Reveillon & the Rib Room

With the weather change last week, it's beginning to actually feel a lot like Christmas, and just in time for the start of the reveillon menu season. According to history the reveillon meal is taken on early Christmas morning after midnight mass, but our local restaurants have extended the tradition to encompass basically the entire month of December. Leave it to our fair city to take the most extravagant meal of the year and duplicate it over and over again for 30 days.

This year, 42 restaurants are serving reveillon menus in conjunction with the Christmas New Orleans Style campaign. Prices range from $38 for the classic 4 course dinner at Tujague's to a decadent 5 course repast at Restaurant August featuring foie gras and burgundy truffles.

Last week The Pope, The Folk Singer, and I found ourselves in the Quarter with no agenda for dinner, and so we decided to duck into the Rib Room to see what Chef Rene Bajeux was cooking up on his reveillon menu. Overall the reveillon menu is a great value at $45 for 4 courses, with winners and losers in each course. TFS started with a delicious savory pumpkin soup, which avoided the pitfall of tasting like a dessert. For me, an offbeat combination of shrimp remoulade and ahi tuna carpaccio - the former a fair rendition of the classic; the latter was actually seared and lacked the intrinsic vibrancy without which raw tuna just tastes flat. There is no choice in the second course: the classic Rib Room chopped salad with blue cheese, which is delicious in simplicity. In the entree section, the sauteed drum was one of the best pieces of fish that I have eaten all year. The filet was moist with a khaki exterior and a wonderful perfume of garlic; the hash of diced sweet potato and thin coins of andouille underneath paired marvelously well; and the lemon caper vinaigrette tied it all together. TFS had buttery BBQ shrimp over grits; not exciting but nonetheless good. The Pope tried to order the sirloin, but the kitchen was sold out. (Personally, I thought they should have swapped out a different cut.) Instead, he opted for the roasted duck, which I sampled and found to be quite tough. Desserts were unnecessary, especially the stale profiteroles, but a thin slice of the classic yule log was a nice touch for the season.

The high back chairs, dark woods, and vaulted ceiling at the Rib Room create a grandiose atmosphere, all the more appropriate during the holiday season. I am so fond of the ambience that I can't say that I have ever had a bad meal there, regardless of the quality of the food. This night was no exception.

Reveillon at the Rib Room - Par/Birdie
621 St. Louis Street
Lunch & Dinner Daily
(504) 529-7046

The Drinking Lunch

The month of December is known for celebratory meals, especially long Friday lunches. As the "unofficial" Friday before Christmas, today just so happens to be the biggest lunch day of the year. In this month's issue of OffBeat Magazine, we review the Rib Room, a restaurant that is a year round specialist in three hour boozy lunches. When taking your holiday lunch, there may be no better choice in the city.

In a recent Business Week article, Joel Stein examined the current state of the 3 Martini Lunch. We thought that this paragraph was a great opener:

"Businesspeople used to know how to waste time. Instead of updating their Facebook wall and shopping on eBay, they ordered three martinis at lunch and headed back to the office four hours later."

Even though the Mad Men days may be a thing of the past, at noon today many a man will attempt to recreate that lifestyle, if only for an afternoon. The only remaining question is: How do you take your martini? Here are our preferences:

Rene - A martini is gin served ice cold and with a healthy dose of vermouth. A 4 to 1 ratio is best. Reminds me of a story of a guy who had his martini recipe printed on the back of his business card. When he would order a martini, he would pass the bartender or waiter his business card, back side up. Some may say that is being an asshole, but I say prior preparation prevents poor performance. While I like olives, I prefer a twist of lemon and a bowl of olives to snack on. If they have Hendrick's Gin, as they should, I take it with a slice of cucumber, it is good for the eyes. A vodka martini with a "telegram from a bottle of vermouth" is just a shot of vodka. There is nothing pleasurable about that.

Peter - I have never been a vodka drinker, so I defer to gin. (Even though I usually make the official switch from gin to bourbon at the first cold snap, but then again it was 78 degrees yesterday.)  Like Rene, Hendrick's is also my #1 choice. But I prefer a little citrus in my martini, so a twist of lemon is a necessity. As for the level of vermouth, I prefer my martini as wet as a Slip 'n Slide.

What would Don Draper do?

Challenge Submissions and a Few Linkatudes

Only one more month is left in 2010. Which means it is time to start submitting your ideas for Peter's Food Challenge in the Year 2011. While I have had good fun providing you a weekly glimpse into the ramblings and thoughts of a crazy man, I am more that happy to relinquish the challenge year to my Peter in Crime.

No suggestions will be turned away except for: 1) Can't Eat at Same Restaurant Twice and 2) Must Bore Us Weekly with Stupid Ideas.

Now, here is our review of The Rib Room from this month's offBeat Magazine. We particularly enjoyed our lunch at The Rib Room. Should you be in the quarter and looking for a place to eat, pop in there for a cool blend of the old and the new.

Originally, I wrote a wine and medical geeky piece on two New Orleans doctors who are making their own wines. The article feature all sorts of polyphenol talk and anti-oxidant mumbo jumbo. Luckily, for you our editor Alex Rawls at offBeat had me rewrite the story into something you would want to read, hopefully. But here is the short version of my original piece: drinking a glass of wine 2-3 times a day can make you live longer and, more importantly, be healthier longer. Just one more reason you should drink the good juice.

Power Lunch

Every Friday before Mardi Gras groups gather at restaurants around the city for long lunches to kickoff the weekend festivities. Though I am by no means worthy enough to attend one of these functions, I usually receive a courtesy invitation from friends. (Remember: It's not about what you know but who you know.) So for the past few years, I have had the good fortune to start my Mardi Gras with lunch the Rib Room. Thankfully, this year Grandpa To Be brought along his camera so that we could at least document the food.

I love the Rib Room for what they do best - simply cooked, high-quality meats. Oh, and they will serve you liquor in a small pitcher so that you can mix your cocktails as you progress your way through the meal. Gotta love that.

Starters are simple at the Rib Room. Every entree comes with the classic Rib Room chopped salad with blue cheese dressing - which I must say that I highly prefer over a wedge salad. I just find that the dressing and greens incorporate much better when chopped and mixed together. The crabcakes are great as well because the jumbo lumps are bound with pureed raw shrimp. As for me, I usually let the salad hold me over till the much anticipated entree course.

The Veal Tanet is nothing more than a paneed veal cutlet served over Romaine and sliced tomatoes drizzled with a basic vinaigrette. Seems simple enough. But once you take your first bite of this prime cut of veal sautteed in butter, you will marvel at how the cool tomatoes and crisp lettuce complement the ridiculously tender cut of veal.

But if you're looking for a serious hunka hunka beef, then you go with the bone-in prime rib and just start hacking away. Whip up some horseradish sour cream to your personal liking, and you're ready to go. And if all goes well, your table will look like this at the end:

What's that old adage about the number of glasses on the table at the end of a meal? I seem to have forgotten....

Rib Room - Birdie.