[title type="h5"]Monday, April 7, 2014.
A Pile Of Oysters, A Fillet Of Fish--Both Cheesy.[/title]
I usually go anywhere the Marys tell me to go when I'm on the North Shore and dinner time rolls around, but I draw the line when it comes to The Chimes. They go there far too often, and the menu doesn't include enough dishes I either like or haven't written about in this department too many times already.
But I do have to relent once in awhile, especially when the weather is nice. The fallback dish is oysters, which since day one here have been excellent both raw and grilled. We arrived early enough to catch the daily half-price deal on the raw ones, of which I put away a dozen. Then an order of grilled, with the usual routine: the Marys sop up the garlic butter, and I eat the oysters.
Another dish sounded good tonight, running as a special on black drum. The crawfish-riddled sauce was almost a chili con queso, its richness coming from both cream and cheese. In general, I don't like the idea of cheese on seafood, but this was passably good, while stopping short of being something I'd order again. Which is a line I'd use in reviewing almost everything I've had at The Chimes.
I made up a roster of the people traveling to and around Italy next week. I thought that our list of eighty-three would dwindle a little, but every cancellation was counterbalanced by a new reservation. The group is about equally split between first-timers and regulars. The wild card is what plans Mary Ann will come up with for the week before the official group event begins.
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[title type="h5"]Tuesday, April 8, 2014.
The Best Chefs In Louisiana.[/title]
For the past four years, I have been the master of ceremonies for the Best Restaurants in Louisiana. The local chapter of the American Culinary Federation--the national organization of chefs, whose activities include giving certifications and bona fides to chefs who have earned them--recognizes a dozen or so chefs as having accomplished enough to be honored. The list is not one that most restaurant customers would choose. Many of the chefs work behind the scenes and are unknown to consumers. The event, however, attracts a lot of diners, because of a) the caliber of the chefs involved and 2) the well-above-average goodness of the food they put forth.
I didn't know that I was not the emcee this year until I got there. Seems that the program has been rejiggered, under the management of Children's Hospital, which took over the event both in terms of coordination and receipt of some of the proceeds. My contribution to the event was limited to walking around and talking with people. This keeps me from getting any food for the first hour or so. Ironically, the first think I'm asked is, "What do you think is the best dish here?" To which I must respond that I haven't tasted much of anything. So I felt that I had to pay for my ticket, a bargain at $75.
After making certain that all important participants, the Best Chefs, and a lot of attendees saw me or talked with me, I cut out. This is a rough week, and I can't stay until the closing. This meant that after three years of singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with the band, I will have to break that tradition.
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[title type="h5"]Wednesday, April 9, 2014.
Eat Club At Impastato's. Veal Porterhouse.[/title]
We held fewer Eat Club dinners at Impastato's during the past year or so than in years before. That's probably a good idea. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the year since the last one there explains how we pulled together a group of over eighty people tonight.
Even though Joe Impastato was the instigator tonight, I think we would have had a dinner there anyway, if only to get information about the restaurant scene in Palermo. That is one of the ports of call for our cruise next week. Joe Impastato was born there and returns once or twice a year.
If you want to get a restaurateur going, ask him about the price of food these days. You will find that topic at the top of his consciousness. Steak purveyors are particularly hard hit, what with the damage to the herds of cattle caused by the very cold winter just past. But seafood has been in short supply too--particularly soft shell crabs and crawfish, two major items in Impastato's menu.
Indeed, the steak usually featured in our Eat Club menu (which, incidentally, went up in price ten bucks since our last one) was replaced by a veal porterhouse. Which itself is not what you could cal a cheap piece of meat. Joe got a complaint about it that clearly didn't make him happy. I heard a few expressions of dissatisfaction myself, mostly having to do with a lack of tenderness. Most people associate veal medallions with tenderness. But the chops and steaks of veal are, if anything, tougher than the more mature beef. Veal has so little fat that it tightens up in the cooking. One must expect to do a bit of thin-slicing with the steak knife. But that's what happens when a little-known ingredient meets an inexperienced customer. I found the porterhouse to be about what I would have guessed--more than good enough. Maybe I should give a more detailed food description at the beginning of our dinners.
On the other hand, we had the usual pleasures from the seafood appetizers (especially the shrimp gratin), the soft-shell crabs, the fish with shrimp, crabmeat, artichokes and mushrooms) and--of course--the fettuccine Alfredo.
Which reminds me. Maybe I will go to Alfredo's of Rome when we are there in two weeks. I wonder whether the originator of that dish is as good at it as it ought to be. I hear that it is not, which has kept me from trying it in the past.
When I asked Joe where we should go in Palermo, he gave me a surprising but logical answer. "I don't go to restaurants in Palermo," he said. "I always eat at my sister's house instead."
[title type="h5"]
Impastato's. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 3400 16th St. 504-455-1545.[/title]
[title type="h6"] Yesterday || Tomorrow[/title]
Written by Tom Fitzmorris April 21, 2014 12:12 in
