Wednesday, September, 2015.
She's Baaa-aaack! Le Foret.
Mary Ann arrives at the Cool Water Ranch around one in the morning, after a midnight-arriving flight from Los Angeles. She will not be around long, because she bought a few hundred dollars worth of buddy passes, no doubt for another sojourn in L.A. I know why that's on her schedule, but it's not something I am permitted to write about for general consumption just yet.
We both cross the Causeway--two cars, two schedules--and after the show she calls with dinner plans. She wants to go to Le Foret, the formerly five-star restaurant on Camp and Common. By complete coincidence, Dr. Bob and his fiancee Julie share the table right next to ours with a medical colleague and his wife. Dr. Bob tells that he thinks Le Foret is back on the way up, after a dip during the past year or so. Dr. Bob seems to have a license to bring in all the wines he wants from his cellar, but it's probably because he is a frequent high-end diner, and always shares his rare wines with the sommeliers. Tonight he has a Batard Montrachet, which happens to be one of my two favorite Chardonnay-based wines. He vouchsafes me a glassful. Yep. That's it.
Adding to the social complexity of the evening, the Louisiana Restaurant Association is having a meeting in the upstairs dining room. I discover that on a safari to the men's room. Le Foret's facilities are all upstairs, so nobody thought I am crashing the LRA's party. But I know about half the people there. Melvin Rodrigue from Galatoire's, Greg Reggio of Zea, Katie Casbarian of Arnaud's, Sal Sunseri from P&J Oysters, Mike Maenza from Mr. Mudbug, Glenn Armantrout from Café Reconcile, and Chef Duke from Café Giovanni. I ask The Duke why he's wasting his time here when he has an Eat Club dinner of six courses to serve us tomorrow night at this same time.
The dining room staff seems to think that I am here for the LRA dinner. It takes a few minutes for the notion that it's just MA and me asking for that corner table to sink in. We start off with an amuse bouche of avocado gazpacho with crabmeat. (Another odd coincidence: I just today published an article about that very dish, with mangos being the sole eccentricity of my version over this one. Which is so good that I consider getting a bigger serving of it as an actual course.
[caption id="attachment_48902" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Crab cakes.[/caption]
But we move forward conventionally. MA has crab cakes. I have a duck and andouille gumbo served in a miniature saucepan, complete with lid. Nice presentation, and the flavor is good. But the gumbo is so thick that the spoon would stand upright in it. I considered asking for some hot water to thin it out a bit, but then Dr. Bob had another wine opening, and my attention shifts.
[caption id="attachment_48899" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Red snapper.[/caption]
Mary Ann's main is red snapper with crabmeat and a bread-crumby coating. This or something like it has been on the menu since Le Foret's inception, and is always a good bet. She was also looking at the chicken roulade, but I remind her of all the times she's stated that rolled-up dishes--especially those made with fish--are never very good. I agree, although why this is so has always puzzled me.
[caption id="attachment_48901" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Gumbo at Le Foret.[/caption]
MA points out a section of the menu devoted to a half-dozen or so steaks. She notes that she has seen a steak section on a lot of menus lately. It never registered with me until now, but thinking about it I agree. I consider the steak option--specifically, the sirloin strip. I ask the waiter--who is extraordinarily competent in the tradition of Le Foret's short but glowing history--whether the chef could take the foie gras from the appetizer section and work it into some kind of reduced wine sauce in the pan he uses to sear the steak. "You mean, something like a marchand de vin?" asks the waiter, once again raising my assessment of him as being well versed in cooking. That's exactly what I want, I tell him.
[caption id="attachment_48898" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Strip sirloin with marchand de vin sauce and foie gras (a.k.a. steak Rossini).[/caption]
What came out had the sauce and foie gras I wanted, but I don't know what happened to the strip. It is lined with the unchewable rinds that are typical of this cut. But I can't seem to find a piece of the steak not dominated by the gristle. It almost seems as if two steaks were cut in half lengthwise and pushed together. On top of that, the beef was well overcooked. It's the way MA likes meat: thoroughly cooked to juicelessness.
It is too late for me to wait for Dr. Bob to give me a review of his dinner. Mary Ann is low on sleep, having gone to bed so late last night. We both wonder what kind of fluke this is for Le Foret. Too many people in the dining room and the upstairs banquet room? I hope it's something like that. I hear there is a new chef recently.
Le Foret.
CBD: 129 Camp. 504-553-6738.
Crab cakes.[/caption]
But we move forward conventionally. MA has crab cakes. I have a duck and andouille gumbo served in a miniature saucepan, complete with lid. Nice presentation, and the flavor is good. But the gumbo is so thick that the spoon would stand upright in it. I considered asking for some hot water to thin it out a bit, but then Dr. Bob had another wine opening, and my attention shifts.
[caption id="attachment_48899" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Red snapper.[/caption]
Mary Ann's main is red snapper with crabmeat and a bread-crumby coating. This or something like it has been on the menu since Le Foret's inception, and is always a good bet. She was also looking at the chicken roulade, but I remind her of all the times she's stated that rolled-up dishes--especially those made with fish--are never very good. I agree, although why this is so has always puzzled me.
[caption id="attachment_48901" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Gumbo at Le Foret.[/caption]
MA points out a section of the menu devoted to a half-dozen or so steaks. She notes that she has seen a steak section on a lot of menus lately. It never registered with me until now, but thinking about it I agree. I consider the steak option--specifically, the sirloin strip. I ask the waiter--who is extraordinarily competent in the tradition of Le Foret's short but glowing history--whether the chef could take the foie gras from the appetizer section and work it into some kind of reduced wine sauce in the pan he uses to sear the steak. "You mean, something like a marchand de vin?" asks the waiter, once again raising my assessment of him as being well versed in cooking. That's exactly what I want, I tell him.
[caption id="attachment_48898" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Strip sirloin with marchand de vin sauce and foie gras (a.k.a. steak Rossini).[/caption]
What came out had the sauce and foie gras I wanted, but I don't know what happened to the strip. It is lined with the unchewable rinds that are typical of this cut. But I can't seem to find a piece of the steak not dominated by the gristle. It almost seems as if two steaks were cut in half lengthwise and pushed together. On top of that, the beef was well overcooked. It's the way MA likes meat: thoroughly cooked to juicelessness.
It is too late for me to wait for Dr. Bob to give me a review of his dinner. Mary Ann is low on sleep, having gone to bed so late last night. We both wonder what kind of fluke this is for Le Foret. Too many people in the dining room and the upstairs banquet room? I hope it's something like that. I hear there is a new chef recently.
