We Live To Eat Fridays: The Third Time is Charming

This week, check out a local boy cheffing it up in a Florida restaurant and his ideal dinetinerary, an exercise and caffeine fueled day, and a entree that hits all the spots. Send in yours today to blackenedout at gmail. Listen, the poll is about as reliable as BP is (was?), but just vote. In a few days, it tallies it all. Or just keep coming back.

Carl Schaubhut, Executive Chef at Restaurant Fire! (née of New Orleans)

Brunch and Breakfast: Only in New Orleans was there a need to push back breakfast a bit in order to accommodate late sleepers after a previous night of debauchery. Brunch is also a way to sneak some heavier dishes into what most straightforward breakfast menus cannot provide. So we have a city where brunch is an occasion so special, we only do it once a week. Molly's at the Market's Guinness infused Bloody Mary is the way to get you back in the game and off to a killer brunch, where Commander's Palace does it better than anyone. Go no further than the starters and you will be content: turtle soup au sherry, shrimp and tasso henican, and eggs sardou are all delicious classics that satisfy every before noon craving one could have. Any of their cocktails are delicious as well. If you want a more straightforward breakfast and have a bit of a sweet tooth, you could take down at least a half-dozen Tastee "McKenzie" Buttermilk Drops and an ice cold chocolate milk for a bit of delicious nostalgia.

Lunch: I would go po' boy shop hopping for lunch and first grab a fried oyster po' boy at Domilise's, where Uptown locals will advise you to add horseradish, Swiss cheese, and roast beef gravy to adorn the crispy oysters. Panneed rabbit with creole mustard cream at Crabby Jack's would be a nice follow-up. Then the roast beef from Parasol's is a sandwich that has brought together generations in the Crescent City. For an afternoon snack, I'm going to need to belly up for a bit after all that "po-boy shop hoppin'" so I would pull up a stool at Cochon Butcher and ask Bill "the Butcher" Briand to hook me up with a bayou beer (moonshine and Abita Root Beer) and a charcuterie plate of whatever they got working that week at the shop. Give me some toast points and some pickled goodies and i'm all set.

Dinner: Bayona is, to put it simply, outstanding. The sign of a great restaurant is when you recommend it to someone else and you do not have to steer them through the menu, but rather you can say, "Everything on the menu is good!" The lamb loin with goat cheese and zinfandel sauce is one of my early and most vivid food memories, as are the sweetbreads. I love how she continues to innovate the menu to keep it fresh and seasonal, but also stays true to her classic "signature" dishes. Susan Spicer is the matriarch of contemporary New Orleans cuisine. After a day like that, give me a nice glass of port, a cigar, and a little jazz at Dos Jefes, and I can crawl home from there.

The Do-Gooder

My ideal food day is not so much a "what would you do if you could do anything" sort of day. Rather, it is a day that is something like my "everyday life" here in New Orleans and, in a way, is pretty near my dream food day!

9am - Large iced coffee @ Rue de la Course on Carrollton Ave.

930am - Bike down Magazine and pass Slim Goodies - look at the wait line and say "wha?!" - keep riding...

10am - Head back to Carrollton for Camellia's - check out line...wha?! Keep riding...

1030am - Head to Whole Foods for large iced coffee.

11am - Sit outside Whole Foods and wonder where all these people are from...

1115am - Bike loop around Audubon Park - check out the egrets and ducks - do some push ups - wonder if anyone is serving up muscovy duck po-boys in town.

1145am - Large iced coffee at Starbucks on Maple St. - listen in on conversations, snag used newspaper - hit the road.

1200pm - Super Sprout salad at Whole Foods, Kombucha to drink - pat self on back for being a healthy live-food eater!

1230pm - Bike home to check on dogs. So cute!

1pm - Toss bike in car and head to Cane's Chicken for a Caniac meal...convince the cashier to give me a free lemonade to mix with iced tea.

130pm - Daiquiri Den on Airline in Metairie.

145pm - Whilst sipping daiquiri - order freshly made sushi from nice lady at Rouse's...grab bag of Zapp's Creole Tomato Tabasco tato chips for the road!!!

200pm - Head to Northshore - Stop at Abita Brewery for a tour and tasting. Bike Tammany Trace to Lake Pontchartrain...Eat Zapp's chips and soak up the sun (or rain - who cares?) and enjoy the view.

345pm - Get back to car and head home.

445pm - Get home and walk to Daquiri stand at corner of Carrollton and St. Charles. Admire the bartender's bedazzled shirt.

455pm - Walk up levee - squeeze though hole in fence and sit at the river's edge - watch Tugs and Bars roll by.

530pm - Fro-yo at Pure - a bit of "Who Dat" and Tart with toasted coconut. The tart is tart - no whimps!

600pm - Track down Tacaeaux Loceaux - Carnitas anything.

620pm - Streetcar downtown.

715pm - Cochon - meet up with friends for drinks and dinner - eat a bunch of homemade pickled anythings and each order something different and eat off each other's plates and whoop it up. Get out before the dull atmosphere contaminates the spirit.

815pm - Taxi home - weeeee!

945pm - Pitcher o' Abita Amber at Cooter Brown's.

1015pm - Walk over to Oak St.

1025pm - Run into friends at Jacques-Imo's - sit down and eat!

1115pm - Look at line into Maple Leaf - find out what the cover is - say, "oh, no - wha?!"

1200am - Cooter Brown's

100am - Camellia's cheese burger...mocha freeze.

130am - Head home and set auto timer on coffee maker...quick Ramen snack.

138am - Sleeeeep.

Seersucker and Sazeracs

The menu for my perfect day of eating would be based largely on the season. Being as I must pick an arbitrary date, why not make it a day like today, in early July?

"It's above 90 degrees before sunrise."
I would begin my early July day of excessive gastronomic pleasure before dawn with a FROZEN Cafe Au Lait from Cafe Du Monde. This would tide me over until I could drag my wife up St. Charles to Camelia Grill before the breakfast crowd arrives. We would split a pecan waffle covered in butter and Steen's and an omelet.

"It gets hungry out early in these parts."
Having had such an early breakfast, I would be ready for that Port of Call cheeseburger by 11 a.m., and I would be there ready. Nevertheless, hunger is no reason to dispense with formalities, thus before being seated, I would be having my requisite Neptune's Monsoon (or maybe a Windjammer).

"The leftovers are just as good around here."

Around 1 p.m. I'd head over to the fridge and pull out that leftover quarter of a Central Grocery Muffuletta that's been properly marrying for a day or two now, and enjoy it with one of my last stashed away Abita Strawberry Lagers.

"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere...and after 11 a.m. here"
After downing that last sip of "strawbita," I would head over to the Swizzle Stick bar for an afternoon cocktail with some friends. Specifically that cocktail would be an Adelaide Swizzle to wash away the summer heat.

"The hardest decision I would have to make is made for me; Galatoire's is closed for the first week of July."
Come 6 p.m. you would find me sitting in the Hermes Bar at Antoine's in a Seersucker suit, finishing off a Sazerac as my reservation time approaches. After being seated I would immediately ensure that Paul (my waiter) understands my intentions to have my Sazerac refreshed and have some souffléd potatoes brought out. We would order the appetizer sampler of Crabmeat Ravigote, Shrimp Remoulade, and Oyster Foch. After that comes a cup of Creole Gumbo. Upon consultation with Paul, I will order as my entree either the Pompano Pontchartrain or Trout Meuniere. I will have a side of Brabant Potatoes. Against my wife's recommendation, I would order the most other worldly caramel custard I've ever had. Oh yeah, Cafe Brulot.

"But Why's the Rum Gone"
Since we're in the quarter, let's have some Hurricane's at Pat O's in the courtyard.

"Now Let's suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend that there is still room for food in my stomach and It's yet to reach 10:20 p.m."
Why not stop by Brocato's for a mini Cannoli?