Saturday, April 24. Johnny And Joyce. Joyce And Darnell. Rare Cuts. The Marys went into town this morning to buy a prom dress. This will cost a lot of money, but I couldn't be happier. It's for the Jesuit Senior Prom. At last, after forty-two years of waiting, my genes make it to that event. More on this after it happens.
I had no radio show today--the all-important Saints draft knocks everything else off the air. Finally, I remembered to go to a restaurant called Johnny and Joyce's in Mandeville. It's a little place in an old strip mall, just underneath the water tower. The owners are among the many former residents of St. Bernard Parish who moved across the lake after Katrina. Everybody who's ever called me about this place raved about it.
None of them must have been in town today, because the dining room was empty at half-past noon. I will make this brief. I had gumbo I would never order again except for investigative reasons, a little salad with a remoulade dressing more like thousand-island with the islands strained out, and a decent, generous roast beef poor boy. The best I could say about the lunch was that the price--under ten dollars--was more than fair, even though the food was exactly fair.
I then made groceries, beginning at a new store called Rare Cuts. This outfit has a connection with Natco Meat Company, a major supplier of first-class meats to the city's top restaurants. That last clause sounds like a line out of an ad. In fact Rare Cuts is threatening to have me do some commercials for them. The claim, however, is actually true.
The Rare Cuts in Mandeville (there's another in River Ridge) is small, with its cases not exactly bulging with product. But it all looked good, particularly three ribeyes. These were streaked enticingly with marbling, and the dark color betrayed age. "Dry aged Prime beef, aged three weeks," said the man behind the counter. Ribeye is my least favorite of the major cuts, but I know a winner when I see one. I bought two of them, each about a pound. The man packed in an insulated, zippered bag. The only offputting matter was the price: $56 for the two steaks, which approaches the cost of going to a good steakhouse.
I asked about lamb chops, conspicuously missing from the case. Natco sells those spectacular Colorado chops to Commander's, Galatoire's, and Antoine's, and I'd love to throw those on the Big Green Egg. "We had some, but a guy came in and bought all of them," I was told. Maybe next time.
Stopped on the way home at the fruit shed in Abita Springs for a case of oranges. California only now. But the last case of these was delicious enough, and today's was ten bucks cheaper at $30. I won't need them for two weeks, in which time they should be perfectly sweet.
It rained earlier today, but the weather looks as if it will be dry enough that I can cut the grass tomorrow. When I went out to get gas for the mower, I noticed that my car's oil light was on. What now? A third weekly trip to the shop? At a traffic signal, I killed the engine and restarted it. The oil light went out. Probably just the pressure switch. I drove straight to Five-Minute Oil Change--I needed one anyway--and let them do that deed.
Mary Ann said she'd be open to having dinner. I suggested we drive to Slidell to try a relatively new place I've heard many good things about. Joyce and Darnell's opened originally in Picayune, but the law there preventing the sale of alcohol in restaurants made the namesake couple decide to move their place to the Free State of Louisiana.
We had a little trouble locating the restaurant, because I didn't realize it was in a rather grand building in Olde Towne that hosted a number of previous restaurants. We did an Eat Club there some years ago. I'll be damned if I can remember the name of the place then. It's enormous--big enough to be a catering hall. Which it has been off and on.
The main dining room was far oversized for the number of customers or even tables. In the corner was a guy playing the keyboards and singing. His style would have been more appropriate in the bar, which is also bigger than it needs to be. He'd probably draw a few drinkers there.
It was clear to me that we had come too soon after the restaurant's move to this spot. Indications began with the martini, made by someone who needs more practice making cocktails. The server had some dinner ideas for us, but she admitted that she didn't know enough about some of the dishes I asked about. There were two different snail appetizers, for example, and she begged off trying to distinguish between the two.
We started with something called "tobacco rings." They need to change this name. There is nothing appetizing about tobacco to the three-fourths of the population that knows better than to use the leaf. Fortunately, there wasn't any tobacco involved. These were fried onion rings from onions marinated in Tabasco for a day or so, then battered and fried in the usual way. I thought these were pretty good, actually, and ate far too many of them. The snail came next--sizzling in garlic butter in the classic style, and plenty good enough. I pushed Mary Ann into ordering the spinach-artichoke dip--a small order of which she put away without any trouble.
We both had fish next. Hers was a basic seared salmon, ordered more because it worked in her diet. Mine was redfish topped with a very crusty crabmeat and bread crumb concoction over the top. It needed a minute or two more under the broiler to set the topping and give it a little toast, but had no major problems.
While eating, we watched a number of steaks go by, sizzling and making the place smell good. We asked the waitress about that and she let us know that steak is really the main attraction here. I didn't order one because I knew I would be cooking steak at home tomorrow. I will wait until I have a hunger for steak before coming here next time.
I wrapped up the meal with a good bread pudding, and we made for the door. This was far too big a meal. It was those onion rings that did me in.
Johnny & Joyce Seafood. Mandeville: 1461 N Causeway Blvd. 985-727-7727.
Joyce and Darnell's. Slidell: 153 Robert St. 985-643-0421.
