Tuesday, May 8, 2012.
Two Restaurateurs And Their Mothers. Apolline.
Mary Ann's Mother's Day theme for the round table show today involved restaurant people whose mothers work with them in the business. Thinking of these was easier than we thought. These sprang to mind immediately:
Drago's: Tommy Cvitanovich and his mother Klara (who actually opened the place with Drago).
Broussard's: Marc Preuss and his mother Evelyn.
Crescent City Steak House: Krasna Vojkovich, and her sons and daughter.
Arnaud's: Jane Casbarian, and son Archie Jr. and daughter Katie.
Unfortunately, we thought about this far too late to book as many as we could have. But we were able to get two great son-and-mother combinations
Rick Blount is the fifth-generation CEO of Antoine's. His mother Yvonne (left in the photo) has never been on the flow chart of Antoine's operations management. But she's always there, and cares deeply about the restaurant of her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Besides that, since Katrina she has lived in an apartment over the restaurant, just as Antoine himself did, back in the mid-1800s.
Push Yvonne's button, and out comes a parade of stories about Antoine's. She has seen it through good times and bad, and probably knows more about the place than anyone who ever lived. She grew up there, after all. So I pushed, and we listened.
Also here was Scott Craig, the co-owner of Katie's, which may be the finest example of the New Orleans neighborhood restaurant. His mother Mary--who astonished everyone by noting that she's eighty-nine years old--helps out at the restaurant, mostly by running the front door.
"She almost runs the place," said Scott. "A lot of people say they don't want to talk to me, they want to talk to my mother."
Lovey Wakefield is not only a mother, but she's in a motherly way, expecting her second son in a few weeks. We didn't know that when we booked her, but it certainly fit the theme of the show. Her e-tail business sells New Orleans foodstuffs for shipment all over the world. The catalogue ranges from Creole seasonings to Central Grocery's olive salad to French bread to turduckens. There was not a lot to be said about this other than the website URL (NOLACajun.com). But it's a great answer toa question I'm asked all the time by people who need essential New Orleans far outside New Orleans.
Finally, Patrick Von Hoorebeek of Bar Vin was here, with the perfect Mother's Day accompaniment: rose Champagne. He brought the non-vintage pink bubblies from Nicolas Feuillatte and Moet et Chandon. The two mothers were very pleased for their thirsts to be so finely slaked.
The Champagne also fueled a good mood in the studio, and the show went exactly along the lines of what I had in mind for these round-table shows. Lots of good stories, lots of laughs, lots of information. I'm going to save this show for my archives. Here are links to podcasts of the show, hour by hour:
3 p.m. Hour: http://tinyurl.com/bpm3a6p
4 p.m. Hour: http://tinyurl.com/dy4chz5
5 p.m. Hour: http://tinyurl.com/cev2lvn
Now, dinner. My intention was to try out Sammy's Deli on Elysian Fields, which many people (including Scott Craig) have strongly recommended to me. But when I checked their hours, it turned out that they only do lunch most of the week. My second idea was the Courtyard, a relatively new Middle Eastern place on Magazine Street. Haven't been; I hear very good things. But they are closed on Tuesdays, I discovered when I got there.
So onward up Magazine Street, where there are now fifty-seven restaurants. Ah! Apolline! That's the restaurant which, under the name Dominique's, was a phenomenon in 2010 and most of 2011. Late last year chef Dominique Macquet left to do other things. But the restaurant, under a new name, kept on going without him.
The restaurant was entirely empty. Nevertheless, I had an excellent dinner, one I will report on tomorrow.
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.
