Diary 6|24|2015: Tiroditos. Aunt Sally. More Tiroditos.

Written by Tom Fitzmorris July 01, 2015 12:01 in

[title type="h5"]DiningDiarySquare-150x150 Wednesday, June 24, 2015. Mizado. Praline Anniversary. Franklin. [/title] The shop says my car will be ready today, but not soon enough for me to use it. The Marys and I devise a complicated workaround. Mary Ann has a lunch meeting she must attend on the South Shore. The next car south is Mary Leigh's. She is working the afternoon shift at Sucre. I get my work done early and she ferries me into town. We have enough time to spare to have lunch at Mizado, which she likes. I'm interested because it's Ceviche Week (sez Mizado's Taste Buds). We start with an assortment of salsas. One is green with avocado and very sharp. The second is dark, ruddy brown with a big basic flavor and an insistent pepper level. Finally, we have a red one that has a bit of sweetness and less pepper. We go through two baskets of chips getting all this up. ML has a pair of street tacos with beef. I have a ceviche assortment followed by tiroditos of salmon. Tiroditos are the culinary result of the substantial influx of Japanese people into South America, particularly Peru. Peru is where ceviche first appeared. When ceviche met sushi, they begat tiroditos--sort of. The main difference is that the marinade that "cooks" ceviche is held back in tiroditos. The result in this case is spectacular, and especially welcome on a hot day. We will return to tiroditos later in this entry. [caption id="attachment_48041" align="alignnone" width="480"]Tiroditos @ Mizado Cocina. Tiroditos @ Mizado Cocina.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_48039" align="alignnone" width="480"]Tiroditos @ Franklin. Tiroditos @ Franklin.[/caption] Our lunch finished, Mary Leigh drives me across the busy Metairie Road-I10-Canal Street intersection and drops me off. I run to the neutral ground and catch the streetcar just as it's beginning its run to the river. I have not been on the streetcar in a long time and I enjoy the ride. I debark at Decatur, and hoof it to the French Market, where my radio show is soon to begin. It's the eightieth anniversary of Aunt Sally's Praline Shop, next to the Café Du Monde. A long time ago, I wrote an article for a national magazine in which, after research, I posited that Aunt Sally's made the best pralines in town. Although there are some very fine competitors, I've always noted an edge in Aunt Sally's, and those are the ones I buy whenever pralines are needed. The gratitude that Aunt Sally's people have showed me since the article is a little over the top. Every year for the past three, we have celebrated National Praline Day with a radio broadcast from one of the two Aunt Sally's shops. (The other one is on St. Charles Avenue at Julia.) During the three-hour broadcast today, the only revealed datum that could be considered breaking news is the number of pralines that would make a year's supply. Aunt Sally's has a contest going on that seeks selfie photographs involving pralines. The one judged the best will get a year's worth of the official candy of New Orleans, with a choice of flavors. This is revealed to be a six-pack of pralines per week. One per day, with a day off. Generous! That allows lots of pralines to give to friends. Mary Ann meets me at Aunt Sallie's to carry me home. We will have dinner, of course. Her first idea is that we try Cane & Table. It's open two years at least, and I've not yet been there. It's in the space that once was the legendary G&E Courtyard Grill, a great lost favorite of ours in the 1990s. And they do have a courtyard--MA's favorite dining environment. Unfortunately, the restaurant isn't serving out there today. (Chance of rain: 40 percent.) Her next idea is Franklin in the Marigny. Neither of us has been. Franklin is one of the restaurants for which I was testing a new source of reviews for NOMenu. I commissioned a freelance writer to review the place, the first reviewer other than me in the 38-yea history of The New Orleans Menu. Even though she did a fine job with it, I found that my not knowing anything about what has become a major new restaurant is not a tenable state of affairs for me. When people ask, I must answer, and they ask all the time. Although I am unalterably opposed to the idea, the best thing that could happen to my coverage of the restaurant scene is for a moratorium on new restaurants. But what will all the other restaurant reporters write about, if there are no new restaurants? [caption id="attachment_48040" align="alignnone" width="480"]The bar at The Franklin. The bar at The Franklin.[/caption] Mary Ann takes an immediate liking to Franklin and its excellent design. We ask how old the building is, and learn that, unlike most structures in this very old part of town, it's a new construction. If that's so, then the designer has created a particularly quirky layout. With the exception of the expansive bar, the whole restaurant is made of small nooks opening into one another by dint of large windows. Visually, it works well. We take a deuce in the bar. I have a cocktail called "Word." It is devised by replacing elements of a Negroni with other ingredients. That almost always results in a good drink, and it does today. The bartender is an interesting conversationalist. The waitress tells us that one of the appetizer specials is tiroditos of red snapper, served with avocado, micro-herbs, citrus juice, and popcorn. (Popcorn is a common garnish for ceviche in South America.) I tell her that she will not believe it, but this is the second time today I have been offered that same dish--right down to the minor ingredients. She almost gasps audibly. I'm amazed, too, given that the tiroditos idea is decidedly in the bet-you've-never-heard-of-this category for adventuresome chefs. I offer that I will be the first person in the history of New Orleans to eat this dish twice on the same day, in two different (very different, at that) restaurants. To prove this, I offer photographs of the two, above. The only differences between them are presentation, the exact fish species, and other small details. (Thus proving that neither restaurant stole the idea from the other.) [caption id="attachment_48038" align="alignnone" width="480"]"Courtbouillon" at Franklin. "Courtbouillon" at Franklin.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_48037" align="alignnone" width="480"]Chicken. Chicken.[/caption] The dinner goes on delightfully. Mary Ann has a roast chicken dish that she says is very good. I have what they call courtbouillon. Like bouillabaisse and cioppino and other such brothy stews with lots of seafood variety, no exact definition of courtbouillon is recognized by all chefs. This one is more like a bouillabaisse, but everything is getting fuzzy in this analysis. The shrimp in the bowl are enormous, the fish fillets are corpulent and tasty, and the herbal broth interesting. We head home, and I unwittingly leave something undone. That story tomorrow. [title type="h5"]Franklin. Marigny: 2600 Dauphine. 504-267-0640.[/title]