Fury's Is Thirty. Poppy Is. . . Having A Birthday

[title type="h6"]Tuesday, September 10, 2013.[/title] In the nearly three years of our weekly Round Table radio show, we haven't called on the same guests to make more than one appearance very often. This week, for reasons Mary Ann only knows, we had one guy who's been with us three times and one who was only with us once before, but that was only a month ago. I told her not to make a habit of this, but that I'd make an exception for these two fellows. John Fury's reason for a rapid return is that today is the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of his namesake restaurant in Metairie. Fair enough. He paid me back, without realizing it, by recalling the years he was in the wholesale meat business, and sold steaks to many local restaurants. A lot of those are no longer in business, but John remembered them so well that he filled in a bunch of historical gaps for me. As for Danny, this third visit was to promote a wine dinner this Thursday at Le Foret. That gave him a reason to bring his chef Brandon Felder, who had not previously appeared with us. I was under the impression that the wine dinner needed some publicity, but that wasn't the case. Brandon said that over ninety people were coming. Tracy Beninate--who works for Glazer, a major wholesaler of wine and spirits--also had a connection to that dinner. She's bringing the wine, including a few goodies. Most notorious is the Moet et Chandon Nectar, a rare sweet Champagne, made in the style of two hundred years ago. We will discuss this further in the notes for that dinner, two days from now. That left Allen Bryant, the owner of a new hot dog stand that's jumping on that train of popularity in Metairie. Fat City Franks is in the center of the Fat City restaurant row on Edenborn at 18th, with Drago's, Kanno, Crazy Johnnie's, and the Korea House all within a block. Comparisons between Fat City Franks and Dat Dog--which began the trend three years ago--are inevitable. I haven't had a Fat City frank yet, but the descriptions are familiar. Custom-made sausages, custom-baked buns, a host of toppings and sauces. Mary Ann likes the place, which explains why they're here. [caption id="attachment_39608" align="alignnone" width="320"] Poppy Tooker, celebrating her birthday on the balcony at Tujague's.[/caption] Off to Tujague's, where Poppy Tooker--who will be on next-week's Round Table--is celebrating both her birthday and the publication of a new book. It has the same title as her weekly WWNO radio show, Louisiana Eats! It's a collection of anecdotes and recipes from guests who have appeared on her program. I haven't gone through it yet, but I can say I love the cover photograph, in which David Spielman captures perfectly Poppy's unique, elegant mischief. The food at the party was boxes of Popeyes Fried Chicken. It just crossed my dull mind that this is because Popeyes is the main sponsor of her show. (I had been working on some sort of Poppy-Popeye likeness.) [caption id="attachment_39609" align="alignnone" width="480"] Tujague's newly renovated dining room.[/caption] The party was held at Tujague's because Poppy is working on a cookbook project with Mark Latter, the new owner (his late father Steven was the old one) of Tujague's. One more thing: there's a numerical likeness between something on Tujague's famous outdoor neon sign and Poppy's new age. After the party, I went down to the newly-renovated ("un-renovated" is how Mark describes it. It looks great, in the style of Galatoire's, Antoine's, and Arnaud's, in whose company Tujague's has always been considered. Second-oldest restaurant in town. Tujague's. French Quarter: 823 Decatur. 504-525-8676.