Monday, July 18, 2016.
A Spectacular Dinner At MeMe's In Chalmette.
Almost since the day I found out how excellent is MeMe's in St. Bernard Parish, we have been talking with the owners about having an Eat Club dinner there. For reasons known only to the owners--who need all their seats for busy nights--they will only stage special menus on Monday nights. That even includes their own monthly wine dinners, which go off monthly.
But Monday is a problem for me most weeks. (Singing rehearsal.) But this time of year my Mondays are open. Mary Ann--who has wanted to hold a MeMe's Eat Club as much as the rest of those involved--saw that coming. And so here we are, with a full house.
[caption id="attachment_52265" align="alignnone" width="480"]
The new bar @ MeMe's.[/caption]
The MeMe's folks have another offbeat idea that I think I will borrow from them. Their original restaurant was so small that it was tough to stage a special dinner. They discovered that people would understand platooning. So a quarter of the diners show up
very early in the evening. Another batch will turn up around seven, and a third at around eight. I had my doubts about this, but it actually seems to work. I'm sure some of this owes to dining habits in St. Bernard, which has many early diners and many fast eaters.
I arrive as fast as I can after the radio show ends, at around six-thirty. The dining rooms (there are two of them now, from a recent doubling of the restaurant's footprint) are full. Many tables are well along in enjoying the five courses.
[caption id="attachment_52264" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Creole tomato salad with a pizazz. [/caption]
MA and I have a deuce table that would be a terrible spot on any other night. It's in the stream of food and drink from the kitchen and the bar. But being here I have people coming over to talk all night long. We agree on almost everything about the dinner. The salad of crabmeat, Creole tomatoes (no place raises better tomatoes than St. Bernard Parish) and cucumbers makes a spectacular beginning.
[caption id="attachment_52262" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Three of MeMe's best oyster appetizers. [/caption]
Things only get better when the oysters Bangkok and Rockefeller appear. Chef Lincoln Owens has many oyster arrows in his quiver, all of them good enough to make anybody's top-oysters list.
[caption id="attachment_52263" align="alignnone" width="480"]
The dish of the night: redfish with a chili and garlic sauce.[/caption]
Next comes a total surprise. Imagine how good something like this sounds: "Pan-seared redfish with grilled lettuces, chili, garlic and a pineapple-mango infusion." It sounds very hip. But it is far better than just original. From the time the first orders of this make their way to the tables, I hear people proclaim this the dish of the night. Even Mary Ann agrees with me about that. About half the people I talk with wonder how they might get seconds. I am not exaggerating the deliciousness of this.
[caption id="attachment_52260" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Pork loin and kale.[/caption]
After those three peaks, we ease off the walls of flavor with a tender pork loin, roasted simply and surrounded by shredded sweet potatoes made to look like a bird's nest. This also had its share of fans, although how to top those last two courses would be a challenge.
[caption id="attachment_52259" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Dessert trio, with special attentio the coconut cream pie on the left.[/caption]
Much fuss is made over the three-way dessert, one part of which is a frozen coconut cream pie. MA doesn't often eat desserts, and then only chocolate ones. And she doesn't like coconut, either. But when she was at MeMe's last week they gave her three of these little pies and asked her to give one to me. I never tasted it: she ate all three. And that is saying something.
The big question people have about MeMe's is how it is that they have a chef of Lincoln's caliber. His past history is top-notch, and his food is borderline incredible. We learn that he has a family matter to which he is devoting all his love and energy, and keeping him in St. Bernard Parish. That's a good enough answer for me.
MeMe's. St. Bernard Parish: 712 W. Judge Perez Dr. 504-644-4992.
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Tuesday, July 19, 2016.
The Miracle Dog. Checking In At Austin's.
The Marys load the dog Susie into the SUV and take her to the vet. She clambers aboard on her own four legs, as if this were a fun outing. A few months ago, she couldn't walk. The veterinarians unanimously said that she has inoperable bone cancer, and that her days are numbered. But after four changes of a splint on that leg--in which an x-ray showed the front right leg bone completely broken--Susie is getting around on her own. How is it that she's walking? Even running and jumping? She's not as frisky as she was, but this still seems a miracle, the vets say.
The Marys spend the day with newly-arrived Dave (formerly known here as "The Boy"). ML and her fiance are still working on wedding plans, with MA in their immediate midst. I hardly see them at all today.
I head into town at midday, trying to get all my radio station work done so I can depart this Friday on a ten-day vacation. Mary Ann is guest-hosting the show the entire week, and eager to get on with it. We are experimenting with ways to handle one of the most time-consuming problems I have when I take time off: the commercials I ad lib. Usually I record all of them, but that takes twenty or thirty hours. Mary Ann says that anything I can do, she can do too. And that she will voice the spots during her editions of the programs. I ask her to give me a demonstration. Without any hesitation, she knocks out the spot. While driving, yet. It sounds good--maybe even better than what I do. She has the advantage of having a sultry voice. Since most of my listeners are men, that's a plus.
[caption id="attachment_52258" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Crabmeat-crowned guacamole.[/caption]
To dinner at Austin's in Metairie, a restaurant where I can seldom get a parking space, let alone a table. But it's a hot Tuesday, a depressant to business. The dinner I have shows something less than the best I've had here in the past. I begin with a cold avocado dish--nearly guacamole, topped with a lot of jumbo lump crabmeat. How much of it is determined by tactile sensations: it's so dark in Austin's that I'm always glad I have my camera light with me when I dine there.
[caption id="attachment_52257" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Soft-shell crab amandine @ Austin's. [/caption]
I really want a steak, but that's what I had last time. Instead, the waiter informs me of some very large soft-shell crabs. I get this with the same garnish that would top trout amandine. The oil wasn't hot enough to crisp the crab the way it should have. This is a frequent problem with big softies: they have a way of steaming themselves instead of crusting up.
It seems that every member of the staff knows who I am, including a few who I remember from their days in one or another major downtown restaurant. A lot of waiters move to the suburbs when they get to be my age.
Austin's. Metairie: 5101 West Esplanade Ave. 504-888-5533.
The new bar @ MeMe's.[/caption]
The MeMe's folks have another offbeat idea that I think I will borrow from them. Their original restaurant was so small that it was tough to stage a special dinner. They discovered that people would understand platooning. So a quarter of the diners show up
very early in the evening. Another batch will turn up around seven, and a third at around eight. I had my doubts about this, but it actually seems to work. I'm sure some of this owes to dining habits in St. Bernard, which has many early diners and many fast eaters.
I arrive as fast as I can after the radio show ends, at around six-thirty. The dining rooms (there are two of them now, from a recent doubling of the restaurant's footprint) are full. Many tables are well along in enjoying the five courses.
[caption id="attachment_52264" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Creole tomato salad with a pizazz. [/caption]
MA and I have a deuce table that would be a terrible spot on any other night. It's in the stream of food and drink from the kitchen and the bar. But being here I have people coming over to talk all night long. We agree on almost everything about the dinner. The salad of crabmeat, Creole tomatoes (no place raises better tomatoes than St. Bernard Parish) and cucumbers makes a spectacular beginning.
[caption id="attachment_52262" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Three of MeMe's best oyster appetizers. [/caption]
Things only get better when the oysters Bangkok and Rockefeller appear. Chef Lincoln Owens has many oyster arrows in his quiver, all of them good enough to make anybody's top-oysters list.
[caption id="attachment_52263" align="alignnone" width="480"]
The dish of the night: redfish with a chili and garlic sauce.[/caption]
Next comes a total surprise. Imagine how good something like this sounds: "Pan-seared redfish with grilled lettuces, chili, garlic and a pineapple-mango infusion." It sounds very hip. But it is far better than just original. From the time the first orders of this make their way to the tables, I hear people proclaim this the dish of the night. Even Mary Ann agrees with me about that. About half the people I talk with wonder how they might get seconds. I am not exaggerating the deliciousness of this.
[caption id="attachment_52260" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Pork loin and kale.[/caption]
After those three peaks, we ease off the walls of flavor with a tender pork loin, roasted simply and surrounded by shredded sweet potatoes made to look like a bird's nest. This also had its share of fans, although how to top those last two courses would be a challenge.
[caption id="attachment_52259" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Dessert trio, with special attentio the coconut cream pie on the left.[/caption]
Much fuss is made over the three-way dessert, one part of which is a frozen coconut cream pie. MA doesn't often eat desserts, and then only chocolate ones. And she doesn't like coconut, either. But when she was at MeMe's last week they gave her three of these little pies and asked her to give one to me. I never tasted it: she ate all three. And that is saying something.
The big question people have about MeMe's is how it is that they have a chef of Lincoln's caliber. His past history is top-notch, and his food is borderline incredible. We learn that he has a family matter to which he is devoting all his love and energy, and keeping him in St. Bernard Parish. That's a good enough answer for me.
Crabmeat-crowned guacamole.[/caption]
To dinner at Austin's in Metairie, a restaurant where I can seldom get a parking space, let alone a table. But it's a hot Tuesday, a depressant to business. The dinner I have shows something less than the best I've had here in the past. I begin with a cold avocado dish--nearly guacamole, topped with a lot of jumbo lump crabmeat. How much of it is determined by tactile sensations: it's so dark in Austin's that I'm always glad I have my camera light with me when I dine there.
[caption id="attachment_52257" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Soft-shell crab amandine @ Austin's. [/caption]
I really want a steak, but that's what I had last time. Instead, the waiter informs me of some very large soft-shell crabs. I get this with the same garnish that would top trout amandine. The oil wasn't hot enough to crisp the crab the way it should have. This is a frequent problem with big softies: they have a way of steaming themselves instead of crusting up.
It seems that every member of the staff knows who I am, including a few who I remember from their days in one or another major downtown restaurant. A lot of waiters move to the suburbs when they get to be my age.
