Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
Permission For Training. An Uninspiring Chinese Dinner.
Through several changes of mood, Mary Ann continues to encourage me to take a train vacation. She doesn't want to join me--everyone in my family has declared that they will never again board a train except under duress. But they love me enough to allow me a train ride if it doesn't get in their way.
The motivating force is that I'd like to escape my routine of newsletter publishing and radio shows for about two weeks. I have a book underway, and it need some focused, uninterrupted attention if I expect to get anywhere with it. Being on a train is perfect. The only thing that happens are a) the world flashing by outside the window, and 2) three meals a day in the diner. It's a great place to read or write.
I fantasized about the possibilities the morning, and came up with a big rectangular route that encloses most of the western two-thirds of the U.S. I would take the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, and hang out with Jude for a few days. Then north on the Coast Starlight to Seattle, a city where I've never set foot. East to Chicago on the Empire Builder, the only major American train I've never taken. Finally, home on the very familiar (over fifty trips for me) City Of New Orleans. Twelve days. Two thousand dollars--the majority of that going for the sleeping car upgrade. (Which includes all meals.) Even after hearing that number, Mary Ann continued to encourage me to do it.
The radio show featured three unusually interesting guests. Mark Latter (left) was the most newsworthy. He's the son of Steven Latter, the thirty-two-year proprietor of Tujague's. Steven died a few months ago, triggering a series of events that almost wound up with Tujague's being forced to move or to close completely. Cooler heads prevailed--especially that Steven's brother Stanford Latter, who owns the building. Mark signed a long-term lease and acquired total ownership of the business. So all is well.
I had dinner with Mark and Steven less than a year ago. Mark was part of Tujague's management for several years, and he and his dad were thinking of modernizing the menu. I got the impression that Mark is ready to go a good deal farther than his father. But he makes it clear that Tujague's would remain Tujague's. Now these plans are underway, and include not only some menu changes but also a de-renovation of the dining rooms. The fake-walnut paneling from a renovation in the 1970s would be first to go. Mark adds that he would shortly reopen for lunch seven days a week, for the first time since Katrina. All of this sounds good to me.
Bill DiPaola (center) moved from one restaurant to another for the past few years, always in managerial positions. He is now with the organization that operates the two Juan's Flying Burrito restaurants and the two Slice Pizzerias. He is also involved with Lucky Rooster, the group's new Asian-fusion place on Baronne Street right off Poydras. This should kick up some interest among the hip, younger diners: the concept is to serve the street food of China, Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries of the Far East.
When does it open? I asked Bill. He looked at his watch. "In about three minutes." So we have breaking news from two of our guests today.
No, make it three. Justin Kennedy (right), who is charge of day-to-day operations at Parkway Poor Boys, was worked up about an appearance on the cable network program "Chopped." It was one of those absurd contests in which a group of competing chefs is given a basket of ingredients, and told to make something of it. Who would go to a restaurant where such a practice were actually part of the menu? But Justin was thrilled, as well he should be. He's not really a chef, but he's learning fast. And these shows (it's not his first one) bring a lot of attention to the restaurants lucky enough to be selected to participate.
To dinner at Chun Lee, a Chinese restaurant in Elmwood that people have recommended to me for years, although I haven't heard much about it lately. Hard to find, it's on a street to which the shopping malls back up, with warehouses on the other side. I'll bet they do a big lunch business.
The menu was not encouraging with the exception of one section of Vietnamese "bun" dishes (grilled meats atop cool noodles). Everything else was as it would have been thirty years ago. And the prices--most of them under $10, in some cases including fried rice and egg roll--were too low to suggest excellence.
I started with hot and sour soup, as I usually do on my first visit to a Chinese restaurant. Then Mongolian beef. "What number, please?" asked the waitress. It's been forty years since I was last asked that question. I looked it up and told her. I'm not sure I got what I ordered anyway. Seemed to me that more vegetables were mentioned than had arrived. And what were these fried noodles on top about? But those were minor issues compared with the beef itself, which was very difficult to chew, even though it was sliced as thick as two stacked nickels. I gave up after eating about a third of the very large portion.
I will not be writing much more than the above about this restaurant.
When I got home, I ran the train idea past Mary Ann once again. I added that, because I would be alone in a compartment made for two, she or anyone else could travel with me for only a few hundred dollars more. I knew she would shake her head. "You go and enjoy yourself," she said. "You deserve it."
If I were the suspicious type, I'd wonder whether she were trying to get rid of me for a while. But it wouldn't be for the first time that I've been sent off--or left behind--on my own.
I sat down and made the reservations for Labor Day weekend and most of the following two weeks. That is the deadest time of year for both restaurants and travel. The fares are much lower than at any other time of year. Now I have something to dream about.
Chun Lee. Harahan: 1100 Elmwood Park. 504-733-8562.
