Tuesday, November 1, 2011.
All-Star Day At Round Table.
I think today's radio show was good enough to enter into the James Beard competition's radio division. I have never entered that before because a) I think the $135 entry fee is confiscatory and 2) an unedited ad-lib show like mine would not show well against the competition. "The Splendid Table," for example, is recorded and tightly edited, and airs only the best caller questions, followed by the host's perfect answers (suspicion: she takes time out to look some of them up). All the hems and haws are removed in editing. All my bad guests and callers and my own hesitations, look-ups, and sneezes go right out on the air. It's live radio, and I do eighteen hours a week instead of the one or two of most food radio shows. But those issues are not taken into consideration in the judging.
Despite that, today's show was so good I think I'll send it in. Chef Bradley Ogden--the John Besh of San Francisco and Las Vegas--was in town and visited to talk about his new cookbook of holiday recipes. At the other end of the desk was the Bradley Ogden of New Orleans--John Besh, whose new book is about his family recipes. The two superstar chefs palavered with one another while I threw a few firecrackers into their midst. Ogden has a lot of background to draw on. He actually used to work with James Beard and Joe Baum in New York. He wound up staying a half-hour longer than what he said was the time he absolutely had to leave, so interesting were the dynamics with Besh.
Also in the room was Chef Eric Damidot. He is the executive chef of the newly-reopened Hyatt Regency Hotel, next to the Superdome. Connection: John Besh is opening his own place in the Hyatt in the next few months. (A seafood house called Borgne, with former Galatoire's chef Brian Landry in the kitchen.)
Chef Eric brought four wooden mini-crates of freshly-cut-and-fried potato chips. He says they emerged from a machine into which the cook shoves whole potatoes at one end, and picks up perfect finished, hot, crisp chips from the other end a few minutes later. I asked him whether I'd just heard him right. I had. All the chef has to do is add the seasoning. (The four flavors we sampled were barbecue, white cheddar, dill, and (!) ketchup.) These things could hardly have been better. We're still eating them a week later at the Cool Water Ranch.
Our beverage guest this week finally pulled us away from the oversupply of beer we've had for over a month now. Clark Johnson (no relation to Clark, the Gourmet Truck Driver) came from the Wineloft in Mandeville with nine wines, all big reds, each one better than the next. I really must begin asking for a list of the wines; what with the radio proceedings, the other guests, and yes, the effects of the wine itself, I can't recall what we had, the knowledge of which would enhance the narrative immeasurably. I remember a Fleurie and a Robert Mondavi Oakville Cabernet that we didn't get around to opening, but that's it.
I did learn that the Wineloft is not what I thought it was. It's not a retail store, but a wine bar with a tapas menu and live music. I did know that it's across the parking lot from Carmelo. Clark reminded me that he's been trying to get me to come in and try the food for rather a long time now. I had to pull out my decreasingly less useful standard excuse, that I was crippled for three months this year.
Also in the room was Larry Wyatt. He's the owner of Hillbilly Barbecue, which is in the top two of barbecue joints in the New Orleans environs. (The Joint is the other, but I can't say which I prefer.) Hillbilly's customers have been upset lately because the original place seems to have shut down. In fact, Larry moved to the railroad-track end of Hickory Avenue in Harahan. Not too far, by the standards of River Ridge.
Larry explained Kentucky-style barbecue. The biggest issue seems to be the enhanced amounts of vinegar in the sauce, which stops short of being that sloshy kind you see in the Carolinas. I like a high-vinegar sauce, and this one is excellent. So are the brisket, ribs, and pulled pork, substantial samples of which Larry had brought with him. As well as potato salad (spicy, soft, perhaps the city's best), beans, cole slaw, and buns.
Trouble was, I didn't know all of that was in the studio until the end of the show. So I had an enormous amount of barbecue to deal with. This late in the day, the big eaters are gone from the radio complex. I gave half the hoard to Todd Menesses, the assistant program director. I hauled as muck as I could carry to the parking garage. Mary Ann knew about all this food, and--barbecue hound that she is--would not be happy if I didn't bring some home.
Hillbilly Barbecue. River Ridge: 2317 Hickory Ave. 504-738-1508.
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.
