Tuesday, August 16, 2011.
Café B-Minus. Riding On The City Of New Orleans Again.
The Marys thought it would be fun to have lunch before heading to the train station. They even had a place in mind: Café B, Ralph Brennan's new bistro in Old Metairie. It's only been open a couple of months, but whatever the girls want, the girls get.
However, we got off to a late start. And why is it that one is always out of gas at the time when one is in the biggest rush? We really didn't have enough time to do Café B justice. On the other hand, the press releases I've received about the place consistently made the point that this would be a neighborhood restaurant, where dressing up was not expected, and where a quick, uncomplicated meal could be had. The menu included salads and sandwiches and burgers and the like.
However, it also included some more complex fare. Chef Chris Montero--who was the chef at Bacco before it closed early this year--is running the kitchen here. He is preparing only a very few dishes straight.
For example, a combination appetizer included a boudin ball (continuing our streak of getting boudin that doesn't taste like boudin), a slab of pork belly (still hasn't caught on with me), a cube-like biscuit whose visual aspect was its only charm) and a single slice each of pickled carrot, cucumber, and green bean. All head, no heart here.
The mussels were, steamed in a broth flavored with absinthe. Original and tasty. But they were topped with a generous pile of fresh-cut French fries. This is the classic French way of serving mussels. However, not all classic preparations are good. I always thought this one makes no sense at all. The steam rising from the mussel broth takes all the crispness out of the fries. And in these example the fries were so numerous that they fell through the gaps between the mussels, soaking up the broth, diminishing both fries and broth.
Better was the "green, egg, and ham." I guess they don't know that Chef Kevin Vizard has been using this same joke for years on his menu, but never mind. Café B's take was a raft of big, beautiful, lightly-grilled asparagus, topped with some crisp prosciutto and a poached egg. I liked this quite a lot, actually.
The other dishes on the table included a wedge salad (half a wedge, actually) and a cheeseburger for you know who, who rated it seven on a scale of ten. And then we really had to go, lest we miss the train. En route, we decided that we went to Café B too soon, but didn't get there soon enough. We also agreed that the premises are very appealing, and that the renovations made to the former New City Grill improved the space tremendously.
We pulled into Union Passenger Terminal at 1:30 p.m. The train leaves--as in starts moving--at 1:45. Almost all the other passengers were already aboard. This is too close for my comfort, but we made it. My one worry--that I would be challenged for taking the senior citizen's discount, which begins not at 60 as I thought but at 62--did not play out.
The sleeping car was the last one on the train, placing it closest to the terminal. That made boarding easy, but that was the only advantage. The dining and lounge cars--which in a normal train would be ahead of the sleeper but behind all the coaches--were up at the head of the train. This meant that we must walk through four cars to get to the diner. The reason: it saves the guy who slips this sleeper into another train two days from now about a half-hour of effort. But it inconveniences everybody on this train and another one at least three times each trip.
I understand the issue, but it's as complex as it is absurd. I can't bring myself to make a reader wade through the explanation. However, I will write a letter to Amtrak management, telling how dumb I think this is, especially for a guy like me who has to walk through four cars with a compromised ankle while the cars sway and jerk.
Lunch was served in the diner, but having just eaten that meal we let it pass. We settled into Deluxe Bedroom C, opened the curtains on both sides, and watched the train pass through the marshy southern margin of Lake Pontchartrain. We walked to the back of the car and looked at the rails disappear behind us. We saw the spot where the rushing water of the Bonnet Carre Spillway washed away part of the railroad bridge, during the weeks when the spillway was open to the river last month. I saw pictures of that. Only the rails themselves, barely held together by three crossties, stayed put. For twenty-six feet, nothing was underneath them. That was a very close brush with disaster.
We stayed at the back window to watch for the beginning of the longest continuous railroad curve in the world. That's on the west side of the spillway, and is so subtle that you're on it a mile or so before you realize that it is, in fact, curving. It keeps curving through primordial palmettos, past Peavine Road and its restaurants, then along the shore of the lake. When it reaches the point at which Middendorf's is directly ahead, the track straightens.
That's about as exciting as it gets on a train. But that's what I like about trains. Mary Leigh was much less thrilled, and began wondering if this idea (it was hers, not mine) was such a great one.
We made our way to the diner for dinner at a quarter to eight. Half a roast chicken for me, a sirloin strip steak for her. Neither were brilliant, of course, but both were good. Good food on a train diner is reason for rejoicing.
Dinner took place during the worst part of the route, which for the past several years has gone through Yazoo City and Greenwood en route to Memphis. Although this is flatter territory than the old route, it is in terrible condition for passenger trains. The railroad (Canadian National now) has got to do something about this.
We watched ourselves pull into Memphis, right on time. We waited for the train to depart, then we climbed into our beds. Mary Leigh got the top bunk, for obvious reasons. She would not sleep well. I would.
Cafe B. Old Metairie: 2700 Metairie Road. 504-934-4700.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
