Today was the first Father’s Day without the father. Mary Leigh and I decided to honor him anyway. I took her to Tom's first neighborhood, where he came home from the hospital and to the church where he was baptized. Tom and I went to St. Augustine in Treme only once when we were first together. As a suburban girl, the neighborhood terrified me. But that neighborhood is not the one of today. It is a charming place, now much-gentrified, and still very old.
St. Augustine the church has seen much better days. It was heavily damaged in Ida, and there is no re-opening date. Funds are coming in slowly. The mass was held next door in another ancient building, but the spirits of this crowd were not dampened. Everyone in there was very gracious and this was a celebration of the Lord. To help with this project:
After we left the church, which was briefly opened after mass, we hurried to claim our reservation at Galatoire’s. I don’t know when I will be able to return to Antoine’s, and it is much too soon to follow his last birthday meal at Commander’s, so I settled on Galatoire’s. That is hardly settling. ML marveled at how much a part of her life this kind of dining was, but how little she does it now. She said she had only been to Galtoire’s once. After lunch, she resolved to return soon. It was a fabulous lunch.
As usual, we got carried away. She started with the chicken andouille gumbo, and I got the Galatoire’s Goute. We saw soufflé potatoes go by and they looked great, but we hit the warm cap bread too hard to get these. Next time, definitely. On The Food Show we have been talking about Crabmeat Au Gratin and I couldn’t think of one that thrilled me. That’s what I ordered, and now I can. And Mary Leigh got the Trout Amandine, which is what I usually get there, though I went with the crabmeat lunch today.
She was disappointed in her gumbo. It was not a thick soup, and it was really spicy. She said it was fine, but pretty ordinary, which is exactly how it looked.
My Goute was typical. I love this dish, and if I hadn’t been so starved for a Galatoire’s experience I would have just had this with the warm cap bread. But it behooved me to check out the Crabmeat Au Gratin, didn’t it? I remember the Galatoire's combo of Crabmeat Maison and Shrimp Remoulade before it included the crawfish. I like this seafood trio better. Each pile of seafood is better than the last, and I can’t decide what to eat first. The Crabmeat Maison is wonderful, and the pungent red version of Shrimp Remoulade is a rare treat, but I also enjoy the crawfish tails in a milder remoulade. All three seafoods are served on shredded iceberg lettuce, and it is a meal in itself.
We got two sides to go with the fish . I always get the Brabant Potatoes, but this time I got hashbrowns and a dish of creamed spinach. The fish came as two smaller fillets, beautifully fried with a mound of slivered buttery almonds. This is perfection. It doesn’t get better than this in New Orleans.
The hashbrowns were diced potatoes in a crusty potato pancake that needed both butter and salt. It became great with those additions. I was curious to see how this dish presented here, and while I wouldn’t call it a classic version of hashbrowns, it was really good. The outer layer of potaoes was crisped with a little crunch, as hashbrowns should be. I liked it a lot.
Mary Leigh was not a fan of the creamed spinach, but I liked it. Not as cheesy as most places, it wasn’t too appealing on sight, but I thought it was actually very good.
The Crabmeat Au Gratin was sensational. It was enormous, and I was already full, so I didn’t eat too much of it there. But I am certainly looking forward to it later. It was not full of jumbo lump or even too much lump crabmeat, but there was plenty of crabmeat, and cream, and cheese and herbs. The cheese had congealed into a blanket on top. Sensational. This was divine scooped up with the bread.
And even though neither of us was in need of more to eat, we got a “cup custard” in Tom's honor. This dessert has gone way upscale since I last saw it. Now it is a beautiful flan with berries flanking it. The texture was not appealing to either of us, but we finished it. Tom would never leave a custard unfinished.
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After that it was off to the cemetery. A busy day there. We passed an adorable family with about four young kids just hanging out with grandpa. Mary Leigh noticed a January ‘25 date newly carved. It was a sweet thing to see on Father's Day.
We sat with Tom for a while, watching two doves with their little ones in a brick high up nearby. Dad watched as mom sat on the eggs. Good fathers are everywhere. Tom used to grumble that no one cared about Father’s Day. Definitely not true.
