Wednesday, January 21, 2009. Mike's American Grill.
It's the coldest morning yet this winter. At twenty-two degrees, a heavy frost covered the grass. The dog Susan was perplexed by a layer of ice atop her water bowl.
While waiting for my raisin toast to emerge, I stared out at the twinkling sunlight refracting through the crystals of ice on the grass, and watched the shadows of the pine trees slowly shift. A natural sundial. The sun rises much to the south now. But I will stand here every sunny morning and track those shadows as they pivot around and bring the sun closer to home.
Mary Ann was so thrilled by Mike's American Grill when she went last week that I let her talk me into doing radio commercials for it. I had no idea that she would close that deal so fast that I would have run over to the place to try it before the first spot came up.
Unless you can cut the restaurant some slack you shouldn't go to a new restaurant. So I had to cut some slack tonight. It opened a week ago, operated by Michael Uddo, whose track record has been terrific. I first met him when he was the chef in the late 1980s at Bouligny. That was one of the first gourmet bistros, in the same class as Clancy's, the Upperline, and Gautreau's. Then he opened a great Italian trattoria called the G&E Courtyard Grill in the early 1990s, creating enough of a stir that people still talk about it. He gave it up when the landlord wanted a much higher rent. Since then, Mike has been in and out of town. He hit it pretty big in Atlanta after Katrina, but his wife wanted to move back to New Orleans.
The restaurant is the former Sal and Sam's, which a year or so ago died and became Ardoise, a place than never got off the ground--probably because it needed a renovation. That has been done, and the new Mike's looks great. Even Mary Ann thinks so, and that's saying something. Much more pleasant and hipper than the worn-out 1970s decor of Sal and Sam's.
The service staff--the most challenging part of a new restaurant's operation--needs further training. However, I was impressed that when I ordered the brisket entree, the waitress advised me strongly against it. (A server who tells you that everything is great is not very good at his or her craft.) While I was in the middle of the appetizer, one of the other servers brought an entree I didn't recognize. When I turned it away, he seemed to be completely perplexed as to what to do next. I'm very happy it wasn't my entree. Nothing deranges my mind more than being brought more than one course at a time.
The food was good, though. A bowl of black mussels was cooked just right--not an overcooked bivalve in the twenty or so that came out. The sauce was great: a creamy, buttery broth with green peppercorns. They really should have brought bread automatically with this, but they did get it out seconds after I asked for it.
The entree was an enormous fillet of trout, served in a brown butter, said the menu. No browning in the butter solids, but no big deal--the fish was crisp around the edges and still moist in the middle, which is to say just right.
In the middle of the meal, the third couple I didn't know who came up to introduce themselves did so. I invited them to sit down with me for coffee, and they told me of their dinner. Great food, great place, service on the wrinkled side, menu a bit too short, prices a bit too high. (This, I think, is largely because of the a la carte pricing of side dishes.)
These folks said that they were long-time subscribers to the Menu Daily, but admitted that they have been very laggard in renewing their subscription. They insisted on writing a check in an amount I thought generous. It almost covered the price of this meal.
Mike's American Grill. Metairie: 4300 Veterans Blvd.. 504-885-5566. American.
