Libation for Celebration

All of those who waited till today to make New Year's Eve plans raise your hands. Now all of those who may have already made plans but still need to buy booze for tonight raise. Is that everyone? OK, good. We're here to help.

If you are a beer drinker, then I have to second Rene's suggestion of knocking back a few Lazy Magnolias. Last week I was the fortunate recipient of a six pack gift of Southern Pecan from a relative, and it went very well with the whole suckling pig that we cooked on Christmas day. (More on that next week). Just swing on by the local grocery on the Northshore. [What? The Northshore is still technically in the New Orleans area. Just ask Fr. Tom. He lives in Abita.]

But if, on the other hand, you fancy a bit of bubbly, then head over to Cork & Bottle and grab a bottle of the Spanish sparkling wine Poema Cava. Sure, it's not true champagne, but neither is the Korbel or Mumm's which you usually drink. And at $10.99 per bottle, it's a steal.

Finally, for you oenophiles out there, why not pick up a bottle of Wine Spectator's 2008 Wine of the Year.* This bottle of Clos Apalta is courtesy of The Pope, whose affinity for this Chilean red stems not only from taste but also from the fact that the winery is owned by the Marnier-Lapostolle family (founders and owners of Grand Marnier liqeur). Plus uncorking a bottle like this is a perfect excuse to use that new decanter you got for Christmas. Please allow the Battle House Honey to demonstrate:

Happy New Year.

* We apologize for the amateur pictures of the wine. Unfortunately, we are not as photographically savy as Robert Peyton.

Hurray For Beer Fans

If you like good beer and you live on the Northshore, good news. Lazy Magnolia products will soon be available for purchase in your neckin of the woods. Champagne Beverage Company of Madisonville will be the exclusive distributor of the products in Slidell, Mandeville, and Covington.

The hand-crafted, climate specific beers of Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company offer a chance for the beer drinker to really explore different styles of beer. Lazy Magnolia has won two International Awards at the 2006 World Beer Cup. Plans are in the works for a Blackened Out Field Trip to the 2009 World Beer Cup. We are hoping to get into a fight with some of the hooligans from Smithwick's.

Plus what could be better than a drive across the longest bridge in the world to pick up a trunk full of beer. Pretend to be a modern day rum runner or bootlegger, wear a zoot suit, and give yourself a cool nickname like Short Pete or Lickin Larry. Then swing by and drop off your loot at an abandoned warehouse all the while escaping the Fuzz.

See beer is fun.

SIKE...

We are back a bit earlier than expected.

Ok, just for a second. Imagine that someone is coming over for dinner and they inform you that they/their spouse are vegetarians. Or even worse Vegans. What do you do now?

Here, let us help you. Red Beans really need pork to make them taste good and serving just grilled vegetables may assuage the hunger of the people bucking the trend of evolution, but will do little to make you feel full.

So how about a vegetarian chili with Red Beans? Like you had a better idea.

In a pot combine red beans, salt, pepper, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until beans are al dente. You want the beans to have some bite to add textural contrast.

In a dutch oven, saute one onion, some diced peppers (you choose, any pepper you like from the Scoville scale) with some garlic on low heat in some olive oil. Cook for about 10 minutes. At this juncture add a can of whole tomatoes, a can of chipotle peppers, a bay leaf, some chili powder, some cumin, and salt. Using the back of a spoon, pop the tomatoes and chipotles. Simmer for 1 hour.

By this time your beans should be al dente. Add to chili mixture. Add some chicken stock or water if necessary. Cover halfway with lid and simmer for another 1 hour.

Serve. Then launch into an expose on why vegetarianism, and environmentalism, is really just a fancy way of being an elitist.

While We Are Away...

The blog needs a vacation. She has worked very hard this year, rarely taking a day off. She has not even started shopping for the other blogs in her life. (What do you get for the Appetites that has everything? Also, we think Cork & Bloggle may be Jewish leading to that whole awkward, "Merry Chri...errr Happy Chanukah?" interaction.) Plus, the blog's office party ended poorly in a janitor's closet. So this will be the last post for 2008.

Face it, you have no desire to ruin your holiday/vacation by looking at a blog you read while at work. We will save our limited creative energy for the next odd year.

But here is a humorous story. The Friday before Christmas found Lindsay, the Avinator, and I for a light dinner following the festivities at Old Absinthe House. The food, save the raw oysters, was forgettable, only it was so bad I can't. I really want to like a Brennan joint (save Ralph's on the Park, which I find great), but they make it very hard. For instance, when I informed the waiter that the calamari arrived cold and soggy, he shrugged at me and said, "Well that is your opinion."

So after almost a year of trying to write about food and restaurants in New Orleans, I know exactly where we stand and what industry people think of our opinion. And quite frankly, it is a good spot to be. Moving madly on...

Thanks to one of our fans (yes, we actually have a few) we recently became alerted to this foodblog by a senior at McGehee, which is an all girls high school in New Orleans. Oops, I think we just made it on Chris Hanson's radar. Prison be damned, the author's writing style, sophistication, and elegance beats the snot out of this crap.

Enjoy the holidays. Be careful around New Years; call United Cab, tell them Legend told you to put it on his cab account. And if you are in town for the Sugar Bowl, thanks.

We have many exciting things planned for the coming year, including our one year anniversary party, the announcement of the Dude, You Were So Blackened Out Last Year Awards, a list of resolutions, and we are sponsoring a football game in South Florida between the winners of the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. Stay tuned.

The Black Cat (a la Mexicana)

The Folk Singer was in the mood for Mexican the other day, and because we also wanted to walk around the Quarter, we decided to try El Gato Negro. We started the meal with a complimentary order of chips (which sadly were not fried in house) and a roasted tomato salsa that was very flavorful.

'

But I have to say that the salsa was the probably the high point of the meal. The queso mixed with chorizo lacked the smooth consistency which makes for easy dipping. TFS ordered tamales (below) which, though cooked properly and jammed full of pork, were remiss of any depth of flavor or spice which I consider the hallmark of Mexican cuisine.

I had the enchiladas, which had more spice than the tamales, but still left me wanting more heat. Another strange part of the meal was the "sweet oregano salsa" (as explained by the manager) which accompanied our entrees. This thin, cold salsa did not pair well with either the enchiladas or the tamales.

Overall, the meal was no bad, but not great. For now, there is still no longer any reason to drive down Esplanade for Mexican. Though that might soon change because I heard a rumor that the original owner of Santa Fe may be reopening once again in his former location in the Marigny. Stay tuned for more details.

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuke, I Am Your Lunch

Finally. Peter returned to New Orleans recently. We owed Section 123 Saints Fan a lunch to celebrate him being the 10,000th visitor to El Blogo Diablo. We went to Luke. Somehow the Pope joined us and we even had a sighting of the Deli King.

We started as all meals should, with a round of Heiner Brau Pilsners and an order of Berkshire Pork Rillettes. The pig who was sacrificed for this delicious spread grew up in one of the most peaceful settings you can imagine: behind La Provence in Lacombe, they wallow around in a huge mud pit, their fat billowing out like an over inflated weather balloon, and get fed scraps from the kitchen. These are some happy pigs, and that life of luxury produces a very good rillette.

Next, a cold dozen raw of P&J Oysters served on the 1/2 shell with horseradish, cocktail sauce, and two types of remoulade. These buggers were juicy and cold; truly oysters get no better than this time of year.

Section 123 Saints Fan chose the Croque Madame - a ham and cheese sandwich topped with a Mornay sauce and a perfectly fried egg. You see that egg yolk dropping over the side of the sandwich like the world's slowest moving and most delicious waterfall? That is food art. You can thank Peter for all these photogs. Section 123 disappointed all by only eating half. He then followed up our insults by saying, "F&*kers, I ate at Herbsaint last night and I am eating at August tonight. I don't need to be a fat ass right now."

That my friends is called the Trifecta.

The Pope dove right into his pressed cochon de lait sandwich. The fries on the right were last seen fighting for their life with The Pope's index finger and incisors. If you have any information of their whereabouts, please contact Crime Stoppers.
I went with the Thursday Special. A Lamb Ragu with homemade pappardelle, gremolata, Parmesan, pickled radishes, and toasted almonds. A cup of matzo ball soup preceded this perfectly cooked pasta dish.
And finally the Resistance Piece. The order by which all others are judged. I present to you the first photographic evidence of cholesterol in its natural state...The Luke Burger.

An onion roll, lettuce, tomato, sauteed mushrooms and onions, Emmentaler Cheese, crack-cocaine, perfectly cooked beef, ohh and just for good measure, some bacon.

And remember dear readers, if you are the 20,000th visitor to the Blog, lunch is on us. And we will even let you pick which blog character to bring along. Consider it a cooler version of Breakfast with Disney Characters.*


*Which by the way is a scam. I remember going when I was a kid. I desperately wanted a picture with both Chip and Dale. Only Disney was cheap back then and hired just one guy to play both and only had one costume. I threw what can only be described as a shit storm meets a temper tantrum topped with a conniption fit (i.e. The Perfect Toddler Storm). And that is why to this day, I am not allowed on any Disney properties.

First Annual "Dude, You Were So Blackened Out Last Year Awards"

We have a motto here at Blackened Out Worldwide Media, Oil Change, and Tax Return Specialty Center. Our motto is "Above All Else Be a Cliche." Why? Because everyone remembers a cliche.

With that in mind we would like your nominations for the following categories. What we do with them is an entirely different story and quite frankly none of your damn beeswax.

Restaurant of the Year
Chef of the Year
Drink of the Year
Annoying food trend you can't wait to see go away of the Year
Sexiest Vegetable of the Year
Wine of the Year
Local Food/Wine/Booze related Festival of the Year
Character of blog LEAST likely to Succeed

Winners will receive a free one year subscription to the blog and something to print out, likely an email.

Don't act like you are busy today. Its the Friday before Christmas, in 2 hours you are going to be lit up like a Menorah in a Christmas tree hurtling back into the Earth's atmosphere. You can take five minutes to send an email to blackenedout@gmail.com with your vote or just leave them in the comments section.

Lunch at Herbsaint for New Years Eve

Peter and I had lunch at Herbsaint recently to celebrate a new blog related development (Hint: It is not a movie deal). The Bub and The Avinator joined us. The above photo is an amuse bouche the kitchen sent out to assuage our hunger. Pork belly on brioche with pickled onions, mint and spicy mayo; very similar to the lovely banh mi. A bigger version of this sandwich will be available at Cochon Butcher. I suggest you buy 300 of them immediately.

Peter got a goat cheese, local greens, and bacon praline salad. Bub and I rocked a rust colored Duck and Andouille gumbo. The Avinator enjoyed the anise pleasure of their tomato, herbsaint, and shrimp bisque.
Above is what I consider to be the greatest pasta dish. Homemade spaghetti with a fried poached egg, a black pepper cream sauce, and cured guanciale. When you break open the egg, a squirt of warm yolk mixes into the pasta (and hopefully not with your tie) and the result is simply indulgence on a remarkable scale, if you would rather hear both sides of the tale. A meatloaf, beef daube, and capicola sandwich rounded out the orders. There were also fries with pimenton aioli. All of it very good.

That is a picture of Herbsaint. I did not take it; their website did.

Wondering how to ring in the 2009th celebration of the end of December? Well, check out the menu at Herbsaint. I went last year with a large group of friends and had one of the best group meals ever.

Herbsaint does events like this exceedingly well; providing intimate service, delicious food, and a festive atmosphere without any pretension. They will even take care of friends who have to much drink. As last year my friend Pikachu (that is his real name not a blog nickname. The Japanese animation character is named after him), got real wasted, puked on a passing street car, and the staff was kind of enough to from then on serve him only non-alcoholic beer much to his surprise. I have very adult friends.

I would call now, 524-4114. And Cochon Butcher shop is opening soon. Check back for details. 2009 will be the Year of the Link.

Louisiana Citrus Lemoncello

This jug has sat in an upper cabinet for 45 days now. It sits there in the quiet dark, the 190 octane alcohol drying out the peels from roughly 25 satsumas and Meyer lemons. I checked on it religiously the first week. The color changed from clear with a tint of yellow, like a cheap diamond to a brilliant, rich yellow-orange, like a diamond Kobe gets for his wife after a ski trip to Vail. Then I forgot about it; until the other night when I realized a) I was alone and had nothing to do b) it had been 45 days since I put the lemoncello mixture away.

The mixture went through a strainer. The peels had become brittle and hard. They snapped in half at the slightest provocation. Then, into the potent potable went two cups of simple syrup. The mixture sat for a few more days until last night when I tried it.

The aroma would wake the dead. The vapors of the alcohol made me wonder if this would be at all drinkable. Then I took a sip, the harshness of the vapors was replaced by a warming, smooth flavor of an intense citrus tree. A little bracing at the end, this libation reminded me a lot of Grand Marnier. With winter approaching this may become my nightcap. But I think this concoction would be equally as enjoyable in the summer time with a tall glass of lemonade.

If only I can restrain myself until then. And don't fret, if you are a good friend of mine, I have a jar set aside for you for Christmas. If you aren't, then why not?

Behind the Menu: Miss Hilda's Salad

Yesterday I joined The Pope for lunch at Mandina's with his father, The Bald Eagle, who has a longstanding tradition of Monday lunch at that Mid City landmark. Now I will agree that Mandina's serves neither the best nor the most innovative food, but I still love it for what it is: a neighborhood restaurant which thrives while the rest of that genre (Katie's and Landry's for example) have slowly faded away. And thrive it has, with a number of people still waiting at the bar when I left around 1:30.

Luckily for me, The Bald Eagle was already seated and had an Old Fashioned in hand when I arrived. After a shared appetizer of onion rings and what seemed like an entire basket of melba toast, I opted for a cup of turtle soup and Miss Hilda's Salad. My order prompted a history lesson from The Bald Eagle, who is a veteran of the local restaurant industry:

The Bald Eagle: Do you know why it's called Miss Hilda's Salad?
Peter: No.
The Bald Eagle: Because Miss Hilda did not want to call it a WOP Salad, even though that's basically what it is, so she named it after herself.
Peter: That's interesting. But can you explain why there are enough salted meats, cheese, and anchovies in this salad to cause me instant hypertension?
The Bald Eagle: Shut up, a**hole.

And now you've heard ... the rest of the story.

Zapp's Voodoo Gumbo

Apparently this new flavor was released over a month ago, but I have just recently tried it. According to the back of the bag, Voodoo Gumbo started with a potential worker's compensation claim and ended in a melange of 5 different flavors. As for which 5 flavors make up this gumbo, that remains a mystery. I taste a little Spicy Creole Tomato, some Sour Cream & Creole Onion, and a kick from Cajun Crawtator. Try a bag and let us know what you think.

And because it's Monday and it went from snowing to 70 last week and there are five long days till the weekend, we thought that we would start lively debate. What is your favorite flavor of Zapp's? Vote in the poll to the left, and if I omitted your #1 choice, well then your opinion doesn't matter anyway.

What's mine? A long lost flavor from the late 90s called Caribbean Key Lime.

Treme Creole Gumbo Festival

When the weather outside is frightful, is there a better way to warm up than scarfing down a steaming bowl of gumbo? Well, The Pope might argue that a nice, cordial glass of Grand Marnier does just the trick. But if for some reason you have a self-imposed rule prohibiting digestifs before noon, then the Treme Creole Gumbo Fest is your next best bet.

'

So head on down to Rampart on Saturday, grab a bowl, and maybe pick up a few local gifts for your out-of-town relatives. Because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a voodoo doll with a pin shoved through its head.