Thursday, February 10, 2011.
Kupcakes. Chateau Du Lac, Rabbit Pate, And The Thinnest Apple Pastry.
Tuesday morning, Mary Ann hit me with one of her classic schemes. She had decided how we will celebrate our twenty-second wedding anniversary tomorrow. First, we'll dump our long tradition of doing something (lunch, dinner, or spend the night) at the Windsor Court. We spent our wedding night there, is why. But last year we missed it entirely, because I was away on an Eat Club cruise. She had planned to come with me, but with the Saints in the Super Bowl and the sailing on Super Bowl Sunday, she stayed home. Not only was I cuckolded by a football team, but on our anniversary day I was mugged in Belize City. Serves me right, I guess.
Since the string is now broken, she feels no fealty to the Windsor Court. Instead, we will have dinner at Brennan's. In Houston. I will take the day off from my newsletter, she decreed, so we can leave early enough to arrive in Houston in time for my radio show. And that is that. What could I say but okay?
Mary Ann sold a remote broadcast of my show today to a place called the Kupcake Factory. She was intrigued by the business Claudia Melgar built. She was in no way involved in the food business, but was intrigued by the way cupcakes were becoming popular five to ten years ago. She researched hundreds of recipes and operating schemes, and now she has three local shops that sell out of as many cupcakes as she makes every day.
We sold out two shops' worth at Claudia's Metairie Road store during our three hours on the air. Halfway through, she had to make a run to her Kenner location to pick up more of them, so many people were coming in for samples and boxes of cupcakes. They had many kinds to choose from and seemed to be delighted by them. The product is beyond reproach. I was surprised to learn that she uses no shortening in her cakes. Not even oil--all butter.
Frankly, I think the whole cupcake thing is at best a little silly. Claudia seemed to agree to some extent, and said that if it plays out she'll evolve this into some other business. But she had a perspective I'd never thought about before, one that explains the sudden popularity of cupcakes. "Everybody likes to have his own personal piece of cake. That's what a cupcake is!"
After the show, MA and I had dinner up the road at Chateau Du Lac, a restaurant she loves. Part of that has to do with her fascination for and friendship with Chef Jacques Seleun's wife Paige, who sat with us through most of the dinner. Paige says that their French bistro is doing very well, and is just a little ways from reaching their goals for the place.
I can say that the food has certainly been excellent lately. We began with a shared plate of the restaurant's great rabbit pate, galantine, and saucisson. I followed that with a truly original idea: foie gras gumbo (below). My first reaction was the same as the one you just had: what a goody idea! But foie gras is duck liver, and duck gumbo is classic, so why not? It was good: nice dark roux, chunks of duck liver and shred of duck meat. Creole-French 2011.
The roast chicken with mushrooms sounded right on target with my appetite of the moment, and was. (Sorry I took a bite before taking a picture.) Mary Ann had the special involving sirloin strip with blue cheese, with fresh-cut fries on the side. Somewhere during this course we decided that, for a restaurant we like so much, we don't dine here half often enough.
That point was made again in the dessert. It was something they've made since they opened in their original Kenner place, but I'd forgotten. It's a cardboard-thin rectangle of pastry topped with thin, shingled apple slices. Simple and absolutely wonderful, made more so by two little balls of vanilla bean ice cream.
At around eight, Mary Ann cracked the whip and said we'd better get home if we plan to leave for Houston at six in the morning. Oh, yeah, I thought. We're doing that.
Chateau Du Lac. Old Metairie: 2037 Metairie Rd. 504-831-3773.
