Friday, July 29, 2016. The Real World Is Surreal.
It rained a lot in the week I was gone (could it possibly have been only seven days)? I find that one of my telephone lines--the one that carries my radio show to the studio downtown, allowing me to perform the radio show from home--is kaput. And my broadband internet connection is down. This is a real crisis, and it comes when I'm still calming down from the rigors of the 2000 miles I just traveled. It's that pesky real world here to mess with me. Mary Ann will host the show today, thank God. (My original schedule had me coming back home over the weekend.) I spend most of the day editing the trip Diary, then getting into a big assignment I have for Rouse's Supermarket. I am never at a loss for jobs to do. When MA makes it back to town, we attempt to get a table for dinner at Pat Gallagher's 527 (or is it 649? or 937? I hate numbers as restaurant names). No room there, nor at the original Gallagher's in Covington, nor at Keith Young's Steak House. (We both have a yen for a steak.) Our next try is at Dakota, which indeed does have a place for us. Dakota never seems to be as busy as it ought to be. Not when we go there, anyway. [caption id="attachment_52316" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Mussels at Dakota. They were too small.[/caption]
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Dakota's terrific grilled oysters.[/caption]
Mary Ann has been moaning about the slow progress of her diet program, to which she gives much attention. I am pleased to stick with her needs when we dine together, and that's what we did tonight. We begin with an order of mussels for me and a half-dozen grilled oysters for her. Then we get a complimentary demi-tasse of excellent gazpacho, good enough that I almost ask for a full cup of the stuff.
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Foie gras with eggplant at Dakota.[/caption]
Dakota always has a foie gras item among its specials, and the duck liver it buys for the purpose is excellent. I don't often order it, but it sounded so good today that I couldn't held myself back. A sliver of fried eggplant provided the harmony, with a little brown butter in there too.
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Grilled salmon, a major specialty.[/caption]
The two of us show admirable restraint in getting only one real entree and splitting it. Half the fillet of salmon--simple and beautiful--is just the right amount. And it's so, so good for you.
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An overkill of dessert brings us back from the dieting frame of mind.[/caption]
I'd better watch it, left this journal becomes a boring anlysis of dietetics rather than the pleasure-seeking nature that has pervaded The New Orleans Menu since its inception. The only aspect of dining with a grin on my face is the frequent appearance in the dieting world of lissome, beautiful young women. But that course is long off my menu.
