A New Orleans Tradition Renewed

After a week long of minimal air conditioning, excessive amounts of family bonding time, and subsisting on whatever foods were next-in-line to be discarded from the rapidly defrosting refrigerator, I made the 70 mile sojourn back to NOLA for some much needed refueling. after all, man can only live on peanut butter and boudin for so long.

My first meal back was on Friday night at Charlie's Steak House - a place where I had not dined since long before Katrina, much less since it's recent reopening. My foursome included The Folk Singer, The Pope, and His Holiness' lady friend, Battle House Honey. Even though we did not arrive till almost 9:00, we still had a short wait at the bar before being seated, which gave me an opportunity to survey the remodeling. Although Charlie's was always well known for its unpolished decor, pre-restoration patrons will likely be taken aback by the new bar and computerized wait stations. This ain't your grandpa's Charlie's. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

Just as in pre-K times, Charlie's does not have a menu (or at least we did not request nor were offered one). You start with the onion rings, which are second to none other in the city. Somehow Charlie's manages to serve thin rings which include both soft flesh of onion with a crispy coating of just a simple dust of flour. It's the yin and yang of onion rings, and not many achieve this pinnacle like Charlie's. Note, one order of rings is big enough to split among a table of four.

After the rings, you must get the wedge of iceberg covered with the homemade blue cheese dressing. As with the onion rings, one wedge can (and should) be split between two diners.

Then the beef. Your options are limited: T-bone (small, medium, and large) or the filet. For the life of me, I don't think Charlie's even offered a filet before, but maybe I just never heard of anyone ordering one. La Papa and I each got the large (24oz.), while the ladies ordered filets. Each steak came out still sizzling on its on broiler pan. I thought the T-bones were great, but the filets were not cooked to the ladies medium-rare specifications. They were more "Pittsburgh" (or "black and blue"). Maybe this was because the filets (which were twice as thick) were cooked under the same broiler as T-bones.

We ordered one each of the potatoes au gratin, mushrooms bordelaise, and melba toast; but we decided to pass on the wedge fries because we still had half of our second order of onion rings left to finish. The au gratin were chunks (as opposed to mandolin slices) of potato suspended in cream and covered in cheese - great side. The mushrooms were a nice addition to my steak sandwich on melba toast.

They were out of spumoni, so dessert was a slice of casatta from Brocato's. Oh, and of course a Grand Marnier for The Pope. The meal overall was good, but I must say that the highlight was an off the menu item. La Papa was kind enough to bring along a bottle of Caymus 2001 Special Selection Cabernet. The waiter was curious as to what we needed uncorked, and La Papa offered him a taste. Minutes later, the manager (who I think was, in fact, owner Gene Dwyer) came over for a look. He was in awe, and after his first sip all he could muster was, "Wow." I think The Pope put it best: "Drinking this wine is like eating grapes."

Charlie's Steak House - Par.