Tuesday, August 23,2016.
Brennan's Opens Its Wine Cellar With A Big Dinner.
When I took my first tour of the restored Brennan's on Royal Street a couple of years ago, one major part of the restaurant was still a big, empty space. This was to be the wine cellar. For most of its history, Brennan's maintained the city's best wine list. That wasn't them or me saying that, but the judgement of the Wine Spectator, which gave Brennan's the magazine's Grand Award for many years.
But that wine cellar's inventory was accumulated over a long era of buying, under the direction of Jimmy Brennan, who died four years ago. What's more, a wine cellar that proposes to age bottles for many years has to have a sophisticated system for holding the wines at the fifty-five-degrees at which wines age properly. So it wasn't finished when Ralph Brennan and company took over.
But now the project is nearly complete. Many more bottles will be bought before it gets to the levels of the 1980s and 1990s, when Brennan's cellar was the envy of every other wine-conscious restaurant.
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Chef Slade Rushing in the Wine cellar at Brennan's. [/caption]
Ralph thought that this was an appropriate moment to call in the press. And here we were. John Mariani, the restaurant critic for Esquire and many other publications on and off the web. Todd Price from the Times-Picayune. Julia Reed, who writes for the New York Times. A few other local food writers and Ralph's p.r. people, and Ralph himself. And me.
Mariani is the only person I know who attempts--and succeeds--at being a nationwide restaurant critic. He says that he actually covers the world. I might do well to copy his strategy, but I can't help believing that the neighborhood restaurants in New Orleans need to be individually reviewed.
Mariani, with whom I have dined many times over the decades, shares a thought about the American restaurant scene. He disputes the idea that the allegedly brilliant new dishes that chefs crank out every day are better than the classic dishes of the past. He asks Ralph whether what we will be served this very night will ever be available again. It turns out that none of tonight's dishes are on the regular menu. So any review of this dinner will not be very useful to readers, except in a general way.
I completely concur with his view. But I must say that this dinner was for the most part excellent. We begin with a rose Champagne (Gaston Chiquet Special Club, 2007). That goes with a salad whose dressing--if you can call it that--is the innards of a duck egg.
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Gumbo consomme, before the broth. [/caption] [caption id="attachment_52519" align="alignleft" width="281"]
Gumbo consomme with the broth added.[/caption]
Now a gumbo consomme, bringing together the lightest soup in the world with the heaviest. Hmm. And here come the Burgundies. Philippe Colin Clos St. John, Chassagne Montrachet, Premier Cru 2008. Deux Montille Les Epenotes, Beaune Premier Cru 1998.
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Wahoo (it's a fish) with muffuletta-like garnishes.[/caption]
Now poached wahoo, a fish which I would not say goes well with that method of cooking. The texture is soft and pillow-like. The fish is surrounded by what looks like the dressing on a muffuletta. What is Chef Slade Rushing thinking about here?
The wine is a big Italian: Emilio Pepe, made with the seldom-seen Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, 2010. Maybe the best wine of the night.
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Server at Brennan's, parading around the beef Wellingtons before they are sliced.[/caption]
The best dish is clear: beef Wellington, an old French specialty dish we have not seen in regular restaurant commerce in decades. It is very well executed by Brennan's. I should have asked whether sous vide cooking was involved, because that's what it seemed to be.
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Beef Wellington, carved.[/caption]
This is served with three vintages of Silver Oak (2007, 2008, and a refugee 1984 from the old cellar. These are all big wines, a nice match with the Wellington.
We have baked Alaska for dessert. This brings to the conversation questions as to where the name came from. Not many chefs were ever to be found in Alaska. Mariani, who made his big publishing splash with the Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, says that he likes the old name: omelette Norvege, a reference to Norway. I guess that moving the origin from Norway to Alaska made sense to somebody.
The dessert wine is stellar: 1977 Vintage Port from Taylor Fladgate. I am pleased to be able to say that I've had this wine before, back in 1984. Beverage Director Joe Billesbach opens the bottle with a tool that, after being heated until it glows, embraces the bottle of the neck, and more or less melts the glass off the old cork.
It's been a long time since I attended a dinner like this. Food journalists aren't as special as they used to be.
Brennan's. French Quarter: 417 Royal. 504-525-9711.
