Wednesday, February 21, 2018. The radio management held a party in our expansive offices for all employees. The food and wine flowed, with some particularly good Cabernet. The idea for the event is that the several dozen staffers in various parts of the operation hardly know one another. This party is a way for everybody to get to meet and trade ideas. Great idea.
The fete was in progress at the end of my show. During the program, my tongue slipped and I sort of semi-said a blooper of the kind they make television shows about. It concerned club sandwiches. A lady called me to complain about the slim state of club sandwiches these days. In answering her, I pointed out that there's not much difference from one club sandwich to another, other than the number of layers in the sandwich. Out came my flub. See if you can figure out what it was.
Thursday, February 22, 2018. It's 116 years since my mother was born, but other than fond memories of her food, there's not much I can add to that. I wonder what she would think about my new cookbook. I'm sure she would like reading her name as the credit for many of the dishes in it. The book just came out for the third time, with a brand new cover and photographs throughout. Neither of the original two editions had even drawings in them. But the publisher (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) has shown a new faith in the book. They tell me that its sales have always been healthy.
Yesterday, a review of my new tome appeared in the Times-Picayune, which has very rarely thrown any accolades in my direction about any of my endeavors. This time, reviewer Ann Maloney not only praises the book but also my work in other media. Emeril also has some such notes, too. The funny thing is that I haven't seen the book myself.
I wanted to have dinner with someone to celebrate the publication, but the Marys are scattered about, my sister Lynn has a little health matter, and nobody else called me with an invitation to dinner.
Friday, February 23, 2018. Pascal's Manale. It's not raining but pouring, but with near-summer weather. I had been thinking of going to Arnaud's for dinner, mainly to indulge in their baked oysters five ways (Ohan, Katie, Suzette, Bienville and Rockefeller). That's a strong candidate for my favorite restaurant dish. I'm glad that most practitioners of the dish and others like it are in first-class restaurants. It keeps an air of gourmandise suspended about the dish. I never get tired of it.
But the weather was a deterrent, so I just bumped along up St. Charles Avenue. When the rain abated, I gave myself permission for me to stop for two of the best versions of Rockefeller and Bienville I know. Pascal's Manale, as good as its famous signature dish barbecue shrimp is, does even better work with oysters. My entree was a half-dozen of each of the oysters. Just that and a salad. And a few visits from people I knew. Bob DeFelice, one of the family owners found a table for me, but gave me a little rib about the fact that this was the first Friday in Lent. Which is a hugely busy night at Manale's. It did nothing to reduce the enjoyment of those baked oysters.
Also here was a guy who came over to say how much he liked the radio show, even though he lives far away from New Orleans. He added that he listens through podcasts, of which he always brings along a bunch for his drive to New Orleans. Now that's the kind of customer I like. He said all the magic words.
Caramel custard for dessert--one of the best in town, along with Galatoire's, the Maple Street Café, and the Peppermill. I was captured by that dish when I was in my teens, and I still love it.
Pascal's Manale. Uptown: 1838 Napoleon
Ave. 504-895-4877.
Written by Tom Fitzmorris February 27, 2018 16:38 in
