The New Orleans Menu Red Bean Edition

By Tom Fitzmorris

Wednesday, July 2, 2009

1006 restaurants are open in New Orleans today.

King Crab. Open Tables. Wendy's Dad. Absinthe And Its Kin. Skillet Fork. Morbier. Candy Man.

Eating Around New Orleans Today
GW Fins has fresh Alaskan king crab starting today. In fact, it has a rare isotope of that delicacy, the Norton Sound red king crab. Chef Tenney Flynn is always checking around for this delicacy, but he hasn't been able to locate any of it for the past two years. He has it now, served steamed and chilled with a Creole mustard cream sauce and a crabmeat cole slaw. It's not cheap: $32.50 buys an appetizer for two or a single entree. But if you've never had fresh king crab, the pleasure is worth it. It's sweet and pure in flavor--in a different universe from the terrible frozen king crab you may have had in a cheap steakhouse or casino buffet. Tenney says he's going to get it as long as he can, but that's not often very long. The king crab season is very short.

GW Fins. French Quarter: 808 Bienville. 504-581-3467.

   Restaurants And The Law
Today in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which expressly prohibited businesses and individuals from denying publicly-offered services to people on account of race. Here in New Orleans, many restaurants still excluded African-Americans from their dining rooms, or required that they sit in segregated dining rooms. Such policies were rarely stated publicly, but were understood to be in force. Many restaurateurs worried about what would happen when blacks suddenly appeared in restaurants. But not all. Dick Brennan, who was running Brennan's with his family, told me, "We decided not to worry about it, and to just let it happen. We never had any kind of problem." While that might seem to be the obvious way for things to go, some restaurant owners were so worked up about segregation that they became private clubs--the only way they could legally remain all-white. I was about to enter one of these in the early 1970s, but stopped when I saw the "Private Club" sign on the door. The owner, who was standing on the sidewalk, said, "Whoa! You looking to have dinner? Hold out your hand!" I did. He looked at it carefully. "That's white enough. Come on in!" The fact that such a story now sounds shocking tells us how far we've come.

   Delicious-Sounding Places
Skillet Fork is a river that runs about a hundred miles in southeastern Illinois. It forms a rough boundary between the endless cornfield plains of the northern part of the state and the hilly southern part. It joins the Little Wabash River near the town of Carmi. Its water then passed through the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers en route through the middle of New Orleans. After you finish your canoe ride down the Skillet Fork (it is quite navigable for a long way), have lunch at The Hickory Stick in Carmi.

Annals Of Popular Cuisine
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's Hamburgers (and Wendy's father), was born today in 1932. He accomplished what seemed impossible at the time: taking a big chunk of the fast-food hamburger market from McDonald's and Burger King. He did it by moving the product a bit upscale (not enough to make it a great hamburger, but never mind), and by creating the drive-through window. The latter innovation did more for Wendy's than the former. But now the whole hamburger business is moving upscale, and Wendy's can be credited for starting that trend when it opened in 1969.

   Food Calendar
Today is National Anise Liqueur Day. Anisette--a generic name for that spirit--was once very popular around America. As the name implies, it's flavored with anise--the flavor that most people identify as like licorice. Many other liqueurs have that flavor--notably absinthe and its many substitutes (Pernod, Ricard, and the locally-produced Herbsaint). You also find that flavor in Greek ouzo, and Italian Strega, Galliano and Sambuca. Those have largely supplanted the generic anisette in bars and homes. So we're revising this to to note the usefulness of all those already mentioned and the many more that exist. Not only do they make interesting cocktails, but they're often used in cooking. The most famous dish with anise liqueur as an important flavor is oysters Rockefeller. Around New Orleans, the sauce is almost always doused with Herbsaint.

The big news on this front right now is the return of genuine absinthe to the market. It is now generally accepted that well-made absinthe does not carry the poisonous substances that resulted in a ban against it a hundred years ago. That toxin came from wormwood, an herb used in the making of absinthe. But the problem substance doesn't persist through distillation. So The Green Fairy (absinthe's nickname) is back. You may even see it served with water drizzled over a sugar cube on a flat, filigreed spoon set atop the little glasses designed for the purpose. Absinthe was so popular in the 1800s that a ritual grew up around its serving.

The Old Kitchen Sage Sez: Most chefs drink more Herbsaint than they cook with.

   Edible Dictionary
pastis, (French), n.--A drink made by mixing a sweetened anise-flavored liqueur with ice water. Although both are clear, the mixture is cloudy and a pale greenish yellow. Classically, it is served without ice, but in New Orleans it's not uncommon to see it made with ice in the glass. Ricard, one of the leading brands of such liqueurs, is credited with having invented the drink, and in fact uses the word "Pastis" on the label of the liqueur. Pastis became popular after absinthe was banned in the early 1900s. It is especially popular in the South of France, notably in Provence. Click here to ask about a food word you've wondered about.

Cheese Of The Day
Morbier, (French), n.--A cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the small town of the same name in eastern France, not far from the Swiss border. It is notable for having a thin layer of vegetable ash running horizontally through the small wheels in which is it made. The tradition is that the curds made with the milk gotten in the evening was separated by the ash from the curds made with the next morning's milk. It's unlikely that any Morbier is still made that way, but the layer of ash remains. It has a rather strong aroma and a slight bitterness, which some like and some don't. The French say that since it has to be aged sixty days to be allowed into the United States, the Morbier we get is past its prime and hence too strong. It's a great cheese to eat with a pastis or absinthe.

Music To Eat Gooey Sweets By
Sammy Davis Jr. had a Number One hit on the charts with the infectious song, The Candy Man. He hated the song and recorded it only as a favor to his producer. Warning: Don't try to think of how this one goes, because you'll have it in your head for days. If it happens, beat yourself with a licorice whip until it goes away.

   Food Namesakes
Singer and bass player Pete Briquette, of the Boomtown Rats, was born today in 1954. . . Actress Kathryn Erbe, who made a movie with a food name (Chicken Soup) was born today in 1966. . . Country singer Marvin Rainwater yodeled his first notes today in 1925. (Rainwater is the name for a variety of Madeira wine.) . . . Classical conductor Frederick Fennell raised the Big Baton today in 1914. . . George Law Curry, newspaper publisher and last territorial governor of Oregon, was born today in 1820.

   Words To Eat By
"Food is an implement of magic, and only the most cold-hearted rationalist could squeeze the juices of life out of it and make it bland. In a true sense, a cookbook is the best source of psychological advice and the kitchen the first choice of room for a therapy of the world."--Thomas More.

The Ones We Can't Live Without

#156

Liuzza’s

Neighborhood Cooking. Sandwiches. Italian.
Mid-City: 3636 Bienville. 504-482-9120. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously Tuesday-Saturday.
Very Casual
Cash Only. (ATM on premises.)
www.liuzzas.com

  WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL
In Mid-City, a neighborhood blessed with an abundance of neighborhood cafes in the old style, Liuzza's is iconic. The big schooners of frozen root beer and not-so-root beer are a trademark. The menu serves a bit (a large bit, at that) of everything. The conversations could only be heard in New Orleans.

  WHY IT'S GOOD
Liuzza's makes terrific poor boy sandwiches, excellent platters of its daily specials, more-than-decent fried seafood and Italian dishes, and even fresh-cut French fries. In other word, everything you'd expect from a restaurant with this look and location.

  BACKSTORY
Founded in 1947 by the namesake family--which left the place behind for more modern and less interesting restaurants--Liuzza's changed hands a few times over the decades. For about fifteen years it's safely in the hands of Teresa Galbo, a former waitress who fully understands the dynamics of the neighborhood cafe.

  DINING ROOM
The stucco building with rounded windows is a pleasant throwback to another era's neighborhood "Bar & Rest." The bar is on the right, the dining room on the left; both are busy most of the time, the customers very comfortable to this unalloyed expression of New Orleans tastes in everything.

  ESSENTIAL DISHES
French fries.

Onion rings.
Fried eggplant.

Stuffed artichoke.
Gumbo.

Fried seafood platters.

Fried chicken.

Roast beef poor boy.
Hot sausage poor boy.

Broiled ham and cheese poor boy.

Red beans and rice with hot sausage.

Eggplant casserole with spaghetti.
Daily specials.
Bread pudding.

  FOR BEST RESULTS
Everything here is too big to remain good through the entire eating. Come with friends and split appetizers and entrees.

  OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Liuzza's gets a point for offering fresh-cut fries, but they're too oily.

  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
Consistency +1
Service
Value +2
Attitude +1
Wine and Bar
Hipness -1
Local Color +2

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

Open all afternoon
Historic
Quick, good meal
Unusually large servings
Good for children
Easy, nearby parking

Click here for an index to all 200 Essential Restaurant reviews.
Subscribers have access to over 250 full restaurant reviews. Click here.

Tuesday, June 2. Boucherie. Mary Ann has been urging me to have dinner at Boucherie, so she can sell them some ads on the radio show and on the website. Ad salespeople think of me as a hangup in their efforts: I don't get involved in advertising for restaurants I'm not already recommending. Sometimes they have a restaurant on the hook ready to buy, but it's one I haven't even been to. That's the case here. Although the buzz about Boucherie is all glowing, it only opened a few months ago, and hasn't made it to the top of my to-do list.

Mary Ann has an advantage over the other salespeople. When she needs me to try a restaurant, all she needs to do is tell me she wants to have dinner with me. I never say no to that. And I almost always let her decide where we will go. So we were at Boucherie tonight. It was her third try: the two first times, we couldn't get a reservation, and the restaurant is so small you'd be a fool to go there without one.

Confit of duck leg at Boucherie.

Boucherie is in the little Craftsman-style cottage near the streetcar barn where Ninja, Iris, and several other restaurants were before. No matter where you sit in the place, you're in a tight spot. It's so popular that even the porch and sidewalk out front were full.

As the name implies, the menu emphasis is on cured and smoked meats. "Beyond Barbecue" would be a good category for the place. (Cochon would be the sole other restaurant in that section.) Boucherie serves pulled pork and ribs and that kind of stuff; that will always grab MA's attention.

Mussels with grits sticks at Boucherie.

Grabbing my attention were some unusual martinis. The first of the two I had was called "Riverbend Spring": Hendrick's gin, Mathilde Orange XO, muddled cucumber, lemon and orange peel. I thought this was delicious. The other one wasn't quite as good, but only because the second martini never is. Called "Blue Sage," it was Junipero gin, muddled sage, and blue cheese-stuffed olives. (The latter went to my olive-loving wife.)

Off to that good start, we went after the food. Two rounds of appetizers: boudin balls (fried too dark, no hint of pork liver, but otherwise okay), duck confit (top photo) with baby marinated root vegetables (good, but not Gautreau's), grilled shrimp and grits cakes (looked burned, but tasted great), steamed mussels with collard greens and fascinating sticks made of grits Smoked scallops at Boucherie.

(excellent), and fresh-cut fries with garlic butter and parmesan cheese. I thought all this was great for the prices, which topped out at $12 for the duck, but started at $5 for the boudin.

By this time, Mary Ann began to note a theme among the customers. "They're young. Kinda bohemian," she said. "Your kind of people are not here, or they just left." Indeed, we brought the average age up. I don't care much about that. Mary Ann is highly conscious of it, because her theory du jour about the website is that it needs a bunch of hip new voices, so we don't leave the young people behind. She sounds like a radio executive. I say bushwah.

Pulled pork cake at Boucherie.

More food: smoked pulled pork, made into a cake and served with potatoes and purple cole slaw. She liked it until she saw people at the next table (about the same age as we are) eating what looked like fantastic barbecue ribs. I had something I found intriguing: smoked scallops (above). That immediately struck me as a great idea, and it was. Big sea scallops, still bulging, crusty at the edges, subtly barbecued, with potato salad. As good as it sounded.

When we visited Harrod's in London in April, we saw in that vaunted store's food department a genuine display of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Even when I was a kid I thought those were as bad as anything this side of McKenzie's--and I have an irrational love of doughnuts. Well, here now! Boucherie is making bread pudding (below) out of them. It wasn't bad, actually. A lot better than the doughnuts.

Krispy Krene doughnut bread pudding at Boucherie.

Krispy Krene doughnut bread pudding at Boucherie.

On our way home, Mary Ann allowed that, after four days of livng with just me in the house, she thinks there's a chance that she may be able to carry on after the kids have left permanently. That's nice to hear. "Of course, I will also have a house on the West Coast," she says. That's really why she's working so hard selling all those ads.

Boucherie. Carrollton: 8115 Jeannette. 504-862-5514. Barbecue. Southern.

Thursday, June 4. Fiesta Latina. I haven't been to Fiesta Latina in Kenner since before the hurricane. I needed to go, because it's on my 200 Essential Restaurant list, and one of less than ten restaurants for which I have to write a review to complete the project.

Fiesta Latina in Kenner.

The restaurant has been nicely redecorated since five years ago--bright, clean, with new wooden tables and chairs, and an enormous television screen showing news, sports, and soap operas in Spanish. The staff is just as first-generation as last time, and there was a little struggle with language when I inquired about a few dishes. But I view this as a good thing, as I do my being the only Anglo in the place on this slow night.

Pupusa at Fiesta Latina.

I ordered and ate too much. They didn't have ceviche this day, but they did have a ceviche-like shrimp salad. It was enough for two people--maybe four. It was less tangy than I would have liked, but I fished that with Tabasco and lemon.

Next, I had a single pupusa, stuffed with cheese, pork, and green onions. That cost all of $1.75. Very good, if a little oily. The $11 entree was what they called "Choripollo," another great oversupply of food: two grilled chicken breasts, three links of spicy chorizo sausage (the fat from which flavored everything else--a good thing), beans, rice, a salad, and a great slab of queso fresca. The latter is a light, whey-wet cheese, perhaps made in house, that you see everywhere in the more ethnic Latin American restaurant in places like Los Angeles and San Diego. This is the first time it's ever been served to me here in New Orleans.

Choripollo, a combo platter at Fiesta Latina.

Choripollo, a combo platter at Fiesta Latina.

So it's still good. I couldn't help but notice, though, that there's the beginning of an accommodation to the non-Hispanic locals. I can't explain it, but I felt it. Every other ethnic restaurant becomes a New Orleans restaurant if it stays open long enough. Maybe we have enough Latinos to keep that from happening here.

There's a little nostalgia attached to this place for me. When my family lived in Kenner in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this building was a classic Rexall drugstore, complete with soda fountain. It was within walking distance from our house, and every now and then we wntered it cool confines for a cherry Coke and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Fiesta Latina. Kenner: 1924 Airline Hwy. 504-469-5792. Central American.

Friday, June 5. Keith Young Makes A Hamburger. Jerald and Glenda Horst Come By. Mary Leigh was supposed to have returned home from Washington D.C. yesterday. But a large galaxy of storms in the northeast cancelled all the flights, and she was stuck there. Rather than check into a hotel or go back to her aunt's house (a long drive), she and her cousin Hillary rebooked themselves for a flight early this morning, and spent the night just hanging around in the airport. Such a thing would be anathema to me, but teenagers can find good times in unusual circumstances. This delay became a sort of slumber party, enlivened a bit by the presence of some reasonably attractive boys of about their age. Mary Leigh said that the whole thing was actually fun. I'm proud that my seventeen-year-old can handle all these travel details on her own without breaking a sweat. If it had been me, I would have been more nervous.

Mary Leigh hit the bed as soon as she arrived home, of course. Mary Ann and I went to lunch at Keith Young's Steakhouse. The Marys went there last week and found what Mary Ann is now calling the best hamburger around. It's certainly one of the biggest. The Young family started out their restaurant business with a hamburger, so it's no surprise that Keith remembers how to make it for his lunch menu. MA had another one of those. I contented myself with a cup of the excellent homemade vegetable beef soup and a Caesar salad with fried oysters. My thinking was to have a light meal, but I was only foling myself there. Sure was good, though.

I couldn't think of a reason good enough to overcome my torpid state for me to go into town today. But that's because I didn't think hard enough. Jerald and Glenda Horst, the author of the first book in a series called The Louisiana Seafood Bible, paid me a scheduled visit at the radio station. I'd completely forgotten they were coming.

Seafood Bible-Shrimp.

This book of the bible is about shrimp; they say it's the first of five, or perhaps even more. Jerald Horst is certainly qualified to write such a thing. For something like thirty years, he's been a professor in the Sea Grant college at LSU, and his knowledge of the seafood populations in Louisiana is encyclopedic, if not in fact biblical. For a long time, he published a newsletter containing a dizzying amount of information about all the seafood I wrote about. Some of it was highly technical, written for the use of biologists and fishermen. But it was a great source for statistics about where the seafood was, where it was going, and what shape the populations are in.

At the end of Horst's Lagniappe newsletter, he always included a recipe. That brought it all home. His book takes the same approach: tons of information about shrimp species, their seasons, and their peculiarities. Then, recipes. His wife Glenda, who was also in this line of work--and who, Jerald says, is more of a common-sense cook--is his co-author.

The interview went off well anyway. (To the listener, it's impossible to tell that the Horsts were in the studio and I was fifty miles away in my office at the Cool Water Ranch.) It's a terrific book, packed with information of a kind you don't much see in cookbooks.

After the radio show, neither of the girls was even remotely interested in going out for dinner. Somehow, neither was I. We all went to bed early. Was this such a rough week?

Keith Young’s Steak House. Madisonville: 165 LA. 21. 985-845-9940. Steak.

Saturday, June 6. Beaten By The Saints. Girls By The Pool. N'Tini's. I began the morning performing miscellaneous tasks on the web site, most of them at the command of Mary Ann, who believes I don't take good enough care of her advertisers. Then I hustled through my Saturday morning errands to return home barely in time to go on the air with what the schedule at the station clearly showed was a three-hour radio show on WWL. Whoops! Somebody forgot to tell me that detailed reports from the Saints' mini-camp (whatever that is) pre-empt everything. So, no show. Instead of taking advantage of the time to go for a walk or a bike ride or build a new roof on the pumphouse outside, I remained at my desk, fiddling around with projects of low priority, listening the Jonathan Schwartz's excellent XM73 satellite radio show. He's the best there is when it comes to the Great American Songbook, playing some of the most obscure imaginable songs.

Meanwhile, Mary Leigh joined four of her cousins at the athletic club to which they belong. She got pumped up about starting a fitness program there with the cousin closest to her age. But she needed to sign up (and pay) for a membership. Daddy? Of course, my little one. I have a picture in my mind of those two beautiful seventeen-year-old girls lying around by the pool, while the clueless but hopeful teenage boys try to figure out what to do about it. If there is anything that seventeen-year-olds ought to be doing during the summer, it's hanging around a pool, reading, listening to music, eating cheeseburgers from the grill, eyeballing each other, maybe--maybe sometime in August--even working up the courage to talk to one another. I even did that, and I was a major geek back then. (The girls would say nothing has changed in that regard.) Oh, to return to those days and live that life again! Isn't there a movie about that idea out right now?

After I wrote the check for ML's membership, we had dinner at N'Tini's. We like going there, but every time we do we notice the same sociological particularity: the people at N'Tini's are not like the Mandevillians we've become accustomed to in the almost twenty years we've lived around here. These people are unambiguously St. Bernardian. Same essential income and education level as North Shorinians, but distinctive. I can't explain how, but I know it when I see it, as I sure they know me and my kind.

N'Tini's itself is a refugee from Chalmette, having moved here after the original restaurant was Katrinified. Their customers also made that move, and they reuinited. But that's a very good business. "I think this might be the busiest restaurant on the North Shore," Mary Ann said. Excepting a few chains, I think she may be right.

Scallop and ccarabacke at N'Tini's.

It is impossible to avoid overeating at N'Tini's. I congratulated myself for getting my daughter into the health club with not a martini, for a change, but a Manhattan. I followed that with a seared scallop atop a small crab cake, all atop a puddle of hollandaise. Very good! Then a Caesar salad with too much dressing, the way they do it in Chalmette (and Mandeville). Good anyway. Mary Leigh indulged in a wedge salad with blue cheese at that point, while Mary Ann, who ordered nothing, kept picking nubbins of food off the plates everyone else.

The main reason we were here was that Mary Leigh received a free dinner invitation on account of her birthday last month, and she had N'Tini's unimpeachable filet mignon on her mind. Her plan was to eat half and to take the other half home. Well! She did it! This health club stuff might already be working on her. And she hardly has a spare ounce on her as it is! Wonderful child!

My entree got confused. The two specials were vaguely similar. On was a piece of drumfish with scallops topped with guacamole mixed up with crabmeat. Yes, that does sound strange. But I ate enough of it to discover a) that it actually was pretty good and b) it wasn't at all what I had ordered. That was the grilled redfish with oysters and fried spinach, with an Herbsaint cream sauce. Which was good too. They brought the right one without hesitation after I pointed out the switch. The server--an engaging lady who always takes good care of us--was so apologetic that she got a bigger tip than I otherwise would have left. Mistakes happen.

They had another interesting deal here tonight. If you bought the bottle of wine placed on the table, you got it for half-price. This meant a bottle of inoffensive Merlot for $14. I can't remember the last time I bought a bottle of wine priced in the teens in a restaurant.

N'Tini's. Mandeville: 2891 US 190. 985-626-5566. Contemporary Creole.

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Dips And Spreads

Although the very words conjure up images of corn chips and supermarket jars of queso, in fact many first-class restaurants serve dishes that fit in this category. And are very good. The masters of the dip and spread art are the Mexican and the Middle Eastern restaurants. The ones represented here are the top of a very good list. Chips, croutons, pita bread, or who knows what you scoop this stuff up with–it's all good. The omission of all versions of spinach-artichoke dip–the indicator dish of a chain restaurant–was intentional.

1. Vega Tapas Cafe. Old Metairie: 2051 Metairie Rd.. 504-836-2007. Taramosalata--the Greek-style dip of carp roe, bread, and garlic--reaches amazing heights here. I can't imagine coming here and not getting at least two orderes of the stuff.

2. Arnaud’s. French Quarter: 813 Bienville. 504-523-5433. Bearnaise sauce is served here as a dip for the soufflee potatoes. While Antoine's and Galatoire's also do this now, the idea was hatched at Arnaud's, and there's no way you can stop eating it.

3. Cafe Lynn. Mandeville: 3051 East Causeway Approach . 985-624-9007. Chef Joey Najolia was the chef de cuisine at La Provence before opening hi s own place. He included on his menu his version of Chef Chris Kerageorgiou's classic, buttery, eminently scoopable and spreadable pate, amde here with duck livers.

4. Mona's Cafe. Mid-City: 3901 Banks. 504-482-7743. ||Marigny: 504 Frenchmen. 504-949-4115. Carrollton: 1120 S. Carrollton Ave. 504-861-8174. ||Uptown: 4126 Magazine. 504-894-9800. ||The best hummus in the city. It has more lemon than most; that's what I think makes it so good.

5. Bayona. French Quarter: 430 Dauphine. 504-525-4455. The "eggplant caviar" (that's what it looks like, all right and the tapenade here has been a palate-perking appetizer since Bayona's first day.

6. Zea. Covington: 110 Lake Dr . 985-327-0520. ||Harahan: 1655 Hickory Ave.. 504-738-0799. ||Harvey: 1121 Manhattan Blvd.. 504-361-8293. ||Kenner: 1401 W Esplanade Ave.. 504-468-7733. ||Lee Circle Area: 1525 St. Charles Ave.. 504-520-8100. ||Metairie: 4450 Veterans Blvd. (Clearview Mall). 504-780-9090. Zea makes a unique version of hummus in which the garlic hads been roasted to its sweet, nutty form before going in. That's a great touch. The standard version of hummus here is better than the six-layer version.

7. Casablanca. Metairie: 3030 Severn Ave. 504-888-2209. Fortuna, the mother of owner Linda Waknin, passed on a great recipe for this Middle Eastern eggplant dip. The eggplants are smoked, and that flavor comes through loud, clear, and delicious.

8. Acropolis Cuisine. Metairie: 3841 Veterans Blvd. 504-888-9046. The taramosalata is very good here, and do is the tzatziki--the dip/spread made with yogurt, cucumber, and dill.

9. Casa Garcia. Metairie: 8814 Veterans Blvd. 504-464-0354. ||Mandeville: 800 N. Causeway Blvd.. 985-951-8226. You get a ramekin of bean dip when you sit down, and they'll bring you as much as you like. That's a danger, because it's so good that you may eat enough to completely kill your appetite. Also good here for dipping: the guacamole and the queso.

10. La Carreta. Mandeville: 1200 W. Causeway Approach. 985-727-7212. The best salsa in the metro area. The queso fundido--chorizo sausage in a matrix of cheese dip--is also a messy deliciousness.

Have I missed a good one? If you know of a great spread or dip that belongs on this list, post it on our messageboard. (You'll also find other people's suggestions there.)

An index to all our top-ten lists is here.

Blackened Catfish Salad

Although frying is by far the best way to prepare catfish, it's so inexpensive and available that it's hard to resist using it in other styles. I find that blackened catfish can be cooled off and then added to a salad with good effect. Blackening works best with the larger fillets that are less good for frying.

To blacken fish properly requires a very hot skillet, which will throw off a lot of smoke and perhaps even a few flames when the butter-coated fish hits the pan. Be sure to have a good exhause fan going. Or blacken over an outdoor grill.

4 catfish filets, 8 oz. each
1 stick melted butter
1/2 cup blackened seasoning mix (see recipe)
2 bags spring mix salad
8-12 spears fresh asparagus, poached
8 wedges tomato
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
8 oz. Creole mustard vinaigrette dressing (see recipe)
4 lemon wedges

Blackened Seasoning Mix

3 Tbs. paprika
2 Tbs. salt
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. white pepper
1 1/2 Tbs. black pepper
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp. oregano leaves

1. Heat a black iron skillet over high heat until it smokes all by itself. Turn the exhaust fan on.

2. While the skillet is heating, pass the fillets through the melted butter, and shake off the excess. Then generously sprinkle the blackened seasoning on both sides of each fillet (you can even dredge it through the seasoning if you like).

3. Place the fish in the skillet and sear it for a minute or two per side, depending on thickness. (Check to make sure the fish is done by piercing the thickest part with a kitchen fork. Hold it in the center for a few seconds, then carefully touch the fork to you lips. If the fork seems even a little warm, the fish is done.)

4. Let the fish cool for a few minutes, then cut into strips or large chunks.

5. Mix the feta cheese into the dressing. Toss the greens with the dressing, then place on a salad plate. Top with the asparagus, tomatoes, and catfish. Drizzle a little more dressing and lemon juice over all.

Serves four entree salads.

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Cooking And Serving In Private Railroad Cars. If I ever become fabulously wealthy, I will own my priovate railroad car and travel around the country in it. I will do my own cooking, but some chefs are doing this for guests who want to experience the pleasure of dinner in the diner. Here's a story about one of those. Click here for the article.

They're Eating Risotto In Tokyo. That's not a long jump, Japanese people eating a predominantly rice dish. But there's more. There's a trend in Japan favoring Italian restaurants and cookery. The Italian cuisines make inroads wherever they turn up. Click here for the article.

What Else You Can Do With Chicory. Gordon Ramsay tells us. Risotti. Well, it sounds good. But I wonder if he ever had our coffee? Click here for the article.

FOOD FUNNIES
The Midnight Buffet. It's one of the most fabled meals on cruise ships, because so few people are still awake you can get away with eating habits you wouldn't want to be seen in the light of day. Click here for today's cartoon.

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