Thursday, May 27. End Of School. (Really.) A Trim. Carousel Bar. Royal Street Stroll. Holidays and computer disasters aside, I publish an edition of the New Orleans Menu Daily every weekday without fail. I did not write one today. That's how busy this day, and how important were the items on the agenda.
The first and biggest was the final assembly for the school year at Louise S. McGehee School. A call two days ago let us know that we ought to be present, because Mary Leigh would be receiving a major award. And she did: the top prize, duly named for a generous alumna, for excellence in art. (That was wonderful, but Mary Ann thought she should have received another one.)
This was the last, really, no kidding, the final whole-school event of the year. And the last time the graduating seniors, who sat on the stage being honored again, would wear their uniforms. After two and a half hours, all that remained was the commencement tomorrow night, as Mary Leigh's Graduation Festival keeps on playing.
My original plan was to go to the radio station, put out at least a cursory edition, then get a desperately-needed haircut. But the Marys were importuning me to go to lunch with them. Mary Ann thought Mr. B's would be the place. I expected that the restaurant would be full. By some miracle, we were able not only to get an immediate table, but the best table in the house, at the corner of Iberville and Royal.
Any lingering doubts I had about whether Mr. B's were back up to its pre-hurricane excitement were washed away by this lunch. I started with a cocktail special: a blueberry mojito, of all things, for three bucks. It was jammed with fresh blueberries and mint, and was better than it had any right to be.
Then gumbo ya-ya, which I have been calling the best gumbo in town for thirty years. It still is. Intense broth, dark roux, great andouille and chicken: perfection.
Mary Ann had a buffalo chicken salad (top, above). Fried chicken chunks, tossed with pepper butter, straddling a pile of greens, with blue cheese crumbles all over. Too big to finish. Mary Leigh had a hamburger, of course: with bacon, cheese, and fresh-cut fries of middling goodness.
My entree dates back to Mr. B's earliest days. They had the first wood-burning grill in modern New Orleans, and from it came the second local example (Café Sbisa had it a year before) of char-grilled fish. The one I had today was trout, liberally sprinkled with Creole seasoning, mellowed with beurre blanc. Delicious and fresh.
I think Mr. B's makes the city's best bread pudding--my favorite dessert. They do it by baking it at a very low temperature--about 275 degrees--for a couple of hours. It comes out wonderfully light. The only way I would improve it would be with more cinnamon--but that's my taste in the matter.
The Marys do not usually get desserts, but the waiter said the magic words to Mary Leigh: chocolate molten cake, with ice cream and strawberries. Bing!
After that, they moved on to the rest of their plans (finishing ML's graduation dress is surely one of them). I adjourned to Harold Klein's tonsorial parlor in the basement of the Royal Orleans Hotel. I was early. Harold took a half-hour to make me look presentable for the Grand Graduation, while ragging on politicians past and present.
When he was finished, I had another chunk of time too short to do anything with but sit around waiting for the show to begin. I walked up Royal Street, through the maze of lines set up for the Royal Street Stroll event of the New Orleans Wine Experience. As usual, my part in that was broadcasting from somewhere along the wine-sipping route. This year I was stationed inside the Monteleone Hotel's Carousel Bar. (Not at the bar, of course; that would have tangled everyone in wires.)
Until the Stroll began at 5:30, I were visited by a number of winemakers, hailing from California to Australia. By the time I finish these interviews (always accompanied by samples of the winemaker's works), I'm about done with wine-tasting for the day. Even if I went to the Stroll, I wouldn't get any food or wine, because people stop me every five feet to chat. (And am I glad they do!) I would go straight home after signing off.
During the final hour of the show, our space was shared with a party celebrating the opening of Sex And The City II, which will premiere in New Orleans tonight at Canal Place. A bunch of women in loud getups--pink feather boas, tiaras with flashing lights, and illuminated martini glasses filled with Cosmopolitan cocktails--partied, ate, and drank. They were business customers of the hotel, who hosted the event. They seemed to be having a lot of fun pretending that they were on the prowl for men. We men know that this is only a pose.
Mr. B’s Bistro. French Quarter: 201 Royal. 504-523-2078. Contemporary Creole.
