I had a feeling something funny was up when, four years ago, Brennan's told me that they wouldn't be able to host the Eat Club's annual Christmas Gala. It was well established as our most popular feast of the year, with people making reservations for it well in advance of my knowing the menu, price, or even the date. Part of the appeal was in the excellent bargain Ted and Jimmy Brennan cut for us. It was a five-course dinner with paired wines--very good paired wines. It was the mid-1990s, and the price was $50. It was so much fun that most of the guests wanted to come again the following year.
I was told, in 2009, that Brennan's had too many top-end private parties going on to fit us in. Brennan's always had a large corporate banquet business. Now we find out that the debt problems that brought the restaurant down earlier this year were already in progress in 2009. That story would have been much less credible than the one about the overload of other groups. But it turned out to be the true one.
Our dinner relocated that year to Le Foret. I liked the place, but I had no intention of making it the permanent home of our gala. After four years of excellent dinners, though, I guess that has been settled.
For this year's event, I reached back to an idea we tried a couple of years before the Eat Club gravitated. Chef Felix Sturmer of the Westin Canal Place Hotel took up my challenge to conceive and serve a dinner in which all the food was white. It was unforgettable and well-attended. But that was over twenty years ago. Why not try it again?
We sold out the main dining room on the first floor many weeks ago. Which made me nervous. Reservations made far in advance often evaporate into forgetfulness. And tonight an aggressive, cold line of thunderstorms sloshed through the city in early evening. But everybody showed up.
We began with a complex mushroom cream soup, made with a half-dozen different wild fungi. I found it fabulous. Even Mary Ann--whose palate doesn't run to subtleties--thought it was great. With this came the first of two major Champagnes we would be served tonight. This one was Moet et Chandon Nectar Imperial--a middling-sweet bubbly, made in the style popular a century ago. I don't drink sweet wines often, but I've always loved them. This was ideal with the creamy soup.
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Seared sea scallops with cauliflower puree, at the Eat Club Christmas Gala at Le Foret.[/caption]
Next came seared sea scallops, surrounded by a cauliflower puree, the white parts of fennel, and a few flecks of pancetta to add substance. The wine was a well-constructed Chardonnay from Frank Family. The grapes came from Carneros.
On to the larger courses. The fish was grouper--coincidentally, the same fish we had at the first All-White Dinner. (Now that I think of it, we had scallops in that one, too.) Le Foret handles thick slabs of fresh Gulf fish very well, and this was the best course of the evening. Other white stuff: celery root, Easter radishes (?), turnips, lump crabmeat, and tarragon beurre blanc. We returned to bubbles for this: Domaine Chandon Etoile. Champage goes with everything except chocolate, and obviously there would be none of that tonight.
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Pork tenderloin ai poivre.[/caption]
The meat course was the only misstep in the evening. A grilled pork tenderloin au poivre sounded good enough to me. But the pork was gray and dry. Could have benefitted from brining. The sauce was much lighter than I expected. (I had a creamy sauce in mind, maybe with white peppercorns.) In the glasses was Provenance Napa Sauvignon Blanc--a wine that was not much twenty years ago, but has become great. Even so, this would have been the moment for a lighter red wine, which a number of people asked for.
The finale bounced back to become actually grand. "Coconut cake" doesn't sound like much, but I've had this at Le Foret before, and knew it would be an elegant slice of cake with a sleek fondant exterior. Adding further interest was grilled pineapple (for that pina colada flavor, I guess), orange caramel, and ice cream.
Grabbing attention from the cake was no less than Champagne Dom Perignon. I don't believe we've ever had that famous sparkler at any of our dinners. I think it's overrated, but it's hardly bad, and there's always the excitement that comes with the drinking of such an iconic wine.
Le Foret's manager Danny Millan treats us well, and we made out like bandits on the Champagnes alone. Still, a few people were upset that there hadn't been an open bar before dinner.
Another dinner party of the same caliber as ours was going on two floors up. My friend, groomsman and dermatologist Bob DeBellevue celebrated his birthday, with the usual august company. His musician guest was no less than Allan Toussaint, a personal friend of Dr. Bob's, and the second-greatest musical figure in New Orleans history, after only Louis Armstrong. And just ahead of Mahalia Jackson, although Allen--a gentleman in every meaning of the word--might defer to her.
We didn't have a name to match Toussaint at our dinner. But I was happy that Carl Scully and his wife Janice, who attended the very first Christmas Gala, were among our fifty-six diners tonight.
And I'm even happier that we had the highest percentage ever of men in tuxedos. Last year it was less than half, but tonight I counted eighteen black ties, and many beautiful cocktail dresses on the women. Getting people to dress up for dinner is a lost cause, but I will go down swinging.
Le Foret. CBD: 129 Camp. 504-553-6738.
