[title type="h5"]Wednesday, January 21, 2015.
Eat Club At Andrea's On Its 30th Anniversary. [/title]
The record of our Eat Club dinners is not perfect. After twenty-two years of dinners at the average rate of three per month, it would be a miracle if there were no off-courses, stumblebum service, misunderstandings, and even total disasters along the way.
But the dinners that have given me the most pause are the many we've had at Andrea's. Which when it's good is very, very good. But when it's bad, it's horrid. After the last one three years ago, I said there would never be another.
[caption id="attachment_46378" align="alignleft" width="320"]
Chef Andrea.[/caption]But Chef Andrea Apuzzo, to his credit, is a man who can forget the past and insist on moving ahead, and trying to make everything good. After a year of cajoling, leading up to the thirtieth anniversary of his restaurant, I finally caved in and we went ahead with the dinner.
What pushed me into it was the news that Chef Christiano Rossit--whose food I have enjoyed in other restaurants, notably Mr. John's Steak House--is the chef de cuisine at Andrea's these days. I have suggested for years that Andrea hire such a talent and get out of the kitchen, and spend his time during service visiting tables and glad-handing his regulars--something he does so well as to make him endearing.
After three back-and-forth negotiations over the menu, I began promoting it, hoping for the best. The first fifty people bought in rather quickly. Andrea wanted to take another fifteen or so, but that has been the source of problems in the past, and I cut it off at fifty.
When I arrived at six, I met up with a young woman who produces video features. She wanted to interview me on the subject of the poor boy sandwich and its history. She is a native of the Czech Republic and now lives in New Orleans. I don't know how that will figure into her piece. But my wife Mary Ann--who is planning to visit Prague in the near future (don't ask)--had a good time talking with her.
[caption id="attachment_46377" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Eat Club assembling at Andrea's.[/caption]
That done, I moved to the big private dining room, where most of the Eat Club's fifty were already assembled. Waiters were passing around three appetizers: tuna tartare with pepperoncini aioli on fried pasta chips, fried cheese ravioli with red sauce, and dates stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese. I was able to score only the tuna item, which must have been the best of the three. The waiters were hard for me to corner while they still had food on their trays, but that may have been because of the number of people who moved in on me to say hello.
We sat down for crab and corn bisque, with the crabmeat on the side in an Asian-style ceramic spoon. The foamy cream cappuccino aspect was lost on me, but it's hard to make a creamy crab bisque that is less than delicious.
Next came a little salad with beets. It would have been better if it had been bigger; the three bites of beet left me wanting more, and the spring mix salad was, as always, hard to spear with a fork.
[caption id="attachment_46380" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Trout and shrimp at Eat Club at Andrea's. [/caption]
The best dish of the night came next. Speckled trout is running very nice right now. It came out with a sauce of big grilled shrimp and leeks in a citrus butter sauce. The sauce made the dish. When I asked about it, Andrea said that it's always been on the menu, although I can't remember having had it before. I will come in for a full portion. This one--two bites of trout, one shrimp, with what looked like some kind of stuffing underneath--made me want for more.
By this time we have several wines to talk about. The Ruffino Prosecco was bubbly and mellow and nice with the appetizers. Andrea's own white wine--he really does grow it on his family's land in his native Capri--was crisp and good with the crab and the trout. Somewhere on the list was Orvieto, a nice old name from a charming Southern Italian town. I never got a taste of that, but I accept the blame. I move from table to table all night, and it's easy for the waiters to lose track of me.
[caption id="attachment_46379" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Entree at the Eat Club.[/caption]
The main course was something about which I had misgivings, but I couldn't talk the chef out of it. Three meats--veal medaillion, lamb chop, and a filet mignon, each with its own sauce. The sauces were all great. The meats were cut small to accommodate them on the plate. Unless you're in an Asian restaurant, the smaller the cut of meat, the less well it cooks. The veal fared best, with its herbal, buttery sauce. The lamb chop and the filet were overcooked. A single piece of any one of these would have been twice as good as all three.
However, as I made the rounds of the other tables, I found no complaints about the food, the service, or the wine. What surprised me most was a frequent Eat Clubber who complains about everything had not a single gripe about anything. He just loved the whole dinner.
I gave a sigh of relief and spent the rest of the evening socializing. A lot of interesting folks were here. I was especially fascinated by a conversation I had with John Mmahat, who cropped up in some articles I wrote back in my Figaro and New Orleans Magazine days.
The dessert was an elegant finish--an old-style champagne glass (the wide kind) filled with a zabaglione as light as a cloud. It was sheer delight to eat. I've never had better, or more elegantly presented.
An unexpected surprise was the presence of Phil Melancon, who played his piano all night long in the background, then started cutting up with his funny songs with their references to elements of the local culture. I tried to sing with him, but as usual it didn't work out. He plays in keys so uncomfortable for me that I can't wedge my way in. I wish I were a real musician.
Andrea gave everyone a coffee mug and a bag of French Market Coffee as a reverse gift on his anniversary. Smiles were on all faces.
Now he's going to want me to do another one.
[title type="h5"]Andrea's. Metairie: 3100 19th St. 504-834-8583. [/title]
