Lunch at eat

After a promising brunch at eat, I returned with Blondie to try out the lunch menu. While I would not say that I left disappointed, I was not exactly wowed either.

We started with the crawfish boullettes - a quintet of golf ball sized cornbread fritters studded with tails. The more interesting aspect of the dish was the remoulade, which was unlike any other I have had. There was no identifiable mayo, and the consistency was that of a chutney. The flavor though had a nice acidity which cut the richness of the boullettes.

The fried green tomatoes were atypical as well, with a batter as light as tempura in texture but the flavor of biscuit dough. The three thick slices, however, did not justify the $8 price tag.

The special of the day was a buffalo oyster sandwich. Fried oysters tossed in buffalo wing sauce and placed between two thin slices of buttered french bread. Very rich, and the sandwich would have benefited from a smear of blue cheese dressing but none was provided. But like the fried green tomatoes before it, the price ($12) was not justified by the sandwich (which contained 6 oysters). The accompanying side of smothered greens were sad as well - obviously straight from the freezer and quite bland.

'

In summation, I would say that eat does a much better job at brunch, when the BYOB factor plays a much stronger role. Of course, you could always bring a bottle of wine to lunch, but the firm frowns upon drinking during the day.

'

Lunch at eat - Bogey

Chucktown: Day 2

Reservations this weekend for 6 or more people have been pretty tough to come by, but fortunately some of my NOLA culinary connections have come in handy. Blondie's brother attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales up here (before the campus closed) and also worked at one of the more upscale restaurants in the city, so needless to say he knows a lot of the local foodies. So within no time Blondie dictated me a list of restaurants and names to drop, which has been a big help with the large number of people in town for graduation.

Yesterday was rather light on the stomach because everyone was still stuffed from the 1-2 combination of Jestine's and The Boathouse the day before. I guess some of my immediate family members lack the gastronomic stamina that only a few rare individuals possess (most notably The Pope, but myself to a lesser extent). So after a paltry breakfast at the house and a stroll up King Street, we were all starving for our late lunch at Magnolias.

We started with two orders of homemade potato chips topped with crumbled blue cheese (a la Bistro Byronz - Rene's favorite Baton Rouge eatery and sole recipient of the elusive "Golden Gavel Award"). Everytime I eat these things I wonder why more bistros and brasseries do not replicate this dish on their menus. Since I was feeling hungry (read "gluttonous") I ordered the Down South Eggroll as my personal starter. I know what most of you are thinking, "Don't they serve those at Chili's?" Well, sort of, but this one was stuffed with shredded chicken, tasso, and collard greens and sauced with a mustard and red pepper puree and topped with peach chutney. The spiciness of the sauce cut through the sweetness of the chutney to make an overall fantastic dish.

For my entree I was torn between the shellfish over grits and the cornmeal fried catfish; so I let my waiter decide, and she chose the catfish because it is "hot, spicy, and beautifully presented." Well, the presentation was eye-catching. but I guess my south Louisiana palate is too seasoned for the low country level of heat. Still, the fish was perfectly fried which resulted in a crisp exterior crust and a flaky interior of flesh. The fish was served atop a jalapeno and white cheddar grit cake which was smeared with a tomato butter - a perfect accompaniment to the fish. A fine meal all around.

Presidential Luncheon

W ate lunch at Galatoire’s yesterday with Nagin, Fielkow, and a few others. Blondie's inside sources tell us that the White House contacted Executive Chef Brian Landry on Sunday to inform him that the President would be coming for lunch. Unfortunately for George, he did not dispatch Dick Cheney to wait in line for a downstairs table, so his group had to eat in a private upstairs dining room. Word is that W did not ask for a menu - trusting Chef Landry to serve whatever he thought what was the freshest seafood of the day. So the group dined on lemonfish (DISCLAIMER - Blondie is not 100% certain that lemonfish was the choice) as an entree and hopefully started with pommes souflee, crabmeat maison, and oysters en brochette or rockefeller.

Oh yeah, and I am sure that they talked about some other stuff other than the food...

Trip Report - Taste of the Town

"OH. MY. GOD." That is the only thing that I could text Rene on Friday night when he asked me how everything was going at Taste of the Town. Quite honestly, I did not want to waste precious time. There was just too much to eat and drink. Words cannot describe the amount of food and booze that was there for the taking. But I'll try...


I mean, you have to love The Pope. His Holiness was able to secure an additional two free tickets, so we invited our lifelong friend Blondie to join us. But while most of you are thinking, "Oh, that is so nice of them to ask their old friend to come along," we really just knew that we would need a babysitter for the night. And let's face it: she has put up with us since we were like 7, so who better to (at least try to) keep us in line.

Due to the prospect of rain, the event had to be moved to the parking garage of East Jefferson General Hospital. No big deal to me, but there were a lot of people in attendance and not much airflow. So needless to say, it was a tad humid and warm. OK, really I was sweating like a whore in church, but so was everyone else.

Now, when you attend one of these functions with The Pope, you have to play by his rules for at least the first hour or until a member of the group drinks enough so that playing by said rules is no longer feasible. One of the Pope's cardinal rules of grazing is start at one end or the other and work your way around - none of this jumping from side to side, people. There is a proper method to his madness. Unfortunately, I was too busy holding my drink in one hand and eating with the other, so notes from the event are, shall we say, nonexistent. But the between the 3 of us we came up with a rather complete recollection of the night's delicacies.

1. Ruth's Chris - Ravioli filled with what I think was minced duck meat and mushrooms. I would have preferred the filet sandwiches that they serve at some of the other large events.
2. Arnaud's, Galatoire's, La Petite Grocery - Shrimp remoulade. Yes, all of them. Don't get me wrong, I love shrimp remoulade, but come on. Blondie spoke with one of the higher ups from the back of the house at Galatoire's and asked why they did not serve crabmeat maison. His simple answers: "It is out of season right now, and we could not afford to serve that anyway." Can't say that I blame him.
3. Muriel's - Voted the best dish of the night by my triumvirate. Goat cheese crepes topped with crawfish cream sauce. Absolutely incredible.
4. Wolfe's in the Warehouse - Voted winner for best presentation. Duck breast over asian slaw on top of a crostini. Inside sources tell me that the duck breast had been brined and pastrami cured, then smoked, and then either deep fried or seared. Very tasty.
5. Zea - Crispy Asian oysters - deep fried oysters topped with a sweet and spicy sauce.
6. Acme - Huge (and I mean huge) raw oysters on the half shell. Oysters this time of year are not as salty, and hence not as tasty, but that fact made these oysters easier to eat. The Pope knocked out a dozen (on 2 separate stops) in about 4 minutes.
7. Drago's - We spent a lot of time camped out in front of their booth in the corner just waiting for new batches of charbroiled oysters to come out. Once again, these bivalves were gigantic, liberally covered in garlic butter and Parmesan cheese, and served with a piece of french bread for sopping up the delicious sauce.
8. Besh Steakhouse - BBQ Shrimp. These shrimp had to be U-12 (that would be an average of 12 shrimp per pound), but they were overcooked - an unavoidable problem of preparing and serving upwards of 1500 people in such a short period of time. The sauce was as good as it always is though.
9. Vincent's - Extremely rich veal and cheese cannelloni. One was more than enough, so I of course had two.
10. Chops Bistro - Grilled skewers of beef, cherry tomatoes, and oysters. The inclusion of the oyster kind of through me off, but the beef was tender and succulent.
11. Sucre - Tri-layer of banana custard, vanilla custard, and a lemon gelee of some sort. Refreshing and delicious.
12. Lagniappe Luncheonette - Bite-sized peanut butter pies. It was a chocolate cookie topped with peanut butter whipped with condensed milk and powdered sugar and then a dollop of whipped cream. Best dessert of the night.

The following stations I decided to skip for the reasons in "quotes."

1. Court of Two Sisters - Seafood Louise - "I need another mojito."
2. Mr. B's - Gumbo - "Too freaking hot."
3. NOLA - Ribs - "How am I supposed to eat this thing while still holding onto my Gentleman Jack & 7?"
4. Brennan's - Bananas Foster - "I want to try that new plum vodka that we saw."
5. Antoine's - Baked Alaska - "Did you know that they are serving Jagerbombs?"

OK, I realize that I skipped a lot of the booths, but it was sensory overload in that place. I remember that there was a BBQ Tasso Sandwich (Corky's, possibly) that was better in concept than it actually tasted. Besides that, Blondie and I watched The Pope talk shop with other restaurant big wigs such as Tom Wolfe, Melvin Rodrigue, and LRA CEO Jim Funk. Other highlights include numerous cougar sightings and The Pope complaining to one of his liquor reps for not bringing the 150 year old Grand Marnier that he oh so loves.

Overall, the night was undoubtedly a success. I was glad to see the Commodore Couple in attendance. We all did what we came to do, which was to eat and drink till we could eat and drink no more. Well...actually...The Pope and I must have had some room left in our tanks because we met up with a group of friends and ended up making it to both The Goldmine and The Red Eye later on in the night. But that is another story for another time.