[title type="h5"]Friday, April 10, 2015
Queedle-Deep! Bistro Orleans. Juggling Bananas Foster.[/title]
The cycles of the seasons are reassuring, and I was assured today that in at least one small way everything is okay. The Queedle-Deep bird has arrived at the Cool Water Ranch, and is happily repeating his questions and answers. The question is "Queedle-deep?" The answer is "Queedle-dee-doop."
We were living in Abita Springs eight years before I first heard the two-part lesson. I'm sure it was there, and that I was just not paying attention. It was 1998, and I was awakening inside a tent with my son and Cub Scout Jude. Through the night, I listened to the sounds as they changed subtly. A steady trill that seemed to me to have been on all night finally faded away. And then I heard that bird's call echoing through the trees, asking and answering his question, with a gap between the two so consistent that I could sing (well, whistle) along with him.
April 10 is about average for the first queedles of the year. The earliest was April 2 in 2008. Last year's came so late--May 15--that I began to wonder whether the birds had missed their flight.
Last year, I finally discovered the identity of this bird. It's a wood thrush, a yellow and white bird about the size of a blue jay. I got that data from an audio link on the internet. I still have never actually seen the bird. But I hear him, loudest in the early morning, taking most of the daytime hours off, then returning with a low-energy version of his song as the sun goes down. Welcome back, friend.
Also just back from faraway places with strange-sounding names are the Marys, who arrived last evening. They resumed their routines as timely as the Queedle-deep did. Mary Leigh begins a new job, working a few days a week at Sucre, the glitzy pastry and candy shoppes on Magazine Street and in the French Quarter. ML keeps extending her expertise as a baker.
The three of us converge for supper at Bistro Orleans. This seems the perfect place for the Marys and their liking of old-style home cooking. On top of that, they have been complaining about starving in Germany, whose food they couldn't stand but were stuck with for two weeks. Their only salvation was the breakfast buffet in their hotel every morning.
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Fried artichoke hearts.[/caption]
Bistro Orleans has what they have been yearning for. Fried artichoke hearts with marinara sauce on the side. A big wedge salad with blue cheese and bacon. Spaghetti and meatballs. All in big piles, which is the way they do things a at Bistro Orleans.
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Grilled oysters at Bistro Orleans.[/caption]
I begin with some great grilled oysters with bacon, garlic and cheese. The girls go after their share of everything but the plump oysters. We are all happy about this. Moving on, I have panneed veal with crabmeat, at the waiter's strong suggestion. It's toasty, tender and good. Underneath is a pillow of pasta with no significant sauce coating. It's the usual problem found in restaurants serving pasta: the pasta goes onto the plate, and the sauce is spooned over it. How could something so wrong and so easy to fix be so persistent?
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Panneed veal with crabmeat over pasta.[/caption]
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Chef Archie Saurage makes bananas Foster by hand.[/caption]So, attention please, all chefs who serve pasta with sauces: Put the pasta into a bowl. Add the sauce. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Only then does the pasta go to the plate. The difference in flavor release is tremendous.
Chef Archie Saurage comes out to do bananas Foster for me. I have never seen it done this way. No cart. He has a pan with the bananas n his right hand, and another pan with the warm liquor in his left. He touches the flame to the latter pan, then pours it over the former. Then he adds the ice cream, et voila! Simple, quick, with a brief drama. And tastes just like bananas Foster.
What a great day! My girls and my birds are back in their nests!
[title type="h5"]Bistro Orleans. Metairie: 3216 West Esplanade Ave. 504-304-1469. [/title]
