Saturday, April 23, 2011.
Chimes. A Perfect Evening At The Lake House.
A branch of The Chimes--a legendary LSU hangout in Baton Rouge--opened on the banks of the Bogue Falaya River in Covington this past Monday. Mary Ann, who attended LSU and is ever on the lookout for ways to relive certain parts of that life, has been awaiting this opening with alacrity. So much so that we fell into an argument after I told her not to get her hopes up.
Perhaps because of that, she took the kids to The Chimes while I was on the air with my WWL show. She said she didn't want me to spoil the visit with my intolerable insistence that any food I eat be actually, you know, like, good.
They came home just as I was signing off. Mary Ann said the eats weren't as good as she remembered, or expected. But. . . "It's our new favorite place!" The word "place" is the key. You can eat on a deck overlooking the Bogue Falaya, and that's enough to draw Mary Ann in. Mary Leigh said the hamburger was pretty good. Jude put both thumbs down on the place. But Los Angeles is full of such restaurants with better food. (And higher prices, it must be said.)
I thought: What do you expect from a college joint that's been open exactly six days? But I kept my mouth shut.
My gang had such a good time at Ziggy's last night that they wanted to go again. We arrived at sunset. A stiff, warm, humid breeze blew in from the lake. But where Ziggy's had been the night before was only a chalkboard sign. Ziggy's had a very big afternoon and ran out of crawfish and barbecue, said owner Cayman Sinclair. But the tables in front of the restaurant were open, with the Lake House's regular menu. This prospect worked for everybody, me in particular. I like actual restaurants.
This was a very pleasant night for us. We started with a basket of truffled fries and a great aioli. It screamed for a martini, but I fought off the urge with a glass of wine. Next came fried oysters, thrown together with some fried tasso, a red-wine bordelaise sauce with the flavor of cinnamon or cloves faintly in the background (Mary Leigh was the one who noticed that), and a few cubes of Camembert cheese.
A round of salads. The Caesar was good enough that the girls polished it off in record time and ordered a second. Mine was baby greens with gorgonzola, pecans, and firm sticks of pear--also good enough that Jude was picking off of it.
Three entrees. The best was blackened redfish with pecans and shoestring potatoes. That was good last time I was here, so I let Jude have it. In front of me was a filet mignon with roasted garlic and a brown sauce not reduced enough to be called a demi-glace (but they didn't claim that). The usual service of this is with some Gorgonzola crumbles, but blue cheese on a steak is not to my liking, and asked them to leave it off. Mary Leigh and Jude both thought the steak looked good, and I welcomed their forks and knives into it while I drank a musky Malbec.
Mary Ann tucked into a pair of fried crabcakes. The spicy aioli was a zipped-up version, different from the one with the fries, as well as with the presently-served onion rings. (We ordered those to make absolutely certain that an overload of food was on the table.)
And we had dessert. Bread pudding for me was a bit heavy. The chocolate cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce was devoured with lust by the Marys.
Cayman and Jude struck up shop talk. Cayman does a lot of catering for movies being shot in the New Orleans area. (And a lot of other catering, too.) Back in Los Angeles, one of Jude's lookouts is making sure the catering is in place for the movies he shoots. The two of them talked more about logistics than cookery.
The breeze stiffened and cooled to ideal conditions. It was a thoroughly pleasant evening, the perfect way to spend one of the rare occasions when the four of us are together.
The Chimes. Covington: 19130 W Front St. 985-892-5396.
Lake House. Mandeville: 2025 Lakeshore Dr. 985-626-3006.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
