[title type="h5"]Thursday, January 15, 2015.
A High-Pressure Day. Bosco's In TerraBella.[/title]
The clouds of the past few days vanish, brushed aside by cold, high-pressure air. It reveals a brilliant black sky full of the constellations of winter--Orion and his dog--plus the bonus visual treats of Venus nearing the western horizon and Jupiter coming up from the east. Both are near their brightest.
Speaking of Sirius: I cancelled my subscription to the online music service a few days ago. Two hundred-plus dollars seemed way high to me. Its main appeal is that many of the music channels have actual hosts. Disk jockeys. They make a difference. I never liked the idea of a radio station playing one tune after another with no human presence. Despite that, a recent survey indicates that the most precarious job in America is that of radio announcer.
The Marys and I go to Bosco's in Terra Bella after a stop at Walgreens. I have a sphygmomanometer at home, and all day today it has shown my pressure rising. Maybe it's broken, I think. The pharmacist at Walgreens will take your pressure for free, giving a more accurate reading than those do-it-yourself machines. The pharmacist tells me I've been doing it wrong. One must take the average of three or more tests. Actually, this vital sign has been pretty close to normal lately. And so I edge back from the precipice once again.
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Veal marsala.[/caption]
The Marys love this branch of the Mandeville Bosco's, more for its atmosphere than its food. But tonight it's at parity with the flagship eatery. Particularly good is the veal Marsala, not a dish I get often. I'd get this version again, though. Great sauce, neither two sweet or too thick, with some delicious mushrooms. I ask to have slices of provolone placed on the veal medallions, taking me halfway to a saltimbocca. I'll go the rest of the way next time.
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King cake bread pudding.[/caption]
The house salad here continues to be the best simple salad in town: romaine with a lemon-tinged vinaigrette. For dessert, we try a king cake bread pudding, made exactly as one would expect. Way too sweet. They also make a king cake here with crawfish (not sweet, fortunately). Interesting idea, very popular.
[title type="h5"]Bosco's. Mandeville: 2040 La Hwy 59. 985-624-5066.[/title][divider type=""]
[title type="h5"]Friday, January 16, 2015.
Chateau Du Lac.[/title]
Jude calls this morning for no clear reason. After we update one another, he tells me that if I want to get more readers his age, I should have a flashy feature at the head of the daily newsletter focusing restaurant new openings and closures, the movement of chefs and other culinary figures and such like. I would love to have someone on staff whose job it is to write such a column, but my luck in getting editorial assistants (and assistance) has not been good. A couple of months ago, I had five eager young writers interested in doing pieces for me. One of them--Beth D'Addono--has actually come through with two well-written reviews. The rest of the candidates have vanished.
I have a hard time deciding where to have dinner, and that has me drawing a large oval around Old Metairie, checking several restaurants to find full houses everywhere.
Chateau du Lac is almost full, but not quite. A little deuce in the corner is available.
I do not recognize a soul here, and if any of them spotted me for who I am, they didn't show signs of it. Chef Jacques Seleun and his charming wife Paige are spending most of their time in their new branch in the Warehouse District. (It's where La Boca used to be, and Tacqueria Corona before that.)
The cold outside inspires a need for soup. The du jour is a vegetable concoction with a light broth. The consomme-like French soup called petite marmite would have been wonderful, but this is good enough, with chunks of a half-dozen veggies floating around, making not much of a statement other than warmth and lightness. Which is what I came for.
Chateau du Lac's cooking is unusual in that Jacques buys a lot of his food from offbeat sources. He is a big fan of Australian meats--not just the expected lamb, but also beef and fish. I think about that tonight while trying to decide between two salmon entrees. What makes the difference is that one of them is a salmon steak--the kind shaped like a horseshoe. My luck with fish cut that way is consistently bad, although if anyone would do it right it would be Chef Jacques. I go to the other one, which is good enough, but makes my meal like that of a person who needs to eat zero fat. I'm not there yet. (Indeed, the doctor says I am far from it.)
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Salmon paillard at Chateau du Lac.[/caption]
The salmon is cut into a paillard--a thin, long, wide slice of the fish formed by careful cutting and mild pounding. It's flavored with an herbal, citrus sauce with a bit more pepper than I expected--a good thing. The fish sits atop a mound of shredded green vegetables and some asparagus, cooked perfectly crisp.
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Tarte Antoine.[/caption]
My favorite dessert here is the tarte Antoine, named for the Seleuns' son. It's a long rectangle of puff pastry with thin apple slices fanned out across its top. Wonderful!
The stars tonight are even more brilliant than yesterday. Sirius in particular is arresting.
[title type="h5"]Chateau Du Lac. Metairie 1: Old Metairie: 2037 Metairie Rd. 504-831-3773.[/title]
Written by Tom Fitzmorris January 22, 2015 13:01 in
