Sunday, October 5, 2015.
Too Much Work For Sunday. Forks & Corks.
It is a grueling weekend, owing to my weekly tinkering with the NOMenu website, which this week has developed a problem. People who access the site using mobile technology sometimes find that it doesn't display perfectly. This has not been a big problem, but this week it was. Nobody in mobile world was able to navigate my site at all. If I knew what I was doing, or if I could hire someone who does, it wouldn't have devoured the whole weekend, stressing my poor old brain to its limits.
On the other hand, we had a good brunch from a new restaurant, one much too new for me to go there yet. Its name is Forks And Corks, a name which makes me want to start a consultancy that warns restaurateurs against using names that are. . . well, let's just say sub-optimal.
The owner of the place is has all the other elements well assembled. He's Osman Rodas, owner of the five-star Pardo's and the next-door Tchoupstix. He took over what had been Bosco's At Terra Bella. (Tony Bosco has retreated back to his original restaurant in Mandeville, which is otherwise unaffected by the Terra Bella changes.) Osman made some changes in the dining rooms, but not many. The restaurant already was comfortable and good-looking.
The new place, says Osman, is an American restaurant with a little touch of Creole-French. References to Galatoire's have been mentioned and noted, but aren't really obvious. No more than in the dozens of other restaurants around town that have copied Galatoire's to some extent.
We went there because the first idea for Sunday brunch involved Ox Lot 9. Which, when we arrived, was completely full and didn't expect any open tables for at least a half hour. Forks and Corks is indeed open for brunch, and the menu looks good--much more extensive than any other North Shore brunch spot. Even though F&C has only been open a couple of weeks, the Marys have already been. Indeed, MA was the restaurant's very first customer.
[caption id="attachment_49144" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Boudin balls @ Forks & Corks.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_49143" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Oysters Bienville.[/caption]
Chef Marvin Tweedy--a well-known kitchen hand in Covington-- is running F&C's line today. From the many restaurants in which he's cooked, he knows me well enough for me that I couldn't sneak in. A row of four boudin balls come out to get us started. Then oysters Bienville. I am the only one here who eats even cooked oysters, so I already have too much to eat. Then comes a large bowl of turtle soup that turns out to be excellent. I asked for a cup, but. . . A glass of orange juice is also about three times normal size. I am now overstuffed.
[caption id="attachment_49142" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Turtle soup.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_49139" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Chicken and biscuits. They don't look undercooked to me.[/caption]
The controversial dish of the day is fried chicken on biscuits. Mary Leigh, who placed that order, is lately squeamish about what she perceives as undercooked chicken. I assure her that this chicken is very well cooked, if not to the point of dryness. But nobody in my house listens to a damn thing I tell them. She sends the chicken to MA, who performs her first take-out exercise of the day.
[caption id="attachment_49140" align="alignnone" width="480"]
A mild variation on eggs Sardou.[/caption]
Mary Ann has an egg dish with bacon and bearnaise sauce. She likes it, even though it's a little juicier than she prefers. Dave (ML's fiancee) gets lost bread. Before I am able to get a taste--it looks very good--he has polished it off.
[caption id="attachment_49141" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Puppy drum amandine.[/caption]
My entree actually could have come from Galatoire's. Pan-sauteed to crispness are two fillets of puppy drum (small black drumfish, for those who have never had that explained to them), covered with toasted almonds and far too much brown butter. I put up with that--is there even such a thing as too much butter?--) and enjoy. I am grossly overfull now. I will not have another bite for the rest of the day. That condition does nothing to make me feel better as I get back to work on the web problems. Which drive me nuts, and ruin my sleep tonight. I will have a full stomach well into tomorrow.
[caption id="attachment_49138" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Lost bread at Forks & Corks.[/caption]
But I like this restaurant. It's the kind of place we don't really have on the North Shore. I think I will refer to it only as F&C. I persuaded the Windsor Court to go back to the name Grill Room for its flagship restaurant, instead of the New Orleans Grill it was for awhile.
Forks & Corks. Covington: 141 TerraBella Blvd. 985-612-7250.
Boudin balls @ Forks & Corks.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_49143" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Oysters Bienville.[/caption]
Chef Marvin Tweedy--a well-known kitchen hand in Covington-- is running F&C's line today. From the many restaurants in which he's cooked, he knows me well enough for me that I couldn't sneak in. A row of four boudin balls come out to get us started. Then oysters Bienville. I am the only one here who eats even cooked oysters, so I already have too much to eat. Then comes a large bowl of turtle soup that turns out to be excellent. I asked for a cup, but. . . A glass of orange juice is also about three times normal size. I am now overstuffed.
[caption id="attachment_49142" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Turtle soup.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_49139" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Chicken and biscuits. They don't look undercooked to me.[/caption]
The controversial dish of the day is fried chicken on biscuits. Mary Leigh, who placed that order, is lately squeamish about what she perceives as undercooked chicken. I assure her that this chicken is very well cooked, if not to the point of dryness. But nobody in my house listens to a damn thing I tell them. She sends the chicken to MA, who performs her first take-out exercise of the day.
[caption id="attachment_49140" align="alignnone" width="480"]
A mild variation on eggs Sardou.[/caption]
Mary Ann has an egg dish with bacon and bearnaise sauce. She likes it, even though it's a little juicier than she prefers. Dave (ML's fiancee) gets lost bread. Before I am able to get a taste--it looks very good--he has polished it off.
[caption id="attachment_49141" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Puppy drum amandine.[/caption]
My entree actually could have come from Galatoire's. Pan-sauteed to crispness are two fillets of puppy drum (small black drumfish, for those who have never had that explained to them), covered with toasted almonds and far too much brown butter. I put up with that--is there even such a thing as too much butter?--) and enjoy. I am grossly overfull now. I will not have another bite for the rest of the day. That condition does nothing to make me feel better as I get back to work on the web problems. Which drive me nuts, and ruin my sleep tonight. I will have a full stomach well into tomorrow.
[caption id="attachment_49138" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Lost bread at Forks & Corks.[/caption]
But I like this restaurant. It's the kind of place we don't really have on the North Shore. I think I will refer to it only as F&C. I persuaded the Windsor Court to go back to the name Grill Room for its flagship restaurant, instead of the New Orleans Grill it was for awhile.
