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Saturday, June 27, 2015.
Boomers And Oldsters. Sake Garden.[/title]
For the past few years, our radio stations that have listeners over forty years old have put on a show addressing those people directly. Boomers And Beyond Expo has been successful, pulling in members of my generation. An antique car show in which I am distressed to see cars I remember from when they were new is there). So are bands playing music that was popular from the 1940s through the 1960s. More up-to-date are chefs performing cooking demos.
I have been fully engaged with Boomers since it began, not only broadcasting from it but also doing one of the recipe run-throughs. That's appropriate, I guess. I came to Planet Earth in the middle of the Baby Boom. My parents had their first child just as World War II began, but no more until I came along in 1951, followed about as rapidly as possible by two more sisters. That was the Baby Boom program, all right.
I am not the only person there who registers a mild dismay when we see what the Expo's participants are trying to sell us. Bathtubs with doors. Walkers and canes. Hospitals and health insurance. Reverse mortgages. Wrinkle cream, diet programs and special exercise routines. And, finally, funeral services.
We fans of the Beatles and Stones know very well that these things are coming our way. But that doesn't make it any more comfortable to think about it all.
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Clark.[/caption]The three hours of radio go off well, with live visits from a number of regular callers to the show. Clark, the Gourmet Truck Driver, for instance. He never misses anything like this.
My cooking demo is only a little more difficult than last year's. That one was guacamole made with fifty different kinds of hot sauce, a few drops of each. My goal was to make the point that what attracts people to dishes is often pure bunkum, not flavor. Fifty hot sauces? Who could make out what each of them added to the mix?
Today, I make chocolate mousse the way I do at home. It's based on a terrific recipe I got from the Rib Room in 1975--when most Baby Boomers were still in their twenties. It included some magical steps, the order of which makes the difference. In brief, here's the way it goes:
1. Melt the chocolate gently. Microwaving is a good way to do it.
2. Beat egg yolks, combine them with a half-cup of strong coffee-and-chicory with hot milk, and stir them into the melted chocolate.
3. Beat egg whites and sugar into a meringue, then fold it into the chocolate.
4. Whip heavy cream, and combine it with the chocolate until the streaks are gone. Finished!
I thought for a moment that the chocolate had seized up in step one, but it righted itself. I did screw it up later: My first samples were too large, and I was down to tablespoons by the time the last attendee was served.
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The Yat Pack at full strength.[/caption]While I stirred chocolate, the Yat Pack played in the auditorium. By the time I was done and cleaned up, their gig had ended. I wanted to talk with them about the future of their entertaining Sinatra-era show. Tim Shirah--the younger of the two lead singers--has moved to Florida for his real job. Founder and singer David Cook will keep the band together--the instrumentalists are excellent--but there seems to be some question as to whether the Yat Pack act will go on, lacking one of its lead singers.
I wonder if. . . naaah.
It's too early for dinner as I leave the Expo. I hate to waste a potential South Shore dinner, but I'm just not hungry until, an hour later, I'm in Mandeville. By that time, my appetite has made its demands clear: it wants sushi.
I go to the Sake Garden, a Japanese restaurant that's not on my regular rotation. I don't know why. It's certainly one of the three or four best. (The others, in no order, are Little Tokyo, Kazoku, and Megumi.)
The best food I've had in the past at Sake Garden have been hot dishes. I only get one of those this time. It's the baked mussels, served on the shell with a sauce made of mayonnaise and tobiko (Japanese flying-fish caviar). This has been available for some time in the better local Japanese places, but for some reason I never payed it much attention. Now I'm wild about it.
The sushi side of the menu was something called the local roll: spicy tuna, salmon, avocado and a few minor ingredients. This is very good and very large. I charged ahead and had a smoked salmon nigiri and an asparagus roll. I am now full, but comfortably.
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Sake Garden. Mandeville: 1705 US 190. 985-624-8955. [/title]
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[title type="h5"]Sunday, June 28, 2015.
Brunch At Ox Lot 9. [/title]
When I get back from singing at St. Jane's, Mary Ann says that she wouldn't mind brunch at Ox Lot 9 in the Southern Hotel in Covington. We were there two weeks ago and liked it pretty well. We grab a deuce next to a window and begin by splitting the quiche of the day. The firm pieces in the very light custard are all vegetable. I think it's pretty good, but it's not cooked enough for MA.
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Quiche of the day during brunch at Ox Lot 9.[/caption]
I let the waiter serve Ox Lot 9's standard coffee: a dark roast brewed in a French press. Although many people would consider this a mark of quality, I am not taken in by the French press idea. Its main flaw is that it allows particulates from the coffee grounds to get mixed with the hot water, making for a bitter flavor. (It should be noted that many coffee drinkers say that they like the particulates and the bitterness. Fair enough.) It is not intolerable, but it's not for everybody. Another problem is that unless you knock it back, the second cup is less than steaming hot.
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"Chicken biscuit."[/caption]
The entrees diverge from the familiar ways of doing things, too. The name "chicken biscuit" creates an illusion different from the reality. It had me thinking about a big biscuit with chicken worked into it. I should have asked. This proves to be a fried chicken breast with a biscuit, and syrup on the plate. So, a variation on the chicken 'n' waffles concept. Not one of my favorite things.
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Grillades and grits at Ox Lot 9.[/caption]
It is, however, right up Mary Ann's alley. We swap entrees, something we do often. I wind up with what the kitchen calls grillades and grits. It is necessary to bring an open mind to grillades. No two recipes are alike. Only one version in my experience lived up to its name by actually being grilled. This one was pretty good, made with pork loin with very rich grits and a medium-light pan gravy. It is unusual in that the sauce and grits form a yin-yang pattern on the plate. It's too big to finish, and I don't. Food's a little salty here.
Osman Rodas, the owner of Pardo's, comes in with one of his chefs and some six other people. While Ox Lot 9's servers pull a table together for them, Osman and I shoot the breeze about this and that. One essential topic is the story behind the change of chefs at Pardo's a month or two ago. I now know the real story. It's exactly what I would have guessed, and not interesting enough to relate. "Chefs move around a lot" about covers it.
We skip dessert and head home. I would like to cut the grass, but there's been too much rain. Instead, I walk five laps around the Cool Water Ranch--one more than usual. I have not been able to take my walk for a week, and I miss it, even figuring in the humid heat lately.
[title type="h5"]Ox Lot 9. Covington: 428 E Boston St. 985-400-5663.[/title]
