for one and a half times the annual income of France at the time. St. Louis Cathedral, the focal point of New Orleans, is named for him, as is the city of St. Louis, Missouri.
Food Namesakes
In 1932, the most famous player in the history of the Harlem Globetrotters, Meadowlark Lemon, was born. . . Stu Cook, bassist with Creedence Clearwater Revival, was born today in 1945. . . Fish, a Scottish progressive rock singer and composer, was born today in 1958. His real name is Derek Dick. . . Karel Appel, a Dutch painter, was born today in 1921. . . C.B. Fry, ace cricket player and one-time holder of the long-jump record, was born today in 1872. . . The United States lease on the Corn Islands, off the east coast of Nicaragua, came to an end on this date in 1971. . . Italian poet Torcuato Tasso died in Rome today in 1595.
Words To Eat By
“Eating at a new, highly recommended restaurant is like a Very Important Blind Date, a contract with uncertainty you enter into with great expectation battling the cynicism of experience. You sit waiting, wondering about the upcoming moments of revelation. Somewhere in the back of your head is the dour warning that disappointment is inevitable but you don’t really believe it or you wouldn’t be there. The best eaters are always optimists.”–Stuart Stevens, American author.
Words To Drink By
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”–Edward R. Murrow, CBS news reporter, born today in 1908.
Coffee In Roman History.
Now we know where Starbucks et al. came up with those unique words it uses for almost everything.
Click here for the cartoon.