October 1, 2015
Days Until. . .
Halloween 30
Anniversaries Of Notable Restaurants
Today in 2001 was opening day for Restaurant August. Chef John Besh, recently departed from Artesia in Abita Springs, was looking around for a gig. August "Duke" Robin persuaded him to join him in opening a new restaurant on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Gravier, across the street from the Windsor Court Hotel. Besh hired a few key people from the Grill Room; he was himself was an alumni of that kitchen. The timing was terrible. Travel was still much depressed by the 9/11 disaster. But the restaurant took off anyway. Besh bought out Robin in 2005, just in time for another unfortunate event that depressed business. But he got the restaurant open right after the storm, serving red beans and rice and the like to those trying to keep a lid on things, until he could start cooking and serving on actual china with silverware. Restaurant August is, then and now, a contender for best restaurant in New Orleans.
Annals Of Popular Cuisine
Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida today in 1971. Eleven years later, also on this date, Disney's EPCOT Center opened next door. A corporate dream come true, Disney World remakes the world according to its fantasies, and even controls the government of its lands. For the past fifteen years, the theme park and its adjuncts have continually raised the stakes in its restaurants, offering more than a few gourmet outlets. The city of Orlando also has seen a rapid rise in its number of serious restaurants. Emeril has two of them there.
Great Moments In Post-Katrina Era
This is the day in 2006 when Commander's Palace reopened after Katrina--and after many millions of dollars of repairs. In fixing what at first looked like minor damage, the Brennans found other, previously unknown problems that had to be addressed before the 126-year-old restaurant could reopen. Lally Brennan ruefully called it "a Pandora's box."
Back open finally, Commander's went beyond getting back into the groove: it cut a brand new one. Chef Tory McPhail remained at the kitchen's helm, most of the staff was back, and the all-girl team of proprietors (Ti Martin, Lally Brennan, Ella Brennan, and Dottie Brennan) continued to run things in person. The reopening launched a new era for Commander's, which continues to appear on top of almost everybody's list of the Best Restaurants In New Orleans.
In September 2015, Commander's announced that its long claim to having opened in 1880 was not actually true. A survey of the records by local historians commissioned by the Brennans revealed that the restaurant didn't open until 1893. The 1880 date, they admitted, was accepted as true because it appeared on iconography inside the restaurant. This revelation allows the Bon Ton Cafe (open in the 1870s) to move ahead of Commander's on the list of New Orleans's oldest operating restaurants, after Antoine's (1840) and Tujague's (1856).
Food Calendar
As we begin a new month, we note that October is (according to various untraceable sources): Country Ham Month, National Apple Month, National Chili Month (the first week is also National Chili Week), 
National Cookie Month, National Dessert Month, National Pickled Peppers Month (so pick a peck of 'em), National Pork Month, 
National Pretzel Month, National Seafood Month, Vegetarian Awareness Month (yeah, yeah, we're aware of them--more in a moment), Sun Dried Tomatoes Month, Cook Book Month , Gourmet Adventures Month, National Spinach Lovers Month, and Hunger Awareness Month. This is also supposed to be No Salt Week--but that is truly impossible to observe.
Today is the thirty-second annual World Vegetarian Day, instituted by the North American Vegetarian Society. It's a mellow organization that seems more interested in promoting the joys and healthfulness of vegetarianism than decrying the diets of omnivores. Here's their website.
The ranks of vegetarians are growing. I can vouch for that, just based on the number of queries I get from people looking for vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Fortunately for them, the restaurant community has kept up with this demand. Most white-tablecloth restaurants around New Orleans carry vegetarian (and sometimes even vegan) entrees on their menus. Neighborhood cafes have been slower to do so, as have most chains. And that option is expanding.
The first strategy for vegetarians who want to eat well in restaurants (in New Orleans, anyway) is to forget about vegetarian restaurants. The best of them have been just okay; most have been dreadful. Instead, go to good restaurants that buy fresh everything and have real chefs in the kitchen. Shop the menu for the ingredients of an appealing dish, and ask the chef to make it. Unless it's something really complicated, he probably will.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Rabbit Ridge is in central Arkansas, fifty eight miles north of Little Rock. It's a crossroads in rolling farm country, growing corn and cotton and truck vegetables. It's named for a textbook example of a hogback ridge, running a couple of miles east-west through the area, rising over 100 feet and dropping again in a ridge only a few dozen yards wide. Rabbit Ridge is further accents by tree cover, in contrast with the open fields on both sides of fit. Growing what they grow around there, it's a certainty that rabbits are noted. If you're hungry while passing through, Grandpa's Restaurant is five miles west in Center Ridge.
Edible Dictionary
satsuma, n.--Satsumas are the first citrus fruits of the Louisiana season, and herald the arrival in a month or two of the world's best oranges. Satsumas are native to the archaic Satsuma province on the island of Kyushu in Japan, where they seem to have mutated from a kind of orange. They came to this country in 1878, and are better known as mandarins (a reference to their Far Eastern origins) or tangerines. The satsumas in Southeast Louisiana are different from those found in most other parts of America, and remain very similar to the original Japanese variety brought here by the Jesuits. They have very thin skins with very large oil pockets. As we all discover as children, the skin is very easy to remove, and the sections usually come apart without breaking open. The flavor is distinctly different from that of an orange.
Deft Dining Rule #781
To help change the world, when a single leaf of raw kale turns up on a plate in a restaurant, ask the server, "What do I do with this?" The answers are always interesting.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez
To cook kale, slice out the central rib of the leaves and then cut the leaves into pieces the size of the pad of your thumb. Cook it slowly with chicken stock, olive oil, or butter, garlic or onions, crushed red pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice until it's tender. Then don't tell anybody what it is.
The Saints
Today is the feast day of St. Bavo, the patron saint of Ghent, Belgium. The cathedral named after him there is one of the most impressive in Europe, which is saying something. It's across the street from a restaurant whose name I can't recall, in an ancient city hall, where I went through a large bucket of mussels in wine and cream sauce for less than fifteen dollars. St. Bavo ought to be the patron saint of mussels, one of the favorite foods of Belgians.
Music To Dine By
Today is the birthday, in 1925, of mellow pianist Roger Williams. His music played for millions of hours on Muzak systems in restaurants over the years (I still hear it quite a bit). I will forever associate it school cafeteria eating. During my years at St. Rita's in Harahan, one of the nuns decided that Williams's music would be nice for the students to listen to instead of talking in the cafeteria. She played the same side of the same Roger Williams album every day. I came to like those songs--a funny thing for a kid of twelve.
Music To Lose A Recipe By
Today is the birthday (1930) of Richard Harris, the Irish actor who, although not really a singer, recorded the hit version of Jimmy Webb's MacArthur Park, one of the strangest songs ever written. Someone left a cake out in the rain.
Food And Drink Namesakes
Today in 1975 Eric Morel, Puerto Rican boxer in the 1996 Olympics, entered the Big Ring. . . Actor George Peppard was born today in 1928. . . Jerry Martini, jazz and pop saxophonist, was born today in 1943. . . Rob Collard, a British racecar driver, crossed the Big Starting Line today in 1968.
Words To Eat By
"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants."--A. Whitney Brown. "I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens."--Isaac Bashevis Singer. "I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight."--Rita Rudner. "Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?"--Unknown.
