Friday, June 7, 2013.
Little Gem Saloon Changes Courses.
Mary Ann appeared on television in Panama City, Florida this morning. In addition to talking about her book "The Suzie Homemaker Chronicles," she did a cooking demonstration of her rightly famous hash browns. It's the first time she ever did a recipe on the air. Another arrow borrowed from my quiver. Next thing you know, she'll become a liberal.
Dinner after my radio show was a third taste of the Little Gem Saloon, the combination music club and restaurant on Poydras at South Rampart Street, in the district where jazz first became popular. Nick Bazan--who also is majority owner of RioMar and La Boca--was managing the floor tonight. (And the rest of the place, too, not just the tiled floor, which looks like a crossword puzzle.) Apparently the place needs a principal on site, because it attracts a lot of very well-known people from the courts and city offices across the street.
I noticed on the cocktail menu an ancient drink called the Roffignac. It's named for a long-ago mayor of New Orleans, and was the signature cocktail at the old Maylie's. I remember having it a few times over there, but never being enough impressed by it to call it a favorite. I had it for old times' sake. Little Gem's version involves (I think) a blackberry liqueur with either whiskey or Cognac (your choice), served with soda water in a collins glass. It didn't seem very alcoholic, but that might be a good thing.
The waiter--who recited a list of the places where he had waited on me before, going back thirty years--recommended the crab cake and the trout amandine. Sounded good. The crab cake was made with white but unlump crabmeat, but had no problems in the flavor department. The amandine was pan-seared, and finished with a large pile of toasted almonds and the old-style, light-brown meuniere sauce. Classic flavor. Salad. A really great, creme-brulee-reminiscent bread pudding. Coffee. $67.50, plus tip.
Almost the entire time I was there--just about two hours--the downstairs room was entertained by a young guitarist who played almost continuously the whole time. I didn't recognize a single song. I ran into him n the patio on my way out, and found out his name is Micah McKee. I asked him whether all this music was of his own composing. Indeed it was. Good stuff, I told him. I didn't mention that I thought the amplification was too loud (I'd say it was unnecessary), but I didn't want to sound as uncool as I look.
I also talked with Nick Bazan on the way out. He told me the seventh-worst thing I can think of hearing on my way out of a restaurant: "We're changing chefs and we'll have a whole new menu next week," he said. "We're going to contemporary Southern home-cooking style," he said. Like fried chicken, ribs, beans, greens, and gumbo? Apparently so. Chef Robert Bruce is out (but with no ill will, they say), and Chef Miles Prescott from RioMar (which he will continue to manage) is in.
Now all I have learned about the Little Gem's food is useless for compiling a review, as I planned to do next week. My job never ends.
Little Gem Saloon. CBD: 445 S Rampart St. 504-267-4863.
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