Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Eat Club At Redemption, Starring Greg Picolo.
A comic strip I read every day (Mary Ann always seems to walk into my office then, given her the idea that it's what I do all day long) made an interesting point today, but no real joke. In the first panel, the title character notes that today is the 366th day of the year. He sits there saying nothing for the next two panels. Then he says, "Think of it as a free cartoon." Yeah, but what did the artist do with the extra offering? Nothing! It was an existential strip. I like such things.
I say February 29 ought to be a day off for everybody--except government workers and bankers, who already take too many days off.
The Eat Club celebrated Leap Day with an expensive dinner. One of our regulars told me about a tradition among some wine collectors to open the best bottle in the cellar on February 29. I thought this would be a good theme, and gave Redemption the okay to boost the quality of the wines higher than usual. And charge us more: $125, as opposed to our typical $75. I was a little reluctant, but the dinner sold out quickly. Maybe we ought to do this more often.
Redemption is the rebirth of the Katrina-murdered Christian's. Redemption itself got a new lease on life when Chef Greg Picolo took over the kitchen a few months ago. He had been the presiding genius at the marvelous little Bistro at the Maison DeVille for eighteen years, but real estate issues yanked the restaurant out from under him last August, and he was looking for a new gig.
Greg is one of the more innovative chefs. But he is thoroughly a New Orleans guy. His speech patterns give him away instantly. He's a Yat passing as a great culinarian. (Others in that category would include Frank Brigtsen, Poppy Tooker, Vincent Catalanotto, Dickie Brennan, Duke Locicero, and Kevin Vizard.) Although Greg's food is original and delectable, look deeply into the recipes and you find old New Orleans ideas all over the place.
A great example of that was the main course in tonight's Eat Club dinner. It was a Prime filet mignon, covered with a brown sauce containing oysters. Fans of the old Christian's might suspect this was the return of the oyster-stuffed, demi-glace-flooded filet Bayou la Loutre. But, Greg told me, "I was reading your Lost Restaurants book and saw the recipe for oysters Tchoupitoulas from Tchoupitoulas Plantation. I thought how good that would be over a steak!"
Oysters and steak together are wonderful, I agreed. "Thank you!" Greg all but shouted.
The dinner began with a soup of sweet potatoes, Italian sausage, and spiced pecans. I was not wild about this, but everyone else at my table was. Maybe it was because I was so impressed by the wine: an Alsatian Riesling, Albert Mann 2010 Auxerrois Vielles Vignes. This was one of those wines with so much fruit extract that it seemed sweet, even though I know damned well that Alsatian wines are almost always very dry.
Now came the cold-smoked, fried soft-shell crab. That's unambiguously a signature dish of Christian's, Chef Roland Huet's greatest creation. I remember when Roland was working on the dish. It took months and four different smokers before he had it figured out. Greg is only on smoker #2. His smoked crab as it stands now is excellent. If you never had Roland's version, you'd think it perfect. But it needs a bit more smoke flavor. He'll get it.
The wine--Serge Dagueneau 2010 Pouilly Fume--was good with this, the sharpness cutting through the butter. The next wine was even better. It's a Meursault that got caught up in local politics and so cannot be called a Meursault, even though all the flavor characteristics are there in spades. Raymond Dupont-Fahn 2009 Bourgogne Chaumes Des Perrière costs about $25 retail, and better than a lot more expensive white Burgundies.
We had that with a pan-seared (but uncoated) flounder fillet with a brown sauce (an unheralded but unmistakable touch of old Creole). The sauce somehow included avocado as an ingredient. On the side, a hot souffle of shrimp and mirlitons. What this plate lacked in looks it made up for twice over in flavor. And the Not Meursault was ideal with it.
Now the filet mignon, with a huge Rhone-grape, Alexander Valley wine called Blacksmith. Never heard of it, but I will remember it.
For dessert, dark chocolate and pistachio bread pudding. The chocolate lovers (all the women, half the men) enjoyed it. I don't like chocolate bread pudding, and this didn't change my mind. However, this came with the best wine of the night, a sweet sherry with a color like overaged rose. The flavors amazed me, shifting from cantaloupe to overripe oranges to papaya to pineapple to mango. Cesar Florido Moscatel Dorado Sherry, from Chipiona, Spain. Amazing.
A pleasant surprise was the presence of pianist and singer Ruth Ann Kerr, who goes by the name "Baby Ruth." She played all evening long and after the dinner was over. Reason: only a few people were leaving. Reason for that: much wine left to be poured, even though we had ten or so more people than we expected. (The restaurant was almost full.) Greg was making the rounds, as was Redemption's charming proprietor Maria Delaune.
When I finally left (and I wasn't the last), I was astonished to see it was 11:20 p.m. Few of our dinners ran so late. The pacing of the meal was flawless, so that wasn't it. We started more or less on time. It was that after-party. But that's what the Eat Club is about.
Redemption. Mid-City: 3835 Iberville St. 504-309-3570.
