Thursday, April 26, 2012.
Daddy And Daughter At The Steak Knife.
What with her frequent visits home lately, Mary Leigh and I have lapsed in our weekly daddy-daughter dinner dates. We made up for lost time tonight. When I called her to arrange it, she let on that she'd be up for a more substantial dinner than we typically have, in which she is arrayed in shorts and a T-shirt.
She liked my idea for a venue: the Steak Knife, a restaurant where Mary Ann will no longer dine. Not because of any failing of the restaurant, but because last time we were there she received some very bad news: the accidental death of the son of good friends. She says she will not be able to go there without thinking of that disaster.
We began with tidbit in the oven, the Steak Knife's most unconventional appetizer. It's like a pizza without sauce, crust, or meat. It's almost entirely cheese--three different ones--mixed with herbs. They bake it on a metal pan until it gets crusty around the edges. Every time I get this, I wonder whether I should be ashamed of enjoying it. But I do. Mary Leigh--a confirmed cheeselover--also got hooked.
After two enormous salads (wedge for her, Caesar for me), we each had our favorite steaks (filet for her, strip for me). Potatoes a gratin in the middle of the table. The strip was abetted by a bordelaise sauce with mushrooms. As always, the Steak Knife showed itself as not the best steak house in town, but a very good one with a menu full of good eats and a great wait staff.
En route to the restaurant, Mary Leigh waxed enthusiastic about her newest sculpture project. She has learned welding, and finds it exciting and fun. She is looking to intern at artist Luis Colmenares's studio this summer. Luis is rather famous for his metalwork, and says she will be able to carry on in this new medium.
On the way home, I recalled a moment at Jesuit in which the teacher asked us about our college plans. I was already playing everything for laughs back then, and said I hoped to go to Harvey Welding School. That got a good uproar, because Harvey Welding School ran spots on WNOE, the station we all listened to. And because it was absurd. I wonder what I would have thought about the prospect of Tulane student daughter taking up that craft.
Steak Knife. Lakeview: 888 Harrison Ave. 504-488-8981.
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.
