Puzzling Over A Parmesan

Despite the fact that Fury’s was a regular advertiser on The Food Show, I never went there. Tom was somewhat regular, but his environment sensibilities weren’t as strong as mine. I found it dark and generally unappealing. But that was an unfair assessment of a no-frills neighborhood place with good comfort food, New Orleans-style.

John Fury was a nice guy and a good client, as well as a seasoned New Orleans restaurateur. He operated The Bounty at the Old West End until Katrina eviscerated that cornerstone of our culinary culture. From there, he opened Fury’s on Martin Behrman, which went on to become a Metairie mainstay for great fried seafood, terrific fried chicken, and New Orleans classics.

Fury’s may be one of the only places left to have a true West End stuffed crab, meaning a crab stuffing inside the actual shell, then run under a broiler to crisp the bread crumbs on top. Most places overstuff the crab cavity, then deep-fry it. This is a travesty, in my view. 

I remember the last time I went to Fury’s, it was after a customer bought the place from John Fury’s sons, who had been running it in the years since his death. The first thing I noticed about the new Fury’s was how bright it looked. It was closed for a brief cosmetic renovation, where the walls were painted white, and the entire place looked fresher.

The food was just as good, since the new owner did not try to reinvent the wheel. He stayed true to the recipes that had made Fury’s a neighborhood favorite for many years. The stuffed crab was the same, meaning stuffed normally and run under a broiler,  though they were still doing the foil crab shell.

Working in Metairie recently didn’t leave me much time to catch a COOLinary in town, and I decided to revisit Fury’s. They have a loyal and regular clientele, and it seemed to me that one server was tasked with waiting on the entire restaurant.

She didn’t have time to discuss rule-bending, so my idea to have a single stuffed crab was not meant to be.  She explained that the stuffed crab was part of a platter with fries. The end. Since we were there for the COOLinary, I didn’t want to order several other entrees. I asked about the potato soup, which seemed to be a regular thing, but they were out.

The COOLinary menu was less than exciting. The first course was a salad; pick the housemade dressing, followed by a choice of Redfish or a “Parmesan,” which seems to be a menu category. You get to fill in the protein on a bed of angel hair pasta topped with marinara and slices of melted Provolone. Choices are veal, shrimp, chicken, or eggplant. 

I should have aborted the plan because I don’t eat redfish, and I never order anything as a Parm. But there was nothing else in the time I had. My sister was with me, and she got a lunch special of fried catfish with a crawfish sauce on top. The menu at Fury’s is enormous. There are several. The regular menu seems much larger than I remember, but there is also a very large specials menu. These other menus seem appealing, and I wish I hadn’t been there for the COOLinary. But I was there for the COOLinary, and everything else seemed to be locked up in some sort of dinner.

I chose the Blue Cheese dressing for my ordinary salad. It was iceberg lettuce with a  few grape tomato halves. And that was it. About as basic as a salad could ever be. At least they were making their own dressings in-house. We both declared this fine.

My Parmesan came out. A separate plate had the angel hair on it, doused perfectly with a proper amount, but not too much, of the vibrant red sauce.

The other plate had the panéed chicken with more marinara and melted Provolone cheese. The chicken beneath the sauce was tender and nice. I liked the paneed crust as well. The marinara had a fresh flavor and an appealing thickness and texture. It was smooth and perky, but not really spicy. The Provolone fulfilled its melty role in all of this.

My sister did not fare as well. I tasted her sauce and liked it just fine, though the color was peculiar. There were plenty of crawfish tails. But she stopped halfway through it without any interest in finishing it.

I’m sorry I went to Fury’s this way. I have been meaning to get back there but I know the program and there are too many other places to try that I haven’t been. But they missed an opportunity, I think, by offering such an uninteresting menu. The idea of this COOLinary is to get potential new customers in the door, and then to make them want to come back.

That was not the case here, and that is too bad. But if the dining room on that midweek visit was any indication, they don’t need me. The place was full and turning tables. They are definitely doing something right. Good for them.