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Thursday, June 25, 2015.
Return To Franklin.
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After two weeks, I finally have my car back from the shop. For the first time in years, I can roll down the driver's window. I also have ABS brakes again. And some advanced gizmo in the exhaust system is working for the first time in memory. Around $1200 had to depart my bank account for all this. But that's what I get for trying to keep a car in the pink after more than 200,000 miles.
Mary Ann is in town, trying to catch up on her work after taking last week off. Lucky her. I'm still not caught up from the two and a half weeks of the cruise. I'm told that real men must shrug such things off.
Yesterday, when Mary Ann and I had our delightful first dinner at Franklin in the Marigny, I left my smart phone at the restaurant, or thought I did. I called the place last night to check, and sure enough, there it was. This morning, while responding to a missive from Microsoft (I have a Windows phone), a map popped up showing exactly where my phone was: corner of Franklin Avenue and Dauphine, the address of the restaurant. Does this mean my phone is smarter than I am?
After the radio show I return to Franklin to pick up the prodigal telephone. I figure that, as long as I'm there, I'll just have dinner again. I grab a seat at the bar, where the same bartender is there with the same slightly confusing advice as to whether I should get the hanger steak or the bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. I didn't catch his words exactly, but it was along the lines of, "Well, the beef is good if you're in a beefy mood, with the essence of cattle with that hanger steak kind of gamy quality. On the other hand, that pork tenderloin is extra porky with all that bacon, and the chef doesn't overcook the pork, so it has that special flavor from pork that's still a little pink." It was about ten percent in the direction of talking in a foreign language, but his advice was good enough that I had no trouble in deciding on the pork. I like servers who give their wares some thought, which this guy clearly had. (Reference that great cocktail he made the night before. Word. That's the cocktail's name. Word.)
At the last moment before picking a starter, I see something tucked into the corner of the menu that grabs me. It's a big bowl of gazpacho with a small floating salad, the leaves carrying lumps of crabmeat. The ruddy-brown, chilled, thick broth has a powerful flavor. The tomato component adds a rich, fresh acidity and a hard-to-dope-out component of spices. This may be the most enjoyable gazpacho of my life. Nicely chilled, perfect for the hot weather.
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Pork tenderloin with bacon and corn.[/caption]
Think about it: juicy, not-overcooked pork tenderloin with a crisp skin of bacon. How could anything possibly go wrong? Nothing did. But it could be made better with a scattering of corn and an underlayer of mashed potatoes. Which, indeed, are part of the presentation.
I am not especially moved to have dessert, but somebody talked me into the chocolate thing with the strawberries. If I attempted to make this myself, I would follow the same recipe for chocolate mousse, but with less of everything other than the chocolate. Way, way too intense for me. I'd bet that the Marys would love this.
Getting the dessert helped me in another way. I am supposed to do a cooking demonstration this Saturday at the Boomers and Beyond Expo, and I haven't yet decided what I will make. Now I've got it: chocolate mousse!
