Friday, February 5, 2016.
Hermes Pokes Along The Parade Route.
Kevin Kelly is the owner of the brilliantly restored Houmas House Plantation up the river. But that's not the only centuries-old structure he revived. He lives in a townhouse on St. Charles Avenue that approaches two hundred years old. He uses it for all its worth, especially during Carnival season. It's hard to imagin a better place for watching parades, and he gives the place over to that purpose for a few days every year. An assortment of his many friends and media people show up several days running for a substantial buffet every year.
Mary Ann is a big fan of Kevin's Mardi Gras parties, and r.s.v.p.'s several times every year, whether I can make it or not. Tonight's episode is the biggest bash in the series. Only those clothed in costumes or formal wear (or both as we were to see) are admitted.
The theme for the costumes this year is "It's A Monumental Affair." Among the figures present whose public statues will disappear in the near term are a guy who identifies himself P.G.T. Beauregard. His uniform is superb.
But Kevin himself wears the best getup of the night: he is Donald Trump, with a mask so convincing that after a few seconds you feel as if you're talking to the man himself.
Nice crowd. With the exception of p.r. operative Bonnie Warren and Margarita Bergen (it's not really a New Orleans party without Margarita), I know almost nobody here. But I get to talking with a bunch of people, of whom the most interesting is a younger feller wearing a superbly domed hat. He says it's 100 years old, something he found in the closet of his grandfather. It looks new. I'd love to have one like that.
Hermes is an old krewe with many well-connected members. It has a reputation of being the fastest-moving Carnival parade on the streets, but it didn't live up to that tonight. It didn't poke along, but its many bands and excellent old-style floats loaded with good throws (many of them glowing in the dark) slowed it down.
One of the advance units was the 610 Stompers, the most innovative marching club in many a Carnival. They continues to innovate in a way that requires a certain sense of humor. I'd describe what they do if I could.
I cannot remember ever having been hit in the face by a flying pair of beads. It happened twice tonight. The first hit was so hard that I thought it might have broken my glasses. Either they're making glasses stronger these days, or beads more brittle.
We watch the whole parade from the chilly, windy balconies, then return to Kevin's parlor. Two of his cherished retrievers roam the room, completely at home even with all these strangers. Food is good: corn soup, roast pork with a good, brothy sauce, pasta with a creamy tomato sauce and shrimp, miniature crab cakes, seared chicken, and many little desserts. The bar is open and unstinting. What more could we want?
Well, there's was this. . . We were having such a great time that MA lost track of the time, and her parking spot went into overtime. We got lucky: her car wasn't booted. For once, the clogged streets at the end of the parade route was on our side, and the enforcement unit couldn't get to us.
Happy Friday Gras!
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Saturday, February 6, 2016.
Sixty-Five. Dates For Breakfast And Dinner.
It's my birthday, the one that traditionally marks the laying down of life's toils. The statistics say that only government workers actually retire at this age. I certainly have no expectation of doing so soon. What I do for a living is so entertaining that only an insurmountable obstacle (i.e., death) would keep me from going to the very end. I have a few milestones I'd like to pass: 30 years of hosting The Food Show on radio (in 2018), 30 years of publishing this online newsletter (2037), and 50 years of writing a weekly restaurant review column (2022).
I probably think too much about longevity. When I ran into him last week, Eric Tracy belittled the status of the Food Show as being the longest-running program in New Orleans radio history. "That's in a new book I just published called 'Things I Don't Give A S--- About." I can see his point.
Mary Ann is always very kind to me on my birthdays. She offered to join me both for breakfast and dinner. (In one of the great ironies of our marriage, she doesn't like to eat out all that much.)
[caption id="attachment_36642" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Poached eggs with crabmeat and mushrooms at Mattina Bella.[/caption]
We go to Mattina Bella for the first meal. It's a full house with three tables ahead of us. So what? The line moves quickly, and we are there with the Blue Crab Benedict for me, the all-meat omelette for her, and one blueberry pancake. The latter is new to the menu and better than I expect. The blueberries are not in the flapjack itself, but in a compote full of whole berries you add to your pleasure. It avoids the gross over-sweetness of such things, with a great fresh flavor and a tinge of vanilla.
I have a two-hour radio show starting at two p.m. The main subject becomes Creole hot sausage, particularly the patties made by Patton's. I can't seem to get anyone to talk about Valentine's Day, five days after Mardi Gras.
When I switch off the mic, the dogs and I take a five-lap walk around the Cool Water Ranch. The grounds are still squishy wet from this winter's frequent, heavy rains. One of these days, I will place flagstones through the marshy areas. (Speaking of that, I wonder what happened to Marsha, a girl I dated in the 1970s. Haven't thought about her in decades.)
My big birthday dinner is at Keith Young's Steak House. The restaurant is so consistently excellent--a contender for Best Steak In The New Orleans Area, in fact--that as much as we love it, we hardly ever go there. Besides, this is the kind of meal that must be indulged in with moderation.
[caption id="attachment_43263" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Keith Young's oysters Bienville.[/caption]
We begin with four oysters Bienville, which Keith tells me he pulled together using the recipe in my cookbook. How can I not get it every time I go?
They have a new French onion soup, and MA goes after it. It is just as it should be: the broth with a nice beefy consomme flavor and well-caramelized onions and a modest amount of cheese. It's perfect for this cold night.
I thought Keith had a pork chop, but I am wrong, and I miss a chance to continue my investigation into the relative merits of the best steaks and the best pork chops. I am finding that the pigmeat is better, even though beef holds on as the people's choice. (We ran a poll on this a few days ago, and beef took 79 percent of the vote.)
[caption id="attachment_23449" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Keith Young's outstanding sirloin strip steak.[/caption]
The absence of a pork chop tonight pushes me to order my favorite of Keith's hand-selected cuts, the sirloin strip. It is a beauty, extraordinarily flavorful and juicy, with enough of a sear around the outside to make it thrilling. I get it with New Orleans bordelaise sauce--garlic in hot butter. I am able to down about half of it before my hunger wanes.
Keith added something nice to his already good wine program. A special list two pages long offers some major wines by the glass, including a few with a bit of bottle age. They have installed a gizmo that prevents oxygen from getting into the open bottles. I ask for a glass of Arrowood Cabernet 2005, on the list at about $30 the glass. It's a big, mouth-watering wine with obvious benefits from those ten years in the bottle. He has quite a few wines in that category, and even Opus One ($70 a glass), It adds a great deal to a dinner. Particularly for those of us whose spouses don't drink, and who don't drink as much as we used to. In any case, I find that when I have a really great wine in front of me, I don't drink as much as I would of a more ordinary vintage.
On the way home, I demonstrate to MA that my new Beetle has heated seats. I can't say I find that feature especially useful, but she likes it.
Keith Young's Steak House. Madisonville: 165 LA 21. 985-845-9940.
[divider type=""]
Poached eggs with crabmeat and mushrooms at Mattina Bella.[/caption]
We go to Mattina Bella for the first meal. It's a full house with three tables ahead of us. So what? The line moves quickly, and we are there with the Blue Crab Benedict for me, the all-meat omelette for her, and one blueberry pancake. The latter is new to the menu and better than I expect. The blueberries are not in the flapjack itself, but in a compote full of whole berries you add to your pleasure. It avoids the gross over-sweetness of such things, with a great fresh flavor and a tinge of vanilla.
I have a two-hour radio show starting at two p.m. The main subject becomes Creole hot sausage, particularly the patties made by Patton's. I can't seem to get anyone to talk about Valentine's Day, five days after Mardi Gras.
When I switch off the mic, the dogs and I take a five-lap walk around the Cool Water Ranch. The grounds are still squishy wet from this winter's frequent, heavy rains. One of these days, I will place flagstones through the marshy areas. (Speaking of that, I wonder what happened to Marsha, a girl I dated in the 1970s. Haven't thought about her in decades.)
My big birthday dinner is at Keith Young's Steak House. The restaurant is so consistently excellent--a contender for Best Steak In The New Orleans Area, in fact--that as much as we love it, we hardly ever go there. Besides, this is the kind of meal that must be indulged in with moderation.
[caption id="attachment_43263" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Keith Young's oysters Bienville.[/caption]
We begin with four oysters Bienville, which Keith tells me he pulled together using the recipe in my cookbook. How can I not get it every time I go?
They have a new French onion soup, and MA goes after it. It is just as it should be: the broth with a nice beefy consomme flavor and well-caramelized onions and a modest amount of cheese. It's perfect for this cold night.
I thought Keith had a pork chop, but I am wrong, and I miss a chance to continue my investigation into the relative merits of the best steaks and the best pork chops. I am finding that the pigmeat is better, even though beef holds on as the people's choice. (We ran a poll on this a few days ago, and beef took 79 percent of the vote.)
[caption id="attachment_23449" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Keith Young's outstanding sirloin strip steak.[/caption]
The absence of a pork chop tonight pushes me to order my favorite of Keith's hand-selected cuts, the sirloin strip. It is a beauty, extraordinarily flavorful and juicy, with enough of a sear around the outside to make it thrilling. I get it with New Orleans bordelaise sauce--garlic in hot butter. I am able to down about half of it before my hunger wanes.
Keith added something nice to his already good wine program. A special list two pages long offers some major wines by the glass, including a few with a bit of bottle age. They have installed a gizmo that prevents oxygen from getting into the open bottles. I ask for a glass of Arrowood Cabernet 2005, on the list at about $30 the glass. It's a big, mouth-watering wine with obvious benefits from those ten years in the bottle. He has quite a few wines in that category, and even Opus One ($70 a glass), It adds a great deal to a dinner. Particularly for those of us whose spouses don't drink, and who don't drink as much as we used to. In any case, I find that when I have a really great wine in front of me, I don't drink as much as I would of a more ordinary vintage.
On the way home, I demonstrate to MA that my new Beetle has heated seats. I can't say I find that feature especially useful, but she likes it.
