Monday, November 2, 2015.
John Besh To Take Over Pontchartrain Hotel Eateries.
After all that rain over the weekend, we were due for clearing skies today. But it didn't happen. Indeed, I had to make a run for it when Mary Ann and I convened for luncheon red beans at New Orleans Food & Spirits at noonish. I have at least a dozen umbrellas, but that's clearly not enough. Enough is when you can find one. Just one.
Back at my desk, I find a message of great import from public relations lady Maggie Moore at the Besh Restaurant Group. Besh and company will be taking over all the food service operations of the Pontchartrain Hotel.
The implications of this are large. Thinking about them brings up the whole history of the hotel and its restaurants, which will not be well known to most diners under the age of forty.
The Aschaffenberg family--in, particular, its patriarch Lysle Aschaffenberg--took over the Pontchartrain Hotel in the 1930s. It was one of many classy businesses that proved that success was indeed possible during the Great Depression.
During those dire times, Lysle opened the Caribbean Room, one of the handsomest, most comfortable, most romantic restaurants in town. Its rooms had a soft glow, a color scheme of plush pink among walls of rich wood paneling that went a long way up to the ceiling. A fountain splashed in the center of the main room, and you could hear it, so quiet was the environment. Everything about the place spoke of luxury.
But this was no mere affectation. Lysle was a gourmet and world traveler, and the Caribbean Room's food was first class. It fostered two chefs who would go on to become among the most famous in New Orleans: Nathaniel Burton and his protégé Louis Evans. Beyond their great skills in the kitchen, they were unusual in having celebrity status when few other African-American cooks were known at all. Its service staff--notably the longtime maitre 'd Douglas Leman--was as sharp as any other in these parts.
All that went into decline in the 1980s, as the Baby Boom generation eschewed formal dining in favor of Creole bistros. Lysle passed away, and his son Albert took over the management. He was a very nice man who got caught in changing vogues. Ultimately, the Pontchartrain Hotel was sold, and the new owners oversaw a long drift in the goodness of both the hotel and the restaurants.
Aside from the C-Room, there was the Pontchartrain Café, a.k.a. The Silver Whistle. That dining room was among the best breakfast places in the city, and certainly the one best attended by powerful members of the community. Although attempts have been made to get the restaurants up to their former glory, for twenty years the place has been free-floating.
But now we are to have John Besh and his phalanxes of top-class personnel in charge. The Caribbean Room will come back, and so will the Silver Whistle. Also revived will be the Bayou Bar, which has the distinction of being the last bar in New Orleans that had a jacket-required dress code. It always had live music, too, and very good cocktails. Finally, an entirely new bar is in the plans for the rooftop. That should be nice, what with its view of the Garden District.
When all this will open or reopen is not known. This will give plenty of time for both the management and the clientele to wonder about whether there will be crabmeat Remick, trout Eugene, trout Veronique, profiteroles au chocolat, and mile-high ice cream pie. Some of the C-Room's famous dishes are so dated that they will need heavy renovation. It will surely be done, because even if eveything is identical to the food of the 1960s and 1970s, people will complain that it's all changed. However, all that may be moot. The way I read the data, the grand restaurant will not be the C-Room, but the new place on the roof.
Besh has had only one misstep since he opened his first restaurant, August, in 2000. After that came Luke, Besh Steak, Domenica, Domenica Pizza, Luke in San Antonio, Borgne, Johnny Sanchez, and Willa Jean's. (American Sector came and went.) The thought that this will surely result in dilution of the overall goodness of Besh's outlets surfaces. But his main skill seems to be his ability to attract very sharp chefs and managers. And that may well be enough.
The rest of my day is given over to watching the rapid progress of the cat Satsuma, who has made friends with all members of our family except the dog Susie, who doesn't like interlopers of any kind. Mary Ann gives her imprimatur to our adopting Satsuma's brother Valencia. I also am in receipt of seven messages from readers and listeners who are in unanimity in saying that I must adopt Valencia. I call the Humane Society and they reserve him for adoption Wednesday. Not only does this create a duo named for citrus fruits, but parallels the brotherhood of the departed Runt and Twinnery.
For those who wonder what all this cat stuff is doing in a food blog, I say that no other topic in the eighteen-year tenure of this website has ever attracted so much like-minded mail.
In other light news, NPAS is deep into what promises to be a very impressive Christmas concert. The music is not easy. I'm glad I'm not being tested on it.
