My Saturday Food Show on WWL was uninterrupted by sports today, and I was on for the whole three hours. I went into town for this performance. I't been days since I was last in the studio, and I have some commercial work I need to dispatch.
That done, I was off to whatever you call a meal that's too late to be called lunch and not early enough to think of as dinner. Or even supper. Even though there will not be another meal for me today after this one.
So far, Ed McIntyre has lived up to the tacit promise that the culinary traditions of Bozo's will live on. Ed bought Bozo's after several years of very disappointing attempts by new owners to keep things going. Replacing Chris "Bozo" Vodonovich--who retired after cooking some 90 percent of the food that came out of Bozo's kitchen for over fifty years--was not possible. This had to become a new restaurant, if only to hush the inevitable claims by the former regulars that the new place was terrible compared with the old place.
Previous visits during the few months Ed McIntyre has been in the saddle were very promising, and so was my afternoon feeding today. I started with a half-dozen highly satisfying raw oysters. Then turtle soup--very good, but I'll refrain from guessing at the turtle content. Now two more samples from the highly various selection of oysters cooked on the shells.
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Buffalo oysters.[/caption]
The first of these was called Buffalo oysters, telling us that these are like hot wings but with oysters instead of chicken. A proven idea, this has been a big hit at the Red Fish Grill for years. The version at Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar is a bit different--more robust, I'd say--and just as easily edible.
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Oysters amandine.[/caption]
The other one was oysters amandine in the classic old style: fried oysters, topped with brown meuniere sauce and toasted almonds, served on six oyster shells. I don't think they actually cooked the things on the shells, but it doesn't matter: this is a delicious plate of food.
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Ice cream crepe at Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar.[/caption]
Dessert was a little too simple, being ice cream enclosed in a crepe and covered with whipped cream and strawberries. A little too fancy for a seafood house, not fancy enough to rise above kitsch. Too sweet.
Okay, here's the scoreboard. Four great eats out of five. Of those four, only one--the raw oysters--would ever have been served at the old Bozo's. Yet, Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar feels like Bozo's. And also like a new restaurant. This is a good formula.
I like the look of the place, too. The outdoor dining area gets work when the weather is tolerable. Which it wasn't today. The second dining room at the other end of the bar is also a busy, lively place.
Speaking of weather, today the hurricane season ends for 2013. It was nice not to have to check Accuweather every day to see what was coming our way.
On the other hand, it does seem to be colder than usual.
Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar & Fish House. Metairie: 3117 21st Street. 504-833-6310.
