[title type="h5"]Wednesday, August 20, 2014.
Morton's Picks Up New Orleans Steak Cut. Restaurateurs Honor Their Most Generous Figures.[/title]
A few weeks ago a promotional email came from Morton's, the steakhouse in Canal Place. When it was founded in the 1970s, it was one of the best steak restaurants in the Unites States. It has not been as good since it was bought by the Landry's group of chain restaurants.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see the menu for a whiskey dinner Morton's mounted tonight. The steak element was described as "New Orleans Cut Strip." But that's the exact term I use in my effort to encourage steakhouses to add ths to their menus. The principle--as avid readers here must know by now--is to initially cut a strip sirloin (a.k.a. New York strip) extra thick--somewhere around 24 ounces boneless. Or, better yet, around 32 ounces bone-in. Step two: cut the steak top to bottom to give two steaks the approximate size and shape of a filet.
The aim here is to get a thicker steak. A thick steak always comes off the grill more interesting than a thin steak.
This is not my idea. I've seen it here and there under varying names. But it's so good that it ought to be made a standard cut. And, in honor of the long and fine steak heritage of New Orleans, it ought to be named for us. If Kansas City has a steak, why shouldn't we?
A few steakhouses have taken me up on this--notably Mr. John's and Desi Vega's. (Rumors that Desi wants to call it the Chalmette Cut are untrue.) I was very happy to see it at Morton's, not only because it means the concept is spreading, but also because it may indicate that Morton's has taken a U-turn after driving towards Mediocrity, USA for a couple of years. The dinner was also laudable for being a fundraiser for the Louisiana arm of the National Kidney Foundation.
I would have gone to the dinner myself to help the cause, as well as to see whether the cut is right. But I have another charity event on my calendar. The Louisiana Hospitality Foundation holds a big deal to honor the chefs and restaurateurs who have supported the educational programs of the LRF.
Topping the chart was Emeril Lagasse, and well he should. Since Katrina, Emeril's Foundation has turned over about $7.5 million to local programs for young people who'd like to learn the finer, better-paying skills of the restaurant business, but who don't have the wherewithal. He gave so much to Café Reconcile, to name just one beneficiary, that they were able to build out an entire new floor.
Whenever I hear about Emeril's contributions along this line, I grit my teeth and remember the articles written by the Times-Picayune's restaurant critic and an unnamed editorial writer in the months after the hurricane. They criticized Emeril for not being here in town, slogging through the flood waters and shoveling effluvium. What Emeril was doing at the time was raising two and a half million dollars before the year was out, and giving it to local programs. Nobody else in the restaurant business came even close to his giving.
Yet the T-P writers said he had failed the city. That's like saying that a school bus is worthless because it can't mix cement.
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LHF banquet at the Hilton.[/caption]
A crowd of some 400 people attended the dinner in the big ballroom at the Hilton Riverside. The food of which came from a half-dozen chefs. The best dish came from Tommy "Son Of Drago" Cvitanovich, one of the leaders in charitable giving by restaurants. It sounded funny: boudin out of the casing, topped with big grilled shrimp, with corn macque choux on the side. It was quite spicy. Everybody at my table agreed this was the great new flavor of the week. Tommy--who has lost the weight of a sack of oysters--told me that the dish is soon to be added to his menus.
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Drago's boudin, shrimp, and corn macque choux.[/caption]
On the other end of the spectrum was gumbo z'herbes, way out of season, and made "veloute style." The chef: Slade Rushing. The restaurant: Brennan's. Yes, on Royal Street, getting ready to open in October. This was, as far as anyone knew, the first time in the new era of Brennan's that it has served food to diners.
[caption id="attachment_43588" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Brennan's new gumbo z'herbes.[/caption]
The soup's flavor was good, even though the large number of people made the potage come out lukewarm. (I expect this, especially when I'm sitting in the back with all the other press weasels.) But the soup also had what I think may be the ugliest color of anything I've ever eaten and liked. Slade ought to work on that a bit.
Mary Ann joined me for this dinner. We were both surprised by the fact that we knew very few people here. Since most of them are in one part or another of the restaurant business, that was strange. Maybe they were managers and other little-seen staff.
But how did Emeril feel about the honors he received? We don't know. He wasn't there. But he has a very busy, admirably productive schedule.[divider type=""]
[title type="h5"]Thursday, August 21, 2013.
Another Look At Marti's.[/title]
I filled the post-radio-show afternoon writing my new column in the also-new Inside New Orleans magazine. I'm still puzzling over the voice and scope I will use for this. I don't want it to read like anything else I'm writing. Which is hard to do. I promised I'd have the thing turned in today, but it will probably be Monday before I get it off.
The article started talking about the new, revived Marti's. That not only made me hungry, but told me where to have dinner. I turned the computer off and headed out.
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Entering the dining room at Marti's.[/caption]It was only about six. A few people were in the bar. The dining room was empty, but would shortly be about two-thirds full. A Thursday-in-August crowd. The waiter had lots of time to get into the detailed conversation I like to have about the menu. "If you like Caprese salad, you're like everybody else this week. We're selling so many of them that we've had to make fresh mozzarella every day, and the chef just finished making today's batch. You can't get fresher than that!"
Sold.
I followed that with something I saw on Marti's Coolinary menu. "Seafood Provençale" sounded good. Also a lot like bouillabaisse. "Exactly," said the waiter, who added that he thought it was a good choice. Mussels, scallops, white fish with no name tag, shrimp, crabmeat, intensely seafoody broth with saffron and more red pepper from the rouille than I was expecting. Delicious and fresh. One cavil: there was only about three-fourths of the quantity I could and would have eaten. One can get greedy eating bouillabaisse even on a diet, as long as you don't eat too much of the bread.
[caption id="attachment_43590" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Marti's Caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes in many colors. [/caption]
Or do what I did next: ask for a cone of fries. The mussels made me do it. Here were three times as many fries as I should have been eating. I managed to hold myself to half.
A woman I know from a long time ago showed up with three friends, and en route to their table stopped at mine to update. All I had to offer them was generalized happiness, which doesn't make for much of a story.
She brought up the subject of my appearance, thirty years ago, in a book called "The 100 Most Eligible New Orleans Bachelors." I did not volunteer for this, but was drafted. My picture and article were on page 69. Only one woman ever called me as a result of my appearance in the book. I can hardly blame the other readers. I never have been able to make it on my looks. Face for radio, that's me.
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Marti's exterior: today's is just like yesterday's. [/caption]
[title type="h5"]Marti's. French Quarter: 1041 Dumaine. 504-522-5478. [/title]
