Tuesday, October 6, 2015.
CBS Asks, And I Tell. Tasting Avo, While Armed Guard Looks On.
With my PC Cruiser in drydock, I must rely on Mary Ann's generosity with her car to get around. She drives us both in at noon, she to meet with some clients (she tells me later she has had a very productive day) and I to meet with Jamie Wax, a reporter for the CBS morning show and the Sunday Show. He has a New Orleans background--enough to know who I am and what I do. He wants to interview me for a piece he's developing on the 175th anniversary of Antoine's. I tell many stories about the place, some of which the management and staff of the restaurant itself have not heard before.
My favorite is the history of oysters Foch, one of Antoine's two or three best dishes. It's named for Ferdinand Foch, the grand marshal of Allied forces in World War I. I wonder how many restaurants have dishes named for World War I heroes. Oysters Foch start with pate de foie gras spread on a slice of toast. It represents the mud that Foch's soldiers had to slog though on the battlefields of Europe. The fried oysters that make up the bulk of the dish are slathered with a dark brown sauce. That sauce evolved from a mixture of hollandaise, tomato sauce, and brown food coloring. It used to be redder than it is now, and represents the blood shed on the front. The oysters represent the soldiers themselves.
Not exactly the most appealing copy line for a grand restaurant by today's standards. But I hope they never change it.
Jamie and I go through a few more distinctive dishes. Oysters Rockefeller, and its spinach-free greens that make up the sauce. And chicken Rochambeau, the least expensive entree on the menu and one of the best. I learn something about the chicken dish from Rick Blount, the CEO of Antoine's and great-great grandson of Antoine Alciatore. It has two sauces--one a standard bearnaise, the other a sweet brown sauce. Whence comes the sweetness? "Caramelized onions," says Rick. Ah! Mystery solved.
At the end of the shoot--which involves a half-hour's worth of setting lights and camera angles--Jamie asks if I have anything else to add. Yes, I do. I am a old-time broadcast geek. All my professional life I've wanted to be the guy who says the network-ID formula at the ends of all CBS shows since the network's earliest days in radio. "Go right ahead," says Jamie.
"This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System," I say in my most authoritative voice, stretching out the "o" and the "a" in "Columbia." The camera guy and the producer look at each other. I know that was weird, I am about to say. But them one of them says, "I think we can use it!" He's probably kidding, but I will be sitting there watching the show when it airs in November, just in case.
I walk with Jamie from Antoine's to the radio station, getting there just in time to go on the air. I interview Jamie about his career and the kinds of stories he likes to do for CBS. Impressive guy, looking much younger than he actually is. He hangs out for twenty minutes, and then it's just the Food Show, which Jamie says he listens to when he's in town.
Mary Ann picks me up and we go to dinner at Avo, the relatively new (but old enough) restaurant on Magazine at Eleanore. It's the first time for either of us, for a change. Chef Nick Lama--New Orleans native, family connection with the old St. Roch's market of the same name, fourth-generation Sicilian-American-Creole. Most recently, he was a chef at Gautreau's.
[caption id="attachment_49170" align="alignright" width="113"]
Avo server Nicole, with the "pet bunny" destined for our table,[/caption]Avo--a word that suggests ancestors from one's grandfather and before--took over the former Martinique location. Martinique was a pleasant spot to dine, in either its old, off-plumb indoors to the wedge-rimmed patio. So we are surprised by the depth of the renovations. The courtyard still feels like a courtyard, but in fact it's indoors, sheltered from the rain, heat, and chill. The dining rooms are laid out approximately along the lines of the old building, but now the lines are cleanly parallel or perpendicular.
Mary Ann stares at the server when she arrives with the menu and drink-order query. "How many times have people told you that you look just like Sandra Bullock?" MA says.
"Countless!" says Nicole Lagasse (no relation to Emeril). "But my best friend isn't Matthew McConaughey!"
During dinner, Nicole proves that beyond any resemblances to big stars, she is an extraordinarily expert server, knowledgeable of the food and wines, much of which is highly original.
[caption id="attachment_49172" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Meatballs @ Avo.[/caption]
Avo's food is Italian. About half the menu refers back to the most basic American-Italian dishes. Meatballs, for example. The chef sends out (I have been identified) a trio of meatballs slathered with red sauce. The meatballs are unusually juicy, stopping just short of falling apart. But their flavor is more like that of a good hamburger. This is a great improvement over the standard meatballs, which have a penchant for being either dry or flavorless. Pork and beef here, ground to an ideal texture, browned hard at the surface.
Mary Ann gets an unusual rendering of gnocchi. Sandra Bullock says that we should not picture this as a standard gnocchi. Good advice. It has an inner texture somewhat like coarse mashed potatoes. It's much better than most gnocchi which tend to be cursed by gumminess.
[caption id="attachment_49174" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Heats of palm salad.[/caption]
I have a salad composed mostly of arugula and the biggest hearts of palm I've ever encountered, and the freshest, too. Actually crunchy, and a little hard to eat because of that. Wide slivers of Parmigiano cheese finish off the ensemble.
[caption id="attachment_49171" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Chicken cacciatore.[/caption]
My main is chicken cacciatore--hunter's chicken, implying the presence of mushrooms, which are indeed here, in a red sauce washing over the three standard meaty chicken pieces, seared to a light crispness around the edges. This is the first chicken cacciatore I've had in a long time. It's an aval dish.
MA gets lasagna, because she sees that the meat inside is braised beef short ribs. She is not happy to find that the layers are defined both by pasta and eggplant. But we remain happy.
At dessert time, our delightful waitress comes forth with the best response ever to a dumb joke of mine. When a server asks me whether I'd like anything else (as they all do numerous times these days, I say "Yes! I'd like a pet bunny!" The replies I get to this range from puzzlement, tp laughter, to the occasional pique for wasting the server's time. But Nicole gets the all-time prize. She folds a napkin into a bunny--ears, tail and all. Brilliant!
For dessert we have zeppoli, best described as the Italian answer to beignets, but much smaller. Much lighter in texture. The serving is enough for at least three people.
We agree that Avo is a fine new restaurant, and we're already thinking about returning with friends.
Avo. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 5908 Magazine. 504-509-6550.
"This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System," I say in my most authoritative voice, stretching out the "o" and the "a" in "Columbia." The camera guy and the producer look at each other. I know that was weird, I am about to say. But them one of them says, "I think we can use it!" He's probably kidding, but I will be sitting there watching the show when it airs in November, just in case.
I walk with Jamie from Antoine's to the radio station, getting there just in time to go on the air. I interview Jamie about his career and the kinds of stories he likes to do for CBS. Impressive guy, looking much younger than he actually is. He hangs out for twenty minutes, and then it's just the Food Show, which Jamie says he listens to when he's in town.
Mary Ann picks me up and we go to dinner at Avo, the relatively new (but old enough) restaurant on Magazine at Eleanore. It's the first time for either of us, for a change. Chef Nick Lama--New Orleans native, family connection with the old St. Roch's market of the same name, fourth-generation Sicilian-American-Creole. Most recently, he was a chef at Gautreau's.
[caption id="attachment_49170" align="alignright" width="113"]
Avo server Nicole, with the "pet bunny" destined for our table,[/caption]Avo--a word that suggests ancestors from one's grandfather and before--took over the former Martinique location. Martinique was a pleasant spot to dine, in either its old, off-plumb indoors to the wedge-rimmed patio. So we are surprised by the depth of the renovations. The courtyard still feels like a courtyard, but in fact it's indoors, sheltered from the rain, heat, and chill. The dining rooms are laid out approximately along the lines of the old building, but now the lines are cleanly parallel or perpendicular.
Mary Ann stares at the server when she arrives with the menu and drink-order query. "How many times have people told you that you look just like Sandra Bullock?" MA says.
"Countless!" says Nicole Lagasse (no relation to Emeril). "But my best friend isn't Matthew McConaughey!"
During dinner, Nicole proves that beyond any resemblances to big stars, she is an extraordinarily expert server, knowledgeable of the food and wines, much of which is highly original.
[caption id="attachment_49172" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Meatballs @ Avo.[/caption]
Avo's food is Italian. About half the menu refers back to the most basic American-Italian dishes. Meatballs, for example. The chef sends out (I have been identified) a trio of meatballs slathered with red sauce. The meatballs are unusually juicy, stopping just short of falling apart. But their flavor is more like that of a good hamburger. This is a great improvement over the standard meatballs, which have a penchant for being either dry or flavorless. Pork and beef here, ground to an ideal texture, browned hard at the surface.
Mary Ann gets an unusual rendering of gnocchi. Sandra Bullock says that we should not picture this as a standard gnocchi. Good advice. It has an inner texture somewhat like coarse mashed potatoes. It's much better than most gnocchi which tend to be cursed by gumminess.
[caption id="attachment_49174" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Heats of palm salad.[/caption]
I have a salad composed mostly of arugula and the biggest hearts of palm I've ever encountered, and the freshest, too. Actually crunchy, and a little hard to eat because of that. Wide slivers of Parmigiano cheese finish off the ensemble.
[caption id="attachment_49171" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Chicken cacciatore.[/caption]
My main is chicken cacciatore--hunter's chicken, implying the presence of mushrooms, which are indeed here, in a red sauce washing over the three standard meaty chicken pieces, seared to a light crispness around the edges. This is the first chicken cacciatore I've had in a long time. It's an aval dish.
MA gets lasagna, because she sees that the meat inside is braised beef short ribs. She is not happy to find that the layers are defined both by pasta and eggplant. But we remain happy.
At dessert time, our delightful waitress comes forth with the best response ever to a dumb joke of mine. When a server asks me whether I'd like anything else (as they all do numerous times these days, I say "Yes! I'd like a pet bunny!" The replies I get to this range from puzzlement, tp laughter, to the occasional pique for wasting the server's time. But Nicole gets the all-time prize. She folds a napkin into a bunny--ears, tail and all. Brilliant!
For dessert we have zeppoli, best described as the Italian answer to beignets, but much smaller. Much lighter in texture. The serving is enough for at least three people.
We agree that Avo is a fine new restaurant, and we're already thinking about returning with friends.
