Saturday, June 5. Hungry Town In Harvey. Dinner With Li'l Sis At Broussard's. The Marys went to Baton Rouge for some reason, leaving me to my own devices for the day. I had no radio show to do: the Saints are in their mini-camp, whatever that is. My showtime was used to discuss the tiniest of details concerning the team. Except one that Bobby and Deke never ask about: What do the players eat? That seems an important issue to me. I know that my eating affects my performance, most of which involves endurance as opposed to energy peaks.
This week's autograph session for my new books is at the Barnes and Noble in Harvey. This bookstore hold the record for the greatest sale of my signed books in a single session. When the first edition of Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food premiered, I autographed 297 books in two and a half hours. There was a line through the store for quite awhile. It was right before Christmas, but still! And on the West Bank?
It was nothing like that today. No holidays to pump volume. Insane heat outside, punctuated by deadly lightning and thunderstorms. Excuses, excuses.
When Mary Ann knew she would not be around today, she told me what I should do in her absence. "You ought to call your sister Lynn and take her to dinner." As it happened, I was thinking of that very thing.
I was also overdue for a dinner at Broussard's, where chef-owner Gunter Preuss and his son Marc have been tweaking the menu lately. Unlike the other three of the classic French-Creole restaurants in the Quarter, Broussard's has been modernizing its offerings for some time, particularly the entree section.
For whatever reason, though, our dinner was one that could have been had here ten or even twenty years ago. Lynn was interested in the prix-fixe menu, in which three courses come to the table for $35. This is more limited than it once was; the specials sheet that ran until recently had three choices in each course, but it was a bit more expensive. Now there's just the one entree, with selections of soup or salad beforehand. But she was pleased by it all: grilled lemonfish with crabmeat and two sauces, preceded by a salad.
I began with one of my favorite items from Chef Gunter's playbook, one that he was cooking back at the Versailles in the 1980s. It's crabmeat Herbsaint, a gratin of lump crabmeat sizzled on top of creamed spinach flavored with the namesake liqueur. This was as luscious as ever--a superb dish. But I wonder why they've adopted one of the more mysterious current service gambits: letting broiled dishes splatter all over the inside of the serving dish, and sending it out that way. I understand why this happens for, say, a steak at Ruth's Chris or a dramatic experiment in some little bistro. But in contrast with the very elegant surroundings of Broussard's, it looks like a dirty dish, even though I know very well that it is not. They ought to go back to the old ramekins that could be filled to the top to avoid this issue.
My entree tonight is a signature dish for Broussard's, one going back to the time when Carlos Marcello owned the place in the 1970s. It's a strip sirloin of veal, cooked just like a steak, and served with at least two sauces. The current edition has three: a demi-glace, bearnaise, and a spicy aioli. It's a spectacular dish that hardly anyone else ever serves. I wonder why it's not better known among local diners. (I will try to fix that. This is my job, after all.) Veal sirloin has a unique flavor, and gives you the satisfaction of eating a steak without having to gorge.
Lynn and I have deep, funny, wide-ranging conversations. Unlike most people, she gets all my humor and references, even the corny and obscure. She is one of the many people Mary Ann says I should have married instead of her.
We also had a few glasses of wine. The night was young--we arrived at about six-thirty--and I thought we could add further entertainment to the night with a visit to Café Giovanni. My ulterior motive was to get Lynn to sing a duet with me, accompanied by Chef Duke's opera singers and pianist. Lynn is also a singer, with the Shades of Praise multi-racial gospel group. But she is reluctant to emerge from the safety of a chorus, where mistakes cancel each other out and the music still sounds good.
Home around eleven. Mary Leigh was still on the sofa, watching Friends, and sounding like her sinus issue has become much worse.
Broussard's. French Quarter: 819 Conti. 504-581-3866. Classic Creole.
