Saturday, July 21, 2012.
The Rain Reaches Far. Dinner At Nathan's.
The tremendous rain system--caused by disturbed upper-level patterns meeting with extraordinarily warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico--reaches from here all the way up to where Mary Leigh planned to be gamboling with her friends, on the beaches of North Carolina.
So it was easy to picture what happened on their way. The rain came down in buckets. The young driver hydroplaned, lost control of the car, and went sliding into brush on the side of the road. Nobody was hurt, nor did the airbags deploy. But the car was totaled, and the parents had to drive two hundred miles to rescue the young folks. This event adds a new wrinkle to the social plans, but I am not permitted to publish the details.
Meanwhile, back at home, it was a typical Saturday. I skipped breakfast, did a three-hour radio show and watched the rain fall until dinner time.
Mary Ann and I fed ourselves at Nathan's in Slidell, to which I have wanted to go for a few weeks. It's been nine months since my last visit, and since they're running commercials on my radio show I felt the need to refresh my memory about what's going on.
There place has been renovated, a little. Most of the balcony overlooking the Slidell Marina is now another indoor dining room. Chef-owner Ross Eirich said that the open-air tables were great in nice weather. But the weather isn't always nice, as we know only too well these days.
I can't say I'm crazy about the new space, but that could be because I selected a small table in there. Or it could be that we find the banquettes in the main room much more comfortable.
I began with seared sea scallops--the good kind, no chemicals, no grit, nicely browned on top and bottom. But they sent out five of them! That's far too much for a first course (Mary Ann doesn't like scallops) and I took three of them home. No wonder an appetizer cost $14.
We split a Cobb salad big enough for three or four. The ingredients were separated to take advantage of their varied textures and colors. A textbook Cobb contains tomatoes, chicken, and avocado (all diced), blue cheese, bacon, and hard boiled eggs (crumbled). And greens underneath it all. The salad is presented at the table, but then it's tossed, either in the dining room (if there's room) or in the kitchen. It's hard to eat in its presentation form. We wound up tossing it ourselves--not the best way.
Mary Ann eyed the seafood platter here on all of our previous visits here. This time she would finally get it. It was nice enough, with the usual ingredients topped with onions rings instead of French fries. I like that idea, because fries waft up enough steam to take the crispness out of the seafood.
Mary Ann's obsession with losing weight is lately battling her love of food to at least a draw. "I'm not going to eat seafood platters anymore," she said, not for the first time. If she ever really takes the platter off the list, it will be the end of one of her favorite dishes. And I'll have to start getting them. For research purposes, of course. And she will eat as much of it as ever, complaining how she shouldn't. I can't solve all her problems.
My entree was pecan-crusted red snapper. It was a beautiful piece of fish, but they overcooked it, and it was on the dry side. The sauce had a lemony sweetness I can't say enthralled me. At least I was able to stop them from sending it out on top of mashed potatoes, the standard presentation. (I will never understand how that stacking ever became popular.)
A nice creme brulee finished the meal. On the way out, I met Chef Ross's young son Christopher. I asked him whether he liked the fish dish named for him--a red snapper topped with panko bread crumbs with a little horseradish. I noticed that they removed the mention of horseradish from the menu, even though it's still part of the dish. "It's the Slidell palate," Ross said, shrugging.
When we arrived, and again on the way out, we made the acquaintance of a young, friendly cat whose coloring was exactly the same as our old cat Twinnery at home. Even the facial expressions were the same. (Yes, cats do have differing faces, usually.) We thought about bringing him home, but the new friend wouldn't allow himself to be petted, let alone picked up. Twinnery, who believes he owns me, would not like the competition anyway.
Nathan's. Slidell: 36440 Old Bayou Liberty Rd. 985-643-0443.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
