Saturday, May 7, 2011.
Dining With Indecisiveness. My Steak Cut Appears!
The Marys spent the day in Baton Rouge. Mary Leigh says that's the only place to buy clay for making pottery and tableware. She made a lot of pieces in her classes at Tulane this year. She apparently has momentum, because she's been turning out more pieces still on her wheel outside. Her designs are wonderful, and everything she does is more polished than the item before. Mary Ann loves it all, of course, and is filling the shelves with our daughter's work.
After three hours on the radio, I took an unusually delicious hour-long nap. The girls returned not long after I revived. Now that they're home, I can take a shower. I still feel nervous in the tub, what with nothing to grab hold of in case I slip on my one good foot. But I'm getting the hang of it. It's all about leverage, and figuring out a route of short hops for my weight. I hope I never have to use these skills again.
I haven't been out to dinner since last Sunday. Especially since I'm showered and fresh, I think I'm due. I suggested Bosco's, since that's on Mary Leigh's A-list, and she is the one who must be pleased. But that didn't do it. What she wants is a wedge salad. But now I had a hunger for Bosco's. We compromised on N'Tini's, where we have not been in months.
Lots of new dishes. Our waitress Helen alerted us to the best of them. For me, it came down to a choice between the pork chop with a Steen's glaze or something called a Mandeville cut sirloin strip--both recent additions. Helen said go with the sirloin.
First onion rings, sliced too thick and fried in oil that was too hot. The latter issue makes the coating fall off, and it did. Next came a unique meeting of cultures: fried green tomatoes Caprese. So, the mozzarella and basil and tomatoes of a classic Capri salad, with the tomatoes fried. This restaurant has entirely too many fried items on its menu.
Mary Leigh kept her date with her beloved wedge salad, which she says is very well made here. Mary Ann broke all her rules and had the prime rib she couldn't get three days ago at Keith Young's.
I ate beef, too. That Mandeville cut proved to be none other than what I have been suggesting for the past few years as the New Orleans cut steak: an extra-thick sirloin strip, cut into two pieces the size of a filet mignon, making two normal-size steaks. This was a little different in having the bone still attached--the top of the T-bone, to be exact. That was a good thing, and all of us agreed that it was spectacular.
N'Tini's owner Mark Benfatti spent some time with us over dessert. Here is a restaurateur who relates extraordinarily well with his customers, and gives them exactly the kind of restaurant they want. Not too gourmet, but good enough. Big portions. Interesting specials, and lots of special events. Mark himself is convivial and funny. In the few minutes he sat with us, four or five people acting like long-time friends came to say hello. Most of them were just regular customers.
Two steaks for me in one week. And dessert at the end of this meal. This will not be one of the many weight-losing days I've experienced lately. But it's Saturday.
When we got home, I shut myself in my little room and wrote a Mother's Day poem for MA. It took me about two hours, until after midnight. I hung it in a spot where she'd see it, in case she gets up earlier than I do. I must be the first to mention Mother's Day.
N'Tini's. Mandeville: 2891 US 190. 985-626-5566.
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.
