Tom’s lengthy career as a food critic has included an occasional stint as a judge for cook-offs of one kind or another. One he did a few times was the annual United Way Gumbo Cook-Off. I assisted him with the last one of those because his dementia had begun to affect him enough that he needed help.
It wasn’t long after that gumbo cook-off that he was asked to judge anther one, this time by people we knew personally. His illness was not common knowledge by that time and we were still being private about it. We were asked as a team, with the reality falling on me.
There were around 15 gumbos in the contest, and it moved quickly. I was highly intimidated by this project of trying to keep all these gumbos straight, or at least straight enough to pick up on the flavor nuances that separated them enough to pick winners. All of these teams worked hard and I didn’t want to be careless about selecting one of these teams to reward as the best. Very stressful.
I vowed to never do that again. I would definitely not be obliged to say yes to any such invitations. And then Patty, the producer of the radio show (airs 2-4pm weekdays on 990 AM) accepted an invite for me, and one for herself. “Let’s do it together! It’ll be fun!” she said gleefully when she told me of my commitment. My plan was to get out of it before it was too late.
There is a Food Truck Festival twice a year in Slidell, and Patty scheduled the two founders, Valerie Wells and Cathy Lowery on the show. That’s when they asked us to judge. She accepted, and I forgot to cancel. By the time they called to chat, the festival was the next day. They were lovely and I couldn’t back out.
I chuckled the whole way at the irony that Tom and I drove to Slidell to judge a Food Truck competition. He has always been so disdainful of food trucks I felt guilty bringing him. Luckily the judges sat in an enclosed room, not in front like the others we had judged. This privacy was a game changer.
There were eight judges, another game-changer. Greatly reduced pressure, and frankly much more fun. Lively debate ensued more than once.
I’ve never had the strong opinions about food trucks that Tom has always voiced, but it doesn’t seem like a place one is likely to find exceptional food. The very nature of it does not suggest greatness: tiny kitchen, hurried preparations, bizarre creations focusing on clever or hip rather than taste.
There were 17 entries, so I imagined the worst. What I didn’t think about was that these 17 different dishes would be easy to distinguish from each other, unlike 17 versions of the same thing. Just realizing that was a big stress-reducer, but there was no time to think. The entries had started to arrive.
There were sliders, of course, and nachos, pizza, burgers, ceviche, a lobster dish, and feijoada. Away from observers, we could get into some spirited discussions, which we did. It was determined that some of the judges did not know what a Neopolitan pizza was, so the bubbly scorched crust was unappealing to them. I was as surprised by that as they were to discover my rule that I don’t eat reptiles, and that “cooking” without heat does not count as cooked. To me, anyway. Acid marinades do not make me want to eat ceviche. We all agreed that cold nachos are not nearly as good as hot ones. And everyone but me was surprised at how much they liked feijoada. I have been, since first taste many years ago, nuts about it.
Most of these dishes were as ordinary as I expected. Only two of us liked the pizza, we all loved the feijoada, and I was the only one unenthusiastic about the lobster. Lobster is chewy to me. (Unless it is just pulled from the water in Maine. This is not Maine. )The spicy chicken sandwich that always wins at food truck competitions was lost on us. I have had the Southerns chicken sandwich that started the craze here years ago. This one was off.
It was really between the lobster dish and the feijoada, and we went with the feijoada. But the actual customers got to vote as well, and they chose the lobster. And that was as it should have been. We learned that the lobster dish was the creation of Christopher Cary of Old School Eats, an old school bus that has been tooling around the Northshore since he closed his delicious gourmet restaurant in Old Town Slidell about ten years ago.
The dish he presented, Lobster Tropicale, was lobster claw meat alongside a perky island-inspired salad with crisp vegetables and pineapple in a light citrusy dressing. There was a mound of rice and some fried plantains as accompaniments. This was a delectable mouthful of food.
The feijoada came from a truck called Brazilian Bites, which was a churrasco theme of roasted meats and feijoada, a national Brazilian stew of black beans and a medley of meats simmered a long time to create a thick, creamy and very hearty meal-in-a-bowl.
The pizza that caused a ruckus at the judges table came from a truck called Semplice. The Nucci Pizza, as it is called, is a Neopolitan pie with fresh ingredients and a topping that could be called Margherita with a kick.
Copeland’s had a truck there with Bang Bang Shrimp, exactly the dish and the name from the original at Bonefish Grill. Smokin’ Buddha comes up on the show a lot. One of our callers mentions it because his cousin owns the truck. That was one of the cold nachos that we probably would have liked better warm. The filet mignon sliders from Silver Sipper fell flat with us, but shrimp sliders from Lisha’s So Damn Good got Patty’s attention. And everything else sort of blended.
When we left the judging room and went out to the main event, I was struck at how nice it was at the Harbor Center in Slidell. Picnic tables lined the water’s edge, and tiny waves lapped up to the grass. Families were everywhere on the beautiful day, meandering along to sample food from these trucks.
The food was not brilliant, but it didn’t have to be.This event was about enjoying a beautiful day with friends and family, and of course…food.
And I’m glad we got to be part of it.
