No Bull Here

Many times on The Food Show I have said that the students at NOCHI (New Orleans Culinary Hospitality Institute) could teach a few things to 5-star restaurants around town.

At the end of each 100-day term, they offer a pop-up for people to come in and sample the food and hospitality that the students have learned in their session. Usually, this pop-up is a little far out in terms of cuisine, but the last one was Spanish food.

The students vote on the pop-up, crafting every aspect of it. And for a two-week period they assume all the roles in a restaurant, trading front and back of the house positions to give everyone a chance to do everything. We have been so impressed with the professionalism of these students that we are inspired.

Tom was in the hospital when the last one came around, so I met a friend at the food bar, where it is possible to see the inner workings of the kitchen.

This was the fourth one of these pop-ups we have experienced, and all of them have been really perfect. That is not an exaggeration. The service has been splendid, attentive, and competent, and the food has been on par with that. The presentation of each dish, the timeliness of its delivery to our table, and the taste of everything have been 5 star. 

But this one gave me a different view of it all from the food bar counter, and I drew some different conclusions. We arrived when the doors opened, and were the second people seated. We arrived at the same time for all the others. but for those we were seated at a designated VIP table, and perhaps that was the difference. But it was certainly different. 

From the vantage point of the food bar, it seemed that the ovens weren’t even on when the doors opened. Our server was not up to his predecessors, and everything was glacial. We watched the supervising chef from where we were sitting, and he seemed more interested in teaching technique (which by graduation time should be second nature) than in getting food out. He sent things back to stations to be redone that didn’t appear to need redoing.

It was painful to watch, and annoying if you were waiting for food.

We started with tapenade and housemade rolls. It is impossible to ignore tapenade, and this went quickly. 

We ordered a lot, including most of the tapas dishes available. The first thing on the tapas menu was Albondigas or meatballs. These came with a peach glaze on them and I don’t care for that, so I intended to skip over it. My dining companion was interested in it, and the waiter concluded that we did want it, so it came with everything else.

We ordered potato croquettes with chorizo and smoked paprika, artichoke and citrus salad with thyme, and ham and chicken fritters, and a crostini dish with caramelized tomato and Manchego cheese.

Everyone was talking about the shrimp appetizer, so I got that even though it didn’t seem that interesting to me. And then we ordered two entrees. One of the main reasons I went to Manolete was to try the Bacalaō, which is dried salt cod. I have heard so much about this from Tom for so many years I had to experience it for myself, Tom has always derided it, chastising the Italians for loving it so. I was curious, and have been for thirty years.

The other entree we got was a solid winner. Halibut is one of my favorite fish. It’s the king of the Pacific Northwest waters, in my view. 

We watched our appetizers be prepared, and noticed that no one in the dining room had any food on their table. I was worried we may not be able to finish before I had to leave. This crunch has never come up before.

The ham and chicken fritters arrived. These are called Croquetas de Jamon y Pollo. They were just the right size for what they were. They were covered in breadcrumbs and deep-fried and served over a dollop Mojo Verde sauce. Pickled onions finished the plate. These were tasty and the best of the tapas lot.

The meatballs were pretty much what I expected, which is why I didn’t want them This glazing on meat gives it a weird texture that I find unappealing. They were a little firmer than I like. And the slices of peach alongside these seemed weird too.

The Pan con Tomate was a plate of thick crostini, but the bread slices weren’t toasted. These slices were piled high with caramelized onion and tomato jam as well as Manchego cheese. I got this specifically because of the Manchego cheese, but there was very little of that on these. It was a big mouthful of the onions and tomato. 

Gambas a la Plancha was a star of this menu, but I didn’t understand why. These very large shrimp were seared on a grill and served with grapes and roasted peppers. Not my thing.

The main reason I went to Manolete was that I would have a chance to finally try bacalaõ, the dried salt cod dish that is so popular in Italy and Spain. The planks of dried cod are preserved in salt, which is how they have been curing the fish for millennia. It is so popular in Europe, particularly Italy and Spain that I just had to try it for myself. Tom has always dismissed it as terrible, which made me even more curious. The passion for this dish is so strong among Europeans that I felt Tom had to be missing something about it. Cod is a fantastic fish. Could salt preservation destroy that so much? 

I heard about the process of reconstituting it when I talked to the Manolete chef on the radio show. I was surprised to hear about how many times they had to soak it and rinse it before they could use it. When I finally ate it I understood why this European staple has withstood preservation challenges through the centuries. It was delicious. A little salty, yes, but pan-seared and served in a creamy sauce with mushrooms and bits of pickled asparagus and chorizo was a great dish. Bacalaõ al Pil Pil has at its base the Pil Pil sauce of garlic and olive oil, and anything that starts with those two ingredients has to be good.

My companion had another sensational dish. It was a pan-seared Halibut with whipped potatoes and pistou butter. Hipoglosa de la Donostiarra is what it is called, which belies the simplicity of this dish. It was pésche perfection, big white flakes of fish with garlic and olive oil.. The potatoes were ordinary but didn’t need to be more.

This was a substantial enough portion to have at home too.

Time had run out because of the pace of the kitchen, so there was no time for dessert. That was the first time we missed dessert with these pop-ups. I was looking forward to the Basque Cheesecake. Oh, well.

The potato croquettes finally did show up. On the bill.