Wednesday, January 7, 2009.
Jude Escapes. Eat Club At Dickie Brennan's.
Jude managed to finagle a flight to Los Angeles a day early, and escaped from us this afternoon. He wants to get back to work. (Boy, do I understand that!) His first college classes at USC begin Monday and he wants to get his head around it. I understand that, too. Nevertheless, I tried to woo him to stay until tomorrow with the promise of tonight's Eat Club dinner at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse. Not interested, he sez. What's the matter with that kid?
Tonight was one of those Eat Club events not connected with a radio remote, something I didn't know until the whole place was booked up. I was surprised by the interest. Usually, the first few Eat Club dinners of the year are very lightly attended. Sometimes I've waited as much as a month before beginning the new season. (One such year, the small cadre of cranks who pay close attention to everything I do and criticize all of it made a big fuss about that. Why would they care? None of them ever attended my dinners.)
I am trying to start a trend. I think New Orleans ought to have a steak named for it, like New York and Kansas City and Pittsburgh do. We're a better a steak town than those last two, and in a league with the first. And I have the perfect cut in mind.
The sirloin strip is to my tastes the best major steak in the cow. But it has a problem. Since it's a wide cut, a generous portion is still too thin to broil as well as the thicker filet mignon does. My idea is to have the strip cut twice as thick, than cut it across the middle into two thick steaks the approximate size and shape of a filet. So you get the best of both worlds.
We should claim this, I propose, as the "New Orleans Cut Steak." In November, Mr. John's Steakhouse did this for us, with fantastic results. I asked Dickie Brennan's chef Jack Martinez (picture) to reprise it. Again, absolutely fantastic, crusty on the outside, juicy in the middle, exactly as I hoped it would be. This New Orleans Cut is now my favorite steak, even if it never gets the name.
The idea, I'll admit, has drawbacks. This would have to be a more expensive steak than a same-size filet. (Strips in first-class steakhouses are always Prime; filets rarely are, although they do use Prime filets at Dickie's and Mr. John's, for that matter.) Second, not all parts of the strip roast lend themselves to this. And one end of the strip is always better than the other. (Although I can never decide which is which.)
The rest of this dinner was equally impressive. In fact, it was among the best we ever had. We started with a lobster bisque enriched with Brie cheese and a thin foam of whipped cream across the top. Stunningly good. I almost asked the waiter for another shot of the stuff, but figured that would tick off the other diners.
Then a whole stuffed quail with a belt of bacon on a little salad. Delicious, neither under- nor overcooked (both common problems with quail, especially the latter).
The dessert was excellent, too. Billed as a banana strudel, it came with ice cream two different ways, all freshly made in house. Another take on bananas Foster from the Brennans? Not really. It was too big to finish, among other merits.
I wasn't alone in this assessment of the dinner. Most people I spoke with--including one regular who is notorious for complaining about three or four things at every dinner--were thoroughly pleased.
There was a downside. Tommy Tucker (picture), with whom I have a long-running radio feud, was there. He sat next to Greg Reggio, one of the Taste Buds of Zea fame. I hope Greg doesn't pull his sponsorship of my radio show after listening all night to Tommy.
Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse. French Quarter: 716 Iberville. 504-522-2467. Steak.
