Wednesday, August 18. Eat Club Dinner At Maximo's. The rain came down in tropical torrents today. I wondered how, even with an umbrella, I would get from the nearest parking lot to Maximo's, two blocks away. And how many Eat Club diners we would lose to the weather.
But we all got lucky. I almost passed Maximo's en route to the entrance to the always-convenient French Market parking lot, but was astonished to see not one but two open, legal parking spaces right in front of the restaurant. The parking ticket machine even worked with my credit card. Unbelievable!
When there is as much heat and rain as we've had lately, even the overpowering air conditioning in New Orleans buildings sometimes is tested. You don't get as much heat exchange when the coils are pulling gallons of water vapor per hour from the air. The chill is lost as the cold water drains away. And the water insulates the coils, too. Maximo's air coolers weren't quite keeping up, and it was just barely in the seventies during the radio show and the dinner. If anyone minded this, they weren't saying so. I'm glad Mary Ann--who like Maximo's--wasn't hear. She says she's always hot these days.
We began with some very spicy grilled shrimp, paired with a cool cucumber salad. Nice touch. Then the dish of the night: wild boar ravioli, with smoked-in-house provolone cheese and a very intense, zippy red sauce. They feature a different ravioli variation every night, made from scratch--including the pasta.
Then an unusual salad of butter lettuce (it tastes almost creamy) with bacon and crabmeat. No dissenters for that course. By this time, in my peregrinations from table to table, I was sitting at the food bar. Maximo's kitchen is entirely in the open, and a counter with comfortable stools (they have backs) wraps around it. Eight of the Eat Clubbers saw, rightly, that this was the best place to be. They might have had second thoughts when the chef brigade began pan-searing the next course: Alaska halibut. A bit too much smoke got into the air. And--as I found out the next morning--into our clothes. But all chef's tables/counters are that way.
The halibut was worth the trouble. Chef Thomas Woods told me during our chat on the radio that it was his favorite fish anywhere. He made a convincing argument with this dish, served with slices of pear and sauteed spinach.
The dessert was nothing much: a chocolate mousse that seemed badly made to me (but perhaps on purpose), and a glass of champagne with raspberries floating in it.
A lot of interesting people joined us tonight. One man has been a gourmet diner long enough to tell me stories about long-gone restaurants I never heard of. I was a little concerned that the restaurants doesn't have many big tables, what with all the booths for four. People who don't know one another have no problem blending when six or eight are at the table, but four is a little uncomfortable. Nobody seemed to mind, though.
The rain was long gone when I left at ten-thirty. But I was still very happy my car was just right outside.
Maximo’s Italian Grill. French Quarter: 1117 Decatur. 504-586-8883. Northern Italian.
