[title type="h5"]Saturday, March 21, 2015.
A New Molé Outlet.[/title]
It's a beautiful day, but it wasn't supposed to be. The chill doesn't matter to Mary Ann who--if there are tables outside and the weather is even borderline tolerable--will admit only of Al Fresco for our meals together.
A new location of La Carreta is open. For many years, the place near Wal-Mart in lower Covington was the Ground Pat'i. That just-okay burger place shut down for good months or years ago. (Ground Pat'i has never been on my radar, except during a short period in the 1990s when then-seven-year-old Jude liked the place, for some reason). La Carreta took it over some months ago, apparently as a try-out. They must have been satisfied with the location, because they undertook an enlargement and redecoration. That just finished, giving a much more pleasant dining room, plus an expansion of the all-important outdoor seating area.
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Chicken with mole at La Caretta on Causeway Blvd.[/caption]
The new place passed my own test right away. Do they have molé? Yes! said the cheerful waitress, without asking me what molé is. (For those just joining us, molé is a thick, brown sauce made from dozens of ingredients in a slow, complex cooking. The flavors of chile peppers, sesame, and unsweetened chocolate dominate the flavor profile. It's classically served on grilled chicken or cheese enchiladas. I think it's the second-best sauce in the world, topped only by bearnaise.)
The Marys ate their standard dish: queso with chorizo, made with much more chorizo than at their usual La Carreta. But that was enough to throw the Marys off their feed, literally. I was perfectly happy with the chicken molé. The molé was different from the one they make in Mandeville, but I thought it better--a little lighter texture, and a big flavor.
We went there after MA and I co-hosted the radio show from noon until three. It was one of our best cooperative efforts so far. We are now just waiting to be discovered by the imaginary guy who will pay MA a million dollars a year to move to Los Angeles, where she will pick up where she left off in her career when we got married and became parents in 1989.
It looks like not just rain, but a jungle thunderstorm. Eighty percent chance, says the weatherman. That would mess up plans for Ronnie Kole's Jazz On The Bayou fundraiser today and tomorrow. But no rain fell at all today, and. . . [divider type=""]
[title type="h5"]Sunday, March 22, 2015.
Ronnie Kole Hosts A Charitable Crescendo.[/title]
. . . the thunderstorms that are supposed to wash over both weekend days don't appear. In fact, it is sunny, cool, and very pleasant. The Marys go across the lake for something. At three, I drive to Chateau Kole, where Day Two of Jazz On The Bayou goes off as per plan. I know exactly where Ron and Gardner Kole live, having been invited to a number of parties there over the years. But it's been awhile since last time, and there is a logistical change: all the guests's cars park at the North Shore Square Mall, and are bussed down the gravel road to the Chateau.
That wasn't the only change. From the food to the wine to the auctions to the portable bathrooms, everything is of the class I remember from events like the Napa Wine Auction. Lots of great food. So many chefs volunteer for Ronnie's event that they have to split into two days. The only possible complaint one could have is that three of the chefs are serving shrimp and grits. But even so, each of the three is different from the other two.
Best dish of the day: Café Lynn's casserole of artichokes and shrimp. (I don't think there were grits in there.) Luke brought a whole baby pig stuffed with jambalaya. Young's Steak House had some great steak kebabs. But there was truly nothing here I wouldn't have seconds of.
Music plays throughout the afternoon. A bit too loud, I'd say, but all musicians do. The auctions go on all over the place, enough that one could actually score bargains without trying very hard. (It may be time for an index of the economic health of the nation to be built on the percentage of charitable auctions whose items sell for above their stated values.)
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Gardner & Ronnie Kole.[/caption]I keep myself busy talking with the agreeably many attendees who listen to my show all the time (so they say). I keep going until about five-thirty, when I felt the gout coming on. First time in awhile. It's a mixed signal: when it happens, it means that I have shed another pound or two. A friend in his nineties says that's the worst part of getting older: no good news about one's health is unbalanced by a related bit of bad news.
No bad news at Jazz On The Bayou, though. The Koles will disburse many tens of thousands of dollars to a few local do-good organizations. And ensure that anyone who knows them will continue to get a glow by just thinking about their caring.
