Monday, January 23, 2012.
Max Zander Remembered @ Antoine's.
I wasn't sure whether I would go to the Max Zander Memorial Dinner tonight. My decision was made for me when I got a call from Judy at WYES-TV. (The public station benefits from the funds raised by the dinner.) She said that as a result of my article in the Menu Daily touting the dinner, some people said they wanted to sit at my table. But I hadn't booked my own reservation, let alone a whole table, Judy said.
I told her that since I am a past recipient of the Max Zander Award, I can do anything I want at Max dinners going forward, including waiting until the last minute to book. Enough people wanted to dine with me that I had to give my apologies to friends Vic and Barbara Giancola, David Gooch, and Peggy Scott Laborde for not sitting with them. They seemed relieved.
Peggy had an interesting piece of news. Pelican Publishing Company, which handles our Lost Restaurants book, has sold out the entire oversize first press run, and is out of stock until the new printing arrives from China. I guess we showed them.
Tonight's honoree was Brad Adams, whose family is in the oil supply boat business down in New Iberia. But wait! Is this the same Adams family that was at the Napa Wine Auction every time I attended it, and which bought so much wine from the charitable event that they were given the auspicious Table Number One?
Before I had a chance to introduce myself to Brad Adams and ask him about that, his father Red Adams came over to my table and introduced himself. "Do you remember we were at Livingston during the Napa Auction in 1999?" he asked. Indeed I do. We had lunch there, and were allowed to make our own blend of the winery's Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot wines.
Also that year, Red Adams created the most exciting moment in all my years at the Auction. The crowd had already gone wild because a lot of Screaming Eagle--a cult wine that's all but impossible to buy--went for a half-million dollars, the highest price ever achieved for one Napa Auction item to that time.
But then a ten-magnum collection of ten vintages of Harlan Estates Cabernet came up for bids. After ten minutes of pure pandemonium in the big tent, Red Adams paid $700,000 for that. Ah, yes, but it was in a polished cherrywood case, I remember.
"How do you think that wine's doing now?" I asked Red.
"What? The Harlan? We drank it a long time ago. We buy wines to drink, not to look at." Winemakers the world over would cheer that sentiment.
Brad and his family have continued their support of charitable causes involved with wine. They've donated quite a lot of wine to WYES's wine auction over the years. Hence the well-deserved Max Zander award.
Previous Max Zander dinners were at Galatoire's. But that restaurant was busy today with its own auction of tables for Friday before Mardi Gras. David Gooch told me it brought in $45,000 for charities this afternoon. Good for them.
Antoine's acquitted itself well tonight. After appetizers of shrimp canapes, oysters Foch, and souffle potatoes, we sat down to an impossible-to-eat (because it was chopped too finely to be speared by a fork) salad with a great marmalade vinaigrette. Then oyster and artichoke soup, creamy and nice. Grilled trout with crawfish cardinale on top, an old Antoine's waiter's special, with a convincing peppery zip in the sauce. And a filet mignon marchand de vin. That's the classic Antoine's entree, one everyone here surely has had many times before. I can't remember it's ever having been better. Juicy, tender, perfect sauce.
Baked Alaska for dessert, of course, with Max Zander's name on one side and Brad Adams's on the other. Happy evening.
I was glad to see Rick Blount smiling. He's the boss of Antoine's--the great-great grandson of Antoine himself. Rick's wife came to a tragic demise a couple of years ago, and his life has been tough since. But he had a fiancee with him tonight. I got a chance to grill her in the Hermes Lounge after the dinner, and I feel good about their future. (As if I know anything about the recipe for marital bliss.)
Antoine's. French Quarter: 713 St. Louis. 5904-581-4422.
