[title type="h5"]Tuesday, January 14, 2014.[/title]
I spent more time in 2013 working on computer matters than anything else. This epoch doesn't seem to be over. After moving into my new office at the radio station, the well-used computer in it died. I had just about finished reprogramming its replacement when, today, that one died, too. I had not seen the Blue Screen Of Death in a long time. Its 1980s-era white font on a blue background told of some major disaster inside the unit. Once again, the three-hour gap between the end of the show and dinnertime goes to waste. I am fourth in line to have this fixed by our computer guy. Until then, it's impossible for me to work at the radio station.
But I was in luck. Mary Ann was on my side of the lake and willing to take supper at the new Blue Crab on the Lakefront.
The Blue Crab is one of two new restaurants on the New Basin Canal--the one leading from the private-boat marina to Lake Pontchartrain. With West End Park permanently out of commission as a waterfront restaurant location, the canal has become the center of development. Added to the existing chain restaurant Landry's this year were the Blue Crab and Brisbi's. They're about a block from one another on Lakeshore Drive, around where Bart's, the Hong Kong, the Port Hole and a few other restaurants and bars once stood.
The seafood lovers of New Orleans are ecstatic about these new places, with their outdoor decks and their second-story views of the waterways nearby. But you wouldn't have known that today. It was a sunny afternoon, but the effects of the Polar Vortex are still with us, and it was in the 50s and breezy out there.
None of that mattered to Mary Ann, who will swap any culinary quality or discomfort in order to dine outdoors. She even celebrated the occasion with a round of fruit-juicy rum drinks of the kind we used to get at the Bali H'ai.
We began dinner with what may be the most common order in the New Orleans restaurant universe: a half-dozen raw and a half-dozen char-broiled. Oysters, of course. Big ones here, seven to the order (unless that was the Food Writer's Special).The sauce on the grilled bivalves needs further development, to pick up the seasoning levels and, perhaps, to come up with a flavor that's not a direct borrowing from Drago's. With which they will inevitably be compared. (If you hear anyone declare that a restaurant's grilled oysters are better than Drago's, what they really mean is that they were good. We must exaggerate everything now in order to make an impression.)
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Crab claws and a biscuit at The Blue Crab.[/caption]
Next came some meaty crab fingers in a spicy, creamy sauce, accompanied by a biscuit of the same kind I make at home every week. About as good, too. Mary Ann had to have another one. That's when I realized that she is eating more biscuits lately. For most of the twenty-five years we've been married, she hardly ever did, no matter how irresistible the rest of the family found my fluffy, toasty, hot biscuits. (Try them with honey!)
Mary Ann claims that she doesn't want to eat any more fried seafood platters. But every time we find ourselves in a restaurant with a credible platter, she moves, seconds, and votes in favor of it. The big one at that, with not only a stuffed crab but a soft-shell crab too.
Even though the latter were unavailable (soft-shells are not common in cold weather), and once my a priori issues were settled (yes, these are Louisiana shrimp and Louisiana or Mississippi catfish), we dug in.
First impression: the fries were fresh-cut, which is such a rarity among seafood houses that I'm tempted to say this is the only example at this time. The fries were nearly perfect, and we were finished with a large understratum of them before all the seafood (the usual assortment) was put away.
Second impression: this isn't the city's best fried seafood, but it is indeed well above average, hot, crisp, with different coatings for different items.
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Onion rings at Blue Crab.[/caption]
Onion rings were ordered when The Cute Couple showed up. But the rings proved to be the thick kind that our entire family disdains. (Give us those Charlie's Steak House-style, thin rings.) ML ate a just-okay chicken gumbo and a wedge salad. The Boy put away a chicken Caesar salad. (He's in the ROTC, and he has to maintain a certain weight.)
The sun went down over the marina in a lovely winter display of orange and blue. By this time, it had really become cold out there.
Blue Crab. West End & Bucktown: 7900 Lakeshore Dr. 504-284-2898.
