Wednesday, January 2, 2013.
Dragging The Carcass Back To Work. Crescent City Steak House.
I don't get the Monday-morning, day-after-vacation blues very often. I'd better not, considering the quality of my job. But I so enjoyed the four days I just had more or less off-duty that I welcomed this day with less than gladness.
I most dread returning to the radio show. I know how tough it will be to gather an audience. The listeners are also less than enthusiastic about returning to the routine. Indeed, many of them don't. The traffic was light heading into town. Things were sluggish on the website, too. I'll bet there's a correlation between the number of people who visit NOMenu.com and the business in restaurants.
I was hungry for a steak, and had a good excuse to eat one. A convincing article I read during the holidays made a good case (not for the first time) that the foods that should be cut back most if one is trying to lose weight are the carbohydrates. Seems that they don't fill you up, even after you've had plenty enough, and you keep on eating. Proteins and even fats have the opposite effect.
The Crescent City Steak House has been on my mind for a few months. Even though I will be there on a little over a month (it's one of my Mardi Gras traditions), tonight seemed perfect. Usual fare: salad with their offbeat blue cheese vinaigrette, sirloin strip medium rare, broccoli au gratin. The steak had the dry-aged flavor that I come here for, and the under-$30 price that makes it accessible. (The steak is a touch smaller than most, another good thing.)
Krasna Vojkovich--the wife of the late founder of the restaurant--visited to tell me what was up. For most of the history of the Crescent City, the answer to that question would be "nothing." Few New Orleans restaurants were as changeless. The Crescent City made Galatoire's or Antoine's look like avant-garde. But like many restaurants, the CCSH was shaken up by Katrina. They had to replace or rebuild a lot of the place. That momentum is still visible. Right now they're installing an elevator to the private rooms on the second floor. I didn't know they even had dining space up there.
Crescent City Steak House. Mid-City: 1001 N Broad. 504-821-3271.
