Friday, March 16, 2012.
Corned Beef And Cabbage, A Day Early. Chef Lazone.
For as far back as I can remember, the Brennan family has made much of St. Patrick's Day, inviting their friends over for a celebratory lunch and hearing of the green. The party at the original Brennan's on Royal Street has evolved over the years into a media event. No news is generated, really, just everybody in town who writes in any way about food is on the list, orchestrated by the restaurant's p.r. lady Bonnie Warren.
I rarely attend things like this, especially at lunchtime. It makes it difficult to do a decent radio show afterwards. Not only because of the drinking but also because of the yelling to be heard over the buzz. But I have no radio show today (more basketball), and Mary Ann wanted to attend. Enough that she went ahead without me, in case my daily load made me a little late.
What I didn't know was that fog on the Causeway--what, at noon on a perfect sunny day--would have the lake crossing clotted up. There wasn't much fog, but they had to pick up the cones blocking one lane, and I came in behind that truck. I didn't make it to Brennan's until a quarter to two. I could hardly get back to the wine room where the lunch was going on for all the exiting writers. The party was over, but that was okay with me. As long as they knew I had tried hard to get there. My plan was to hit one of the open-all-afternoon places in the Quarter that I'd not dined in lately.
Ellen Brennan (owner Ted Brennan's wife), her daughters Alana and Bridget, and son Teddy would hear none of that, and ordered a plate of corned beef and cabbage for me. I felt terrible about this, and didn't think they should set a table just for me. But that's what happened, complete with five hosts.
The Brennans were joined by Chef Lazone Randolph, who has worked day in and day out in one place longer than any other chef in New Orleans. And we started talking about stuff. I was especially interested in Teddy's perspective, mainly because I don't remember ever talking with him before. I remember when he was born, around the same time Jude was. I was impressed by his sharpness and amicability. He's hot on sports. I suggested that he have a lunch once a month with some sports figures and whoever else wanted to attend. I'll bet that would pack the house with local people, not enough of which go to Brennan's.
Come to think of it, do they still have lunch specials? There seemed to be some disagreement about this, as if sometimes they had them and sometimes they don't. Chef Lazone is dead set against the idea. "We have plenty of choices on our regular menu," he said, and that's true. But it's not so much about selection as price, and now that Antoine's and Galatoire's have complete lunches in the low $20s, why not Brennan's?
But they say that the customer base has shifted. Brennan's used to open at eight in the morning for its famous breakfast, and fill the house. Things would taper off thereafter. Now they open at nine, but the crowd doesn't get thick until around ten. "People don't eat a meal like that first thing in the morning anymore!" Ellen said. Probably don't drink as much, either. My theory: everybody's working too hard.
Matters like this kept my own private party going for an hour and a half. The corned beef was delicious, thick, and crusty at the edges. Wonderful creamy horseradish sauce. (Probably the same stuff that comes on the filet mignon Stanley, and I'll bet I was the only one at this party who had that thought other than the chef.)
The subject of turtle soup came up. I have long averred that Brennan's cooks up the best around. Did I want some now? chef asked. No, thanks--the corned beef stuffed me. Well, then, I had to go home with a container of the potage. Good, I said, because that will force me to go straight home, instead of what I did yesterday.
Nevertheless, I got caught in the evening rush hour traffic, and I wasn't home until almost six. That's four hours spent poking along on the roads today. I eased the pain when I got home by having a cup of turtle soup.
Brennan's. French Quarter: 417 Royal. 504-525-9711.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
