Friday, September 4, 2015.
Why Haven’t We Been To Nuvolari’s Lately?
Labor Day weekend begins, and I can’t think of a reason I should commute today. Mary Leigh, the only other person in the house, finishes up her pastry-making work at Sucre, and is home when my radio show ends. We will dine together, of course. For once, we agree on a venue right off: Nuvolari’s. We both like the place, but Mary Ann is not a fan. But MA isn’t here, so we reach unanimity easily.
We are greeted with unusual warmth by Wally Simmons, the long-haired, long-time manager and bartender of Nuvolari’s. Is it so long since we’ve darkened the door that we get a reception like this? When we’re seated, the answer to that question is clear: the premises look different to me. ML doesn’t think so, which means that this is yet another place that seems vaguely unfamiliar to me from disuse.
I am able to escape one of the explanations of that when I look over the menu. It is very different from the mostly-Italian card that was here five years ago–let alone when it first opened in the middle 1980s, when it was decidedly Italian, with lots of red sauces. Now there is very little of that. Given that I was thinking about fettuccine Alfredo, this derails my order somewhat.
Pasta with pesto, Nuvolari’s way.
Mary Leigh recalls the lunch we had in Genoa back in May, when we had what we all agreed was the finest pesto-sauce pasta of our lives. She had that on her mind, and saw that one of the dishes comes with a pesto. The dish is even named for Genoa. I ask if we could have the pasta part of this dish, enough of it to make two appetizers. Mary Leigh used to freak out when I’d ask for special dishes, but she appears to be past it now.
The pasta is very different from the one in Genoa, but we decide that it is every bit as good, and that Nuvolari’s ought to add it to the menu.
Grilled pompano with vegetables, Nuvolari’s.
We move on to the tomato-basil bisque for me, and a wedge salad for ML. The salad keeps her busy through my eating of grilled pompano with an assortment of vegetables and at least three different colors of whole cherry tomatoes. I am reminded of the house salad served throughout my train trip. What brings that to mind is the difficulty of eating a whole cherry tomato with any known utensil. You need three hands. Anyway, the fish is good.
The first wine I order is no longer available. The server returns with the news that a different Italian wine took its place, and that it is somewhat similar to the one I asked for. This is false, but I was happy about the outcome anyway, because it involves Salice Salantino, a big red wine from the bootheel of Italy. Wines in that part of the country were, at a time within memory, so terrible that they were distilled for alcohol that would be used in manufacturing batteries. But modern winemaking practices have turned even these poor vintages into eminently drinkable wines. As this one was. Rustic and good. Should have had a steak with it, but I’ve done my steak for this week.
Dessert is creme brulee. I don’t like the current trend in which creme brulee is made in wider, shallower dishes than the classic. It’s visually grabbing, but the dessert winds up with too much sugar.
Prices at Nuvolari’s continue to be lower than I expect, and we get out of of here for around $80 inclusive.
Nuvolari’s. Mandeville: 246 Girod St. 985-626-5619.
Saturday, September 5, 2015.
Strobe-Light Sky. Panang Curry.
Mary Ann updates me on the progress of her visit to Los Angeles. The crew renovating Jude’s house keeps forgetting to make the house accessible for house guests, and MA is forced to spend several nights in–who could believe it, in such a large city–the only acceptable hotel in L.A. That’s the Langham in Pasadena. I ask her whether her regular room there is available, and she says it is. On the other hand, the corned short ribs of beef–her favorite breakfast dish–is gone from the menu. I tell her I will pray for her.
A welcome to regular customers at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena.
MA was to visit for a week with an old friend who lives in Fresno. But the whole Fresno area is besieged by the same wildfires that plagued me on the trains last week. It’s even worse in Fresno because the flames are closer to civilization, and are burning houses down. MA’s friend has decamped to New Orleans, of all places. That gets me to thinking. . . but I stop before I can get myself in trouble.
Mary Leigh has a long work day in her two pastry shops, and then she goes out to dine with one of her fellow bakers, a girl who has become a new friend. That leaves me to dine solo. I go to the Thai Pepper in Mandeville. As usual, it’s nearly empty, but doing a good business with take-out orders. I will never understand why anyone would take home a dish that gets most of its deliciousness from having been cooked very rapidly over high heat, then served immediately, when the flavors are at peak.
Panang curry at Thai Pepper.
The weather looked good when I went in there to start with tom yum soup, a darker-than-usual version with big shrimp and savory vegetables. Spicy and good, it gets me ready for the panang curry with chicken. This is also a soup more or less, but that doesn’t bother me. I forget to tell them how hot I wanted the peppers, but they get it right anyway.
I said the weather looked good when I arrived. I don’t know why I didn’t notice that halfway through the Panang curry, a tremendous thunderstorm exploded from nowhere. It is just starting to rain when I run out to my car, but in the twelve miles home, a tremendous torrent falls. The kind that makes you think that it’s got to slacken off any minute now, but that only gets more rambunctious. It is accompanied by the kind of continuous lightning from all directions. It creates a strobe effect with the windshield wipers.
I also learn that the stripes on Causeway Boulevard become almost impossible to see in this kind of storm, making it tough to stay in lane. Or to avoid hitting deep puddles and blowing wings of water in both directions.
It slowed down by the time I got to Claiborne Hill. Past there, the evidence was everywhere that a huge dump of precip had fallen. Leaves and stems and branches and boughs are all over the roads. I hope that dead pine tree I have to pass every day fell, away from the road and into the woods. But it didn’t.
ML comes home not long after I do. She went through the storm, too. We compare notes, and learn that we were each worried about the other. My darling daughter!
Thai Pepper. Mandeville: 1625 US 190. 985-624-3057.
Zuppa Inglese (English Trifle)
An English trifle is so colorful, light, and delicious that it seems frivolous–hence the name. But a lot of work goes into making a good one, so the maker is within his or her rights to take great pride in its making. The most challenging part is making pastry cream, a recipe for which follows. But you do that in advance. The rest is easy. This is the same dessert that Italians misleadingly call zuppa Inglese (“English soup”). It should not be soupy, however. This is best made in a glass bowl, because the colorful fruits make it very pretty. Don’t hesitate to substitute other fruits. A trifle is also a great use for leftover cake, even if it’s a little stale. Finally, this makes a good summer dessert because it’s usually served a little bit chilled.
3 cups sponge cake or lady fingers, cut into cubes
1/2 cup Kirsch (cherry brandy)
3 cups pastry cream (see recipe)
1 pint fresh ripe strawberries, sliced
2 ripe bananas, sliced
2 kiwis, peeled, cut end to end, and sliced across
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup crushed pistachios or slivered, toasted almonds
1. In a bowl, soak the cake or lady fingers in just enough Kirsch to soften them but not turn them to mush.
1. In a chilled metal bowl, whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue whipping until the peaks stiffen and no gritty sugar remains. Do not overwhip! The cream might break.
3. In a glass bowl than can hold about three quarts, make a layer of the cake at the bottom. With a spatula, spread a half-inch-thick layer of pastry cream on top of it. Cover (incompletely) with some of the strawberries, banana slices, cake, and nuts. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the fruit, then top with a layer of kiwis, blueberries, cake and nuts. Spread more pastry cream, and make two more layers as above.
4. Top the bowl with whipped cream and stud it with some of all of the ingredients in the layers below. Refrigerate until serving time.
5. To serve, use a big spoon and scoop through two layers to get all the ingredients. It’s prettiest when served in glass dishes.
Serves eight to twelve.
Bouillabaisse @ R’Evolution
Bouillabaisse waxes and wanes in the kitchens of New Orleans’s restaurant. After an efflorescence of the dish in the early 2000s, it has once again faded from view, with less than a handful of chefs bothering to serve it. But any description of the dish makes one wonder why it isn’t wildly popular here. It starts with a seafood brother, into which are added shrimp, crab, mussels, lobster, oysters, and miscellaneous local fish. In its hometown of Marseilles, trash fish are all but required in the recipe. In New Orleans, much better seafoods show up. At this moment, the rendition at R’Evolution by Chefs John Folse and Rick Tramanto is the lustiest and most delicious, with a big flavor. One wants only for a bit more of it. And some better, crustier bread. But beggars can’t be choosers, and in these days those of us who are fans of the dish (I’m crazy about it) have slim pickings.
R’Evolution. French Quarter: 777 Bienville (in the Royal Sonesta Hotel). 504-553-2277.
This is among the 500 best dishes in New Orleans area restaurants. Click here for a list of the other 499.
September 9, 2015
Days Until. . .
Summer ends 13
Celebrity Chefs Today
It’s the birthday (1960) of Mario Batali, one of the most celebrated of American Italian chefs. He was born and grew up around Seattle. Soon after graduating from college, he moved into a cooking career, and has been at it ever since. Restaurants he opened in New York City with legendary Friuliano restaurateur Joe Bastianich were so lusty and unique that he became a major celebrity chef. He’s still constantly on television and on tour, and headlines numerous restaurants around the country. Batali, with his infectious enthusiasm for earthy cookery, proves that one need be neither slender nor beautiful to get on television–although the Food Network, in its effort to make everything on its air cute, has moved away from real chefs like Mario.
This is the birthday, in 1971, of Chef Jared Tees. He came to prominence as the original chef at Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House. After the hurricane he moved to the John Besh restaurant organization, and opened Luke. He’s now stationed at The Besh Steakhouse. Tall, good-looking, well-spoken, talented chef.
Food Entrepreneurs
Harlan Sanders was born today in 1890, in Henryville, Indiana. His is one of the world’s most familiar faces: his portrait hangs in all 11,000 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants around the world. He began cooking when he was six years old, after his father died and his mother went to work. He used that skill to open a cafe in a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. His food good enough that it was highlighted in Duncan Hines’s guide to dining across America, and for the governor to name him a Kentucky Colonel.
Colonel Sanders (as he was best known) perfected his fried chicken recipe by introducing the use of a pressure fryer. When a new highway bypassed his town, he sold the restaurant and gas station, but was left stone broke. At sixty-five he hit the road, selling restaurateurs around the country on his fried chicken recipe. It was an enormous success, and Kentucky Fried Chicken became an icon. In the early years, the KFC restaurants cooked all the chicken to order. When it went to a fast-food, prepared-in-advance production system, KFC lost a lot of its goodness. I hear that the Colonel was never a fan of the crispy version. When the original recipe with the famous eleven herbs and spices is made properly, it’s still pretty good. But it’s a long, oily slide from the Colonel’s original product. He died in 1980, but his countenance still gazes on all of us as we drive by.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Red Pepper Butte is in the Basin and Range country of eastern Nevada. It’s, forty-three miles north of Ely, the only town of any size in that desert region. It’s the last outcropping of rock for many miles to the east, coming out of a low mountain range to the west. It rises only about two hundred feet above the surrounding terrain, but the Butte Valley the surrounds it on three sides is so flat that the butte sticks out. Its sparse collection of trees also differentiates it from the desolate surroundings. Only a few dirt roads enter the area. It goes without saying that no restaurants are to be found anywhere nearby. In Ely, you can find good grub at the Silver State Restaurant.
Food Calendar
This is National Pressure Cooking Day, in honor of Colonel Sanders, who is probably responsible for more pressure cooking than any one other person. Pressure cooking involves closing a cooking utensil with an airtight lid, such that boiling water inside causes the air pressure to rise. Under pressure, water boils at a much higher temperature. The pressure also forces the cooking liquid deeper and faster into the food. None of this haste creates any extra damage to the food. It’s not a new idea–French inventor Denis Papin is credited with devising it in 1679s. Despite the complete safety of modern pressure cookers and their effectiveness, pressure cooking has never really caught on in the mainstream. Those who like the technique are very enthusiastic, but there lingers a widespread, unfounded doubt about it.
Edible Dictionary
hake, n.–The fish known by this name in the Gulf of Mexico is related to cod, and is about the size of a speckled trout–one to two pounds, usually. While it’s not a common food fish, when it does turn up on a menu it’s worth ordering. Its flaky flesh is nearly white and rather soft, making it ideal for poaching or saute, especially with sauces. It had a peculiar shape, with a tail that comes to a point and a continuous fin along its back and underside. It looks like a standard fish in front and an eel in the back. It turns up most often during shrimp season, when it’s a by-catch in shrimp nets.
Eating Across America
This is the anniversary of the statehood of California, admitted to the Union on this date in 1850. You and I would not eat and drink as well as we do were it not for the farmers of the Golden State. They raise an almost unbelievable percentage of the fresh produce we consume, including almost all of the artichokes, garlic, lettuce, oranges, and eating grapes. Wine grapes grow all over the state. California winemakers vinify almost every variety known in the rest of the world. And one of its most popular grapes–Zinfandel–is its unique property.
Beyond fruits and vegetables, California has a food culture that supports a terrific array of artisanal producers of lamb, beef, cheese, and herbs. About the only food arena in which the state is an also-ran is seafood–but even there it has some specialties, notably Dungeness crab, abalone, petrale sole, and oysters. California’s dark side is that it is the world’s leading producer of hot air in cookery. Restaurants tend to emphasize good stories than good flavors in their food. Still, it’s quite a place for eaters.
Music To Eat On The Dock By
This is the birthday, in 1941, of Otis Redding, the greatest soul singer of all time. He was a terrific composer, too–Respect and Dock of the Bay were his best-known works. His finest recording, however, was the 1930s standard Try A Little Tenderness, which I can’t listen to without feeling my soul moved. Otis died tragically young in a plane wreck, at 26. What would his career have become had he lived?
Music To Drink Champagne By
Michael Bublé was born today in British Columbia in 1975. He has become the leading performer of Big Band jazz and standards among his generation. He’s a glamorous, polished performer who has even caught the attention of teenagers to the music of the 1930s and 1940s. That’s quite a feat, despite the surpassing musical excellence of that material. He packs houses wherever he goes.
Music To Eat Roast Beef By
Dee Dee Sharp was born today in 1945. She had two 1960s hits with food names: Mashed Potato Time and Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes).
Weather And Food
Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane to do over a billion dollars’ worth of damage in the United States, hit the Gulf Coast near New Orleans today in 1965. It was a Category Four, and traveled across the southwestern side of the city. It flooded many of the same parts of the city that would be inundated in Hurricane Katrina. Many restaurants closed permanently after Betsy, but many more new ones opened to take their places.
Food And Drink Namesakes
Major-league relief pitcher Todd Coffey took the Big Mound today in 1980. . . Jose Negroni, singer with the 1950s group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, as well as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, was born today in 1940. A Negroni cocktail (not named for the singer) is gin, sweet vermouth, Campari, and club soda, on the rocks.
Words To Eat By
“Nothing rekindles my spirits, gives comfort to my heart and mind, more than a visit to Mississippi. . . and to be regaled as I often have been, with a platter of fried chicken, field peas, collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with French dressing. . . and to top it all off with a wedge of freshly baked pecan pie.”–Craig Claiborne.
Words To Drink By
“Drunkards are doomed to hell, so men declare,
Believe it not, ’tis but a foolish scare;
Heaven will be empty as this hand of mine,
If none who love good drink find entrance there.”
–Omar Khayyam.
Nothing Could Be Poisonous At Home. . . Right?
Of course, you knew that, NOMenu reader. The only germs you need to worry about are the ones on other people and in restaurants. Everything you have around the house is pristine, even if it’s obviously rotting. Ha, ha ha!
Click here for the cartoon.