Thursday, January 5, 2012.
Back To Work. A Box Of Kleenex.
Overnight, I have made a complete return to my normal routine. The house is still standing. The pets are still alive. (The cat Twinnery, in fact, appears to have put on some weight in my absence. He must be harvesting the smaller mammals in the vicinity.) I published a full Menu Daily. Then into town for the radio show. Nobody there had an urgent need to talk to me. Mindy said all the round-table shows ran smoothly.
It was as if I'd not been on vacation at all.
An issue reported to me each day by e-mail while I was gone had to be handled. One of the salespeople wants to sell me on radio spots for Erik's in Metairie. I ate there once a few months ago and liked it. All reports from callers have been good. But I needed another taste before I could feel comfortable about doing the spots.
I had to go to Erik's for dinner tonight. The cold I caught from Jude is pretty bad, but not to the point where I can't breathe or taste anything. I won't tomorrow and for a few days afterwards.
The best thing for a cold is a hot bowl of soup. The soup du jour at Erik's was a rich artichoke and crawfish cream. After I stirred in some hot sauce, it had everything in place to cure what ailed me. And it was delicious, too. Something like this soup is used as a sauce on a couple of dishes. But this is a neighborhood place with prices in the low teens, so we can ignore that. (I wouldn't in a gourmet bistro at $25 an entree.)
The entree was real speckled trout (more of a rarity in New Orleans than most people know) amandine. The fillet was big and fresh, the cooking accurate, toasty and buttery. If Galatoire's definitive trout amandine were a 10, this one would be about 8.75356. (Round to 9 for significant figures.) Factor in the value consideration, Erik's comes out on top, the price being about forty percent lower than at Gal's. (Of course, the two restaurants are incomparable in other ways. But this is the kind of stuff restaurant critics think about.)
And this fish came with two side dishes: a vegetable of choice (broccoli for me) and pasta (a well-made angel hair bordelaise, in a portion enough to make an entree on its own).
Erik's offers only one dessert du jour. The friendly waitress told me what it was, but it didn't move me. With a glass of wine, tax and my usual overtip, at came to $35. The place was about half full, some of them speaking in an unnaturally loud voice (to make sure I heard) about how much they love the place.
I agree with them. Erik's is a fine little eatery. If Eric Youngblood were to perform a much-needed renovation on the front of the restaurant, he'd pack the place.
Erik's. Metairie: 4644 W Esplanade. 504-457-0207.
