Saturday, January 28, 2017.
I Won't Dance. Steak & Shake. Agreeing About Pardo's.
The theme of the next NPAS concert this March is dancing. Once again, individual singers are invited to assemble a duet, a quartet or some other flavor of tet. (Wait a minute! Isn't today Tet in Southeast Asia? If not, it's close, and also known as Chinese New Year.)
I thought a good song would be "I Won't Dance," a clever set of lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern, among others. I asked Carol--a member of NPAS who I know only slightly--if she'd like to be the second half of the duet. She went along with the idea, and we scheduled a rehearsal this morning at her home near Hammond. She recorded the accompanying music, played by one of NPAS's excellent pianists. We ran the song through about twenty times. A little rough in the first few time, as wwe try to get the lyrics straight. When I left an hour later, I felt that we had it down well enough that we could give our audition next. But we'll probably do it a few more times between now and then.
I sure wish I'd learned to play the piano.
I didn't have time for breakfast. When I head for home I hunger for a hamburger, of all things. It hit me that I was not far from the Steak & Shake in the big mall near the intersection of I-12 and LA 21. Steak & Shake is an old (since the 1930s) hamburger chain whose locations are most numerous in the Midwest. I have several former girlfriends who were from that part of the world, and all of them persuaded me that Steak & Shake is an essential burger joint. I was impressed then and now by the way the place cooks a hamburger. It is not fast food, but grilled to order on a hot grill. It takes awhile to show up at the table. It's a smallish burger--about the size of a standard supermarket hamburger bun. So, not a slider. And there is no steak. The name is a reference to the ground sirloin they use for what they call "Steakburgers."
I was excited to see Steak & Shake open in these parts a few years ago. It's still the only location nearby. But I was quickly disappointed by its performance in Covington. It seemed a little dry, and the waiting time unusually long. Quite a few years have passed until I tried it again today.
A few new touches have appeared. The burgers come with a variety of sauces. I am almost persuaded to eat the Mexican-inspired version, but I got the garlic flavor instead. The garlic is not emphatic, but the burger is otherwise excellent. So are the matchstick-size fries, dusted with a combination of parmesan cheese and herbs. I'm happy with my reintroduction to Steakburgers.
I'm glad I ate just one of them, because when Mary Ann returns from the other side of the lake (she spent the night with Mary Leigh in her apartment), she says she is quite hungry. I suggest that we have a serious dinner at Pardo's, where we have not dined lately. We get one of the last tables available and join the happy--burt not overwhelmingly noisy--diners.
I begin with a bowl of mussels with frites, awash in a lightly creamy sauce. The flavors are fine, we have many mussels and fresh-cut fries. . . but we are still in the feeble part of the mussel season, and these are a little on the small side. That's the problem with mussels. You never know what you're going to get.
My entree is a special involving several miniature steaks with some pasta tossed with the lightest red sauce imaginable. Another pleasing assortment of flavors. It filters down from the kitchen that this is still a dish in the works, with a more powerful sauce part of the future plan.
Mary Ann is, as usual, engaged by her grilled salmon. She now knows to always as as to whether the fish is wild-caught. That is, of course, what you want, but it gets confusing. A lot of salmon out there is Atlantic fish raised in the Pacific Ocean in large nets.
We finish with a classic dessert called "pear fool." A "fool" is an extra-rich demi-custard, semi-freddo kind of thing with fresh fruit scattered here and there. I thought it was very fresh and good, but there's enough here for two or three servings.
Mary Ann and I find a common opinion for a change. She finds Pardo's one of the most comfortable, engaging restaurants in the area, and so do I. We always linger there a long time.
Pardo's. Covington: 69305 Hwy 21. 985-893-3603.
