Diary 4|28|2015: Cruising Out Of Katie's.

[title type="h5"]Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Katie's With Eat Clubbers.[/title] We have entered the month before the Eat Club cruise to the Mediterranean, and that means it's time to start pulling on the organizational straps. In two weeks, we have the dinner in which our forty travelers get to meet one another and us, ask questions about how it all works, and reassure everyone that we will have smooth sailing. [caption id="attachment_47454" align="alignnone" width="480"] Katie's dining room.[/caption] A few people from other parts of the country are always among our cruise passengers. Some of them come to New Orleans for other reasons. Barney won't be around for our main pre-cruise dinner, but he is here for Jazz Festival. So we meet for dinner at Katie's, along with two of Barney's jazz-loving friends. Barney is in the music business. He likes food, too. His first idea was Mandina's, but that's a hard place to penetrate in the days between Jazz Fest weekends. Katie's, on the other hand, is managed by Scot Craig, who is always telling me that I don't eat in his neighborhood café nearly often enough, and who will make a table of six for us. [caption id="attachment_47456" align="alignnone" width="480"] Oysters Slessinger at Katie's.[/caption] We gorge ourselves, first with a large mixed platter of oysters Slessinger and grilled oysters. The former is topped with cheese, herbs, and spinach. It's no oysters Rockefeller, but great in its own way. [caption id="attachment_47455" align="alignnone" width="480"] Terranova pizza at Katie's, [/caption] [caption id="attachment_47452" align="alignright" width="277"] Seafood platter.[/caption]Now a Terranova pizza, topped with Italian sausage from the little grocery that specializes in it. And with the Provel cheese that Scot orders specially from St. Louis, MO. It's better than we expect. In some ways, Katie's does what both Mandina's and Venezia do. Mary Ann and our travel agent Debbie Himbert split a seafood platter. It casts a shadow the size of a French bread loaf on the table, with enough seafood, fries, and buttered toast to feed at least three. The girls gasp in horror as the boat ties up in between them, even though they both knew damn well how much food this will carry. I had long heard about The Barge at Katie's, but never seen one. Well, here it is: a whole loaf of poor boy bread, filled with roast beef, ham, and too many other ingredients to take a sure inventory. It's held above the heads of three servers who bring it into the dining room sideways, making sounds like a nautical bell and a foghorn. "Make room for The Barge!" they yell. [caption id="attachment_47453" align="alignleft" width="309"] Scot Craig.[/caption]I have a normal roast beef poor boy, because the last one I had here four years ago was very good. It wasn't at the beginning, then Scot made a deal with Sammy's on Elysian Fields to buy and cook the beef for Katie's. Sammy's does a lot of that sort of work. I have heard rumors for many months that Katie's will soon open upstairs. Scot says he'd love to show us the much-needed new dining room, but they just put down the floor coating that morning, and it can't be walked upon. We depart very full, and with the knowledge that Barney will be a good guy to have a drink with on board the Queen Victoria where, after three days in London, we will board the ship at Southampton, and sail for eight days thereafter. It's only three weeks from now. [title type="h5"]Katie's. Mid-City: 3701 Iberville. 504-488-6582. [/title]