The departure of the grandkids offered an opportunity to do something I have wanted to do since I heard about it. We would have lunch at the airport before their mid-afternoon flight. It is possible to have a meal behind security with a guest pass. It is easy enough to obtain online. When you arrive at the airport the reservation must be transferred to paper which is used as a boarding pass to get through security. Even if you have upgraded TSA options, you must go through the regular way: shoes off, etc. There is no charge for this visitor pass, though I would recommend a real reason for doing this. I have been curious about the food in these celeb-chef local dining establishments, but it's a job for us. Too much hassle for a lark.
We landed at the first place a diner encounters and it was the only place we have eaten at MSY in the past, We had some great fried chicken once at Dooky Chase in the old Concourse D quite a few years ago. Now it is Leah’s the rebranded eatery associated with the late great Leah Chase. Leah’s is the same food in a slightly hipper environment, run by Leah’s grandson Dook. who is trying to branch out into his own brand..
The place was clearly understaffed, with a harried waiter trying to cover it all. It was a large party and a lot of food was on the table. Two huge salads had basic ingredients like mixed lettuces and grape tomatoes, plenteous croutons, purple onion slices, piles of Bleu Cheese chunks and enormous irregular chunks of grilled chicken, which looked uninteresting but turned out to be tasty,
It was a big surprise for the salad dressing to come in a self-serve packet like you’d see at Wendy’s. It might even be the same brand. This was still a very nice salad.
We also got some gumbo, which turned out to be that hybrid variety which is neither straight seafood nor straight chicken and andouille, but a bowl of various proteins. It had more large chunks of tender white meat chicken, shrimp, and andouille sausage discs. It had a beautiful brown color and a nice consistency to the broth, as well as a perfect spice level. A lot of white rice filled out the bowl. Very good.
The star of the table was the signature fried chicken.It was a generous portion of two large pieces of normal-sized (meaning not bloated) chicken, It was crispy, golden brown, crunchy, hot, and also perfectly seasoned. This was terrific chicken. The plate also included ordinary frozen battered fries.
.jpg)
There was a side of jambalaya that was not exceptional but good enough. It was not really red or brown, but had sausage discs that were piquant enough to show the tourists how we like some spice.
The dish that was infamous arrived late. We waited an interminable amount of time for the crab cake to arrive on the table, and one look made it clear the wait was not for them to change the oil. This was the darkest fried thing that has ever been placed on a table where I was sitting.
It was served on top of a too-thick slice of fried green tomato. The thing was black. It looked like a slice of tire. On top of it was a few pickled onions and underneath the stack was a few bits of greens.
.jpg)
Just for yucks we pulled a piece off, not to eat it but to inspect how the “lump crabmeat” was presented. One of us called it “crab
dust,” because there were tiny shreds occasionally poking out from the breading.
When the bill came I told the waiter I wanted the crab cake removed from the bill. He asked what was wrong with it. I said that it was black and I never eat anything fried that was even close to being that dark. His reply was that it was supposed to look that way. I told him I lived here, to which he responded, “so do I, and that is what a crab cake looks like.” Then he said that someone had eaten it. I explained that we looked at it and couldn’t eat it. He did take it off the bill but I wanted to tell him he should get out more. The revised bill was $92. There was no way I was going to pay $17 for that black circle of crab stuffing.
After the others left we made our way down to Folse’s Market to try that gumbo. This was a fast casual grab-and-go concept. Pots of Cajun food sat waiting for customers. It made me sad to see John Folse’s food like this.
I got a $10 bowl of gumbo that was enormous. It resembled mine in that it was a little too thick, with debris of chicken from simmering indefinitely. It had lots of rice and andouille and spice. If this was a tourist’s last or maybe only gumbo, they could do a lot worse.
I had plans to visit a oot more places behind TSA but the project was exhausting wheeling Tom around, and we weren;t hungry anymore. I’ll pick it up again someday on the other concourse.
