Friday, July 12, 2013.
Delmonico With Li'l Sis.
Looking through the list of restaurants about which I've written reviews in CityBusiness, I was surprised to see that my last such look at Delmonico was over twelve years ago. A lot had happened there since then. At least four chefs. And a little thing called Katrina.
I was up to date on the website review, though. I stop in for dinner at Del's about once every three months. It's one of my three or four favorite places for dinner on Fridays. Mary Ann likes the place, too--although she has been less fascinated by the food lately. Delmonico jumped on the small-plates idea four or five years ago. Although a meal composed of many small courses is so appealing that the discovery of such a dinner is largely responsible for my incessant writing about restaurants.
But I never thought the small (and very small and medium) plates at Delmonico came together in a cogent dinner. Apparently the management came around to that view, too. The menu I saw tonight was fully traditional: cold and hot appetizers, soups, salads, fish entrees, meat entrees, dessert, cheese. Quite a few of those dishes were carry-overs from the small plates (notably the pork cheeks, the greatest hit of the small-plate thing).
I called my sister Lynn to invite her to join me. It's been months since we dined together a deux, and I always enjoy that. She'll go to restaurants with food too ambitious for Mary Ann. On the other hand, she shuns red meat, so I know she'll have the seafood side of the menu covered in her order.
I was there first, and sat down at a small table within eyeshot of pianist-singer Ron Jones. Cocktail time: a white Manhattan. What's that? Pre-barrel bourbon, white vermouth, bitters, and a thin spiral of lemon peel. Not classic, but enjoyable and good. I must have shown my enthusiasm, because Lynn had one, too. And I don't remember seeing her drink cocktails before.
We had a very pleasant evening, rehashing recent and long-past history. One odd thing came up. She says that when our big sister Judy got married, we younger kids found our lives bereft somehow. Judy was like a second mother to us. It seemed to me that our actual mother was quite enough mother. Lynn says that both she and our sister Karen both felt a rise in their misery indices when Judy left. I have no such memories, and I remember everything.
For the summer, Delmonico is offering a five-course tasting menu for $44. This was an irresistible bargain, and we both ordered it. It began with a sampler of charcuterie--something Delmonico does better than almost any other local restaurant--and Emeril's unique barbecue shrimp, served on a grits cake. Lynn thought the shrimp were fabulous.
Now two salads. One was a unique combination of prosciutto, watermelon, cucumbers, passionfruit and a few other things. The other was called a New Orleans "guappo" salad. That southern Italian word is the origin of the rude slur "wop." (The "without papers" explanation is false). This was Emeril's version of what Italian restaurants around New Orleans used to call a "wop salad," but with better ingredients. Terrific, at that.
Less good was the chicken-andouille gumbo. Lynn sent it back almost untouched. I agree with her. Too thick, was the main problem. I had crabmeat croquettes, which were a lot better.
Entrees. Shrimp bordelaise for Lynn, with chaurice, chickpeas, and garlic butter. Plus a few other items, all mentioned on the menu, along with their sources. This dish gave rise to a line in my review, to the effect that most dishes at Delmonico could be improved by leaving out one or two ingredients, regardless of their pedigrees.
My entree was another complicated pile, but I liked it. Jerk-spiced lamb loin, collard greens, watermelon pickles (very spicy, beautiful cool contrast to the lamb) and six or seven other things.
We paired all this with a bottle of Emeril's Red Red Wine, a blend of grapes not often put together. I found this one in my wine cabinet at my office, so I brought it in, hoping nobody would be offended.
Desserts were beignets stuffed with coffee-and-chicory caramel sauce. We both thought that was great, but even better was the blueberry cobbler.
We had a very long dinner. Long enough that Ron Jones packed up and left for the night before I had a chance to see if he'd let me sing a song or two with him, like I did last time. We were sorry to see him leave, except for one thing: like all musicians, he plays too loud. But it's still great to have a musician of his caliber entertaining the diners. It's one of the things that engenders love for Delmonico in me.
Delmonico. Lee Circle Area: 1300 St Charles Ave. 504-525-4937.
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