[title type="h5"]Saturday, October 18, 2014.
Refills. Perfect Grass. Moonlight With Lola.[/title]
A good case could be made that men were created to refill the toilet paper and paper towel spools. I decide this morning that I've had quite enough of our twenty-year-old, flimsy plastic dispenser and its inconvenient location inside the compartment under the sink. Today, I buy a new one--the kind that stands on the counter with the towel roll on end. That's where and how new rolls of paper towels wind up, anyway. I figured that a dispenser so configured would be so easy to refill--just remove the old core and drop the new roll onto the upturned post--that nobody would fail to do so.
I am wrong. The towel roll still stands in the surrounding mess, all alone, two feet away from the empty dispenser.
I ease through two hours on WWL Radio starting at noon. Then I head out on the lawn tractor to give the acreage one last trim for the year. I cut everything that we mow (we have a lot of ground covered with trees), including a few spots that only get service three or four times a year.
Then, a trivial miracle ends the 2014 grass-cutting season. All finished, I back the tractor into the garage, and just as it inches into its assigned space, the engine sputters and dies, completely out of gas. There's something very satisfying about this.
For dinner, I suggest we try a steakhouse called Prime By C3. When it opened in the spring, it made two claims: one almost universal, the other unique. First, they say they buy the best beef in the market, including a lot of Louisiana-bred cattle. Second, all the profits will be funneled into the charitable entity of the month.
But the restaurant appears to be closed. It is in darkness, and the telephone is been disconnected. This is another reason I don't go to new restaurants: a premature review has a way of becoming obsolete in the worst way. Given the amount of money it costs out of my own pocket to research these reports, it's frustrating.
Our second idea is one we should think of more often. Lola is the creation of Keith and Nealy Frentz, chefs who worked together at Brennan's until they decided, just after Katrina, to open their own restaurant and get married. (I don't remember which came first.) The dining rooms are in the antique train depot in the center of Covington. The kitchen is in a caboose on the adjacent track stub.
Lola gets a lot of lunch business from the St. Tammany courthouse a block away. It's open for dinner only on Fridays and Saturdays, with a contemporary Creole menu with more polish than one expects given the location.
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Fried oysters with feta at Lola.[/caption]
The food here has come a long way since our last dinner. I begin with a cocktail called a Black Manhattan. A bit sweet, dark in color, with what I think is a black currant in place of the usual cherry. Then the oyster special--fried, covered with a zippy sauce, and sprinkled with feta cheese. Big enough to split, on the rich side in a pleasant way.
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Spiced carrot soup.[/caption]
The soup du jour is spiced carrot. What were the chances that this was the also came up last time I was here? Not a deterrent. It was very good and original then and now.
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Seared sheepshead with crabmeat at Lola.[/caption]
One of the fish specials is pan-seared sheepshead with crabmeat, savory herbs, and beurre blanc. Sheepshead is uncommon enough on menus that I order it whenever it turns up. Great fish.
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Hamburger and fresh-cut fries at Lola.[/caption]
Meanwhile, living up to the caricature I draw of her, Mary Ann had a hamburger. It's unusual in being served on a more or less crustless bread. Good, though, she says.
This is the busiest I've seen Lola for dinner. We had to sit outside, and barely got a table even there. Mary Ann is a devotee of Al Fresco, however. And the moon is shining down in the cool of evening. So much to discuss. Jude's wedding. The dogs. Repeat, and repeat again.
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[title type="h5"]Sunday, October 19, 2014.
Ment'or Competition At Emeril's.
[/title]
A few days ago Emeril's p.r. agency asked if I would help create some anticipation for a culinary competition there today. It's the first of a series of four cookoffs around the country that test the culinary mettle of some up-and-coming chefs. It's called "Ment'or," an offshoot of the Bocuse d'Or--the the most renowned competition among chefs around the world. Ment'or's organizers and board include some of the most famous names in American cheffery. Daniel Boulud from Daniel in New York City, and Thomas Keller, of Napa's French Laundry and New York's Per Se, to name two.
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Steven Stryjewski, Daniel Boulud, and Richard Rosendale at the 2014 Young Chefs Competition.[/caption]
The event itself, the food served, and the admission price ($50!) struck me as something worth showing up for. I put the word out to my readers and listeners, and thereby pulled in over a dozen people. That's not many, but all I had were three days to gather attendees. The Eat Club make up the largest general admission group to show up.
We are well taken care of. Two dozen appetizers circulate under the hands of waiters with trays. Little crab cakes and marinated crab claws. Chicken andouille gumbo and crab and corn bisque. Tuna crudo and barbecue shrimp. Chicken strudels and vegetables en brochette. Seared steak and fried oysters. Six desserts. And more. By the end of the affair, I am thinking about what a great dinner this would be, without any further additions or entrees. It would be like Square Root but with familiar food. I'll bet $150 per person could easily be had for it.
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Chefs at work in Emeril's kitchen.[/caption]
The young chefs are busy in Emeril's kitchen, turning out their masterpieces. None of them were familiar to me or local, but that's the whole point of the competition. The six judges are all chefs themselves, with several local figures of note: Susan Spicer of Bayona, Steven Stryjewski from Cochon, Tory McPhail from Commander's Palace, and Adolfo Garcia from La Boca. (Emeril was not there, busy with something in New York. But he did his part by hosting the event, probably for free.)
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Chef David Slater of Emeril's, and Susan Spicer of Bayona.[/caption]
If one had parked at Emeril's food bar, one could watch the contestants prepare their dishes. But the chairs were blocked off for judges only. And there wasn't that much to see. Nor did the guests get a chance to taste the contending dishes, but that would have been chaotic. Instead, we shot the breeze with one another, with topic A being what a fantastic bargain this was for $50. Good wine, too.
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The winning dish, a chicken roulade, from Krystyn Navarro, of Bouchon in Beverly Hills.[/caption]
The winner is Krystyn Navarro, Chef du Partie at Bouchon in Beverly Hills. (Which is the host of the second heat of the competition.) Her dish was right in with the current trends--the smear of sauce across the plate being the most obvious one. The centerpiece of her handsome concoction was a roulade of chicken that showed off a lot of skill. Daniel Boulud certainly seemed moved by it. She is now in the running to spend time in one of the great kitchens of the world--a credential that she will be able to trade on for many years to come.
If they ask me to help next year and put forth the same program, I guarantee here and now a hundred people will show up. The money all goes to various efforts in culinary education for those who can't afford it on their own.
Written by Tom Fitzmorris October 27, 2014 12:01 in
