Sunday, November 13, 2016
Zea Brings Back Real Catfish.
The day is rather loose, so I assign myself the task of rebuilding the home pages of NOMenu.com so that people can use the site from mobile facilities. For a few months, the smaller mobile display has forced the main menu to disappear, even though it works fine on a computer screen. But too many readers tell me that they need the mobile connection. There is so much competition that the customer really is right in this case.
I have an idea of how to get this job done, but it won't be easy. I sure wish I could track down somebody who would do this kind of stuff for me for a generous check.
Also, I finish updating the restaurant lists after weeks of research. I am surprised to see that New Orleans now has over 1500 restaurants (by my definition of restaurant, which excludes most chain restaurants, private clubs, take-out, and a few other marginal eateries). The number for the past three years was stuck at a bit over 1400. Where did all these new places come from? Why have there been so few closings?
All that done, I take another five-lap strut around the Cool Water Ranch (second time this weekend!). Then a nap, then off to dinner. I wind up at Zea, where the soup du jour is tomato basil, with enough cream to turn the color orange. This is the first time I've been able to score that good potage in my last five tries.
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Wild-caught catfish @ Zea.[/caption]
Also on the table is a mess of fried catfish. I salute Zea for finally dispensing with the Asian "catfish" they have used for the past several years, and replacing it with genuine wild-caught Louisiana catfish. Cornmeal coated and fried, with a side order of their famous roasted corn grits and Thai-style green beans. (It just occurred to me as I write these words how many green beans appear in Thai cooking, from real Thai to imitation.)
I am not used to seeing total darkness outside when it's only a quarter after six. When I get home I find a lot of time--and many projects to fill it. An hour before bedtime, I knock off and start looking at videos of Jo Stafford, one of my favorite girl singers. One video has Jo and Ella Fitzgerald performing a long medley of songs with this worthy theme: Is love worth the effort, or does it just bring you the blues? Here were two of the four or five best vocal interpreters of the Great American Songbook showing off their enormous abilities at their peaks. Wow!
Zea. Covington: 110 Lake Dr. 985-327-0520. ||Harahan: 1655 Hickory Ave. 504-738-0799. ||Kenner: 1325 West Esplanade Ave. 504-468-7733.||Metairie: 4450 Veterans Blvd (Clearview Mall). 504-780-9090. ||Covington: 110 Lake Dr. 985-327-0520. ||Harvey: 1121 Manhattan Blvd. 504-361-8293. ||Slidell: 173 Northshore Blvd. 985-273-0500.
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Monday, November 14, 2016.
More Catfish.
I go out to buy a better pair of hiking shoes than I have, so I will have something to wear on my long walks in and around Manresa. (I will go to the retreat house this weekend.) While I am out, I have a rare lunch. The first place on my mind is Iron Pelican in Mandeville. I get good reports on that place but have not been. Reason: next door is the veterinary clinic where we took the cat Twinnery after he got hit by a car a year and a half ago. He died at the vet's office. And some eight months ago, the dog Susie turned up with a broken shoulder. The vet there (and another one) said that the old dog has bone cancer that would not heal, and that it was inoperable. Miracle: Susie is still running around, seemingly perfect.
That's why I have not been to the Iron Pelican. It's right next door to the vet, and I couldn't go there without thinking of Twinnery. But I am ready now. Counter-but: Iron Pelican is closed on Monday.
I move on to K-Gee's, a seafood house and all-around New Orleans-style neighborhood cafe about six blocks away. The people who run K-Gee's were briefly involved in Bozo's in Metairie, when Chris Vodonovich was ready to retire. That didn't work out, but two good things ultimately occurred. "Mr. Ed" McIntyre gently took over Bozo's, and has done great things with it. Meanwhile, K-Gee's went off on its own, and is also very good.
[caption id="attachment_18939" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Half-dozen plus one.[/caption]
It's been a long time since last I was there. I begin with a cup of very creamy oyster-artichoke soup, and a half-dozen enormous, briny, perfect raw oysters. Then a side salad, triggered by my ordering a fried catfish plate. Which in turn was brought on by my asking where the catfish came from. "Des Allemands," I was told. Bozo's was famous for this very catfish, and K-Gee's makes it more or less the same way. Excellent. Good enough for me to feel all right about having fried catfish two days in a row. If I reach back four days, I also had oyster-artichoke cream soup twice in a short period. But then it's said that it's possible for all the oxygen in your room to clump up against the ceiling in a corner, leaving you to asphyxiate.
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Seafood platter at K-Gee's. The catfish is upper right.[/caption]
Our NPAS rehearsal tonight dives into some very difficult music. It's Christmas music, yet, but conductor Alissa Rowe is ever pushing us to get the most out of our talents, and thereby wind up with greater talents still. But I am a very long way from getting these songs firmly in my mind.
K-Gee's Oyster Bar. Mandeville: 2534 Florida. 985-626-0530.
