Tuesday, January 31, 2017.
Mysterious Communications. Flaming Torch.
The mysterious dynamics of the radio show displays itself in an unusually emphatic way today. We talk about a bunch of innocuous matters, but the phones stay busy. Then comes a call from Clark, the Gourmet Truck Driver, who asks about an Eat Club dinner we held a few years ago. He couldn't remember the name of the restaurant, nor did he recall what food we had that night. He does recall that one of the Eat Clubbers was doused with ice water when the waiter is tripped up by a passer-by. I do remember that, but can't associate it with a mental or other picture of the place. Numerous callers and e-mailers take guesses. By that time, I'd dismiss Clark until he could come up with a better description.
It's not until the day after that someone figures it out. It's the Chateau LeMoyne Hotel, and the dinner was with the restaurant that once was the Bombay Club. (It lost its identity.) I wish I could say that I'm relieved.
A tragic occurrence on Sunday at the Flaming Torch. Someone with a misplaced sense of humor set a fire there. Zohreh Khalegi, the owner and a person so charming and stylish that it's hard to imagine that she'd have any enemies, says that the episode was frightening and frustrating. This will, of course, cancel the Eat Club dinner we were about to hold at the Flaming Torch in two weeks. The whole thing is terrible.
Mary Leigh is available for dinner. I pick her up and we're walking around the corner from the the radio station, ultimately landing in the middle of the five hundred block of Girod Street. There we find Meril, Emeril's first new restaurant to open in New Orleans since 1998. Meril is has been very well received, owing to a menu aimed as a young, casual clientele. In environment, cooking, and service this is a highly likable eatery. The Marys certainly like it a lot. This is ML's fifth or sixth visit.
We start with a bowl of house-cut fries, during which ML discovers that she doesn't like sweet wines. I though that such a thing might happen, so I kept the wine for myself. It's German Auslese--a botrytized white wine made from Riesling grapes that went through "noble rot" process. Auslese was the first wine that ever turned me on, back in the 1970s. If one is going to begin a wine hobby with a sweet wine, this one is certainly the right one.
ML has Korean-style short ribs. The Marys love short ribs; I not so much. At their best, short ribs remind me of roast beef for poor boys, but I like the sandwich better. A platter of grilled Brussels sprouts (which we are seeing everywhere these days finishes my daughters order.
On my side of the table is grilled pompano. Excellent by any standard, unless you're looking for something exotic. An I don't think this is the place for, say, pompano em papillote.
The dessert recommended by the waiter is bread pudding, which is pretty good. But I wish I had ordered the ice cream.
Meril. Warehouse District & Center City: 424 Girod St. 504-526-3745.
