[title type="h5"]Thursday, July 31, 2014.
Eleven 79. Eating Advice From Satchmo.[/title]
Leaving the radio station every day has me right away driving a gauntlet of inviting restaurants: Tommy's, Tomas Bistro, Emeril's, La Boca, Cochon, Annunciation, and finally Eleven 79. The latter is popular enough that I can only rarely find a nearby place to park, so I don't eat there as often as I'd like to.
Today several spots were open, and as I pulled into one of them Joe Segreto--the owner of Eleven 79, sharply attired, as always--took the slot across from mine. "Where are you eating?" he asked. Your place, I told him. "Good! I have something to show you."
[caption id="attachment_43349" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Dining room at Eleven 79.[/caption]
Eleven 79 is a smallish restaurant, but seems big. It also creates a strange illusion. On the outside, it looks as if it had been built about a hundred years ago. That is a veneer. Inside, the place shows itself to be even older. The bricks-between-posts construction is among the most ancient building techniques in New Orleans. (Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is the best-known example of the method.)
Talking with the guys at the bar every night would make an interesting column for someone to write. It's a different crowd every night, and everyone has a story. Tonight John Shoup was there. He and John Beyer created the Great Chefs series of television shows that began in the 1970s and are still running, mostly on public television stations. Haven't seen him in years. I always wondered why we never worked together on anything over the years. (First guess: I have a face for radio.)
[caption id="attachment_43350" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Looking from the dining room into the bar.[/caption]
I move to a table and have a conversation with the waiter, who said he remembers waiting on me at Charlie's Steak House in the old days. I like the sound of tonight's special. It's basically veal Oscar (crabmeat, asparagus, hollandaise) with enough variation that the kitchen is calling it "veal Oscarini." (Eleven 79 is famous for its veal dishes.)
That sounds like a light supper, which I need. For days, all my meals have been feasts. There is no way, however, that I could get a modest supper here. First came a plate of Joe's antipasto--bruschetta, prosciutto, salami, cheeses, olives, the usual nibbles.
Then a "little salad"--a wedge of lettuce with green goddess dressing and bacon.
[caption id="attachment_43351" align="alignnone" width="480"]
A "small" wedge salad with green goddess dressing.[/caption]
This is when Joe Segreto comes over with the thing he wanted to to see. A sheet of paper whose print qualities--hot metal typography, letterpress printing--identified it as at least fifty years old. (I was in the typesetting business for a long time, so I spot these things.) The page shows two weeks' worth of daily menus that purport to keep a man strong and healthy. They are heavy with vegetables and light on meats.
Beneath the menus is a strong recommendation that you give yourself a powerful herbal laxative once or twice a week.
All this was compiled personally by--of all people--Louis Armstrong. His handwritten autograph and dedication to "Tony" appears at the bottom of the page. "It's for real," Joe says. "Armstrong gave it to Tony Bennett, and Tony gave it to me." Joe Segreto and Tony Bennett (the singer, I'd better say for the benefit of readers under 30) are personal friends. Tony, who turns 78 in three days, eats at Joe's every time he comes to New Orleans.
I have something to add to this oddity. In Pops, a great book about Louis Armstrong that came out a few years ago, it's noted that Armstrong was constantly recommending that one should "leave it all behind," as a card he sent to friends said. It certainly seemed to work for Satch. He was a very healthy, hard-working man through almost all his life.
Here comes the entree: veal Oscarini enough for two or three or four people. For the first time in decades, I wonder how I could even put a respectable dent in this. I ask for a box, something I almost never do when dining without Mary Ann. (She, on the other hand, gets a go-box at the end of every meal.) "My wife loves this dish," I tell the waiter, in case Joe asks.
In fact, she is very happy to get it.
[title type="h5"]
Eleven 79. Warehouse District & Center City: 1179 Annunciation. 504-569-0001. [/title]
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[title type="h5"]Friday, August 1, 2014.
Chateau du Lac. The French And Indian Beef[/title].
Our streak of serious eating stretches on. Mary Ann calls with an interest in dinner. How about Chateau du Lac? I ask, knowing she likes both the food and Paige Seleun, Chef Jacques's wife and business partner.
Chateau du Lac has been high on my list since it opened pre-K in a terrible little space in Kenner. Now it's the third successor to Chez Daniel, a bistro that sanctified its address as a place for excellent French food.
I don't know why we let so much time go by between visits to Chateau du Lac. The food is always polished and fine, and Mary Ann permits herself to eat things that never interested her before. For example, she says she doesn't like pâté and won't eat rabbit. But the rabbit terrine Chef Jacques makes has become a must-have dish for MA. With good reason: it tastes great, and has many contrasting textures.
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Charcuterie plate at Chateau du Lac.[/caption]
We eat a couple of slabs of that before Paige sends an amuse-bouche of more rabbit pâté, plus a few slices of various charcuterie, including a really fine duck prosciutto.
[caption id="attachment_43353" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Escargots at Chateau du Lac.[/caption]
This is the kind of restaurant where escargots are almost mandatory. I have them, but I wish I hadn't, so I would not have to say that something important was left out of the herb sauce. I taste no butter. What?
[caption id="attachment_43354" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Tandoori steak.[/caption]
My palate is tuned to the steak frequency. The classic is steak frites, of course: filet with fresh-cut fries. But something called a tandoori steak fires my imagination. It's a strip sirloin with the same kind of seasonings that an Indian chef might apply to a piece of meat or poultry roasted in a tandoor. That's a clay oven capable of temperatures into the 700s. But Chateau du Lac doesn't have a tandoor. The reference here is entirely to the curry-like seasonings. It proves exciting and unique. The waiter says that they often serve this as a salad.
[caption id="attachment_43355" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Roasted salmon.[/caption]
Mary Ann's entree is a beauty. Thick roasted salmon with an herb butter and a scattering of various vegetables. This is something she loves, although she doesn't like fish cut this thick. Usually, she gets the paillards of salmon here, but she forgot to specify.
We finish with a plum tart and a little pecan pie. I manage to insituate myself into the conversation between Mary Ann and Paige. Representatives of a number of tables stop by our table to say hello.
One of them is Joe Casey and his wife, who we haven't seen in a long time. We became friends back in my pre-nuptial years, when both of us went to the wine tastings at Martin Wine Cellar every week. I will always hold Joe in high regard for a) giving us a bottle of 1970 Chateau Lafite from his superb cellar as a wedding gift and 2) standing up for me when Henry Bergeron--Chris Ansel's partner in Christian's--told me I wasn't welcome in the restaurant. Joe and I were planning to dine there. He is an attorney, and his antennae went up. We wound up just leaving. (The ban was short-lived, and I got to be good friends with Henry and Chris.)
Fortunately for the Caseys, they were gone from Chateau du Lac by the time Paige insisted that I perform a song. A picosecond later, I was crooning "I Only Have Eyes For You" in the dining room. No overripe fruit was thrown. I like this trend of people asking me to sing. I used to have to beg. Now even MA seems to like it.
[title type="h5"]
Chateau Du Lac. Old Metairie: 2037 Metairie Rd. 504-831-3773. [/title]
Written by Tom Fitzmorris August 11, 2014 12:01 in
