Tuesday, April 5, 2011.
Goodbye, Chef Robert.
Kit Wohl wrote with sad news: Chef Robert Barker, who lately has been the chef at Mr. John's Steakhouse, dropped dead in the parking garage of the restaurant Saturday night. Kit lives upstairs of the restaurant, and has known Chef Robert since he was a boy. In my single days, Kit invited me every year for what she called her Waifs and Orphans Thanksgiving Dinner. It was mostly media people who had no particular place to go. Chef Robert--who was in his teens then--was up there doing a lot of the cooking. He also worked with Kit in the production of her numerous cookbooks. In between, Robert worked at Arnaud's, Emeril's, and a few other noteworthy kitchens. He was only forty-four, and a terribly nice guy. They think it was a heart attack. He was significantly overweight. Something else to put the fear of God in me.
I had to get ahead of my publishing schedule today because I will be at the hospital most of tomorrow morning. Despite the cracked ankle, I've missed only one day's Menu Daily--on the day when I was supposed to have the surgery. They postponed it, but not until after they'd drugged me up. (If I had written a newsletter that day, it might have been interesting.)
Mary Ann came back from her errands with a roast beef poor boy from Bear's in Mandeville. It was too late to eat it before the radio show (talking for three hours on a full stomach goobers up the vocal cords), but we stuck it into the toaster oven afterwards and it was about 70 percent as good as fresh made. Here was a poor boy with too much beef on it. I actually had to remove some of the meat to eat it. The cat Twinnery loved it.
Bear's Grill & Spirits. Mandeville: 1809 N Causeway Blvd. 985-674-9090.
