Friday, May 26, 2017.
The Royal Street Stroll. Brennan's.
The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience continued today, starting with Vinola, a tasting of the best wines brought to the Experience by participating wineries. As has been the case for the past few years, I am unable to attend Vinola because I am busy with a radio broadcast designed to tout the event. Last year I got lucky and broadcast near where Vinola went on. I could run over to Vinola and try a few sips, relying on friends as to which wines were the most impressive. Vinola also has some food booths, most of them with better food than will be found at most other NOWF&E events. But my broadcast schedule made all of that impossible for me to get at, and I kept interviewing participants to push attendance.
I am no fan of what has been happening to the Royal Street Stroll in recent years, and today was no exception to my gripes. The Stroll--once the best value in the NOWF&E schedule--began with art gallery and antique store owners having open houses, with wineries setting up in the shops and pouring their juices. Many of the shops also offered food at their own expense. This was very charming until the word got out about what a great bargain the stroll was. The line I heard about what happened next was that the galleries and antique guys weren't getting a tremendous boost in sales from the Strollers, what with the glut of people walking in, grabbing a wine refill, hoping for food, and moving on.
Even though the food aspect was not officially part of the NOW&FE program, most attendees came to expect it. To fill the breach, NOW&FE brought in restaurateurs to set up in the middle of Royal Street. The main result of that was long lines in front of the portable kitchens. The restaurants with the best food--and the most food--found the lines very long indeed. My walks up and down the six or seven blocks of the Stroll turned up exactly one dish that I thought was worth waiting for--and just barely. That was Fogo De Chao. Compared with most of the other food on the street, Fogo came closest to having something substantial. In the hour MA and I were there, I think I had two mouthfuls of food. Some of that paucity had to do with a number of people who stop me to talk every few feet. I love that, but it does make it hard to eat. But we all had a long time to wait.
In other words, the people still show up in strong numbers for the Stroll, but more of them are griping about it--to me, anyway. A brother-in-law who was a big fan of the Stroll for years has stopped coming, but not stopped complaining about what a rotten deal this has become.
But one must back away and stop growling, because this is a charitable event. The proceeds this year go to Nunez College in St. Bernard Parish, a school that has trained many people into careers in hospitality. Good for them!
But what about us? Or am I just being a greedy bastard to gripe?
My wife Mary Ann was furious about our failure to get more thana biteful on the stroll. After an hour, we went to Brennan's to satisfy our hunger. I had a feeling things would play out this way, and while I was at Brennan's doing the radio show, I made a reservation for dinner there. We had a window onto the Stroll, and watched as the people strolled by sipping a good bit and eating a little. And Patrick Von Hoorbeck paraded as King of the Krewe of Cork, as if nothing had happened.
While I was on the air (so I couldn't attend), Brennan's threw a party in the courtyard for visiting media brought in by the NOW&FE folks. Brennan's also had a very successful, sold-out Vintner Dinner last night. The Vintner Dinners remain excellent, probably because the restaurateurs involved keep full control of menus, wines, and prices. They were not part of the Royal Street Stroll.
Just by coincidence, MA and I had similar menus at Brennan's. We began with an exquisite new baked oyster dish, in which bread crumbs are tossed with finely-grated Manchego cheese and butter shot up with invisible chili peppers, tossed with the oysters, and baked on the shells. Great, great, great. Then she had shrimp remoulade on fried green tomatoes, and redfish amandine. For me came veal sweetbreads in little nubbins and a sauce that combines one of the world's most expensive foods (truffles) with one of the cheapest (grits). This idea came some years ago from Brennan's current chef Slade Rushing. Brilliant. I wrapped up with New Orleans barbecue lobster tail--lobster made in the style of --New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp. This was magnificent, especially the soupy sauce (to be captured by the bread).
By then I was overfed, and skipped dessert. And I started thinking about tomorrow's Grand Tasting. Would it live up to its reputation? I'll tell you tomorrow.
Brennan's. French Quarter: 417 Royal. 504-525-9711.
