Tuesday, September 13, 2011.
Kosher Moroccan, Cowbell Man, Chef In Exile.
Today's Round Table show was more varied than most. That would have to be true, given that one of the guests was Linda Waknin. Her restaurant Casablanca is a kosher Moroccan eatery, hewing tightly to the Jewish dietary laws while turning out terrific couscous, cinnamon-fragrant chicken bastilla, spicy tagines of everything from fish to lamb, and kafta kebabs. She also makes the best simple soups I know. I earned an important less from Linda about making simple soups: start with a vegetable stock. Particularly in the making of split pea soup (or any other soup made with legumes), doing that makes an astounding difference in the depth of flavor.
She didn't bring any soups, but it seemed she brought everything else, including her unique, dairy-free kosher cheesecake, made with tofu. (If you didn't know that's what it was made with, you'd never guess.) Linda filled the desk with food. Not only the guests but the entire WWL newsroom stuffed themselves. As did I. No need for supper after this.
As if we needed it, we also had hamburgers. Those were supplies by Brack May, the chef-owner of Cowbell. I first ran into him when he cheffed Cobalt--the restaurant which before the hurricane was in the space now occupied by Lüke. I mustn't have talked with him much back then, or I would have remembered what a conversationalist he is. He will go on my short list of guests who always have something to say, and say it. Radio hosts treasure such people.
Cowbell is in an unlikely location: in a very old gas station between two railroad tracks on Oak Street at Eagle. (I remember that it was one of the now-extinct Gulf Coast Oil Company stations that were around town until the late 1960s.) It was one of the first of the please-not-another-one! generation of gourmet, $10-and-up hamburger shops being opened by serious chefs who should have better things to do. (It's the customers that are most to blame.)
Brack has done more with Cowbell than the other upscale burger places have. Aside from making a great hamburger and cutting fries from fresh potatoes, his menu offers a few other low-end eats made with first-class ingredients and attention to details. But what interests me most is what he says about the neighborhood. "When we moved in, this was not a particularly good part of the city," he says. "But since Oak Street got a facelift and we moved in, a few of the houses have been bought and are being renovated. I think we helped that happen."
A surprise guest (booked by Mary Ann after the last minute) was Greg Sonnier. He was the chef-owner of Gabrielle on Esplanade Avenue until the hurricane. The building got blown out pretty bad, and Greg and his wife Mary bought a reception hall a block and a half from Clancy's and attempted to reopen Gabrielle there. They ran into tremendous opposition from a few of the neighbors, one of whom was long-time politico Eddie Sapir. Eddie knows his way around, and the neighborhood revolt prevented Gabrielle from opening as a full-fledged restaurant. The Sonniers have made do by doing private parties, special gourmet dinners, and celebrity chef gigs around the country.
Greg was unable to give details, but he said that he is on the verge of a legal breakthrough that will finally allow Gabrielle at the Uptowner (the old name of the Henry Clay Street reception hall) to open as a restaurant. It has something to do with the fact that there was no legal definition of "reception hall" until the Sonniers prepared to open. Sounds like ex post facto to me, and that's banned by the Constitution.
But I have heard all this before, and watched the effort get blocked again. In the meantime, we know that Thursday next week he's doing a dinner for the well-named Mystery Street Productions. It's open to the public and looks like a one-night-only revival of Gabrielle.
Cowbell. Riverbend: 1200 Eagle St. 504-866-4222.
Gabrielle At The Uptowner. Uptown: 438 Henry Clay Ave.
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.
