[title type="h5"]Tuesday, May 5, 2T015.
Burger Man, Meat Man, And Katie-Man.[/title]
The Round-Table radio show was better than usual, with the three guests having just enough in common to make conversation flow easily among them and me. Joe Spitale and his brother created the new Atomic Burger place in Metairie, one of the few new-age burger joints I find worth talking about. Without having to be asked, Joe explains why this is so. They are having all the beef custom ground, then hand-pattied. The buns are coming from a special bakery to the Spitales' specs. Most burger places--even among the expensive ones--just use the standard market products and cross their fingers.
John Lalla is here from the inaccurately-named National Meat Company--better known among restaurateurs as Natco. Natco has spent its entire history near the corner of Melpomene at Magazine, making it not even regional, let along national. It is the main source of premium meats for most of the top end of the local restaurant industry. Their steaks explain the goodness of the carnivory at restaurants in the Commander's Palace/Antoine's/Galatoire's category. The hallmark of Natco's presence in a restaurant is often the lamb chops it sells, which for my money (and it will require a good bit, as in the $45 vicinity) are the best lamb chops to be had.
John tells me, however, that the demand and therefore the supply of lamb is dwindling in recent years. This is surprising. What with the improving tastes of restaurant-goers, one would expect lamb's popularity would be growing. Not so, says John. He is the third generation of Lallas in command of Natco. Which, he says, dates back to 1925. When exactly? I ask. He didn't know, except that it was April. But that is also the birth month of my radio station! Same year, too. We are both 90 this year. I wonder if Natco was an early WSMB sponsor.
Natco butchers the meat used by Atomic Burger. (Remember: there are only 500 people living in New Orleans.)
Scot Craig, one of the owners of Katie's, says that he doesn't buy Natco products, but that he does get some carefully-sourced outside foodstuffs--notably the deli meats and roast beef from Sammy's on Elysian Fields. But that too is something to brag about.
Talking with Scot--who runs what I think is the best neighborhood café in town--brings to the fore a man who I think of as a classic river person. He has found his river of accomplishment, and floats downstream with it, having only to avoid snags. As opposed to a mountain person, who exerts every step in reaching his peak. I think both are legitimate life strategies, but their adherents tend to disagree. For example, I am a river person, doing the same things I was doing forty-five years ago. Mary Ann is a mountain person through and through. And she says that Scot, contrary to my characterization of him as a river person, is actually a hard-charging mountain man.
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Trenasse.[/caption]
After the show I walk over to the Hotel Inter-Continental, whose new restaurant is generating many good comments from my radio listeners and web messageboard. I brought the place up on the radio, mainly to see if anyone knows what its name "Trenasse" means. Several people explained that it's a natural passageway through the marshes and bayous. We have thousands of trenasses in our part of the world. (There's a joke somewhere in that last sentence, but I can't quite dope it out.) The website says that the people who operate it are themselves from down on the bayou, perhaps even in a trenasse. And that they are serving authentic Gulf Coast cooking.
Trenasse is on the ground floor on the left side of the lobby as you face the front of the hotel. It's been a casual café for most of its history. Nice-looking dining room, staffed by friendly young people. That didn't keep them from making a classic mistake at the outset of my visit with them. They seated me all right, in the kind of table I wanted (one with bright light). But apparently my presence didn't trigger the responses needed from the wait staff, and I soon knew that I was a ghost. I flagged down the hostess, who seemed puzzled but who had a server on my table soon enough, with a plastic container of pork cracklings and red bean butter to keep me busy.
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Oysters cooked four ways.[/caption]
The menu looked good. They have an oyster bar and oysters cooked on their shells in a dozen different ways. I ask for a combo of Rockefeller, Bienville, Drago-style (they don't call it that, but that's what it was), and an unasked-for but welcome bonus of an oyster in a smoky, creamy sauce with pancetta. All this was good, but very filling.
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Trout meuniere.[/caption]
That pushed the entree over the top of my appetite. It was an old-time dish: fried trout with brown meuniere sauce, all surrounded by brabant potatoes and an assortment of vegetables. It was very good, and I ate almost all of it. This made my brisk walk back to the radio parking garage five blocks away a little uncomfortable. As in, "I've eaten so much I can hardly breathe.")
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Fruit strudel.[/caption]
Surely the ice cream and fruit strudel I had for dessert didn't help this situation. If I keep eating like this, I'll find those pounds I lost.
[title type="h5"]Trenasse. CBD: 444 St Charles Ave. 504-680-7000.[/title]
