Tuesday, April 10, 2012.
French Quarter Festival, Best Chefs Crowd The Studio.
Too much going on in New Orleans food circles this time of year. Representatives of all the events want to be on the radio show. I want them, too. Maybe it would be a good idea if we bumped some of the guests to other days than Tuesday, when we have our weekly round-table show.
That seems obvious, but it's countered by a not-so-obvious fact of radio talk shows. It is known well that listeners much prefer to listen to other listeners calling in than to even the most prominent chefs and restaurateurs. And the kind of guest who comes in with the idea of promoting even a great event is a particularly virulent audience-killer.
We managed to have a good time anyway, largely thanks to Sean Thibodeaux. Sean is a former restaurant mixologist who now helps restaurants develop cocktail menus. He made four cocktails for us. All it took to brighten the conversation was one: a zingy lemon-flavored gin drink. A mojito, a take on a Manhattan, and a sour had us all laughing by the third hour.
Laughing right along were chef Mark Falgoust from Grand Isle (the restaurant, not the town); Daniel Esses, the chef of Three Muses in the Marigny; and Mark Quitney from the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street. All of those guys will be serving food at the French Quarter Festival that starts Thursday. Filling in the facts was Georgia Rhody, the FQF's media liaison.
She says that seventy-one restaurants will be there this year, and that the whole thing will begin Thursday. That's twice as long as it was when it began twenty-nine years ago. But the crowd--an increasing portion which is coming from well out of town--can't get enough of it. Jude was even thinking of flying in from L.A. for the festival, but couldn't get a flight. He's come to the French Quarter Festival since he was a baby in a stroller.
The other big bash on the horizon is the unimaginatively-named "The Best Chefs In Louisiana." It is indeed an exposition of the most prominent and accomplished chefs, as chosen by other chefs. But what you and I care about is the food being set out by chefs who aspire to win this honor in the future. It ran for the first time last year at Mardi Gras World, to raves from everyone I spoke to who attended. (I didn't, because I still couldn't walk then.)
Chef Damian Thomas, the president of the American Culinary Federation's very active New Orleans chapter (it's the chef's club) was in the studio to talk about what's going down. And to tell me what I was expected to do as the master of ceremonies at the event. If you never heard of Damian, it's because his lookout in the food service business is feeding the residents of eleven assisted-living centers operated by the New Orleans Archdiocese. That's a part of cooking that's much bigger than we restaurant customers think.
Also among our eight guests (with four microphones) was Ronnie LaPorte, a New Orleans policeman who, with two other cops, opened the wildly popular Blue Dot doughnut shop on Canal Street in Mid-City a year or so ago. He says that the most popular doughnut is the wide, long, eclair-style stick doughnut that's covered with maple icing and crumbed bacon. Each advance on the healthy-eating front is counteracted by something like this.
Dinner at Panchita's. I had food from there a couple of times while I was incapacitated last year. I intended to return and eat in as soon as I was mobile, to work up a review. Maybe even with Mary Leigh, since the place is not far from Tulane. It never crossed my mind again until today.
Almost all the customers were being served at the sidewalk tables, all of which were full. I grabbed a spot at the counter along the big front window. The place is smaller than I thought--but then it hit me that this building was formerly Streetcar Sandwiches, a popular place back in the days before the Great Poor Boy Renaissance of the 2000s.
I started with a little ramekin of guacamole for the charming price of $2.50. Then chicken enchiladas with molé poblano (below), one of my favorite flavors. This was a beautiful plate of food for $10, and the smooth, savory chocolate-and-sesame sauce was almost too perfect. In fact, it made me suspicious about its origins. But if it tastes good, it is good, and this was delicious. Beans and rice and a bottle of Modelo made for a great supper.
I finished it with an enormous slice of tres leches cake, a little on the dry side but good enough that I ate more than I should have.
I would love to live around South Carrollton again. I did for a few years in my early twenties, and before that I worked in the neighborhood. I always felt at home here. Of course, Mary Ann hates the place.
Blue Dot Donuts. Mid-City: 4301 Canal St. 504-218-4866.
Panchita's. Riverbend: 1434 S Carrollton Ave. 504-281-4127.
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.
