Wednesday, December 29, 2010. Chateau Du Lac By Accordion. Twenty-one degrees again this morning. It's seventeen where the Marys and Jude are, in western Virginia. They say that the place is formal and snooty, and that I would love it for that reason. Yet they love it for its other comforts. They are trying to get me to fly up to be there on New Year's Eve. But the main restaurant is booked up. The alternative is the buffet. I don't do snow. I sort of gave the idea of my going up there tomorrow or Friday a pocket veto by saying I'd think about it.
Dinner at Chateau du Lac. As much as I like Chef Jacques Seleun's food, I haven't been there in a long time. I almost didn't get in tonight. The main dining room was full. The only open table was next to an old French man playing French and American standards on an accordion.
I can't remember who said "A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't." But I like accordion music, from cowboy (Sons of the Pioneers) to polka (Lawrence Welk) to jazz (Art Van Damme). A podiatrist who used to come to our Eat Club dinners played the accordion all night at one of them, about fifteen Christmases ago. A man named Ron Able played the accordion while John Paquette sang during the grand days of the Sazerac Restaurant, in the 1970s and 1980s. Ron seemed to know every song every written, and he let me sing with him sometimes.
I asked for that table. The accordionist played an amazing repertoire without a break for a couple of hours. I was going to ask him to let me sing with him, but truly I couldn't hear a gap in his notes big enough to allow any other musician entry. He sounded like two or three people playing. Chef Jacques told me that the accordionist was in his late seventies, and used to play with Edith Piaf. He may have: he played La Vie En Rose twice while I was there. It was the perfect music to dine alone by.
The food was good too. I started with escargots, served in the six-pocketed china baking dish with lots of garlic, parsley, and butter. Then a butternut squash bisque with strips of prosciutto here and there. It also was delicious, although I burned my tongue eating it.
The entree was a strip sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce. That's a classic--both that beef cut and the tan, creamy version of the sauce. Chef Jacques sticks to the prescribed French presentations, right down to "butlering" the steak--slicing it into about six pieces, but leaving them together so that it looks like it's not been cut. Great eating on a cold night.
Dessert: a frozen Grand Marnier soufflee. Frozen soufflees have gone so out of vogue that they're ripe for some young chef to bring them back as something fresh and new.
Chateau Du Lac. Old Metairie: 2037 Metairie Rd. 504-831-3773.
