[title type="h5"]Saturday, February 28, 2015.
The Old Bear's Really Packs Them In.[/title]
The first time I heard about Bear's, I was on the eight-to-midnight shift on the old WGSO 1280 (there's another station of that name now on 990, but there's no connection). A guy called me to say that he thought the best poor boy in the whole New Orleans area was at Bear's. At that time it was in Mandeville, and hard to find. I never did.
At some point before Mary Ann and Jude and I moved to the North Shore, Bear's moved to Covington, where it remains. The first time I went there, I got an idea why my radio caller liked it so much. There are other Bear's around the area now, but they're not operated by the guy in Covington. (There's a blood relationship, too complicated to be worth telling.)
Mary Ann and I have been in the habit of having poor boys for lunch on Saturdays. Bear's came up in the rotation. If we'd known that the place was so busy, we would have gone earlier or later. A line stretched across the room and out the door into the parking lot. On top of that, the staff was filling many called-in orders. It took a half-hour before our sandwich appeared.
Remember when that used to be standard? Parasol's, for example, was notorious for taking so long to deliver a roast beef to the table that you all but had to get a drink or a beer to keep from falling asleep. And I won't even bring up Mother's.
We had a large roast beef, easy on the gravy, dressed with extra pickles. It met the venerable criterion of being as long as a man's forearm. It was already cut in half. I thought about cutting again, but to say that Bear's offers minimal service is itself minimal.
So there is nothing for me but to eat my entire half. MA came close to performing the same feat. We agreed that it was not quite as good as a few of our other favorites, but also that it is a fine piece of work anyway.
Back to the Cool Water Ranch for the radio show, which for some reason stretched until seven. The extra half-hour allowed Mary Ann to try out some ideas, and at the end of it she felt we had done an unusually a good show. One she could send to radio stations around the country. She would love to get back on the air regularly, now that she is not needed for mommy duty. The listeners seem to really like her. Better than they like me, say some of them.
The poor boy was big enough to leave us hunger-free when rhe show ended. We watched an old movie which, about sixty percent in, I realized I'd seen it before. MA knows she's seen it, herself. But she watches the same movies over and over.
[title type="h5"]Bear's. Covington: 128 W 21st Ave. 504-892-2373.[/title] [divider type=""]
[title type="h5"]
Sunday, March 1, 2015.
Can't Resist La Provence.[/title]
"We are rid of February, and good riddance, if you ask me."--E.J. Kahn, Jr.
A agree. March begins its run pleasantly enough, but the cold and rainy weather is on the program for the next week or two. It doesn't look as if MA will get her Germany trip until after my big engagement at Ochsner on the ninth.
Mary Ann suggests that we call our friends the Swifts and meet up at La Provence for an early Sunday dinner. That's the best time to go to that restaurant. It's cleaned up after brunch, getting ready for the serious regulars, starting around four or five.
The Swifts look more youthful than the last time we saw them, which was too long ago. Doug and I have a similar sense of humor. Which, of course, the girls don't share with us. I probably should have backed away from my usual thinking that the men and women should alternate at the table, instead of sitting next to one another.
Another good day for Chef Erik Loos. We begin by getting hooked on the pâté, which over the years has certainly become the favorite flavor at La Provence. I wonder how much of this chicken-liver-and-butter concoction is eaten in a day. Even people who say they don't like liver in any form gobble this up.
[caption id="attachment_46834" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Oysters Ooh-la-la.[/caption]
I get an order of oysters oo-la-la, the best new dish to appear at La Provence in many years. The idea is so simple and so good that it's amazing that it has never appeared before. Main ingredients: oysters, crab fat, and just enough bread crumbs for there to be a lightly toasted exterior. Since last time I had them, the presentation has been polished, while the eating has improved.
[caption id="attachment_46833" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Seafood soup.[/caption]
There aren't enough green soups out there, I believe, but La Provence holds up its end in that department. They used to make a wonderful vegetable soupe de pistou, but it hasn't been around lately. But here's a seafood soup with croutons and herbal olive oil and a few other nice touches, green enough for St. Patrick's day.
[caption id="attachment_46829" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Drum with almonds.[/caption]
Mary Ann has her standard fish with crabmeat, made with roasted drum encrusted with almonds. (Not the same as trout amandine.) Also cauliflower and a hollandaise sauce, with a thick spiral of green sauce drawn in a circle. I thought his was just delicious. MA says--for the second time in a week--that she doesn't like her fish cut this thick.
[caption id="attachment_46832" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Pork tenderloin and cheeks. [/caption]
Doug latched onto the pork tenderloin with pork cheeks. The latter is some kind of delicious morsel. We go through a Central Coast Pinot Noir. We finish up with a sort of apple upside-down cake, with caramelized sugar dominating the flavor.
And then I feel two hands grab my shoulders. The first word out of the mouth of the owner of the hands--and what hands!--tells me that it's Ronnie Kole. He and his wife Gardner are regulars at La Provence, which figures: his virtuosity on the piano is matched in distinction by his palate.
It's almost time for Jazz On The Bayou. The Koles organize this every spring to raise money for a number of local charities. Ronnie has been in the forefront of events like that for decades. He has enough friends in the music, food and wine worlds that his event is superb. It's both Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22. Tickets are $100, and can be had at jazzonthebayou.com. (I will run an article with more specifics in a week.)
Somehow, I have persuaded Ronnie that my singing will embarrass neither him nor me. Whenever we run into one another at La Provence, he sits down at the piano and he lets me do a couple of numbers. I have never stumped him with a song--he appears to know them all. But I almost got him tonight with "Street Of Dreams." He said he used to play it in his dance band a very long time ago, but not since. He said he wasn't sure he could remember it, but five or six notes later, there he was, well into it, as if he'd played it last week.
He is certainly the pro in this duet, but I must say: I have never sung with anyone who gets more out of my paltry talents.
[title type="h5"]La Provence. Lacombe: 25020 US 190. 985-626-7662. [/title]
