Thursday, September 7, 2017. Emeril In Town.
Mary Ann plans to return to Los Angeles in a few days, after just having returned after nine days spent with Jude's family. Now Jude learns that he must attend another week long orientation for his amazing new job. (I am not being snarky here. His new position is a humdinger in every regard.) Jude's wife Suzanne also works full-time, and a long-term babysitter is needed for every day next week. No greater pleasure is there for Mary Ann to step into this breach.
But she feels somewhat sorry for me, and she tries to lessen my loneliness by having a party. I have a moderately large anniversary to celebrate--forty-five years of writing a weekly restaurant review. So we go to someplace big: Emeril's.
The restaurant is moderately full. The city is getting over the hurricane drama that decimated southeast Texas. There was a good chance that Harvey would cause serious flooding in New Orleans and vicinity. For the most part, the city managed to dodge that, although no small number of people in western Louisiana were beat up, flooded, and stranded.
The Marys and me are the totality of our celebration at Emeril's. I began with a Manhattan cocktail, without even asking about the special way they have to mix it. Most of the ingredients are allowed to age for a goodly long time. I don't remember ever encountering such a strategy. It left a distinctly smoky aroma and flavor on the palate. Interesting, but I'm not sure I'd ask for that again.
First course for me was an appetizer made with snails, sweetbreads, garlic and butter as the main ingredients. It came to the table sizzling and aromatic with the garlic. Something else different. I would have preferred French bread to the house-made bread Emeril's serves, at least for this dish. Garlic butter is irresistible when sizzling.
"Emeril is here!" Mary Ann said. I couldn't see him from my angle, but the server passed by and we asked whether it were indeed the man himself. Yes, she said. I was surprised that there wasn't a buzz among the customers because of this rare presence.
Emeril Lagasse was standing at the edge of the kitchen, talking with a chef I didn't recognize. I tapped on Emeril's shoulder and asked him what he was doing there. He explained that tonight was the night when Doug Braselman takes over as Chef De Cuisine of Emeril's on Tchoupitoulas. He replaces David Slater, who has held that position since 2008.
"David is going to work with me directly on the development side of the restaurants," Emeril said. What with some dozen restaurants, I imagine there is a lot to be developed.
This the the first time I've seen Emeril since the twenty-fifth anniversary of the restaurant's opening. He was upbeat and friendly, and suggested that he will be spending more time in New Orleans and less in New York City.
This turned the whole nature of the dinner around. I had a unique dish combining a big slab of redfish (I think) with spaghetti and a red sauce. This is not my cup of tea, but something called to me about it. I re-learned that full-sized, old-style spaghetti is my least favorite shape of pasta. But it worked reasonably well anyway.
The dinner ended with a bomb of desserts, with a half-dozen or so sorbets and ice creams. Dessert was always strong here. But the Marys are, as usual, staying away from sweets. Fun evening anyway.
Emeril's. Warehouse District: 800 Tchoupitoulas. 504-528-9393.
