Coolinary At Dominique’s On Magazine.
It’s not a particularly extensive menu, and the price is only a little lower than they usually would charge for this (the place has been a good value since it opened a year and a half ago). But the cooking of Chef Dominique Macquet is always unique. And when he makes references to “local” this or that, he may well take you into the little garden in the courtyard to show you that a lot of those ingredients grow within a few feet of the kitchen.
Garden Fresh Basil Wraps
Jumbo pink prawns, local green papaya, roasted tomato remoulade
~~~~~
Seared Local Fish of the Day
Crispy Colorado Lamb
Baby local lima bean salad, melted mozzarella, harissa-mint lamb jus
Local Blackberry Panna Cotta
The price is $35 for a three-coourse dinner, every night except Sunday.
Dominique’s On Magazine
Uptown: 4213 Magazine St. 504-891-9282. www.dominiquesneworleans.com.
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HONG KONG
West End: 7400 Lakeshore Drive
1960s-2005
The Hong Kong is remembered more fondly by more people than any other extinct Chinese restaurant, and for the usual reason: atmospherically, it was unforgettable. Occupying the spot where Brisbi’s is now, its big dining room windows looked out onto the New Basin Canal, the inlet from the lake leading to the New Orleans marina. What could be nicer than a booth next to one of those windows, in a romantically dim dining room, with paper lanterns and dragons all around, and eating an exotic dinner while watching the boats sail by?
Well, I’ll tell you what. All that atmosphere plus good food would have been better. Much better.
The Hong Kong was one of the first New Orleans Chinese restaurants to open outside the French Quarter. That’s where the first efflorescence of Chinese food was, from the 1930s into the 1970s, with concentrations on Bourbon and Decatur Streets. When the Metairie suburbs began to develop in the 1950s, a few Chinese places followed–notably the new House of Lee and the relocated (from the CBD) Canton.
The Hong Kong had a French Quarter connection, but it wasn’t Chinese. The McConnell family owned it, along with the Embers Steak House and a touristy joint called Archie McConnell’s King of Corn. (As in on the cob. The only things missing were the clowns.)
First-generation Asian restaurateurs practice a particular thrift. They made sure that their customers won’t reject their food for reasons of being too bold. This was particularly true of the Metairie Chinese places, which served a style of Cantonese cooking that avoided high spice levels and unusual cuts of meat and poultry. Thus was born a bland, inoffensive style of cooking. Fried rice and egg rolls were the big favorites, and most customers didn’t go much farther than that.
Ad from 1974.
This is what the Hong Kong was serving by the time I got there in 1974. Fortunately for me, by then I was familiar with Gin’s and Fun’s, two French Quarter places good enough to cut loose and create some excitement. The mild cooking of the Hong Kong never compared.
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about here, go to any Chinese restaurant and order chop suey, egg drop soup, chow mein and egg foo yung. Tell them you don’t want anything spicy. What comes out will greatly resemble the Hong Kong dining experience, which didn’t change very much as the decades oozed past.
This opinion comes from a person who has his own mellow memories of the Hong Kong. My first serious girlfriend loved the Hong Kong, as well as the nearby Port Hole, which had approximately the same atmosphere. Every chance we had, we stuffed our hormone-heated bodies in a booth next to a window, ordered fruity rum drinks, and sucked face.
I bring up this unsavory scene because I’ve heard many similar stories from Hong Kong fans, many of whom went there for the first time on their prom nights. It was that kind of place. And it was very cheap. I remember entrees in the $3-5 range. (Catch: the steamed rice was extra, but only about a quarter.)
The Hong Kong was wiped out by Katrina, as the water rose fifteen feet and filled the place with floating debris. The place never came back, although in 2008 Michael Buckley–a coffee importer who was a regular caller on my radio show–told me that he was on the verge of buying the Hong Kong. He said it would reopen soon, but with better food. Unfortunately, Buckley died not long after he told me this. And the next thing that happened was demolition.
Two Kinds Of Bordelaise Sauce?
Q.
I was in a French restaurant in New York a few weeks ago. My entree was striped bass bordelaise. I thought of the fabulous redfish bordelaise served at Drago’s years ago. I also thought of the spaghetti bordelaise I’ve always loved at Mosca’s. Those dishes were made with a sauce of butter, olive oil, garlic, and parsley. But this New York place brought out the fish with a dark brown sauce. It looked something like marchand de vin sauce. When I told the waitress that this must be a mistake, she checked with the chef. He brought me a food encyclopedia which described bordelaise as the sauce they had served me. Is there one bordelaise sauce in New Orleans and another one everywhere else in the world?
A. That’s exactly it. Bordelaise is a reference to Bordeaux, where the main product is red wine. Everywhere in the world other than New Orleans, bordelaise is a red wine reduction sauce. For some reason, around New Orleans the word came to mean olive oil or butter with garlic and parsley. This is particularly true in Italian restaurants and steakhouses. The switch happened after Antoine’s came along, apparently: their escargots bordelaise does indeed use a red wine sauce.
When I see the word on a menu, I always ask what they mean by it. Indeed, I always assume that any French dish that’s common in New Orleans will be very different in other places.
Marinated Shrimp with Artichokes
Louisiana white shrimp appear in late summer and fall. I believe they are the world’s best shrimp. Here’s a chilled shrimp dish that qualifies, I suppose, as Creole antipasto. It’s pretty good as is, served chilled. Or you can toss it with greens or with cooked, chilled pasta as a salad.
Marinated Shrimp with Artichokes
Sauce:
1/2 cup Creole mustard
2 eggs
1/2 Tbs. salt
1/3 tsp. red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup tarragon vinegar
3/4 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped green onion
3/4 cup chopped chives
2 Tbs. salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbs. liquid crab boil
2 lbs. medium-large shrimp, peeled
2 cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1. Mix the mustard, eggs, salt, and red pepper in a food processor. (You can also use a wire whisk in a bowl.) Add the oil a few drops at a time while continuing the blend the egg mixture. When the mixture begins to thicken, increase the oil addition to a thin stream. Blend until well mixed. Add the vinegar, green onions, chives, and parsley.
2. Bring one quart of water to a rolling boil in a saucepan, with the salt, lemon juice, and crab boil. After the water has boiled for three minutes, add the shrimp. When the water returns to a boil, turn off the heat and allow the shrimp to steep in the water for about four minutes–until they’re pink and firm. (When you first wonder whether the shrimp are cooked, that’s when they are.) Strain out the shrimp and allow them to cool for a few minutes.
3. Blend the shrimp and the artichokes into the sauce. Cover the bowl and put it into the refrigerator to marinate for at least one hours. Serve tossed with salad greens, tomatoes, or chilled pasta–or all by itself.
Serves eight appetizers.
Bahn Mi Sandwiches @ Dong Phuong
Few ethnic dishes have come so far from obscurity to popularity as quickly as banh mi. It’s a sandwich that in these parts is usually called a Vietnamese poor boy. The shape and the bread are close to identical to the local sandwich, but the fillings are different. The meats are offbeat, the sauces are peppery, and the greens are wildly various. The improbably low prices prices are also delightfully different. Dong Phuong bakes the bread in house, and supply a lot of other Vietnamese restaurants with it. The bread is so good that you could eat it as is, hot out of the oven, and love it. The word “bahn mi” means “bread,” but the common connotation is the sandwich.
Dong Phuong. New Orleans East: 14207 Chef Menteur Hwy. 504-254-0214 .
This dish is ranked #184 in NOMenu’s list of the 500 best dishes in New Orleans restaurants.
August 6, 2014
Days Until. . .
Coolinary Summer Specials End 25
Seasonings
Today is Midsummer Day, the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. This datum triggers two emotions. The first is joy that half of the summer is ahead. The second is disappointment that we’ve let the first half go by without having a picnic on the lakefront. Another dichotomy: you have either a month and a half more of long, sunny days, or that much more sweltering heat. It’s either get away for vacation before school starts (which it does this week, for some kids), or start watching the tropical storm satellite images for the bad part of that season. Whatever. At the very least, get these things done in the next few weeks:
Chill with a sno-ball.
Drink a mint julep.
Make a meal of chilled crabmeat, shrimp, and (why not?) oysters.
Have a midsummer night’s dream.
Food Calendar
Today is Jerk Day, in honor of Jamaican Independence Day. (See below.) Jerk is the Jamaican barbecue. It differs from the American counterpart in relying less on smoke for its flavor and more on a peppery seasoning. Jamaican jerk seasoning is a wet rub, made by pureeing peppers, onions, and herbs. Two distinctive ingredients are Scotch bonnet peppers (the Jamaican name for habaneros) and pimento (allspice berries). They slather the chicken or pork and marinate it overnight. Then roast it in a closed outdoor grill over charcoal (most authentic: branches from the allspice tree) at about 250 degrees for enough time (an hour for chicken, six hours for pork) to get it crusty on the outside and about 170 degrees on the inside. And then you will be a jerk chef.
Today is also Root Beer Float Day. Isn’t that a brown cow? That question exhausts the topic.
Far-Flung Creole Cuisines
Today is Independence Day in Jamaica, which ceased to be a British colony today in 1962. It continues to be part of the British Commonwealth. Its food is fascinating, particularly to New Orleanians. It’s another flavor of Creole. The Jamaican everyday dish–rice and peas–fills the same role that red beans and rice does here. Jerk cooking (see above) is a Jamaican culinary signature.
Two uniquely Jamaican foodstuffs are ackee (a starchy fruit related to the cashew, it looks like scrambled eggs when cooked) and what they call pimento (we call it allspice, which is the berry of a specific tree). Curried goat is another very popular and delicious Jamaican specialty.
Other Jamaican flavors you’re familiar with are Pickapeppa Sauce and Myers “Plantation Punch” rum, a critical ingredient in making the Hurricane cocktail. Jamaica’s unique culture and magnificent tropical scenery are, unfortunately, compromised by tremendous poverty, lack of resources, crime, and political inefficacy. (Sound familiar?) Click here for a good collection of Jamaican recipes.
Annals Of Latin American Cooking
Today in 1825, Bolivia became an independent country. It’s named after Simon Bolivar, the South American liberator. I have seen Bolivian restaurants in New York, but we’ve never had one in New Orleans. Lima beans are very popular there. Here’s a page of recipes for distinctive Bolivian dishes.
Gourmet Gazetteer
There are two places on the map called Beanville, thirty-one miles apart in Orange County, Vermont. You can get from one to the other by way of Beanville Road. They’re about midway from the top to the bottom of the state, but close to the New Hampshire state line. The country is quite hilly, with some of the mountains rising almost a thousand feet above the floor of the White River valley. The area has been populated by Europeans since the late 1700s, when farmers fought to get crops from this unforgiving land. Most of the farmland in the area has returned to the wild. But you won’t go hungry, because the Three Bean Cafe in Randolph is less than a mile from the western Beanville.
Edible Dictionary
pimento, pimiento, n.–A small red pepper closely related to the bell pepper, but with a more assertive flavor. Some varieties of pimentos are decidedly hot, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Pimentos are not often found fresh. Most of them are roasted until soft, then packed in jars for use as garnish or to add color to various vegetable or cheese mixtures. They’re very commonly stuffed into olives. The word has a different meaning in Jamaica, where it refers to the fruit of the unrelated allspice tree. The work pimento derives from the Spanish and Portuguese words for peppers of all kinds.
Deft Dining Rule #121
Crispy fish skin is so delicious that you should never miss a chance to eat it.
Food In Science
Alexander Fleming was born today in 1881. He is the man who discovered that the green mold that grows on bread, cheese, and other foods has a property that kills bacteria. It took a while to figure out how to use that effect for disease prevention, but it resulted in penicillin. Which brings up a question: if penicillin kills bacteria, and it’s manufactured by the mold that grows on blue cheese, should we eat as much blue cheese as we can?
Food In Show Biz
This is the birthday, in 1911, of Lucille Ball. Her groundbreaking television show I Love Lucy was such an icon of early television that it probably still is on the air somewhere in the world at all times. Among the most famous episodes are two involving food and wine: the chocolate factory scene and the grape-stomping episode. I Love Lucy was a reworking of a successful radio show Lucy did with the same producer. My Favorite Husband ran along the same plot lines, but with a different (and compared with Desi Arnaz, very normal) husband.
Food In Art
This was the birthday, in 1928, of Pop Artist and glitter pied piper Andy Warhol. Among Warhol’s most memorable paintings were frank, cartoon-like renderings of Campbell Soup cans, among other food items.
Food And Drink Namesakes
Actress Soleil Moon Frye was born today in 1976. She was Punky Brewster on television. . . Adrienne Curry, winner of the first season of America’s Next Top Model and former waitress, was born today in 1982. . . Goose Gossage tied a major league record with his 300th save today in 1988, for the Cubs. . . Speaking of baseball, early Philly Sherry Magee was born today in 1884.
Words To Eat By
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak.”–Jay Leno.
Words To Drink By
“The health of the salmon to you: a long life, a full heart and a wet mouth!”–Irish toast.
Too Much Pizza.
The federal government steps in when it becomes clear that far too many pizzerias are making far too many mediocre, conveyor-belt pies.
Click here for the cartoon.