Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Power Lunch

Every Friday before Mardi Gras groups gather at restaurants around the city for long lunches to kickoff the weekend festivities. Though I am by no means worthy enough to attend one of these functions, I usually receive a courtesy invitation from friends. (Remember: It's not about what you know but who you know.) So for the past few years, I have had the good fortune to start my Mardi Gras with lunch the Rib Room. Thankfully, this year Grandpa To Be brought along his camera so that we could at least document the food.

I love the Rib Room for what they do best - simply cooked, high-quality meats. Oh, and they will serve you liquor in a small pitcher so that you can mix your cocktails as you progress your way through the meal. Gotta love that.
Starters are simple at the Rib Room. Every entree comes with the classic Rib Room chopped salad with blue cheese dressing - which I must say that I highly prefer over a wedge salad. I just find that the dressing and greens incorporate much better when chopped and mixed together. The crabcakes are great as well because the jumbo lumps are bound with pureed raw shrimp. As for me, I usually let the salad hold me over till the much anticipated entree course.

The Veal Tanet is nothing more than a paneed veal cutlet served over Romaine and sliced tomatoes drizzled with a basic vinaigrette. Seems simple enough. But once you take your first bite of this prime cut of veal sautteed in butter, you will marvel at how the cool tomatoes and crisp lettuce complement the ridiculously tender cut of veal.

But if you're looking for a serious hunka hunka beef, then you go with the bone-in prime rib and just start hacking away. Whip up some horseradish sour cream to your personal liking, and you're ready to go. And if all goes well, your table will look like this at the end:


What's that old adage about the number of glasses on the table at the end of a meal? I seem to have forgotten....

Rib Room - Birdie.

3 comments:

Rene said...

A little birdie tells me Peter was assaulted by a group of women at this lunch celebrating a bachelorette party and thought Peter was the stripper. Which, despite your initial thoughts, in not an uncommon occurrence.

fmcgmccllc said...

thanks for the write-up, who was your waiter? Miss Nola horribly and don't know when we can get back.

Omni Royal Orleans said...

Thank you for writing such a delightful blog! It sounds as if you had a wonderful meal at The Rib Room in the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. Your pictures are absolutely "scrumptious." We appreciate you visiting us the Friday before Mardi Gras and sharing details of your meal in this blog. Come back again as often as you like and thanks again for the blog!