[title type="h5"]Monday, May 18, 2015.
Red Beans @ New Orleans Food & Spirits. Singing About Singing.[/title]
The Marys and I lunch at New Orleans Food and Spirits--the usual red beans and salads. We discuss the upcoming cruise. Mary Ann tells me what I am permitted to do in her presence. She is particularly concerned about the day we are in Monte Carlo. She wants to rent a car (it must be a convertible, to match her image of fun on the French Riviera). We will go to Villefranche Sur Mer, where the girls will go swimming in the Med and I will find a French bistro for lunch. Last time we were in that charming town, our wanderings took us away from the row of restaurants until it was too late for lunch and not late enough for dinner. So she owes me one.
After the radio show I attend the last rehearsal for MPAS's twentieth-anniversary concert. I will be on the boat for the final run-through, and for the performance itself. There's nothing I can do about it: the cruise was planned months before I joined NPAS. But by now they must think I'm not really part of the chorus. It pains me to miss the terrific music. One we rehearse tonight is new to me: "How Can I Keep From Singing." Wonderful lyrics and even better harmonies and counterpoints. But I know how I can keep from singing: have too full a schedule. One can't do everything, but the realization of that truth gets more painful with each passing day.[divider type=""]
[title type="h5"]Tuesday, May 19, 2015.
Big Round Table Show. Mat & Naddies.
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We have a large crowd for the Round Table show, with representatives of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, the Symphony Book Fair, the WYES Chocolate Sunday fundraiser on June 7, and Southern Candymakers. Also here is chef Chris Montero, who in addition to running several of Ralph Brennan's kitchens, is now in charge of the food side of the Napoleon House. Ralph just bought that icon at the request of the longtime previous owners. Rounding out this really big show is Chef Joseph Maynard, from Criollo at the Monteleone Hotel.
This gang of people proved once again that too many guests is better than not enough. And perhaps better than the right number. If only I could keep all the names straight! But I am losing more of that capacity every day.
I got a message from Mat & Naddie's saying that it would donate a quarter of its take tonight to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. I'm all for that, and it's been awhile since my last dinner in that funny old barge-board house on the riverfront. Mary Ann is occupied, so I call my little sister Lynn to fill out the table. Ten years ago, I would have just gone alone. After fifty years of solo dining, I now consider eating at a table for one anathema.
Lynn and I are much more kindred spirits than either of us is with either of our two sisters. We love them, but something clicks between us. More than once Lynn has told me that if I weren't her brother and married, I'd be the kind of guy she'd attempt to woo. That's just our luck.
We have a more congenial evening than usual, considering many of life's big questions. And the deterioration to which we are heirs. She tells me that I appear to be going deaf. I know why: I wear a set of headphones for three hours every day, and I keep turning it louder so I don't drive people nuts with my misunderstandings.
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Rabbit stew at Mat & Naddie's.[/caption]
We have a very good dinner. I start with a very rich vichyssoise, ice-cold and herbal. She has a fried oyster salad for an entree. I counter with a very delicious, country-style rabbit stew over pasta with a creamy sauce, and what Frank Brigtsen refers to as "rabbit wings." These look just like that. And they are cooked confit-style, finished with an appealing light-brown crust. And tender, tender, tender.
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Oyster salad.[/caption]
Following our upbringing--when it comes to dessert we are more custard people than we are chocolate people--we have creme brulee and unusual bread pudding.
The running theme of the night is that a guy at the next table has a very loud voice. I agree, but this is a failing of my own. A strange woman walked up to me at Galatoire's some years ago and told me how irritatingly loud I can be. Come to think of it, Mary Ann has told me this for years. I'm not aware of it, myself, but I must believe these reports.
My least favorite part of vacation is recording all the radio commercials that I would ordinarily perform live during the program. I had about twenty of them to do this time around. Through some miracle (if one can call nine hours of work in the last few days a miracle), that task is now off my hands. I now move on to getting the NOMenu newsletter ready to remain functional during the cruise. But this is far ahead of schedule for me, and I sleep well not having to think about it.
[title type="h5"]Mat & Naddie's. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 937 Leonidas. 504-861-9600. [/title]
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Wednesday, May 20, 2015.
Yummy Sushi. Its Real Name.[/title]
The number of vintner dinners in the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience is down to around twenty-five. In its heyday, it was around forty. I think I know why. Not one dinner I could find (the sold-out dinners are no longer listed on the NOWFE website) is going for under $100, and I saw some that were well over $150. I put on dinners like this often enough to know that there is significant price sensitivity here, even though the proceeds go to various local charities, and even though NOWFE deserves its recent designation by USA Today as one of the ten best food festivals in America.
I think it's a mistake to make the vintner dinners unaffordable for a lot of would-be diners. They say that many of the dinners in the past ran less than full houses. But that would be easy to fix with better promotion. This year, I had to actively seek out NOWFE information, or get none at all. And some of the menus were less than thrilling. Reading between the lines, I got the feeling that some of the dinners were running on tight budgets.
I couldn't bring myself to spend the three figures for any vintner dinner I saw with openings. (I have always before waited until the last minute, but almost always getting a good dinner anyway.)
Instead, I try a new Japanese restaurant near UNO about which I have been hearing good things. It bears the playful name Yummy Sushi and Hibachi. It's in an old strip mall with distinctive Elmwood Plantation-style columns, on Robert E. Lee near Paris Avenue. I haven't been around there in years, but back when I was well-connected to the neighborhood. I was taken aback to see that a large part of the center looks defunct, waiting for major repairs. But it took a pretty bad flood from Katrina and the nearby substandard drainage canal. Compared with my mental archives, the area looks pretty depressing.
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Tuna tataki.[/caption]
It is raining, and not many people are in Yummy. I walk over to the sushi bar and look over the possibilities. I start with a generous cup of clear soup with noodles and mushrooms. Then a very pretty flower of tuna tataki. It's mostly raw, but seared around the outside and awash with ponzu. Perfect cool temperature, and very tasty.
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Salmon-avocado roll at Yummy.[/caption]
Then a salmon and avocado roll, again with the moisture and temperature just right. I am still hungry, and order the dynamite roll. It is almost identical to the one I just finished, but with a much higher component of red pepper. I will begin with one of these next time I'm here.
The menu is straightforward from that point. I saw no evidence of hibachi cooking going on, but not being a fan of that I wasn't exactly looking for it. Somehow I also missed the specials board, which had a couple of items I would have tried had I seen them sooner.
On my way home, I see that the Hellenic Cultural Center on Bayou St. John and Robert E. Lee is well along in setting up the annual Greek Festival. It starts on Friday and runs through the weekend. It's a great time. We ought to have more such ethnic festivals.
[title type="h5"]Yummy Sushi & Hibachi. Lakefront/UNO Area: 6100 Hamburg St. 504-309-9401. [/title]
