Tuesday, July 9, 2013.
Favorite Waitress. Bar Tonique. Windsor Court. Dinner At Café B.
Interesting bunch on the Round Table Show Today. Barbara Cazier came all the way from DiCristina's in Covington because she's Mary Ann's favorite waitress. With good reason: she has a lot of personality, offers good advice on what to order, and always says yes to any offbeat request.
Also with us were Skip Adams, the Food and Beverage Director of the Windsor Court Hotel. He confirmed something I heard months ago: that Chef Kristin Butterworth had departed the Grill Room, after deciding she liked Pittsburgh better than New Orleans. I guess it's possible. No word on a new chef yet.
Steve Wilshire is the general manager of Bar Tonique, one of the more advanced-hip cocktail specialists. It's on North Rampart a half-block from where a new Marti's restaurant is being built in the location of the old Marti's (and Peristyle and Wolfe's). He mixed a few good libations for us, and we got into a deep discussion of the ancient history of the cocktail.
Dinner at Café B. First time in about a year. It continues to evolve upwards--a typical pattern for Brennan Family restaurants. (Café B is Ralph Brennan's latest, unless you count whatever he's getting ready to open in the longtime Brennan's building on Royal Street.
Café B is running a special eight-choice crabmeat menu. It was mouth-watering to read. I held off on the crabmeat until the second course. I liked the look and idea of the eggplant sticks, served with a very spicy and delicious aioli. Then two thick slices of Creole tomatoes with lump crabmeat ravigote over one of them. This almost guarantees the diner's though, "Why not on both?" The deliciousness was as good as the question.
The entree was a variation on something Café B's chef Chris Montero used to make at the now-extinct Bacco. Linguine with truffle oil, crabmeat, wild mushrooms, pecans and a more-than-typically complex version of aglio olio. Delicious, and too much to finish.
I disdain linguine. It's a spaghetti with an oval cross-section instead of round. (Shaped like a tongue, hence the name.) That shape makes the noodles heavier. But almost every food is better made thin than into a corresponding thicker version.
The dessert that sounded good was lemon meringue pie. The waiter came back to say that it had just run out. (Maybe they didn't want to sell the last piece to me.) I took this as a sign from God that I shouldn't eat dessert.
Café B. Old Metairie: 2700 Metairie Road. 504-934-4700.
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