Short Order Reviews

Midway Pizza: The yin to Ancorra's yang (or vice versa, Atlanta rappers not being a strong suit of this writer). Midway is a loud, brashy spot serving out an homage to Chicago's deep dish take on pizza. Where the focus at Ancorra is less is more, at Midway more is not enough. And the philosophy at both works. We started with a House Salad, which was thankfully dressed perfectly with a barely there Champagne vinaigrette. The polenta croutons need to be reworked, ours arrived leaden and tasting of grease. A decent opening salvo, now onto the 'Za. The #18 stole the show with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onion and green pepper. I expected the meatballs on the King Leon to be overcooked and dry, but what came forth were juicy, plump, and delicious. The crust at Midway is a khaki colored, two inch deep crispy bowl for the toppings it delivers. This may not be pizza you are used to, but it is worth finding out for sure. A very solid beer list anchors what may be one of the city's best spots to grab a beer and some pies. Birdie.

Fat Hen Grocery: The corner of Cherokee and St. Charles has gone through roughly seventy-four ownership changes in the last few years. But there is hope that the most recent opening of the Fat Hen brand by Chef Shane Pritchett  is here to stay. First, the interior tugs on a carnivore's heartstrings with a wall portraying every cut from a chicken, pig, and beef. Plus, over the bar there rests a Warhol painted pig. Moving our eyes from the walls to the plate, we gazed upon a Seersucker platter strewn with smoked sausage, creamy pimento cheese, thick slices of raw onion, celery, carrots and pickles. Bringing all this together are gaufrettes of potato as thin as newspaper. The barbecue sauce, available for purchase this being a grocery, is spicy and sharp. The tree hugger omelet would have been improved with a crustier English muffin and larger chunks of crabmeat. The pulled pork was smoky and well-seasoned but a toss in the barbecue sauce rather than it just drizzling on bun would have put this sandwich up there with the Muffaletta and the Po Boy. Par/Birdie.

Baru: A nice fall night sitting outside with a bottle of Torrontes and 2005 Rioja set up an incredible dinner. Plus, how can you match the ambiance of sitting next to a couple who decided 8 pm on a Saturday night was a good time to take a one year old and a two year old out to dinner? But the food more than made up for that glitch. First came, those incredibly light and crisp empanadas, plumped with ground beef and graced by chimichurri. Then the savory mazorca, a corn casserole of sorts that may have just gained a spot at the Thanksgiving table. Next, the ceviche, the black drum firm and the avocado adding richness against the acidic leche de tigre. The fried oysters did not disappoint either with a crisp crust and creamy interior crowned by a tuft of caramelized onions. The arepas were a misfire with dry pork and chalky corn cakes. But the mixed grill with chorizo, shrimp, and skirt steak sitting atop a loose but vibrant chimichurri made the arepa misstep nothing but a distant memory. Baru is the best BYOB in the city, and a dinner for two at $86 with tax and tip makes it a culinary jewel.  Birdie/Eagle.

BYOB at Baru

The arcane liquor laws of Orleans Parish may be frustrating to both present and potential restaurant owners, but the usual benefactors of this red tape (beside competing restaurants)are we consumers. I'm not certain if there is a more enticing incentive than BYOB with a nominal corkage fee, and I'll wager that places like Baru would not be nearly as popular if the standard beer and wine markup were part of the dining equation.

BYOB notwithstanding, the kitchen at Baru is worthy of praise, though the significant span between the high and low points on the menu and recent inconsistency in some of my favorite dishes have been cause for concern. The restaurant touts itself as a purveyor of Colombian cuisine, which most New Orleanians have zero experience with, however there are enough recognizable dishes on the menu that only a small sense of adventure is required.

The most popular offerings come from the ubiquitous tapas section, which still remains a siren song for Tulane and Loyola students, Uptown women young and old, and the foodie-lawyers sitting next to them. The Guacabello (top) is de riguer to begin a meal, but the shift from grilled bread to a fried spinach tortilla as the vessel of choice is a mistake in my opinion. Plus, on my last visit, the mixture of chopped, grilled portabellos mixed with chunks of avocado had not been seasoned near enough and failed to come together as a homogenized mixture. Sad.

Perhaps the second (if not equally as) popular dish is the mazorca (above) - a mixture of hot grilled corn, fresh farmer's cheese, "pink sauce", and potato sticks that for all I know could come straight from a can. It's delicious. Keeping with the starch theme, we almost always a side of mofongo, the mixture of fried and smashed plantain and crunchy pork skin that accompanies a few of the main dishes. Those in search of something more familiar might opt for the pork filled tamals, but the inclusions of raisins, carrot, and almonds make these versions anything but ordinary. Unfortunately, the flavors were collectively bland.

Seafood is a specialty of the house, and I have had differing levels of success across the board. The most successful dish is the house ceviche, whose acidic elixir had a thicker consistency than most, almost like a cold curry. The flavors were bright and rich at the same time, and the shrimp and fish were perfectly firm in texture. Cornmeal crusted oysters topped with aioli caramelized onions, and spicy chili sauce have been executed consistently well. Why anyone would order crabcakes at a restaurant like Baru is lost on me, so take my word for it that these are not very good.

Meat lovers will like opt for the mixed grill (right) of flank steak, chicken, and chorizo served with a chimichurri. If memory serves me correctly, the menu last week read that this dish is now served on skewers.

If BYOB were not enough of an economic incentive, the budget conscious diner can also take solace in Baru's low prices. Tapas range in price from $4 for the mazorca to $12 for the tuna tartare, with most others falling in the $8 to $10 range. Entrees are in the low $20s, but to be honest I rarely make it to that side of the menu. And why would I considering that two people can share 6 small plates, enjoy a bottle of wine, and have an overall nice meal for under $70 including tip?

Baru Bistro & Tapas - Par/Birdie
3700 Magazine Street
Lunch Mon-Sat; Dinner Nightly

Baru Bistro

Have you ever sat down in a restaurant and before even looking at the menu, say to yourself, "I like this place"? I had that precise reaction on my first visit to Baru Bistro back in May 2008. It's such a charming place - the building is a converted corner grocery with big windows looking out onto Magazine, diners bring their own wine, tables either line the sidewalks outside or tightly fit in the small dining room, the lighting is low, candles are everywhere, and the kitchen is so tiny you wonder how more than 2 people can stand in there let alone cook. All of these factors can easily cloud your judgment when it comes to the food, and I honestly can barely remember what I ate on that first visit. But almost 2 years later, I returned for my second visit to Baru and found that the ambience is still the same, the corkage fee is still $8, and the food should not be forgotten.

Truthfully, however, my second meal almost did not make it past the ordering stage. After being seated, our table of four told that the kitchen was serving a shortened menu because it was the night before Christmas Eve, a fact which the hostess had neglected to mention when we called 20 minutes earlier to see if they were open. Thankfully, The Folk Singer and Petite Sweet Brandi convinced Big Brutal Dave and I to stay for what ended up being a great meal. Just goes to show that were it not for the women in our lives, who knows what we would be missing out on.

As I said, the Latin-American menu was pared down to just 10 items. We began with the guacabello, a simple but remarkably delicious combination of grilled, chopped portobellos mixed with chunks of fresh avocado. The heat from the mushrooms melts the avocado and mixes with olive oil and lime juice to create a richness of flavor usually only found in dishes which incorporate copious amounts of butter or pork fat. Piled high on three toasted slices of bread, this is just a fantastic way to start your meal, especially for $8.

The regular menu at Baru is heavy on seafood, which was also the case on the abbreviated menu. While the flavors are unmistakably Latin, the kitchen has incorporated the bounty of our local waters as the base for most of the dishes. So you will find drum in the ceviche, gulf shrimp sauteed with garlic, and Louisiana oysters fried in cornmeal and topped with ailoli, caramelized onions, and a touch of chili sauce for heat. These big, meaty oysters were fried no less perfectly than the ones on the oyster loaf at Casamento's down the street.

But the unanimous winner for best dish of the night was actually not a dish at all: mofongo. Fried plantains are mashed to the consistency of oyster dressing and then mixed with crunchy bits of fried pork. I am a believer, so much so that we requested a side order because the serving underneath the sauteed shrimp was just not enough.

Baru Bistro - Birdie

Weekend in Review

Friday afternoon drinks at Bridge Lounge. Great spot only one problem. Everyone orders mojitos there. Which is great; although each one of those drinks requires numerous steps and considerable time. So sometimes getting an order in can take a while. On the flip side the bartenders have the forearms of a 15 year old boy. I am not at liberty to say which food journalist on New Orleans cuisine was also there, but lets just say he is easily the second or third most popular food journalist in New Orleans.

Another wonderful dinner at La Boca. That place is top notch. Pisco Sours, Provoleta, hangar steak for Lady, and flank for me. I got to admit the hangar steak beats the flank. Surprisingly fellow blogger Peter also showed up there for dinner (completely random) with the Palm Room Hostess, and two other law cronies. They too enjoyed their meal. Peter was coming off what many would consider a full weekend by 6 p.m. Friday evening: Lunch at Luke with the Papal Family, Old Absinthe House, 2 Hand Grenades and a lap dance. His evening continued; his dry cleaner thanked him the next day.

Then, the 25th Anniversary Rebirth Concert. Fellow Blue Jay Harry Connick, Jr. was in attendance; however the fight song was not sung. That concert blew me away. The best part about it was the Baby Boyz Brass Band; a group of tweens and teens that could really play. To me there is something so frightening and exciting about when the front line of a brass band, finishes a lyric and takes a step back before blasting notes into their instruments. That sight is the most joyous firing line one can imagine.

Saturday, Lady headed off to Shreveport for some baby shower thing. I stayed behind. The Crescent City Farmer's Market had Brian Landry of Galatoire's dolling out Shrimp Remoulade. What a breakfast. I picked up a brisket from Mr. Justin Pitts of Mississippi. Based on some personal instructions from Mr. Pitts and Steven Stryjewski of Cochon I slow-cooked that thing in a dutch oven for about 8 hours. I added a little crab boil, some creole tomatoes, onions and garlic and about a cup of water. What came out was heavenly and matched really well with the creole cream cheese grits I also made. Ok, so I totally stole that from Cochon. Judge if you must.

Saturday for lunch, before checking out The Dude's holdings, I grabbed a quick bite at Baru. A corn, cheese, pink sauce, and potato strips dish turned out to be the highlight. Sweet grilled corn, salty cheese, and then essentially mini-french fries. Also, a wonderful pair of flaky and just greasy enough to cure a hangover empanadas. The empanadas were served with this highly herbal concoction of parsley, cilantro, lime, and peppers. A tres leches cake that was really good but as I was dining solo became to sweet towards the end. Not Baru's fault; mine for having very few friends. Bring your own booze for now at Baru, but when that changes expect this place to really take off.

Sunday completely lazy. Cooked a rump roast by first triming it of some of its fat. Then, I studded the beast with garlic slivers. I then sliced the fat up into tiny pieces and used it to plug the holes where the garlic was and also to introduce fat into a pretty lean cut. Coated the rump in salt, pepper, Tony's, and garlic salt. Seared it on all sides; added onions, and deglazed with cognac and beef stock. Into the oven, covered, at 250 for about 7 hours. Served it over Romano cheese grits and with some caramelized red pearl onions. It tasted good. But the oven needs to go into hiding while the summer does what it does. Even better for lunch today as a po-boy, with Barqs, and Zapp's Cajun Crawtators.

That is in my book the definition of a New Orleans Weekend.