Diary: Gabrielle || Thursday, 05-17-2018 || For once, I thought of the perfect restaurant for dining out this evening. I left the radio station almost immediately after the show ended, and I drove over to Gabrielle's. Chef Greg Sonnier has his restaurant well pulled together, to judge by the first visit we made there a few weeks ago. On the other hand, it's still probably a little too soon after the opening for me to write the definitive review of the place. On top of that, they are doing a pretty strong business for everything to be perfect just yet. But I can and will adjust my thoughts to reflect that.
I wanted to get another shot of Oysters Gabie, which I loved last time. It's a variation of oysters Mosca, with bread crumbs, garlic and artichokes. Instead, the chef sent me a gratin dish with a lightly cheese-sprinkled topping and crawfish tails in a creamy sauce. Delicious. I also wanted a second go of that she-crab soup they made last time. That soup is not something we see much around New Orleans. I'll just have to wait until next time.
The entree was yet another pork chop, an entree I have been favoring lately. I'm getting close to having a dozen-best list for pork chops. I figured that Gabrielle's would be in the very upmost levels, but it was overcooked a bit. My mistake in not mentioning that I like pork chops cooked to 140-145 degrees, where the juicy parts are.
Still, this dinner was quite enjoyable. And some extraordinarily fine pork chops have come up to compete in my tasting around.
Gabrielle. Mid-City: 2441 Orleans Ave. 504-603-2344. [divider type=""]
Giorlando's || Friday, 05-18-2018 || I don't know why, but I left the Cool Water Ranch well before noon. Nor could I explain why I was on the road in the 11 a.m. hour. The obvious explanation was to make make lunch--a meat I almost never eat during the week--logistically possible. And why did Giorlando's--where I last dined some five years ago--loom as the place for this unaccustomed meal?
Well, I stopped worrying about such matters when I ordered the premier item at Giorlando's: its roast beef poor boy. I tried that for the first time some twenty years ago at least, and loved it then and now. I asked for and was served my variation on the counterpoint: easy on the gravy, heavy on the pickle slices, and the five-inch-long "small" serving, not the nine-incher, which must require several people to put it away.
One more thing about Giorlando's roast beef sammich: it's served in a pleasant dining room, where one might otherwise might pursue various Italian and seafood dishes, or daily specials along the lines of boiled brisket of beef with mashed potatoes. It deserves more attention than it gets.
Giorlando's. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 741 Bonnabel. 504-835-8593. [divider type=""]
Deviled (Stuffed) Crab
The crab cake is a dish imported idea from Maryland in the latter 1980s. It was rarely seen in New Orleans before then, and has driven similar dishes from the scene. But those indigenous crabmeat dishes are not half bad when made with our first-class crabmeat, plus an adventuresome flavor complement. I offer this one as a case in point. I like serving this as a side dish to pasta, entree salads, or even fried seafood. This is one of relatively few dishes in this collection that begin with what is known around New Orleans as the "holy trinity": onions, bell peppers, and celery.
- 2 sticks butter
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/4 tsp. curry powder
- 1 tsp. yellow mustard
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbs. lemon juice
- 1 lb. white crabmeat
- 3 Tbs. green onions, sliced thin
- 2 tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
1. Heat one stick of the butter in a skillet until it bubbles, and sauté the onion, celery, and bell pepper until soft.
2. Add the curry powder, yellow mustard, wine, Worcestershire and lemon juice to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring to blend. When the liquid is reduced by half, add the crabmeat, green onions, Creole seasoning and salt. Stir to blend, trying to to break up the crabmeat much. Remove from the heat.
3. As gently as you can, stir in the bread crumbs until the mixture is uniform.
4. Although you can make the resulting mixture into cakes or balls (which you then bake on a pan in the oven, or even deep-fry), I find it comes out better if you bake it inside crab shells or gratin dishes. Top each piece with a half-teaspoon flake of butter. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven until the tops sizzle and brown.
Serve with lemon wedges and remoulade or tartar sauce.
Serves six to eight.[divider type=""]
May 22, 2017
Days Until. . .
New Orleans Wine And Food Experience 3 Greek Festival 5
Notable New Orleans Restaurateurs
Patrick von Hoorebeck was born today in Brussels, Belgium in the 1950s. (He won't give me the exact year.) Good timing: as Captain of the Krewe of Cork, he gets to celebrate every year when his parade of wine buffs rolls down Royal Street during the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience's Royal Street Stroll tonight. Patrick came to prominence locally as the dining room and wine manager of the Bistro at the Maison de Ville. When that restaurant ran into trouble after the hurricane, Patrick began making the rounds, working at the Rib Room and Restaurant August, among other tony places. He now operates his own wine bar, Bar Vin, in the former lounge of Louis XVI.
Today's Flavor
It is National Speckled Trout Day. Speckled trout--whose official name is the spotted sea trout--is not a trout at all, but a weakfish, a member of the same general family as redfish and drum. Of this there is no doubt: it's the standard fish of New Orleans white-tablecloth restaurants. Or used to be. That status is much diminished since the advent of laws that limit the commercial catch of trout to such a small number (less than one percent of the total catch by recreational fishermen) that the fish is now highly seasonal (October through spring), and it's hard to get even in season. The recreational lobby is once again trying to get speckled trout named a sport fish, which would remove it from restaurants and markets completely. There are good ways to prepare trout, and less good ways. The standard method, at trout specialists like Galatoire's and Arnaud's, is to deep-fry it. Or, if you're being elegant, to pan-saute it--a variation on frying, really. Trout also comes out nice when baked, particularly underneath a modest topping. These run the gamut from seafood and bread crumbs to shredded potatoes to toasted almonds or pecans. Although sometimes trout is grilled, I think it's not as good as other fish for that purpose. Its flaky structure seems to fall apart on the grill. Some of the best versions of trout meuniere and amandine are at Galatoire's, Arnaud's, Fury's, Mandina's, and the Bourbon House. It really is a great fish, with a nice texture with big flakes and a mellow nutty quality that lends itself to the buttery sauces we like to gild it with.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Snail Bay is in lower Lafourche Parish in southeast Louisiana, about twenty miles north of Grand Isle, the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The bay is about a mile wide and two miles long, with Snail Bayou passing through from east to west. Just south of Snail Bayou is Barataria Bay, one of the finest estuaries for oysters, shrimp, and fish anywhere in America. It's also one of the places most endangered by the current oil spill. While most of this land has been eroding away as a result of rising sea levels and hurricanes, silt coming in from Bayou Lafourche makes the land around here a little more solid. If you find snails, in Snail Bay, you won't want to eat them. The nearest restaurant is fifteen miles east by boat in Galliano: The Kajun Twist.
Deft Dining Rule #598
The most frequent misrepresentation in New Orleans restaurants is that the fish used to make the trout amandine is actually speckled trout.
Restaurant Anniversaries
Palm in New York City opened today in 1926. It set out as an Italian restaurant called Parma, owned by Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi. But the person taking the application for the license misheard the name, and Palm (without "the") it became. Palm quickly evolved into what it is now, a major player in the New York steakhouse community. It sprouted a second location across Second Avenue after a few years, and in recent decades has become a national chain. The original, which still has an extensive Italian menu, is one of the best steakhouses of our experience, although it seems to us that the chaining of the thing has lessened it somewhat. Sounds familiar.
Edible Dictionary
La Mediatrice, French, n.--French for "the peacemaker," the name by which this old New Orleans specialty is best known these days. It's a sandwich made with fried oysters, said to have been a specialty of one of the employees of a bordello in Storyville. The idea was that after a "gentleman" spent his time with the "ladies," he would grab one of these and bring it home to his wife. Her pleasure at getting this delicious surprise would distract her attention from her suspicion about where he'd been. The exact origins are cloudy, but the Storyville story is logical, because everything was kept secret in that district. Nor is the exact recipe known beyond the oysters and bread. One version specified that the bread be hollowed out and the oysters stewed in cream. Another makes it out as a kind of poor boy with bacon and cheese. These days, the few restaurants that serve Peacemakers usually include shrimp with the fried oysters.
Annals Of Culinary Education
Today in 1946, the Culinary Institute of America--this country's best-known training school for chefs--was founded as the New Haven Restaurant Institute. It moved to Hyde Park in 1970, where it still is. A second major campus is at Greystone in Napa Valley. Thousands of graduates of the CIA work in restaurants across America, and have given new cachet to the occupation of chef.
Music To Eat Red Beans By
Today in 1961, New Orleans R&B legend-to-be Ernie K-Doe saw his most famous song at the top of the pop charts. Mother In Law was his only really big record, but he played music around town for the rest of his life, always putting out a distinctly New Orleans sound.
Annals Of Cold Drinks
Today in 1807, in Philadelphia, one Townsend Speakman (what a great name! reversible, too!) mixed fruit juices with carbonated water in his drugstore and created what may have been the first soda pop.
Annals Of Unusual Ingredients
Rattlesnake meat in a can went on the market for this first time today in 1931. Floridian George End was the entrepreneur. I don't have to tell you that it wasn't a runaway success. I've eaten rattlesnake meat a few times, and the only reason I remember it was because of it unusual identity. It didn't taste like much. Not as much like chicken as like some very heavy fish, but without the fish flavor. I keep thinking that rattlesnake cakes (like crab cakes) would be the way to go with the stuff.
Food Namesakes
Ed Fry, long-time soap opera actor, was born today in 1959. . . Former U.S. Congressman from Louisiana Richard Baker was born today in 1948. . . Classical pianist John Browning was born today in 1933. . . Harvey Milk, San Francisco politician and gay rights activist, was born today in 1930. . . And we have two Australian food names today: Actor Gary Sweet (1957) and football player Steven Baker (1980).
Words To Eat By
"My fare is really sumptuous this evening; buffalo's humps, tongues and marrowbones, fine trout, parched meal, pepper and salt, and a good appetite; the last is not considered the least of the luxuries."--From the journals of Meriwether Lewis, Thursday, June 13, 1805.
Words To Drink By
One sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight,
Beyond the bliss of dreams.
--John Milton, Comus.
Sportsman, Butcher, Chef And Gourmet--All In One.
The ultimate in a ranch-to-table cuisine. And it's even ethnic!Click here for the cartoon.
