Sunday, May 20, 2012.
Steakburger. Enchiladas With Tomatillos. Tractor.
The Marys were back on the South Shore to help Mary Ann's brother and his daughters with a dance production. MA once again set up a table to sell her book. Yesterday, she sold one copy. Today, two. I encouraged her by noting that her sales doubled in just one day! Then I ducked.
My formula for the number of hamburgers one should eat in a month is: the reciprocal of your age minus fifteen plus the number of pounds you are overweight, times ten. This says that I am allowed one and a quarter hamburgers per month. I have not had my May allotment, so I followed an urge to try the first Steak 'n' Shake in the New Orleans area.
Steak 'n' Shake is a hamburger specialist with origins in the Midwest in the 1930s. They call them "steakburgers," because they use sirloin to make them, hence the name. A 1980s girlfriend from Indiana turned me onto the place. Steak 'n' Shake looks like a fast-food joint, but they cook the burgers to order on a hot grill. At no stage is the cooked meat patty held in suspended animation. It's the holding that makes McDonald's and Burger King and Wendy's and Krystal terrible. Steak 'n' Shake's burgers are not only hot, but they're a little crispy around the edges.
The new location is adjacent to the new, disappointing, and unnecessary mall that hundreds of trees were cut down to build at the intersection of I-12 and LA 21 a couple of years ago. Mary Ann and I came here a few months ago before a movie, but the place was so busy we didn't get a good taste of it.
Steak 'n' Shake has table service. Once again, every table was filled. They were holding half the restaurant for a group of thirty-one people who would not appear until I was on the way out. I had to wait about ten minutes for a seat at the counter. Popular!
Then another five to get the burger--but I don't mind that, because that's what a made-to-order burger requires. It was the classic double with mustard relish, onions, lettuce and tomato. Exactly as I remember it in Fort Wayne and Chicago and St. Louis. Old style. I like it better than all but the best thick ten-dollar burgers I've had lately. My monthly burger limit was well spent.
The fries--frozen, of course--were not up to the old standard. But I don't need to eat potatoes anymore.
Heading home, I stopped at Home Depot to price lawn tractors. I may need a new one soon. The one I got for Father's Day 2001 has developed a number of maddening problems. I estimate that it travels about three miles each time I cut the grassy areas of the Cool Water Ranch, which I do about ten times a year. So it has three thousand miles on it. Time for an oil change, or time for a new tractor? I hate to let it go. It has new blades and (as of this afternoon) a new belt. When it works, it works. But today it only cut one swath before dying and refusing to be revived.
The Marys called to say that they were up for yet another Mexican feed at La Carreta. I really didn't need to eat again today. But dining with my daughter creates most of the time we spend face to face. So there I was, tortilla chip half in hand and half in queso with chorizo. And then eating enchiladas with beans and cheese and a tomatillo sauce, and grilled chicken. And the Marys are always giving me grief about fattening them up with my cursed restaurant needs!
La Carreta. Mandeville: 1200 W Causeway Approach. 985-624-2990.
