Wednesday, April 26, 2017.
Another Look At Porter And Luke.
Mary Leigh calls as just after the radio show ends. I can tell from her tone that she'd like to have someone else pick up the check for dinner. What are fathers for, after all? An even more pleasant turn comes when as I run through all the restaurants I don't expect her to like, I drop the name of Porter and Luke. "I love Porter and Luke!" she surprisingly says. Terrific.
I have to go there anyway, because the place is running commercials on the radio show, and I want to make sure I feel good about that. When I went there last week, there was a minor problem, but one that had the chef concerned. I assure him that I don't shoot down restaurant for one slip-up.
The soup department of P&L is shining. Last time, a turtle soup was excellent. This time, there's a very light but cream-laced mushroom soup that needs only a few dashes of Tabasco to make it a pleasure to eat. The entree is a mammoth trough of pasta with chicken parmigiana. Really, it's twice as much food as I could possibly eat. But the first third of it made me happy enough.
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Triple wedge and seafood salad.[/caption]
One of P&L's most interesting dishes is the "trio of wedges." This is their oversize wedge salad with the usual blue cheese. But three more additions appear: shrimp remoulade, crabmeat ravigote, and fried oysters. You get all three, to say nothing about all the lettuce. ML still doesn't go for seafood. I would have taken the shrimp, crawfish and crabmeat if I had any room left.
ML is still riding high from the design work she has done lately. Her most recent project will show up tonight in some kind of foodball reportage. She did a big part of the set. It looks great. Now she had a big project that is asking for her to come up with a completely original set. Yes, the first stroke of the pen or the first word of the sentence is always the hardest.
Porter & Luke. Old Metairie: 1517 Metairie Road. 504-875-4555.
