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.

A Word of Appreciation

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone and the only signs of Thursday's turkey can be found in today's gumbo, I feel that a few people were left off of my annual list of things to be thankful for.

Yesterday, I spent most of my waking hours at Gleason Gras, the first annual event to raise awareness for ALS and to support the family trust created to assist former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason. Despite the cold, wet, windy weather, the entire day was a resounding success by all measures. There were personal appearances by Sean Peyton and Drew Brees. Music by Kristen Diable, Papa Grows Funk, and Better Than Ezra. And a heart felt and hilarious speech by the guest of honor.

But perhaps the day's best performance was by Cochon's Stephen Stryjewski, who stood all alone at the Cochon food booth for no less than 4 hours straight and served hundreds of cochon de lait po-boys to a never ending line of hungry hordes. No cashier or assistant cook. Just a man, a plan, and this pig:

We New Orleanians are extremely spoiled when it comes to food, and fundraising events are not granted an exception to our high standards. Common knowledge is that an enticing list of participating restaurants is the best way to increase attendance for any event, no matter what the cause.

What we often overlook is the fact that at many of these events, the restaurants donate the food with no strings attached.  When you consider not only the food cost but also the labor which restaurants undertake to participate at these events, the time, dollars, and cents add up significantly. Yet, seemingly every weekend, you can find the city's best chefs around town serving seafood gumbo, croque monsieurs, and roasted lamb sandwiches at fundraisers all over the area. Whether it be Justin Devillier from La Petite Grocery, who sold so many blue crab beignets yesterday at Gleason Gras that he dispatched someone to the restaurant after he ran out of supplies early in the afternoon, or Alon Shaya cooking up sausages on his Big Green Egg on Royal Street during the Party for the Troops.

While riding in the car on Saturday, I caught a brief segment of Tim McNally's "The Wine Show" in which he and a caller were discussing just how selfless many of our restaurateurs can be when it comes to donating to a worthy cause. Tim said: "Nowhere else in the nation will you find a head chef, on a Friday night during one of the biggest seasons of the year, serving free boudin to over 1500 people."

Just another reason to be thankful for living in New Orleans.

Beasts and Brass with a Shot of Fernet Branca

As this blog alluded to yesterday, Sunday's Beasts and Brass event is going to be a good time. But don't take our word for it. "It is going to be a good time," says Robert Peyton.

Here is the skinny. Starting Sunday at 5 is the Patron Party where for $85 (presale) or $100 (at door, you can enjoy music, food and drinks from over 30 New Orleans restaurants, live auctions, and those good times referenced above. Just look at the restaurants serving at the Patron Party:

Boucherie & The Cue Crawl, La Petite Grocery, Three Muses, Iris, Patois, Crescent Pie & Sausage Co., Martinique Bistro, Lilette, Dante's Kitchen, St. James Cheese Co., Satsuma, Le Foret, Cafe Rani, Brightsen's, Charlie's Seafood, Link Restaurant Group, Joel's Catering, Cure, Dante's Kitchen, The Green Goddess, Melissa's Fine Pastries, Zea, August, Luke, Domenica, Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, River Shack Tavern, Oak Crest Mansion, Kajun Kettle Foods, Tracey's, Pal's Lounge.

At 9 pm, the ticket price drops to $20, the bar turns to cash, and the party keeps going until til.  More information here. The Blackened Out Twins are going which means there is a 90% chance of someone getting deported. Also, if you want to volunteer, the organizers are looking for people to help out. If so, shoot an email to Justin Devillier whose email is his first name at la petite grocery.

To take you off into a meditative and charitable state, here is a cocktail recipe courtesy of James Denio of Boucherie.

Good Medicine

1.5 oz Frenet-Branca
1.5 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
1.5 oz Orange Pekoe Tea (iced) 
Dram of simple syrup ( barely a nip, just a hair) 
1 mint leaf

Served up in Collins glass. The drink is highly aromatic, and better served as a digestif rather then an aperitif because as it's name suggests, it does wonders on the belly after a good meal. Before-hand it can be a bit much on the palate, although personally I'd take it either way.

Instead of a cocktail glass which I believe is best used for drinks that employ citrus oils (from zesting) to create almost a tickling of the nose when you go in for that first sip, we're using a Collins, or tall water glass.  Here the aromatics can take over the olfactories well before the elixir hits the lips. The drink is equal parts all ingredients save the simple syrup (being just a pinch).  It's shaken and served up, taking just under half the glass's capacity, and leaving a good column for the aroma to travel.

Unlike other mixed drinks whose aggregate spirits the consumer may not enjoy on their own, yet blended create a flavor profile easily enjoyed, this drink may necessitate that the consumer likes Frenet-Branca to begin with, which is not to say the Frenet overpowers the cocktail, yet it is a uniquely potent element. The Cocchi vermouth adds a hint of chocolate, and the iced orange pekoe tea rounds out the otherwise heavily botanical ingredients. We spear a fresh mint leaf with a small cocktail straw and set it in the center of the cocktail, resting it upon the foam like a sail, it floats upon the head of the drink created by vigorous shaking before it's strained.

Both The Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, and Frenet-Branca are Italian spirits, and the drink was created to accompany what was to be our June menu of Italian influenced dishes put on hiatus due to Nathanial's attack on on the 22nd of May.  That menu is now taking shape here in July, with Nathanial coming in a few hours each day and changing the dishes one at a time rather then all at once as we've seen here at Boucherie in the past.  I'm excited to see what he pulls out of that brain of his.  It's good to have our boy back.

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.

Winesday

Writing about wine is a really easy way to either put people to sleep or make people convinced you are trying to make them feel stupid. Wine is a very ordinary thing. Or more accurately, wine should be an everyday occurrence, spoken about in plain English (if spoken about at all). But too often wine discussion becomes a battle of the snoots with people saying things like "The wine begins with a jaunt through a field of frostbitten arugula and ends with a box of Louboutins on Easter Sunday."

Really? What the hell does that taste like. And more importantly, why would you ever want to drink that?

The Pope knows people. This happens when you are elected by the College of Cardinals. So a few weeks ago, we met one of the Pope's "Wine Guys." Discussions about wine began and the following idea was hatched. The idea is simple, if you remove pretense and preconceptions can someone write about wine without sounding like an asshole?

Last week, Joe the Wine Guy dropped off a case of wine for us. The labels and any other identifying marks were either removed or covered up from the twelve different bottles in the box. Once a week, Peter and I get together, and open the wine. We take a few sips and without consulting each other write down our most basic thoughts. We aren't trying to guess the vintage or the grape or whether the winemaker used new oak or whether it was bottled under a new moon. Nope, we just want our gut reaction to the wine.

Wine is made to go with food. So we also want to know, what kinds of food would this be good with. So, we both write down the name of a restaurant and a dish at the restaurant. Again just collecting our stream of consciousness.

At the end of article, Joe the Wine Guy gives us his notes on what the wine really is and where you can find it. By the way, we don't know his thoughts until after we have tasted and written down our own.

That is it. The point isn't to get it right. It is just to keep it simple, stupid. Ohh and drink some wine; that is the real point.

Peter: Not surprisingly, this red wine tastes fruity - grapes, blackberries, blueberries. Not tannic enough for a steak, but maybe game birds. Roasted simply where the wine could act as the fruit sauce. Cafe Atchafalaya's Boudin Stuffed Quail or Cafe Minh's Lacquered Duck come to mind.

Rene: A red wine. Not heavy, but coats the mouth well. Fresh, blackberry flavor with cedarwood flavor at the end. Light tannins, good acidity, palate cleansing. Would want to drink this with something braised. For that, I go to the root beer braised short ribs at La Petite Grocery.

Joe the Wine Guy:  This week's wine is a 2008 Termes from Bodega Numanthia, a wine made from the Tempranillo grape. This selection features intense fruity aromas such as raspberry and cherry along with flowering ones like violets. When you taste it, you first get an explosion of fruit then you get spices, tobacco, raspberries, and blackberries. The wine is aged in French oak Bordeaux style barrels for 16 months. You can find it at The Wine Seller, Galatoire's, French Market Bistro, and Elios. Retail price is $29.

La Petite Grocery

Last month we were invited to La Petite Grocery to taste some of the new menu items that Chef Justin Devillier has been fooling around with. (Full Disclosure: We did not pay for any food. However, what we saved in food costs, we more than made up for in alcohol sales by sampling the cocktail menu - which was also pretty good.) We tried probably 10 or 12 dishes, most of which were good, but few of which photographed well. Here is the best of what we could capture on film.

House-made agnolloti pasta stuffed with blackeyed peas. Almost as unconventional as it was delicious. If you are a vegetarian or denying yourself pork for some masochistic reason, then run to LPG if they are ever offering this dish as a special.

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Boudin balls, housemade as well. Delicious and popped in your mouth, revealing a smooth and spicy interior. The balls sat on top of chow chow. Ha, we said balls.

Seared ahi tuna with sweet onion jam and miso broth. Yes, seared tuna runs rampant through almost every menu and can be ordered nearly anywhere nowadays. But when a dish is done well (as in this case), you should not feel ashamed in enjoying it. This tuna was still succulent the next day, as Lindsay can attest to because she ate our leftovers for lunch. (Rene never takes her anywhere....)

How we also managed to consume this slab of braised short rib I have no idea. But I'm glad we did.

Other less-photogenic foods that we liked were: collard greens (redolent with pork), tuna carpaccio, french fries, and a creative little dessert of a mason jar filled with tart yogurt topped with a cold blueberry compote. I also think that LPG may serve some of the best grits in the city: thick, coarsely-ground yellow corn cooked with plenty of butter and cream.