Friday, April 23, 2016.
Not Fun.
It's not often that I dine on the North Shore when I spend most of the day on the South Shore. But Mary Ann calls with the idea of having dinner at the Lake House in Mandeville. That works right into my needs: the big old white building on the old Mandeville lakefront has had me ad-libbing commercials lately, and I was running out of material. I also hear that we will be doing an Eat Club dinner there in the next few months.
[caption id="attachment_12636" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Lake House in the gloaming.[/caption]
The sun is setting just as we arrive from different directions. The weather is so perfect that people are dining on the first and second floors, on the patio in front, and into the lawn. This is Mary Ann's favorite kind of dining environment. And since it's not raining, blasted with sunshine, windy, or any other deterrent, I like it too.
We know a lot of the people there, both on the staff and among the customers. The two guys named Scott who used to operate a coffee shop and dining room a few blocks away are there with their beautiful dogs. Helen, a waitress who turns up in many restaurants at one time or another, is making cocktails here.
[caption id="attachment_23283" align="alignnone" width="400"]
A little bit darker.[/caption]
The menu is much wider than I remember from the last two or three years of dining at the Lake House. I begin with corn and crab bisque while Mary Ann devours a wedge salad. I get a Hereford filet mignon with a garlic butter. Very tender, very flavorful. Who grows Hereford cattle in these parts? Mary Ann thinks it's good, too, and takes about a third of it, and gets a side order of braised spinach as a side.
Also on hand is an Italian guitarist and singer. He is quite listenable, and kept his gig going non-stop for a couple of hours. This is a very pleasant way to spend an evening. I'm always very happy to find this kind of goodness in restaurants who run commercials in my various media.
Lake House. Mandeville: 2025 Lakeshore Dr. 985-626-3006.
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Saturday, April 24, 20176.
A New Character On The Radio.
Among the least pleasant aspects of my very pleasant radio career is dealing once in awhile with cranks. My show gets fewer of these than any other I know, probably because the nature of the program weeds out most of the oddballs. But every now and then one of them decides to become a regular caller. We have one of these on every Saturday lately. He has a typical modus operandi. He sounds normal to the call screener, and even starts out with reasonably intelligent questions or comments. Then he mumbles something about my getting a check as I leave the restaurant (if it's one that I like) or not getting a check (if I don't like the place). I think what he's trying to say is that I surely must be paid off by places that he thinks are less good than I think, and that I am not being paid off by the places that he likes but I don't. He uses a different voice every time. And when he's finished, he hangs up.
I'd actually be happy to address his feelings without his having to go through all this trouble. But cranks are not very good at comebacks. So I am left with one recourse: I will turn him into a star. I will promote his appearances on the show, and make up a funny story about the guy and what he does in the rest of his week. Regular listeners will look forward to these, and suddenly the crank will see that, far from detracting from the program, he has become an interesting part of it.
I only wish I had a show next Saturday. It's the annual NFL draft, which WWL turns into a big festival.
Mary Ann and I lunch at La Carreta in Covington. which is in the middle of a few stores I need to get to, for items needed in the Big Computer Meltdown. That will occupy my every waking hour the rest of the day. The process of moving all the data from the old one to the new is maddening, and when I go to bed at around midnight I am in a logjam of procedures, each of which takes me farther away from getting the job done. It is not helping that the dog Susie, whose life is near its end, casts a pall over our household. I do not sleep well.
[divider type=""]
Lake House in the gloaming.[/caption]
The sun is setting just as we arrive from different directions. The weather is so perfect that people are dining on the first and second floors, on the patio in front, and into the lawn. This is Mary Ann's favorite kind of dining environment. And since it's not raining, blasted with sunshine, windy, or any other deterrent, I like it too.
We know a lot of the people there, both on the staff and among the customers. The two guys named Scott who used to operate a coffee shop and dining room a few blocks away are there with their beautiful dogs. Helen, a waitress who turns up in many restaurants at one time or another, is making cocktails here.
[caption id="attachment_23283" align="alignnone" width="400"]
A little bit darker.[/caption]
The menu is much wider than I remember from the last two or three years of dining at the Lake House. I begin with corn and crab bisque while Mary Ann devours a wedge salad. I get a Hereford filet mignon with a garlic butter. Very tender, very flavorful. Who grows Hereford cattle in these parts? Mary Ann thinks it's good, too, and takes about a third of it, and gets a side order of braised spinach as a side.
Also on hand is an Italian guitarist and singer. He is quite listenable, and kept his gig going non-stop for a couple of hours. This is a very pleasant way to spend an evening. I'm always very happy to find this kind of goodness in restaurants who run commercials in my various media.
