Monday, June 21. Zea's Summer Menu. First, the usual fruitless conclave about where to go to dinner. It goes like this, every single time:
Mary Leigh: Where are we going?
Tom/Dad: Wherever you want to go.
ML: Grrr! I hate it when you say that! Why don't you tell me a place you're thinking about?
TD: I could, but ninety-five percent of the places I'd pick on my own are places you don't like. It's faster if you just tell me a few places you can stand tonight from your small universe of acceptable eateries.
ML: I can't! You name one!
TD: How about Sesame Inn? We haven't been there in awhile.
ML: No.
TD: Thai Thai. Wait. I know. No, right? Right. India 4U? No. Mandina's? No. Camellia Café? No. YuJin? No. Acme Oyster House?
Mary Ann, sticking her nose in, and not in a helpful way: We just went there.
TD: Okay. Zea it is.
ML: I don't know. Maybe.
TD: Maybe is close enough for me. Let's go.
MA: I'll eat too much there.
TD: I'll edit your order. Come on. I have work to do.
The only problem with Zea for the Marys is that they go there too often. But I don't have time for any more of this. Besides, Zea has rolled out its summer menu. I do commercials n the radio for Zea, but I don't talk about and certainly don't recommend anything I haven't tried on my own nickel.
The girls started in on their ribs and salads. I wanted the tuna sashimi stack, a great summer appetizer made by piling cubes of raw tuna, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, and sprouts inside a cylinder. When they remove it, there stands a cool tower, lubricated and sharpened by a nice sauce with an Asian tinge (as a lot of the food here has).
A new summer item is chicken kang karee. I wouldn't have known what this was a couple of days ago, but while looking over a menu to update a review of Siamese in Metairie I saw it. Zea's version is much altered from the ethnic original. It's made with two grilled chicken demi-breasts, over a stew of brown rice, potatoes, coconut milk and Thai yellow curry, with sugar snap peas on the side. This was delicious but bulky, a meal unto itself. And for $12, something of a bargain.
The first difficulty with the Eat Club train trip to Chicago turned up. I reserved eight standard sleeper roomettes and four deluxe bedrooms. So far, everybody who's expressed an interest wants the more expensive accommodation. I hope Amtrak has some more of them. This might prove to be a bigger group than I thought. Maybe we can have our own exclusive sleeping car and have a real party!
