Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Big Improvements In Two Restaurants Near Me.
The weather is acting counter to the calendar. It's a gloomy, drizzly Maudy Thursday. Tomorrow will be a brilliant, warm Good Friday. Saturday will be stormy, and Easter even worse. Nevertheless, I have managed to post my Top 100 Restaurants For Easter. This scores points not only with my readers, but with the management of the radio station, which I allow to post things like this on the WWL website. It's a local-media exclusive.
It's an overeating day for me, but at least the two restaurants involved are places I have not visited in a long time. Reason for that: neither was very good two or three years ago. But I always check back, because the only more likely trend than a restaurant's getting better is a restaurant's getting worse.
Lunch at the Abita Springs Café. My now-scattered family had breakfast in that rustic little spot on a regular schedule for many years, even though Mary Ann didn't like it. (She is no fan of rustic little spots.) But the Café was on a long decline when Katrina pulled my gang apart.
What persuades me to take a new look is the menu at the Abita Roasting Company in Covington. It reminds me of the one at the Abita Springs Café. In fact, the two places have identical breakfast-and-lunch menus. And the two breakfasts I have at Abita Roasting lately are both excellent. Clearly something's going on.
I study the offerings at the Abita Café for a long time and settle on the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Its presence is a story unto itself. The main issues with cheesesteaks are a) will they sear the ingredients? and 2) will the bread be the soft, uncrusty kind used in Philadelphia? Answers: yes and yes. A third matter concerns the kind of cheese used. In Philly, it's one particular kind of Cheez-Wiz. Yes, from a jar. I long ago made up my mind--and I am not the only one--that provolone is the best cheese to use for this sandwich of grilled sliced beef, grilled onions and peppers and cheese.
I'd say that the Abita Cafe's kitchen hit all the targets perfectly. This was a great sandwich, and big enough that I could finish only two-thirds of it. I will have a classic poor boy on future visits, but I'm glad to have found such a fine cheesesteak. It is the best I've encountered in our area except for the ones at Café Nino--but Café Nino is closed.
I return home to spend what I thought would be a half hour with the credit department of Volkswagen. Somehow, I find it impossible to log on to their system and pay my car note. (I'm almost nostalgic about this, since I have not had a car note in nine years.) The lady I speak with is as puzzled as I am, and after forty-five minutes she tells me that she needs to get her tech guys on the matter. I am relieved to know that I am not only up to date with payments, but one payment ahead.
The radio show ends an hour early for the sake of an LSU basketball game. I'd like to take a walk, but it's still drizzling and thunder can be heard. I take the nap I missed earlier, then head out to Sawasdee Thai Cuisine for dinner.
Sawasdee's premises are much more beautiful than its name. It's in the same strip mall where is the Mandeville Mandina's. I had dinner there about three years ago, during which I was the only person in the room other than a lady who seemed to be both cooking and serving. The food was just okay. With four or five better Thai restaurants on the North Shore, I thought this won't last long. I was wrong. They are still here, even handsomer than I remember, with a fair number of regular customers.
The waiter is friendly and adept. I begin with a very tall glass of very cold Singha Beer. Then the tom kha soup with chicken. That's a light broth made with coconut milk, mushrooms, and the herb galangal. It's generously served and enjoyable.
Perhaps too generous. I was only halfway finished when the entree arrived. I hate when this happens, but I must give the waiter a pass, because neither the soup nor the entree was far below the boiling point. My objection to getting two courses in short order is that one of them gets cold. There was no chance of that's happening here.
[caption id="attachment_51071" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Panang curry with shrimp at Sawasdee.[/caption]
The entree is a standard order for me: Panang curry, with its pleasing orange color and coconut milk background. Also in the mix are bamboo shoots, carrots, peppers, and big, fresh-tasting shrimp. I like it at first taste, and it keeps getting better as the eating continues.
They have an interesting side here: naan bread, just like in an Indian restaurant, but a little softer. I liked it okay, but I would have swapped it out for better rice.
I am quite full after this healthy, riddled-with-vegetables main course. The waiter asks about dessert. I ask whether I can have a simple scoop of ice cream. Yes, he says. I am very surprised by his idea of a single scoop of ice cream. Also in the glass dish are a rim of strawberry slices, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, a cherry. . .and another scoop of ice cream. But at four dollars, how could I complain?
The Abita Café and Sawasdee have something in common. In both cases, I have lately heard from radio callers high praise about these two. That's why I tried both, in contradiction to my weight-losing routine of eating only one full meal a day. The ice cream hurt my regimen, and so did the very good fries that came with the cheesesteak. I will fast to some extent on Good Friday.
Abita Springs Cafe. Abita Springs: 22132 Level. 985-867-9950.
Sawasdee Thai Cuisine. Mandeville: 4250 Hwy.22. 985-626-3577.
Lunch at the Abita Springs Café. My now-scattered family had breakfast in that rustic little spot on a regular schedule for many years, even though Mary Ann didn't like it. (She is no fan of rustic little spots.) But the Café was on a long decline when Katrina pulled my gang apart.
What persuades me to take a new look is the menu at the Abita Roasting Company in Covington. It reminds me of the one at the Abita Springs Café. In fact, the two places have identical breakfast-and-lunch menus. And the two breakfasts I have at Abita Roasting lately are both excellent. Clearly something's going on.
I study the offerings at the Abita Café for a long time and settle on the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Its presence is a story unto itself. The main issues with cheesesteaks are a) will they sear the ingredients? and 2) will the bread be the soft, uncrusty kind used in Philadelphia? Answers: yes and yes. A third matter concerns the kind of cheese used. In Philly, it's one particular kind of Cheez-Wiz. Yes, from a jar. I long ago made up my mind--and I am not the only one--that provolone is the best cheese to use for this sandwich of grilled sliced beef, grilled onions and peppers and cheese.
I'd say that the Abita Cafe's kitchen hit all the targets perfectly. This was a great sandwich, and big enough that I could finish only two-thirds of it. I will have a classic poor boy on future visits, but I'm glad to have found such a fine cheesesteak. It is the best I've encountered in our area except for the ones at Café Nino--but Café Nino is closed.
I return home to spend what I thought would be a half hour with the credit department of Volkswagen. Somehow, I find it impossible to log on to their system and pay my car note. (I'm almost nostalgic about this, since I have not had a car note in nine years.) The lady I speak with is as puzzled as I am, and after forty-five minutes she tells me that she needs to get her tech guys on the matter. I am relieved to know that I am not only up to date with payments, but one payment ahead.
The radio show ends an hour early for the sake of an LSU basketball game. I'd like to take a walk, but it's still drizzling and thunder can be heard. I take the nap I missed earlier, then head out to Sawasdee Thai Cuisine for dinner.
Sawasdee's premises are much more beautiful than its name. It's in the same strip mall where is the Mandeville Mandina's. I had dinner there about three years ago, during which I was the only person in the room other than a lady who seemed to be both cooking and serving. The food was just okay. With four or five better Thai restaurants on the North Shore, I thought this won't last long. I was wrong. They are still here, even handsomer than I remember, with a fair number of regular customers.
The waiter is friendly and adept. I begin with a very tall glass of very cold Singha Beer. Then the tom kha soup with chicken. That's a light broth made with coconut milk, mushrooms, and the herb galangal. It's generously served and enjoyable.
Perhaps too generous. I was only halfway finished when the entree arrived. I hate when this happens, but I must give the waiter a pass, because neither the soup nor the entree was far below the boiling point. My objection to getting two courses in short order is that one of them gets cold. There was no chance of that's happening here.
[caption id="attachment_51071" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Panang curry with shrimp at Sawasdee.[/caption]
The entree is a standard order for me: Panang curry, with its pleasing orange color and coconut milk background. Also in the mix are bamboo shoots, carrots, peppers, and big, fresh-tasting shrimp. I like it at first taste, and it keeps getting better as the eating continues.
They have an interesting side here: naan bread, just like in an Indian restaurant, but a little softer. I liked it okay, but I would have swapped it out for better rice.
I am quite full after this healthy, riddled-with-vegetables main course. The waiter asks about dessert. I ask whether I can have a simple scoop of ice cream. Yes, he says. I am very surprised by his idea of a single scoop of ice cream. Also in the glass dish are a rim of strawberry slices, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, a cherry. . .and another scoop of ice cream. But at four dollars, how could I complain?
The Abita Café and Sawasdee have something in common. In both cases, I have lately heard from radio callers high praise about these two. That's why I tried both, in contradiction to my weight-losing routine of eating only one full meal a day. The ice cream hurt my regimen, and so did the very good fries that came with the cheesesteak. I will fast to some extent on Good Friday.
