Friday, March 24, 2017.
Trenasse.
It's been a couple of years since the day Trenasse surprised me for the first time. Two blocks away from the radio station, it registered in my mind as just another all-day eatery in a big hotel. Such places almost never have much culinary merit, especially when they're managed by a chain restaurant. Indeed Trenasse is a ranch of a very successful small chain of seafood restaurant in the Florida Panhandle.
Trenasse would not have done better if it had asked me for a list of what I personally like in a restaurant. The presence throughout the menu of interesting dishes made from oysters grabbed me right away. They followed through with a list of a half-dozen or more of interesting finfish. Most restaurants are doing something if they have more than one kind of fresh fish.
[caption id="attachment_47544" align="alignleft" width="480"]
Oysters cooked four ways.[/caption]
So what are we doing here with Mary Leigh, who doesn't eat seafood? She goes after the beef burgundy, a.k.a. beef stew. And there we have found the first weak spot in Trenasse's kitchen. It's a bt on the chewy side, although the sauce is plenty good enough. Here is where Julia Childs's famous essay on beef bourguignonne would come in handy. Mary has short ribs, one of her favorite things. As I always do, I reel back from the $32 price of the short ribs. I remember when this was a very cheap cut of meat--so much so that I have almost never liked it.
My entree is solid gold, however. A big flank of pompano, seared and buttered just right, with small chunks of various vegetables--corn, potato cubes, carrots, this and that. It's the kind of thing that grabbed me on that first visit.
As for the Marys, despite the few imperfections, they love the place. Which was jumping tonight. A jazz trio was playing in the bar for happy hour. A big bunch of people came in not long after we did. It's very pleasantly different from the restaurant I expected to find in the Hotel Inter-Continental's handsome property.
Trenasse. CBD: 444 St Charles Ave. 504-680-7000.
[divider type=""]
Saturday, March 25, 2017.
Off To Disney World, But Not For Me.
The Marys are dispersing. Mary Leigh's employer has sent her to work on decorating sets for a project in Orlando. Even if I knew exactly what she's working on, she doesn't want me writing about it, so I won't. Much. She does report that she's having a lot of fun, especially when her assignment takes her to Disney World. On the other hand, she is putting in twelve-hour days to get the job done. She seems to enjoy this, as well. That's my hard-working girl!
I'm on the radio from noon till three. Then I set about getting the lawn tractor ready for the first mowing of the year. It hasn't rained much in the last few weeks, but the precip is coming, so I'm hustling to beat it to the ground. First challenge: getting the left rear tire inflated. It has a slow leak, and if it winds up sitting on the concrete--as it has for the past six months--it breaks away from the wheel, and I have to use straps to pull it back together. Not fun. But I hit another snag. I have no usable jack to lift the rear wheel off the ground. I have never been able to buy one at the auto parts store, but not only do I find one, but it's only $32.
After about two hours, I have air in the tire, and I'm ready to go. Except for one thing: I have no gasoline. A trip to get that, and a change of oil, while I'm at it.
I turn the key. The motor puts out a throb, then a grunt. I try this another ten or so times, with a weaker sound each time. Finally, the fifteen-year-old unit's starter is just whirring, and doesn't make contact with the pistons at all.
I think this is the end of this fifteen-year-old Murray's useful life. Mary Ann tries to talk me out of it. She wants to get the people who rebuilt the thing five years ago for $659 to do it again. She also says that it doesn't matter too much to her, because she doesn't plan to live at the Cool Water Ranch many years longer. I don't know exactly what she means by that, but I've heard it all before and she's. . .well, she's at our daughter's apartment, taking care of ML's dog Bauer while ML is busy in Florida.
As for me, I shower, nap, and jump on the Causeway to the South Shore. En route, I listen to A Prairie Home Companion and come to the conclusion, not for the first time, that the new host--whose name I don't know--isn't remotely as entertaining as the show's founder Garrison Keillor was. The show was just too personal for another person to just take it over.
[caption id="attachment_47062" align="alignleft" width="320"]
Ronnie Kole and his wife Gardner, as they begin last year's successful extravaganza on the bayou.[/caption]
Mary Ann and I meet for dinner at Andrea's. I forgot that Chef Andrea is one of the contributing chefs to Ronnie Kole's big charity fundraiser this weekend. On nights when Andrea isn't present, the goodness of the cooking does down obviously. But he came back to the restaurant faster than anyone expected him today, and things went back to normal. Andrea turns me on to a swordfish special he has tonight, with an interesting assortment of vegetables and more tomato than I usually like in a fish dish. But this is very good. One never knows, does one?
Andrea's. Metairie: 3100 19th St. 504-834-8583.
