Food Nerd TV

The local nominees for Best Chef: South in the 2012 James Bear Foundation Awards.

Tonight, in a ceremony which has been often described as the "Oscars of the food world," the James Beard Foundation will hand out awards to the nation's best chefs and restaurants. Among the nominees are a handful of locals, and we wish them all good luck.

In the category of Outstanding Chef, Donald Link has been nominated with other industry heavyweights such as David Chang, Gary Danko, and Paul Kahan. I'd say that Chef Link deserves the award based solely on the spaghetti with guanciale and fried poached egg at Herbsaint, but no one asked my opinion. For the fourth year in a row, Chef Sue Zemanick from Gautreau's is nominated for Rising Star Chef of the Year, an honor bestowed upon chefs 30 years of age and under. Chef Sue is aged out of this category after this year, so let's hope that she brings home the prize.

But the most watched contest of the evening will likely be in the category of Best Chef: South, where 4 of the 5 nominees hail from New Orleans. Justin Devillier of La Petite Grocery, John Harris of Lilette and Bouligny Tavern, Tory McPhail of Commander's Palace, and Alon Shaya of Domenica have all been nominated for the award, along with some guy from Birmingham. And no disrespect to Chris Hastings and the Hot and Hot Fish Club, but losing this one tonight would be more disappointing than Union Rags' performance at the Derby on Saturday.

In today's poll in the top left hand corner, you can cast your vote for the New Orleans chef most deserving of the award for Best Chef: South. At the time of publishing, Vegas has Alon Shaya listed as the 5 to 2 favorite. You can catch the awards live today at 5:00CST on streaming video.

Winner, Winner Boudin Dinner

Wow. You folks sure know how to turn a Boudin Haiku Contest into a Boudin Haiku Contest. While we enjoyed all of the entries, like cream some rose to the top. Just a reminder tickets are still available for Boudin and Beer presented By Abita Beer. In addition to pork and beer, there will also be wine from Presqu'ile Winery. We just hope there is enough boudin, beer, and wine for you after we get done with our raid. See you there. PS In case we don't see you time to point out Robert Peyton, look for the creepy guy, wearing a turtleneck, and a million watt scowl.

Honorable Mention

Greg
Carnivorous treat
Delectable temptation
How much shall I eat?

Third Runner Up

John
Boudin, Beer, Boudin
I want to stuff my face with
Boudin, Beer, Boudin

Second Runner Up

Blair (who gets all e.e. cummings up in this piece)
out of gas and cash
boudin or fuel at station?
need pork, walking home

Runner Up

Joshua
Here piggy, piggy
You taste like heaven to me
Boudin afterlife

Winner Winner Boudin Dinner

Crack (Perhaps channeling William Blake's The Tyger)
Transcendant food bite
Your rice and liver shine bright
Beer will pair just right

Congrats Crack, please contact us at your earliest convenience. Thanks to all who competed.

Boudin and Beer Giveaway

As we mentioned last week, Emeril Lagasse brings his traveling trope of toques into town this weekend for his Carnivale du Vin charity event. While the main event - a black tie Gala, Dinner, and Wine Auction - is out of our price range, there is a more accessible and casual event Friday night called Boudin & Beer. We are fairly certain you can figure out what the event entails. The other day, Alon Shaya refused to reveal what sort of goodies he had in store for Boudin & Beer. You should take this to mean, Boudin & Beer will be one of the best grazing events of the eating season. Plus, all the Abita you can drink.

In honor of someone else figuring out the unbeatable combination of pork, beer, and music is one hell of a good way to raise money, we are giving away two (2) tickets to the event. Also, if you go to Boudin & Beer we will gladly point out Robert Peyton to you, so you know who to avoid. We bantered about a few contest ideas. First, we thought, "Why not do boudin trivia?" But the only trivia questions we could come up with all had the same answers: pork liver, rice, beer. Then we thought about doing one of those cute Twitter hashtag things like adding "with boudin" to the end of a movie title. We nixed that idea after we figured out the best answer was going to be "Riding in Cars With Boys With Boudin."

So we decided to challenge your tenth grade English self. In order to win the two tickets to Boudin & Beer, we want your best Boudin Haiku. You remember those, right? 3 lines of poetry; the first and third with 5 syllables and the second with 7. You can leave your haikus in the comments, tweet them to us, or send them by email. The best one wins. Enjoy.

Delicious photos courtesy of renee b. aka Peanut.

Making Boudin

Otto von Bismarck is oft misquoted with perhaps one of the most untrue statements of all time. (If you are scoring at home, that means he did not say something false.) The great German statesmen reportedly said, "Laws are like sausages- it is best not to watch either being made." While the theory behind this statement is that both are messy processes, a recent attempt at making boudin revealed that such a process is in fact a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

The quest to make boudin at home began as a way to get geeked up for Boudin & Beer. This event, in conjunction with Emeril Lagasse's Carnivale du Vin will turn The Foundry into a Bastille of Boudin on November 11th. 27 Chefs will ply their interpretations of this most holy marriage of pork and rice all savored next to beer from Abita. We will be there with open stomachs and inappropriate innuendos

Back to the boudin. It began as most forays into cooking new things with well-placed emails to Cochon Butcher and Rare Cuts. The latter would supply me with 30 pounds of frozen pork liver. The former with enough sausage casings to circle a portly child 450 times (approximate). The pork liver defrosted, I carved away two massive livers from the bulk of organ meat sitting in the fridge. A pig's liver, if you have never seen it, is tremendously large. Three main flanks are joined by some connective tissue, it has a deep maroon color, and is shiny as a new coin. Also, it makes you wonder what the hell your liver could possibly look like.

I used as my guide through boudin the recipes encapsulated in Donald Link's Real Cajun and Emeril's Real and Rustic. Like Girl Talk, I mashed them up into a recipe of my liking which looked like this: for every two pounds of pork liver, I added 5 pounds of pork shoulder and 6 cups of rice, along with seasonings. Where Emeril called for green peppers, I subbed in Link's instruction to use jalapenos. The cubed liver, pork shoulder, onions, cayenne, jalapenos, green onions, salt, and pepper went into a large pot. I covered the mix with water and allowed it to simmer for about two hours, all the while skimming the foam that rose to the top.

While that simmered, we rinsed the sausage casing free of the salt they came packed in and dried them. My attempts at threading them onto the sausage stuffing attachment resulting in screaming and tearing of the thin membrane. Eventually, Lindsay had to step in and save the day. (I am setting up Bloggle for a sexually inappropriate joke here).

We ground the meat, liver, and seasoning mixture once through a wide dye on the meat grinder. Then we combined this mixture with the rice and a few too many scoops of the liquid the mixture had cooked in. While I liked the flavor of the boudin - it was rich, livery, hearty, and had a mean streak of spice - it came out a little too soft in the casing. This may also be because I didn't remove the dye when we stuffed it into the casing. Or I added to much boudin stock to the mixture. Or we drank too much beer. But irregardless, as they say in Boudin;s homeland, that is a lesson learned the hard, but delicious way. I'd rather make boudin any day of the week, than even pretend to care about politics.

Stoltzfus

Michael Stoltzfus came to New Orleans from Maryland to work at John Besh's August. Not long after,  he and then girlfriend now fiancee, Lillian Hubbard opened Coquette on the corner of Washington and Magazine in December of 2008. Within a few months they had Four Beans from the Times Pic and the restaurant was well on its way to joining the roster of restaurants one has to eat at in New Orleans. In December, Stoltzfus will open his second eatery, Sweet Olive in The Saint Hotel. Let's put twentyish questions on the clock and get to know Michael Stoltzfus.

I was about to go to college and my mom opened a bakery. She said, "why don't you work here for a few weeks before school starts?" I never left for college. Started cooking breakfast and lunch in the back of the bakery. Got an Alain Ducasse book and just taught myself from there.

While I was working at my mom's in the morning, I was spending nights working at a fine dining restaurant in Chestertown, Maryland. Then I went to work at Julia's, probably the best restaurant at that time in Maryland. At Julia's I worked every position in restaurant- waiter, cook, manager- save bartender. After that, I went to work at August. Stayed there for a year and a half before this opportunity fell in our laps.

Losing all my money (laughs). Actually the thing I was most afraid of was not being able to cook. When you work for someone else, there is always a way to do things. Their vision, their recipe are what you use. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to cook food that was any good. When we opened, we had no idea what was going on with national economy. Luckily, Louisiana was pretty recession proof at that time. We were steady for the first five months, and then Brett Anderson reviewed us, and we took off from there. We had no idea he had been in, no idea we were on anyone's radar, and then the Times Picayune called to do a photo shoot for a review. We were shocked.

My approach to food has changed a lot. When we first opened, I was trying to emulate the cooking of the people I had learned from and so there was a heavy Besh presence to my food. In a way this was detrimental to my growth as a chef. A few years ago, something switched and my cooks and I started focusing our menu on what we would like to eat. How would we like to eat this ingredient. My cooks create more than I do now and in the last year we really started to focus on local products and purveyors. I'd say right now we get 80% of our produce locally and hopefully with Sweet Olive we will get that number to 100%.

I've become much more laid back recently. My biggest kitchen pet peeve is probably watching a cook turn a burner on high and try to cook something. The only time a burner should ever be on high in a kitchen is when you are trying to boil water. One of the most important aspects to cooking is controlling your heat and you can't do that on high. Also, I need a really clean kitchen. But all chefs are like that.

I love making bread. Making bread everyday for the restaurant can be monotonous, but there is nothing more rewarding than baking bread. What is funny is that at my mom's bakery, I never baked anything. Now I bake 60-70 loaves a day. Pulling a loaf of bread out of the oven is super rewarding. It is just flour, water, and yeast, but what comes out is so much more.

Hardest part of opening the restaurant was that neither Lillian nor I had any business background whatsoever. We had no idea of what we were getting ourselves into. I learned I was halfway decent at business things.

The French Laundry Cookbook- It is sort of the template of most cooks for the last 10 years or so, but I really love that book. Bread Baker's Apprentice. The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock's. And I really like the NOMA cookbook, because it is so different and revolutionary. His emphasis on foraging and cooking ingredients I've never heard of is so different, it is really cool.

These days my favorite kitchen tool is my Sharpie. But always the knife. I use an 8 inch Misono chef's knife for just about everything.

Had a cook on maybe his third day. Right before service on a busy Friday night there was a huge stock pot on a table by the dishwasher's station. The leg of the table gave out and the cook rushed over to save the stock. 15 gallons of near boiling hot stock went everywhere including all over him. That was a pretty gruesome thing to see.

The food at Sweet Olive is going to be updated versions of New Orleans and Southern food classics. We are going to take a similar approach there that we do at Coquette and have a good time with the food. I've been obsessed with collard greens lately. One idea has us cooking whole leaf collards sous vide, then treating it like a grape leaf and wrapping it around boudin. We are also going to do bar food for the bar, a really great Continental breakfast, and maybe a tiki bar themed rooftop bar. We've got 3-4 months to put together the menu; when we opened Coquette we did not have that luxury.

I get really nervous cooking for people, especially chefs. Cooks all have different approaches to foods, so I am always nervous when I serve a chef he is thinking, "This is not what I would have done." I'd probably just want to cook for friends and family mostly. I love when people come in and I can cook on the fly, just make new things with the ingredients we have in our kitchen. If I spend weeks on a new menu, it is invariably crap. But if I just throw something together it is always great. Desperation plays a critical role in this kitchen.

When not in my restaurant, I like to eat. I eat out a lot. When we first opened, we ate out whenever we could, in order to scope out the competition. But now we do it because we love to eat.

Most memorable meal was at Babbo. We had gone to New York to eat. One night we ate at Corton, Paul Liebrandt's restaurant. While the food was good, it was nothing special. You could tell that a lot of time had been put into each dish, but it was just lacking. Plus it was a very expensive meal. The next night we went to Babbo and did the pasta tasting for like $60. Everything was so simple, but so well done. The sommelier waited on us and halfway through switched pairings to grappa, there was rock music in the background, just a great meal.

Mike Gulotta of August, probably. He taught me how to make food taste good and how to run a kitchen.

Truffle oil, but thankfully that is going away anyway. I can't stand the stuff and will never use it here. That is disgusting stuff. And of course, I wish restaurants would get away from commodity meats and the like. I am not preachy about it, don't plaster farms all over the menu, but that is really important to me. As cooks we have a duty to our customers to give them healthy food- not just for their bodies but for the environment also.

Right now, I am really being influenced by Spanish and Vietnamese flavors and cooking. One of my cook's is from Miami and so he has a huge love of Spanish cooking. Another one of my cooks is absolutely obsessed with all things Vietnamese. Eventually I'd like to have a really casual spot that just serves awesome food without worrying about plating or dining rooms. I cook to make people happy and casual food does that better than anything else.

Usually the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook. Lillian is an excellent cook, so usually she has something ready. If not, I like to grill. The other day picked up some boudin stuffed quail from Butcher and threw those on the grill. If nothing to grill, Lillian hasn't cooked anything, and nothing in fridge, I just eat almonds.

La Boca is my favorite restaurant in the city. There is absolutely no pretension there. I love that they can serve me an appetizer that is just a piece of sausage and an entree that is just a piece of meat. Lillian is an occasional vegan, but even she loves La Boca. Adolfo thinks I am stalking him because I go to a lot of his restaurants and he is always there. Nine Roses, we go here pretty much every Sunday night in the winter. Horinoya is the only good sushi I've found in the city and their service is incredible. And Butcher, that place is an anomaly. Every time I go in there, it gets better and better. I love Butcher.

On a deserted island, I would need sparkling water. I go through 3 liters of the stuff a day. Something to dip ranch into, along with ranch dressing. Marconna almonds and crispy pig ear. We fry it up to order at the restaurant, and there is always a few bits for me to snack on. I figure I eat pig ear all night. Probably not healthy but hey it is good.

Vinterview

After graduating high school in New Orleans, Joe Briand enrolled at Loyola and began working in restaurants. Eventually he found his way to Herbsaint where he climbed up the ranks to general manager and wine buyer for the Link Restaurant Group. Last fall he left the Link Restaurant Group to begin working as Manager/Wine Buyer for Hopper's Carte des Vins. The new wine shop, which should open shortly, is located on Magazine St. across the street from Whole Foods. 20 ish questions on the clock.

I was working at Vaquero's with a friend when we decided to go work at this new Susan Spicer restaurant called Herbsaint. While working at Vaquero's we would get really excited if we sold $400 of margaritas in a shift. When I got to Herbsaint all of a sudden I was selling $1200 of wine a night. So there was a financial draw first into wine. But the initial group of waiters and managers at Herbsaint was very strong wine wise and we would do blind tastings on Sunday afternoons.

The wines that changed everything for me were two bottles of Burgundy. Both came from vineyards less than 2 miles apart. One was a Chambolle-Musigny that had a perfume of what I then imagined the winemaker's sexy, French wife would have smelled like. The other had that dirty, in a good way, musty, barnyard funk, it was a '96 Nuits St. George. I was fascinated that two wines from same varietal and same area could be so different.

Leaving the Link Restaurant Group was the toughest decision I ever had to make. I have a wife and son, with another on the way, and I just needed to be able to spend more time with them. Donald tried to change my responsibilites and job to keep me on and we are still very close. In the end after 10 years of working in restaurant business, I knew the demands of the job and how you really have to throw your whole self into the job. It was like a divorce, but a friendly divorce (laughs).

The misconception is that Hopper's is a wine shop filled only with high end bottles. In fact, 40% of the bottles are under $20. At Carte des Vins, I want to offer people the most bang for the buck. The core of our offerings will come from the Old World, sort of like the wine list at Herbsaint. I really like the fact that I can sell a Rhone wine for $15. A wine that was made over there with care and dedication, bottled, and shipped, and it is great for only $15 bucks. That is amazing. I'll try to turn people on to wines they haven't tried previously.

It is important for the casual wine drinker to find a retailer they trust and develop a relationship. It is easy to do. Walk into a retailer, introduce yourself, and ask them to put together a mix case of wines for you at such and such price a bottle. I dont understand why people are afraid to ask questions when it comes to wine. In every other merchant transaction, the customer has no problems asking questions. Look, when I go to wine tastings, I am constantly asking questions. Customers should do the same.

I'll tell one story about the foolishness of wine tasting notes. I was at a tasting once of German wines. And the person leading the tasting had some initials behind their name. German wines are incredibly confusing. The names on the labels, the styles, the language. I love German wines but they still confuse me. A wine buyer from a restaurant asked a question and in the question he mentioned he "got an herbal note." So the person leading the tasting says, "Yes, I get a lot of blackberry leaf." I spit my wine out and started howling laughing. Seriously, who the fuck has ever eaten a blackberry leaf? Nor remembered it how it tasted to compare it to a wine.

I don't like that kind of talk. I tend to describe wines very basically. Is there red fruit? black fruit? What is the weight like in the mouth. Heavy tannins or light? I've never had a gooseberry and I don't know anyone who has, but there it is apparently inside of every bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I don't talk like that because the average wine drinker drinks the wine and gets discouraged because they don't taste "blackberry leaf."

After Katrina, my wife and I rebuilt a double. She got the bathroom and big walk-in closet and I got a wine cellar with a cork floor. In there, I'd say 60% is red and white Burgundy. I have a good chunk of Rhone wines, some Italian, some Germans, of course a few cases of Champagne. 2 cases of Sauterne, about the same of port. I hold some cases for some friends. All in all, I have about 400-500 bottles, but the capacity to keep around 1200.

One section of my cellar I like to call the "You don't have to ask me if you can open this wine." It is about 10 cases of everyday wines. And this is where the other wines from around the world are represented. Some great Spanish whites, these Greek white wines I really like, basic burgundies.

We eat out a lot, so I do pay attention to wine lists. Some that really impress me are Commander's Palace and Stella! The Windsor Court has really made some great strides. Sarah (Kavanaugh) has a very enviable wines by the glass program. And then of course Galatoire's.

When food is too spicy, it makes pairing wines incredibly difficult. And so being that much of New Orleans food is spicy, that can sometimes cause a problem. But in general, the food of New Orleans is based on the cuisines of the Old World where they have been drinking wine for thousands of years. I find that Rhone wines go very well with Cajun food. The wines of Southwest France also, which has similar use of one pot cooking and heavy use of sausages.

Seafood gumbo, I'd pair a pinot gris from Luxemburg because it has weight, fruit, and is not too sweet. With trout almondine, it has to be white burgundy. For grilllades and grits, a Vacqueryas or Gigondas, something from the Rhone valley, but lighter. Bread pudding is so sweet that I would want to pair it with something with a good bit of acid and lesser sweetness. So maybe a muscat based wine from the Languedoc or an Icewine.

Most people drink their whites too cold and their reds too warm. Stick that red in the fridge for 30 minutes before you open it and let it sit for 10 before you drink it. Take your whites out of the fridge 30 minutes before you want to drink it. You will notice a much better wine drinking experience. Also, remember you don't have to spend a lot of money to drink aged wines. Buy a case of simple Bourgogne
Rouge or Bourgogne Blanc at $15 a bottle or so, and just sit on it for 2-3 years. Wines like that really benefit from just a few years of aging. If you can commit to leaving stuff alone for a few years, you will always have a ready supply of fantastic wine to drink. One last tip, buy white wines in winter and reds in summer. It will sort of force you not to touch them for a while, and you can get better deals because merchants are looking to last seasons whites or reds from their inventory.

We typically figure out what we are cooking first, than we pull the wine. The other day I got some fresh speckled trout from a friend. So came home, made a courtbouillon, and opened a Sancerre that had a good bit of richness.

I love rose. And sure it is cool and trendy to be into rose, but I love them. They are good with food, but they are also good without food. So in summer I drink a lot of roses. I also like mineral driven crisp whites, wines from the Jura region of France, and the perhaps the best summer wine, basic Chablis.

Windows on the World by Kevin Zraly. The Wine Atlas by Robinson and Johnson. Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch.

I'd like to see wineries stop reacting to market first rather than paying attention to their location second. 15 years ago Syrah was planted all over California, now you can't give it away. Look, France has had 1,000 years on us to figure out what grows best where. No reason California can't figure that out also. And I am completely over the "Super" thing. the other day someone tried to sell me a Super Sicilian. Look just because you add Cabernet, it doesn't make it super.

I'd like to see more blends from California or at least more transparency in the labeling as to what grapes are actually in that wine. I've drank far too many California Pinot Noirs that have Syrah in them. Italy had a huge scandal a few years ago with some unscrupulous vintners. Look, there are vintners in the Languedoc who choose to label as a vin de pays rather than AOC because the non-AOC wines just does better on their lands. There is nothing wrong with that. Grow, bottle, and sell what grows best where you are.

A restaurant is incredibly expensive to operate. If people knew how slim the margins are they wouldn't complain about the mark up on wine. And look, that cocktail you are drinking instead of wine? That is marked up much more than the wine. I tell people this all the time, when you go to a restaurant, order wines you like and know rather than taking a flyer. If you gamble and lose, that markup hurts a lot more.

After tasting wine all day, most of the time I just want a nice, cold beer.

One case of wine with money no object? Fine, but they all get to be magnums. First, I'd get one of those bottles of Veuve-Clicquot from the 1800's they just found at the bottom of the ocean. Then 1 each of the Grand Crus from Domaine de la Romanee Conti, let's say Romanee Conti, La Tache, and Romanee-St.-Vivant. A Raveneau Grand Cru Chablis from a really great year. One bottle of First Growth Bourdeaux pre-phylloxera. A German dessert wine selection from Crocker like a Trockenbeerenauslese. A '98 Beaucastel made from 100% Roussanne. An old bottle of Saumur-Champigny from Domaine Clos Rougeard. A bottle of '51 Y'Quem. My wife's favorite champagne is 96 Demiere Ansiot, so would need a bottle of that. Finally, a Musigny from Comte de Voguey from 1978, my birth year.

Someone's in the Kitchen with Rhonda

Ronda Ruckman joined the Link Restaurant Group in August of 2010 as Executive Pastry Chef for all four restaurants in the Link empire, with a fifth on the way (Cochon Lafayette). A native of New Orleans, Ruckman is turning out elegant, seasonal desserts, while still always innovating; See Exhibit A: The Butcher Mini King Cakes which swept across the city like a summer afternoon thunderstorm. Recently Ruckman was kind enough to sit down for an interview. So let's put 20ish questions on the clock and get to know the chef whose chocolate chip cookies are the best in the world. Recipes later in week.

Was at LSU, quit college for a semester and started cooking at a tea room inside Fireside Antiques in Baton Rouge. Washed dishes, salads, made sandwiches, that kind of stuff. Then saw an ad for an entry level prep and pantry position at Juban's.

Wanted to stay in desserts and hoped to work with Norman Love, who at that time was cooking at a Ritz-Carlton in Florida. So I picked up the phone and called him. I got to talk to him because employees of the Ritz are not allowed to screen calls. Frankly, I got lucky. The day I called they had an opening in pastry. So I moved to Florida. Later, I  went to Los Angeles and was sous chef for Donald Russell at the Four Seasons. Left the Four Seasons, to open a retail bakery in Florida called Dough Monkey. Eventually, moved that business to Dallas.

When the economy tanked, Dough Monkey fell with it. We closed Dough Monkey in 2008. I was looking for an executive pastry chef gig. Ended up working at a country club. One day I was looking on a headhunter site and, again pure luck, crazy luck, there popped an ad for executive pastry chef position with Link Restaurant Group. I had always been a fan of Chef Link so it was a thrilling opportunity to cook for him at the try out.

I start with a restaurant. For instance, Herbsaint is the fine dining restaurant. So there I can work with a more complicated flavor profile. At Cochon, I want my desserts to have a comfort factor, a good combination of something warm like blueberry cobbler and something cold like ice cream. At Calcasieu, we often use desserts that mirror Cochon's desserts, but we also field plenty of special requests.

Not sure about food allergies. Never really had any personally nor any limitations. So if someone has an allergy, I always want to accommodate them immediately. Something deeper is going on though, if someone doesn't want to try something.

Often times we create by improvising. Say we run out of a specific ingredient, we sub something else and discover a new dessert. For instance, I have a dough recipe that calls for honey. Recently we ran out of honey and subbed in molasses, which in turn pushed the dough into a much more interesting flavor direction. Or I play with ratios, I'll sub out cream or sugar in a vanilla recipe and replace it with blackberry puree. And see what happens.

Cupcakes. However, before I offend anyone, know that my dislike of the cupcake trend is because I prefer a wedge of cake. Better proportions, better to eat, cake cooks better. A piece of cake is just better than a cupcake. May take cupcakes off the menu at Butcher. 

Chef and I have talked extensively about that. I understand where both Chef Link and Chef Stephen are coming from. I feel comfortable with flavors of this region. We follow seasonality and tend to rotate at least one dessert per restaurant per month. Soon peaches will get in and I will start working with them. You can go elegant with peaches or simple. I like that. But sometimes, I just want an ice cream sandwich.

Both a science and a skill. You miss a detail in baking and it will be wrong.

When I first started cooking, I went to Charlie Trotter's and had sweetbreads for the first time. That bite of food showed me what food can be. Then, first time I went to Cochon when it had been open about a year, I had the deep fried boudin and it just blew me away. That bite took me right back to my childhood.

Chocolate pudding cake. It is just so versatile and delicious. The rich, warm and moist cake lends itself to all sorts of things. First, we paired it with a cafe au lait ice cream. Now we use a salted caramel sauce and cashew ice cream. I love to make that dessert. I love to eat that dessert. I am a chocolate freak and that dessert uses Patrick Chocolate, which I think is the best chocolate in the world.

You want daily examples? (laughs) There are always ideas that don't work, but I tend not to dwell on them. I get mad and cut my losses. Recently, I tried to make a sausage cheese in brioche King Cake with Steen's glaze. When Stephen tried it, he just got this quizzical look on his face that said it all. I just could never get that idea to come together.

I like making pralines. If I am making pralines, it means everyone else is working on other things. And that they are working correctly. We have a solid system in place and when it is humming along, I can devote time to that pot of pralines. That is where I like to be in the kitchen.

Small offset spatula. I use it for everything from transporting things to icing cakes. There is a cake tester I really like. I also have an enormous chocolate knife that I love to use. It is huge. Wow, I can't believe I have favorite kitchen tools.

Real Cajun and the CIA Pastry book. The CIA book is the best for reference whenever I need a simple ratio. I go on the internet a lot as well. Cooks Illustrated's website is one of my favorites. I have a lot of cookbooks at home. My husband reminded me of this when we moved here.

Didn't have a favorite after school snack. I was a skinny kid, but have always enjoyed making cookies. They are easy for me to whip out. I make a snickerdoodle with this leatherwood honey from Tasmania. They are pretty amazing. But I am running low on the honey so I hoard it.

Snickers. I know they aren't good, but I love those things. Also, I am pregnant so I find myself craving those Drumstick Ice Cream Cones all the time. I am going to find a way to make that a real dessert.

Good flavor; not subtle and certainly not sweet. I want a dessert to be on the bold side. First and foremost, chocolate desserts need to taste like chocolate. Too often chocolate desserts are too sweet. If the flavor is there, I then want to see was it done correctly. In a creme brulee, is the custard cooked correctly? Flavor and technique make a great dessert.

If home cook really wants to pursue baking, try it more than once. Ovens vary. Learn to bake by sight and touch.

The key to the chocolate chip cookies is to melt the butter before creaming it with the sugar. But the real secret to any great cookie is the baking time. Trial runs are important. Cook the cookie, just until it is golden on the edges. Allow it to rest. Those chocolate chip cookies are also good with pecans. 

We eat at Butcher a lot (laughs). But I love small places with unexpected good food. Avenue Pub has a pleasantly nice cheeseburger. Parasol's is really tearing it up right now. The chef in there is from Mamou and he is learning to cook with confidence, his roast beef is exceptional and his gumbo is really good. Very good burgers as well. I am in love with the roast beef po-boy from Parkway. La Divina is always my gelato and espresso fix, when I could drink coffee. Man, I need to get out more.

Weekend Round Up

Weekends really begin on Thursdays or at least they should. Especially weekends which combine NBA Playoffs, Jazz Fest, and the last gasps of Spring.

Thursday Night: Quick bite to eat at the Butcher before watching The Ugly Kardashian's husband, some guy who climbs into stands and hits fans, The-Rapist for $200, Alex, and David Stern's officials bounce the Hornets from the playoffs. Thankfully the greatest chocolate chip cookie in the world has been restored to its original recipe. After that pre-dessert, we had the always good pancetta mac n cheese, smoky and bitter buckboard bacon melt, and a special baked oyster with fontina, pancetta, and mushrooms. A word about that last dish, beware chargrilled oysters and oysters Rockefeller, there is a new sheriff in town. Look I realize we write about the Butcher a lot and you are tired of hearing about it. However, the fact remains there is no better spot in town for a quick bite to eat.

Friday Night: Checked out the new (but not really) bistro menu at Vizard's. About a year ago, Kevin Vizard revamped the menu so that there are no longer categories like appetizers, salads, and entrees. Instead each dish is a plate neither large nor small. Sort of confusing, yes, but you will get the hang of it, and end up ordering too much food. We started with a greens, egg, and ham salad which arrived with a paneed poached egg, underdressed greens, and crispy lardons. The dressing also could have used some more vinegar. Next up was a beautiful plate of ruby red tuna tartar awash in an Asian dressing and set within a ring of verdant green avocado slices. Next came a pork loin and shrimp dish with a fair amount of heat, some scallops, and finally a course of lamb chops. Finally, a cup of candy bar ice cream and the black and blue cake. The former had bits of candy - Snickers, Milky Way, etc...-studded throughout rich chocolate ice cream, while the latter is an old standby of Vizard's combining the sweetness of chocolate with the punch of blue cheese. Vizard's - Par/Birdie.

Sunday - Lunch at Cyrus Restaurant before hitting up Dorignac's. Delicious, revelatory Persian food served with a crisp flatbread that is somewhere between a pizza crust and a thick cracker. But to read more about Cyrus, you will have to read next month's OffBEAT Magazine.

Fête Française

As we all know, springtime in New Orleans is full of outdoor festivals, but this Saturday is one of my favorites that flies under the radar. Each year Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orléans hosts Fête Française, which proudly honors New Orleans’ connection to French food, arts and culture. This year's theme is "April in Paris" - perhaps the only other city in the world where I would rather be living right now.

Last year's Fête Française was my first, and I was thoroughly impressed to say the least.  The food rivals some of the best festival eats around, and the chefs themselves were out there doing the dirty work. Justin Devillier was grilling oysters outside La Petite Grocery; Donald Link was turning out magical croque monsieurs that were worthy of being included in Rene's ham sandwich writeup; and I had my first introduction with Taceaux Loceaux. Tipsy French exchange teachers were serving up moules frites, and there were Nutella crepes for dessert.

Beside the food, there is Kronenbourg on draft, champagne cocktails, live music, crafts, and a silent auction featuring magnums of wine, a week long stay at a chalet in the French countryside, and much more.

Fête Française. It may not be Paris in April, but it's certainly the next best thing.

An Italian Groove

If Vietnamese was all the rage with the under 30 Bywater set in 2010, then Italian is going to be the It cuisine in 2011. Well, that is if the last month of where I've been eating is any indication. It all started when Peter and I dined at Mario Batali's Otto restaurant in Las Vegas. Verdict: that guy and his cooks know what they are doing. Carbonara pizza was stunning. I find myself continuously reaching for Marcella Hazan cookbooks and dreaming of prosciutto and prosecco laced afternoons.

Last Friday, lunch at Herbsaint. Began with a few samples of menu items chef de cuisine Ryan Prewitt has been developing. First was a mortadella puree with mustard seeds and pickled red onions. Simply dynamite. Then a large cornmeal blini topped with smoked mackerel tossed in a hazelnut dressing and thin slices of kumquat. While I am not the hugest fan of smoked fish, this was a delight: soft and fragrant with the kumquats and hazelnut dressing taking the dish in a Venetian/Orient trading direction.

Then, the dark rust colored chicken and sausage gumbo and a Tuscan bean soup. The chicken and sausage gumbo at Herbsaint is the best in the city. Smoky, rich, and thick without being gloppy, this version achieves a level of perfection few gumbos ever reach. Next a salad of fresh lettuces with city ham, Ryal's cheddar, and a buttermilk dressing. The city ham got lost in the shuffle and were chewy, but the slivers of Ryal's cheddar were creamy and delicious. Now granted, there was nothing Italian about the salad or the gumbo. However, the simple presentation and selection of good local ingredients is Italian in spirit. Finished it off with the always amazing and over the top spaghetti with fried egg and guanciale. Again, not sure if this Italian, but like Sinatra it should be.

Next Tuesday, Herbsaint is hosting a Barolo dinner with Hopper's Wine and Spirits. The menu is solid, the wines rare, and the company will be great as I have heard Robert Peyton will not be in attendance.

Dinner two weeks ago at a Mano. We dined as we are becoming accustomed to - order a selection of appetizers or starters to dance around the menu. The usually reliable and excellent tripe fell just short of its mark, the tripe slightly overcooked and turning to mush. The bruschetta di 'nduja was marvelous though with its deep porky flavor and perk of spiciness. Braesola with arugula is a dish best enjoyed on a summer night, but it is not bad on a cold Thursday either. The ricotta fritters were dense and boring; they need to bring back the Supli al Telefono.

Spaghetti carbonara and buccattini alla'amatriciana rounded out the meal. The former suffered from a bit too much salt but was still a glorious example of why pork and eggs are totes BFF. The latter could have been spicier for more taste, but the impeccable pasta did nothing to distract me from the Italian Groove.

Cochon

You know, as often as we reference Cochon in our blog posts or write about all of the wonderful things going on at Butcher next door, we have rarely written about the food and/or dining experience at Donald Link's Eau du Pork. I guess today is as good a time as any.

I have eaten 3 meals at Cochon over the past 6 months, all of them excellent. I think that the first sentence from my notes on my most recent meal sums up in 4 words what would otherwise probably take me 2 hours to write:

"F*cking love this place."

If I could resist the rest of the menu, I could still leave happy from a meal consisting entirely of the complimentary lard rolls and a bottle of Seghesio Zinfandel. But I can't resist, so I usually compromise by only eating 3 lard rolls and drinking a half bottle of Seghesio. It's enough just self control to keep me going.

There are not many restaurants where I look at the menu and think, "I really want to order everything," but this thought crosses my mind every time I sit down for a meal at Cochon. Boudin balls are light, crisp on the outside, and almost creamy on the inside. Deep fat fried hogshead cheese (above) has a crunchy coating protecting a warm, spicy, gelatinous interior, with a rich cooling ravigote to match. Fried alligator are batter coated nuggets tossed in a fiery chili garlic aioli; put the dish in the center and try to avoid impaling each other with your fork tynes. A summertime special of paneed pork cheeks are paired with baked peanuts to create a buttery, nutty sauce, but it's the turnip and radish salad which brings the dish together with added freshness and crunch. The braised rib is a tender, boneless job, with a nice sweetness from diced beets. The spicy grilled ribs are bone sucking good, and the diced watermelon rind pickles almost taste like candy.

Usually I get so overwhelmed with the small plates and boucherie that by the time I end up ordering my entree, the waiter gives a concerned look and says, "Well, I already have you down for 8 small plates and there only two of you, so maybe hold off on the entree?" Try to pace yourself when ordering, because you do not want to miss out on the oven-roasted Gulf fish.  Served "Fisherman's style" as a skin on filet, the fish is simply dressed with salt, pepper, lemon, a little butter or oil, and a few slivers of garlic. When it's cooked perfectly, the flesh easily pulls from the skin in moist and tender sections. This single piece is alone worth $40 billion in oil spill cleanup costs, but I think BP should subsidize the $24 cost by adding a starch or a veg to the a la carte dish.

Desserts rotate with the season, and most diners fill up their tanks long before it comes time for this final course. But the the strong who survive till the end may be handsomely rewarded with what is (in my opinion) the best dessert in the city. It's a special called the "Peanut Butter Cup Pie" - a rich crumb crust, a thin layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom, and a whipped peanut butter mousse heaped on top.

There are only a few truly "Oh my God" moments in life.  This is one of them.

In the past 5 years, no New Orleans restaurant has received more national and local praise than Cochon. Some think that the accolades are unwarranted, especially the Dean of New Orleans restaurant critics:

"Cochon, even as good as it is, is certainly the most overrated restaurant in New Orleans.... Visitors to New Orleans walk away from Cochon satisfied, as do younger New Orleans diners. Both groups may be eating these dishes for the first times in their lives. Those of us who grew up with the stuff (this requires a certain age) might be less impressed. Beans and ham hocks are good, but can only be lifted so high."

Whether or not the food lives up to the hype is a matter of personal opinion, but regardless, I don't think Father Tom grew up eating poached yard egg with roasted mushrooms over a grit cake.

Cochon - Eagle

Thanksgiving is Coming: Turkey v. Sides

There have been many debates in America's history. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists, Lincoln v. Douglass, Nixon v. Kennedy, Plaid v. Polyester, Heavy Metal Hair Bands v. Soft Rock*, Dan v. Dave, Coke v. Pepsi,  and Bieber v. Devil. But nothing incites such fiery rhetoric and mud slinging as whether or not Thanksgiving is all about the bird or all about the sides.

In America, when the Senate is deadlocked the Vice President gets to vote. America is deadlocked as to whether or not turkey or sides rule. I am the Vice President of this blog, so therefore I vote for Turkey. I love the Thanksgiving Turkey. Even if it is slightly dry, most often overcooked and above all a hassle, the turkey connects us to the agrarian hunter gatherer roots of our grandparents who had to shop for a turkey in such exotic sounding lands as Piggly Wiggly or Woodrow's Poultry Farm. My sister, Alexis, specifically looks forward to Thanksgiving because she loves "waking up to the smell of a turkey in the oven." Alexis doesn't cook so I have no idea where she wakes up on Thanksgiving morning.

Which brings me to my second point about turkey. Don't overthink this. I tell you this because I overthink how to cook the turkey every single year. This year, the methods I've explored include confitting the leg, sous viding the breast, pan frying the thighs, shish kabobing the gizzards, and using the skin to line a handbag.

Slight tangent-I've done some scholarly work in regards to frying the whole shebang and all I can say is this: it has no redeeming qualities that outweigh the hassle. The meat often comes out stringy and overcooked, the flavor is always bland unless you hit one of those pockets of injection driven salt water, and then you have 5 gallons of peanut oil to dispose of. Stop frying turkeys, please. I have nothing against the tradition of gathering around a roaring cauldron of heat and drinking beer while something cooks, just stating that frying a turkey is not the bees knees. It is a very long, expensive process to do something very simple, which is cook a bird.

Around Wednesday of next week, I will vacillate between making a brine, using a dry brine, or just leaving the turkey uncovered in the fridge (which will dry out the skin, the best part of any bird). I will begin making a brine and then realize the 6 gallon bucket I have is filled with dirt from a planting attempt gone wrong last April. This will lead to screaming, cursing, and hopefully drinking. Ahh, the Holidays are here.

Then there is the mess of how do you keep a 6 gallon bucket cold overnight. After weighing the option to just use one of those injectors, a disgusting, terrible invention that just creates pockets of over salted meat, I will likely consult the intranets and say a Novena to the Pilgrims. Finally, Lindsay will take over and say, "You know I roast the chickens in this house. I'm just gonna do it and it treat it like a large chicken."

She will make a butter spiked with chopped herbs, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and other accouterments. She will rub this butter under the skin and cook it til it "looks done". The turkey will be incredible. So far Lindsay is the only reason I can justify going to law school.

There will be a boudin stuffed turkey breast roulade a la Donald Link that will get seared on the grill before slowly smoking. I bet you $100 dollars we will forget about this bird. Halfway through the meal someone will wonder why the backyard is on fire. This will lead to screaming, cursing, and more drinking. As you can see, I do not follow my own advice.

Gravy. This is where I am glad I didn't brine a turkey. You see when you brine the turkey you are left with pan drippings that are too salty to use for anything other than attracting deer. But with Lindsay's turkey the pan will be studded with little burnt bits of carrot and onion, charred chunks of skin, and a sheen of butter. Remove most of the fat, then place this on the stove. Crank the stove, add some butter to the pan and touch of flour. Make a quick roux (about 5 minutes). Then pour in a healthy glass or two of white wine and scrape all this bits off the bottom of the pan. To this whisk in some hot stock. If you forgot to make stock last weekend, commence screaming, cursing, and drinking.

Pour into one of those gooseneck containers and hope no one cares at this point. If you did other things correctly, no one will. Next week, sides.


*Soft rock definitely wins. Why because Hall and Oates endures, while Ratt has slipped into the ether. Speaking of Hall and Oates, take a look at this video. That right there is nothing short of a profile of a duo who thinks at a specific moment in time, they can do no wrong. So let's pretend to be there when they conceived this video.

Daryl Hall- "Let's just sit there and look like assholes. I'll dress like the love child between Siegfried, Ziggy Stardust, and Tina Turner."

John Oates- "Cool. I have this tuxedo, some chick at the show last night ripped the sleeves off, but I still have the jacket with penguin hands."

Hall - "If we can just get some people to walk around us, like a girl, the short roadie in a devil costume, we'll fill in the rest with droopy eyes, stern looks, and throwing pieces of paper in the air. For Chrissakes, we are Hall and Oates we don't need to do much more than smoke cigarettes and be awesome."

Oates - "Pass the cocaine."

Talking Cookbooks

I had a friend in college whose vice was vices. You name it, gambling, drinking, drugs, reality tv, he was addicted to it. He has since cleaned up and turned into a fine man. Point is, we all have vices. Food and wine are two of the most addictive and expensive vices on the planet. And certainly both Peter and I battle with these diseases all the time.

But my most intense and burning vice is buying cookbooks. It doesn't even have to be a good cookbook. I own scores of Low Carb, No Fat, No Fun cookbooks whose spines have never been cracked. There are cookbooks from restaurants, I'll never visit; chef's who will never cook for me. There is even a cookbook for cooking with kids. We don't have kids.

Cookbooks can be divided into two main categories: 1) those you can cook from and 2) those that inspire or show you possibilities. The two categories are not mutually exclusive, but by way of illustration any of Ina Garten's amazing books would fall into the first, while A Day at El Bulli falls into the later.


Every few weeks, Lindsay and I will get the urge to head to a bookstore, plop down in the cookbook section, and just start pulling books from the shelf like an addict searching for a fix at a methadone clinic. Our cookbook collection spans two areas of our house. Downstairs in a nook just pass the kitchen is four shelves of cookbooks we thumb through at least once a month. The books in this book nook number about 65 and are comprised of both Category 1s and 2s. Upstairs on two bookshelves that used to house history or law books are the books that have fallen out of rotation like last season's fashions. This is where many of the low carb, healthy cooking options live.

Most Saturday mornings begin with a walk around City Park. This is followed by a cup of coffee on the back deck, WWOZ (pledge drive going on now) on the old vacuum tube radio, and a gaggle of cookbooks. A week's menu is set and off we go. Rarely do I follow a recipe's instructions from start to finish with the rigidity of a recruit in the Marines. Here are six great cookbooks that are both a 1 and a 2 and that generally their recipes are followed. This is by no means exhaustive, just what I find myself reaching for time and time again.

1) Frank Stitt's Southern Table - A few years ago at a party, a few chefs from town were talking about cookbooks. Finally, the tone hushed and one of them reverentially said to me, "Do you have Stitt's Southern Table?" "I do not." "Go home and buy it, it is the best New Southern cookbook."

He was right. Stitt blends his youth in Alabama, and the traditions therein, with the sensibilities of the cuisines of Europe. So you will find pork seared and topped with a pecan and mint pesto or hearty bean stews equally adept at combating the Mistral as the North Wind off Lake Pontchartrain.

2) Donald Link's Real Cajun - How much more can I say about this cookbook. Trust me, if you don't own this, you are either a fool or dead.

3) Loukie Werle's Italian Country Cooking - In this book Loukie Werle captures what makes Italian cooking so special: simple reliance on the best ingredients, unfussed with and a minimal amount of steps. Her white bean soup with olive oil is one of the first things we cook when the weather turns cool.

4) David Watluck's Staff Meals - Sadly Chanterelle closed this past summer, but for over 30 years it was one of New York's favorite restaurants. Luckily for you, this cookbook details what Watluck and his staff served to each other at staff meal. This cookbook spans the cuisines of the culinary world; you will find Hungarian dishes, Asian comfort foods, American classics like hamburgers, and even a roast chicken recipe.

5) Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite - I know, I know, he is a mean guy. But occasionally we like to eat healthy. And this book is one of the few that is neither preachy, scolding, nor devoid of flavor. There is a summer asparagus salad with shaved fennel, poached egg, and pancetta that is one of the best salad recipes I've ever run across.

6) Susan Spicer's Crescent City Cooking - See #2.

The Post-Katrina Top 20: #5 - #1

Today, we unveil the Top 5 additions to the New Orleans Dining and Drinking Scene Post-Katrina. We knew this was a cliche idea. However, going through the exercise provided us with an opportunity not only to examine the New Orleans restaurant scene in toto but also to look with special favor upon what came after the storm. Those restaurateurs, bartenders, and shopkeepers who chose New Orleans to hang their shingles or branch out, despite the odds.

First off, we realize many great restaurants struggled to return to New Orleans. They found their cooks, bussers, and waiters all over the country and brought them back. They dealt with insurance adjusters and new regulations. They reopened with skeletal crews and out of whack balance sheets. To them we owe a lot. For if they don't come back, these places don't exist. So a big round of applause to all the restaurants in New Orleans that reopened after Katrina.

We also know there are many great places that didn't make the list. Places like Il Posto, which Rene refuses to write about because he doesn't want to fight crowds on Saturday morning trips for a cappuccino and a California bagel. Places like Meson 923 which have returned to New Orleans a prodigal chef in Chris Lynch. Places like Mondo and Coquette which are putting good food in great neighborhoods and watching the lines form. And restaurants, stores, and bars that have yet to be conceived, developed and opened.

Cue the Chairman of the Board, "The Best is Yet to Come."

#5: The Sun Rarely Sets on The Besh Empire - In the days after Katrina, John Besh and his trusted cooks Blake LeMarie and Alon Shaya used the Katrina trinity (propane tanks, flatboats, and ice chests) to serve loads of hungry refugees and recovery workers. Nearly five years later, Chef Besh was once again at the forefront, this time in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In between those times, he did little more than open 3 new restaurants and continue the legacy of a 4th. Not a bad stretch, if you ask us.

But it's not so much the quantity as the quality and diversity of the Besh family of post-K restaurants which warrants high praise. When Cobalt failed to reopen after the breach, Besh seized the opportunity to reinvent the first floor of the Masonic Temple into an Alsatian brasserie, complete with pulley and belt-driven fans which were a trademark at Kolb's. Enter Lüke, now the most popular restaurant for a business lunch in the CBD.

The dichotomy of forward thinking paired with a nod to the past was exemplified in two of Besh's post-K acquisitions. When his former mentor Chris Kerageaorgiou was in search of someone to pass the torch to at La Provence, Besh took over the reigns and revived its farm-to-fork history by growing vegetables and raising livestock on the grounds, while continuing the tradition of rustic French cuisine in a country house setting. Similarly, at The American Sector, Besh honors the greatest generation by serving World War II era food using contemporary ingredients and techniques.

And if three is good, four must be better. New Orleans has always had its own distinctive Creole-Italian cuisine, known for smooth, sweet red sauces and an unconventional bordelaise comprised of olive oil and garlic. But with the opening of Domenica, Chef John Besh and Alon Shaya ushered in a new era of Italian dining in the city. House cured salumi and wood-fired pizzas share menu space along with exquisitely made pastas, with no "red gravy" to be found.

#4: Sucre - Tariq Hanna, chef of Sucre, said it better than we ever could. When asked about why people like sweets he responded, "You only eat sweets for two reasons: because you are seeking comfort or soothing guilt."

No matter where you were when Katrina hit, or how you have lived your life since then, those descriptions fit. When Sucre opened it set off an only in New Orleans brawl between supporters of Sucre and supporters of La Divina Gelateria. The Jets and Sharks, Bloods and Crypts, and Hatields and McCoys look like catfights compared to the Blue Bloods and Hipsters.

Sucre has distinguished itself in our eyes. There are airy, pastel colored macaroons, petit fours with layers of raspberry, chocolate, and more chocolate, milkshakes spiked with Bailey's, espressos, truffles with sea salt, and of course cakes resembling whichever team the Saints are destroying that week.

Joel Dondis always had a sweet tooth. But it was while living and working in Germany, he first decided to one day own a pastry shop. He found going to the bakery down the street provided relief from long hours and low pay as a cook. Dondis and Hanna teamed up to open Sucre in April of 2007. Since then the childhood inspired, sweet shop on Magazine has expanded to include a pastry factory near Broadmoor, where the cakes, truffles, ice creams, and baked goods are made by a dedicated staff. A staff that includes many graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. The word is out among the nation's up and coming pastry chefs. If you want to be somebody, you need to work at Sucre.

Soon a location will open in Lakeside Mall with an espresso machine called the Slayer. "This is going to revolutionize the coffee drinking experience in New Orleans," Dondis explains. "You will be able to choose your blend, grind size, water temperature, pressure, all of it."

To steal from Rick Pitino, "McKenzie's isn't walking through that door."

But that's OK. We got Sucre now.

#3: St. James Cheese Co. - "People said we were insane to open a cheese shop in New Orleans," Danielle Sutton says. "We are glad to prove them wrong."

Prior to Katrina, Richard Sutton worked as a cheesemonger in London. He and his wife, Tulane alums (we hear it is a college), returned to New Orleans with the idea to open a quiet, little cheese shop uptown. When they opened in November of 2006, the plan was to only have one or two sandwiches and to build a small niche as a supplier of fine cheeses. That plan soon changed once the public got a taste of their sandwich creations.

In winter crowds clamor for the raclette and croque monsieur. And last summer, the removal of the BLT with Serrano ham replacing bacon caused an uproar. "We had customers call and ask if the BLT was on the menu. When we would say no, they would hang up on us," Danielle recounts.

But still, the staff at St. James focuses on delivering the best cheeses and charcuterie from around the world. To witness, walk in to St. James on a Thursday around noon. The line will snake from the register down the display cases filled with people drooling over the selections. Richard, or one of his able staffmembers, will come over to and ask you what you want. "What is new," you ask.

Their eyes light up like a kid on Easter Sunday who spies a basket of candy on the mantle. "Have you tried the new aged gouda? Or the Ste. Marcelin? A delicious Triple Creme is in, layered with truffles, try it. What about this blue from Humboldt?"

And off they go dispensing samples of cheese, pates, and cured meats, while taking an order for a Mozzarella sandwich, and uncorking a bottle of rose. Recently, St. James added an online presence via a partnership with Taigan.com, the high-end, luxury online shopping center (backed by First Street resident Julia Reed). Previously they only accepted phone orders for out of town shipments. Which is a great gift to give a sister, should you have one living in say DC or New York.

St. James is also a great spot for dinner. Let us explain. You know those Fridays, when there is no food in the house and you don't really feel like going out to dinner? Swing by St. James, pick out three or four cheese, a pate, some slices of Jamon Serrano (or Iberico if you got that cash money), and a baguette. Take it home and lay it out on the biggest cutting board you have. Open a bottle of wine, put your feet up, and graze the night away.

With Andy Scurlock manning the charcuterie and turning out impressive truffle-studded pates and English meat pies, the future of St. James is bright. But it is the last four years that are special for Richard and Danielle. As Danielle explains, "We love the feeling that we have become a neighborhood spot in a city of great neighborhood spots. Our customers have become our friends, they go to Italy or France and bring us back treats. That really means a lot to us."

When the Sutton's came to New Orleans, they did not know what to expect but what they found has warmed their hearts. "New Orleans has been so supportive and welcoming to us. Even dealing with City Hall was enjoyable," Danielle says.

If that isn't a sign, New Orleans is back. We don't know what is.

#2: Cochon/Cochon Butcher - Chef Donald Link said it best during his segment on No Reservations: "You respect somebody for staying here. Staying here after the storm and raising your family here is making a statement."

Not only did Chef Link stay in New Orleans to raise his family, he and partner Stephen Stryjewski also moved forward with their plans to open Cochon, the porcine mecca on Tchoupitoulas Street. Beside introducing New Orleanians to the wonders of rustic Acadiana cooking, the media frenzy surrounding Cochon sent an important message to the rest of the nation: New Orleans and its food culture still matter and are worth saving. While some members of the press were kicking us while we were down, restaurateurs like Link were too busy raising the city up to even bother with the naysayers.

But all of the press and accolades were no reason for Link to rest on his laurels. In early 2009 the Link Restaurant Group launched Cochon Butcher, the forerunner of the salumi movement that has swept both the local and national dining scenes. Many people don't realize that before ABC Restaurant in NYC began curing its speck in house, the coonasses of Cajun country had about a 250 year head start on them. Butcher has brought those time tasted crafts to the Big Easy, which in turn launched this artisan movement onto the national level.

#1: La Boca - The worst kept secret in New Orleans is that it is a wonderful place to get a steak. For years Ruth Fertel's halfway eponymous restaurants showed the world how to cook and serve a steak. Ruth's Chris Corporate Office left the city with the flood waters, pissing a lot of people off. Into this vacuum stepped La Boca, which has established itself as the city's best steakhouse.

Nick Bazan and Adolfo Garcia came up with the idea of La Boca prior to Katrina. Originally they wanted a 150 seat restaurant devoted to all things Argentinian meat. But the federal flood caused them to change their plans. Luckily, Taqueria Corona never returned and they got a good deal on a 47 seat restaurant. They also had to focus the menu to what ingredients they could get reliably day in and day out. As chef/partner Jared Ralls puts it, "Adolfo and I always talk about keeping dishes simple and singularly focused. By lessening the stuff on the plate, we can increase our chances for success."

La Boca opened on June 1, 2006, which as you are well aware is the first day of hurricane season. "It was a way of saying 'Screw it, we aren't going anywhere.' We had faith in New Orleans, faith it would come back, faith people would get what we were trying to do from a culinary standpoint," Ralls recounts.

It took about two years for the restaurant to really catch on with both locals and tourists. "Business was always good, but then all of a sudden at the beginning of 2008, we just exploded," Ralls says. The success has not stopped La Boca from doing a Service Industry Night every Thursday, when you can spy some of the city's best chefs digging into steaks and slugging red wine long after the customers have gone home.

La Boca has all the classic grill marks of a steakhouse, with subtle nods to more contemporary dining. The interior of La Boca is like eating inside a large brick fireplace, with red masonry, wood timbers, and a warm glow from the kitchen. In other steakhouses the walls are lined with pictures of sports stars from year's past shaking hands with the owner. Here, are Boca Junior soccer jerseys and paraphernalia from Argentina.

Rather than beat you over the head with bottles you can't afford, the wine list at La Boca offers an all Argentine selection of toned, lean whites and muscular, lusty reds. Affordability is the main link. Hell, there even is a surly maitre d', albeit one wearing a Marilyn Monroe tie, Scarface suspenders, and saddle oxfords.

The vibe of La Boca has nothing on the food. Gooey provoleta smeared over those rolls and lacquered with chimichurri make the grilled cheese seem juvenile. The plump, tender sweetbreads, grilled whole and served with just a squeeze of lemon, have no equal in the city. The gnocchi is like eating a potato that just made love to butter and cream. Even the heart of palm salad makes a compelling argument to eat more veggies.

Then we come to the main event, the steaks. Sourced from places with cool names like Snake River and Painted Hills, this is not the place to order a filet (although the bone-in job is pretty good). Go with the hanger, the skirt, the skirt with skin, or the flank. All of the steaks, save the bottom sirloin flap, get only a sprinkling of salt and pepper before hitting the grill. This absence of fussing around means you taste the beef in all of it's glory. The three chimichurris are the colors on your palette wheel. Paint as you will.

Don't forget an order of the fries, or the mashed potatoes, or the corn pudding or the asparagus. Go ahead and linger for a while. If it is a nice March or October evening, the windows to Fulton St. will be open wide. Sit, swirl, and sip that Malbec. It should be loosening up about now, as should your mood. Stick around long enough and the Red Eye will open. Go ahead and go, we won't judge. Lord knows we've all been there once before and soon enough, will be again.

We chose La Boca as our favorite Post Katrina addition to the New Orleans food scene for a few reasons. First, we love steak and feel it is the best steakhouse in the city. Secondly, although La Boca is a few years old, there is still a feeling of excitement every time we go. One of us will go and text the other, "Heading to La Boca." Instantly a wave of jealousy spreads over the other Blackened Out twin.

Third, the Warehouse District has become the post-Katrina center of dining in the city. The sheer volume of excellent restaurants within a 6 block walk keeps each operator on top of their game. And in this area, there is no better place we like to eat than La Boca.

Finally, we all lost nouns in Katrina - places, things, and people. Whatever it is Katrina took from you, what you really lost was the memory of the noun. Your kids walking down the stairs on Christmas morning, the picture of you and your cousin in Destin, or the restaurant where your husband proposed. Restaurants in New Orleans have always been more than places to get a meal. They are links to the past. Memory place card holders which evoke not only good food but also great times. Maybe it was eating at Ruth's after either your First Communion or high school graduation. Maybe you never went but always wanted to go to Christian's. Restaurants matter here almost as much as the World Champion Saints.

But what Katrina didn't take was our ability to dine out. To eat well with friends or perfect strangers. To create memories which will live on past the latest fad in cooking or the bonds of any friendship. La Boca has become our favorite new place to create lasting memories. The restaurant has accomplished this by borrowing from the past while being truly original. By extension, La Boca feels like it has always been a part of New Orleans. For that, it gets our nod as the best addition to the New Orleans food scene Post-Katrina. Here's wishing it stays a treasure of New Orleans forever.

2010 Challenge: Herbsaint's 2nd Best Dish

No visit to Herbsaint is complete for me without two very important orders. The spaghetti with guanciale and fried poached egg is one. The other is a very simple salad of iceberg lettuce, radishes, and either blue cheese or buttermilk dressing. The former makes sense because it is the greatest marriage of chicken, pig, and pasta in the Western Hemisphere. The latter though requires more explanation.

The beauty in Herbsaint's cooking is the subtle understanding of the complex mathematical theorem of addition by subtraction. Notice in the salad, the absence of candied walnuts or segments of ginger marinated orange, no 100 year old balsamic nor micro greens. Nope. None of that. Lettuce, dressing, and radishes; nothing extraneous and all perfectly done. The dressing is tart, smooth, and creamy. The radishes punch up the lettuce with their spicy flavor and earthy crunch.

Summertime in New Orleans really means salad time. The less cooking you can do the better.

Iceberg salad with Blue Cheese Dressing and Radishes

Trim the root and stem of each radish and dice into small cubes as best you can. Salt, toss, and set aside.

For the dressing, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, juice of one lemon, and as many squirts of Worcestershire sauce as you like in your Bloody Mary. Mix to combine, add salt and pepper to taste. Into this mix, fold in gently a wedge of blue cheese about the size of your palm, that you have broken into small chunks. Let the dressing sit for a few minutes, while you wash and dry the iceberg.

Now, just toss the radishes, lettuce, and dressing. If you have bacon, add it. Go ahead, gild that lily, baby.