Mayhaw Man

Unless you were looking for pictures of yuppies in office dress or aging hipsters with some time to kill, there wasn't much to photograph. What little food I could get to was really good, but it was hard to move. Free cocktails on an offnight in the Warehouse Dist. is a sure fire way to draw a crowd. The band was pretty good, as well. I did see lots of friends, though. So it was well worth the time. I will go have dinner next week and let you know what happens. I'm sure it's going to be delicious. Hell, look who owns it. Also, it's a very nice, prototypical New Orleans Room-big old bar down one side, huge room that's sure to be loud, kitchen in the back. Nice place and the graphics for the place are really attractive. The sign looks great in that neighborhood as it's pretty much at the end of what anyone would consider the Warehouse District dining area. But I can walk there in about 15 minutes from my palatial abode, so I happen to like the location.

I'm going to a cocktail deal there this evening. I'm really looking forward to it. The guy knows what he is doing on a very, very deep level. I guarantee that it won't be bad, and there's a pretty good chance that it might be great.

from coffee that I ground a week ago (we have no grinder at work). Bialetti cow print stovetop cappuccino maker ← Owen, that brings something up that I have been meaning to ask about- I don't have a swell $250 grinder. My solution to this is to use the extra swell grinder at a local coffee roaster and it does a tremendously fine job of making it all uniform, perfect, and easy to deal with. My normal method of storage is to repackage the stuff into heavy duty 1 qt. zip locks, moosh out all of the air that I can, seal them up, and chuck them into the freezer. For brewing, I come straight out of the freezer with the proper measurement for whatever I am doing and the bag goes right back into the freezer. Is this? a) a sound method b) not nearly good enough and you won't even be able to REGISTER on Coffeegeek due to your complete lack of respect for the roasters art. c) It's no big deal. You haven't spent the dough needed to make a good cup. They should only sell you little jars of Folgers Crystals because you have no respect for a good cup of joe and you are too poor to even come close to ever having any hope of enjoying a fine cup of coffee as concocted by Phaelon, King of the Coffee Boys.

Which option package does the Miele system come with? Having a coffee brewer in the car is a very appealing idea.

The french press idea is completely doable. John Besh at August in New Orleans handles his coffee service this way and I really like it-both the coffee and the service technique.

I live in a town full of them. Happily, as a general rule, we have pretty good to great coffee in most of our better restaurants and even in many of the middle of the road ones. New Orleans is a coffee town and has, historically, been one for a long time. And to me, good coffee service is just another component of running a great place. Why have something substandard at the end of an otherwise great meal?

You are going to have some pretty swell weather for your trip, looks like. It's really, really nice here today.

On the whole, Holly, all of my friends would rather be in Philadelphia. Who wouldn't? I don't know, if they can make this one work, who knows? It's a pretty interesting idea.

Actually, with Neil's shocking admission that brings up another point- Have you taken the dough? Did it work? Or did you put them near the fighting couple in the middle of the path from the dining room to the kitchen or the restroom?

I have found that being extremely beautiful works equally well. And a crate of brown ale goes with any outfit. I don't snap my fingers, though. I simply exude my attractiveness and all respond instantly. *** ← I failed to mention that it is very helpful to be with a very attractive women in a red power suit talking on her cell phone about her recent trip to Zanzibar and just how horrid the service was at the Ritz. That's kind of icing on the cake in the world of getting a quick table. Not needed, but nice to have in a pinch.

According to today's NYT article:

Unless you happen to be a Belgian guy. In that case, you just mash, lauter, cool, throw open the windows and turn on the fans!

As I type I am drinking some of the the fine product of Orleans Coffee Roasters. It's great and they ship. Call them up. Here is a well written story about them that is sure to entice you into a purchase (yes, I wrote it and no, I have no interest in the place other than I like them and I wish them the best as they are, absolutely, one of the good guys in our little world full of carpetbaggers and sharpies). Trouble Brewing?

Well, usually I just walk into the place talking on my cell phone about "3 comma deals" and keep on going to the first empty table that I see. Once there, I put my feet up on a nearby chair and snap my fingers while saying, loudly, to no one in particular, "Garcon! I'll have the regular, now, and a crate of brown ale to go along with it!" This technique is very effective, but only for extremely self assured individuals such as myself. I don't reccomend it for amateurs or the faint of heart. Often I will be forced to fend off the occasional patron with ruffled feathers or angry hostesses who feel slighted by my confident behavior, but generally, everyone seems to accept that I am as important as I think that I am. Short of that, I find that just handing over a couple of bills and a flash of my shining grin does the trick nicely.

Dirty Bird, a new takeout chicken joint being launched by Alison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing, formerly of Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar in NY and currently operating the excellent Longbranch in bucolic Abita Springs, LA have started a chicken frying operation in New York. I'm sure it will be excellent, but I've got to tell you, these people are my friends and they need some sleep. Yikes. The hardest working couple in show business, for sure.

Brooks I have used a GINSU to strip bark off a cedar tree.... build porch cut tomatoes just like the commercial tracey ← I, of course, would have been using Ginsu Knives on my fruit trees, but I gave them all away as I don't ever seem to cut any cans in half anymore. Good thought, though. I'm sure that Chad will devote the better part of an entire chapter to the top of the line Ginsu Products. He pretty much has to.

I used mine last night to trim the hurricane damaged leaves off of my bananas. It was the perfect gardening tool for that task.

Vino's for beers and stuff. It's a great place. Tell Henry I sent you. If it's late enough at night, and he has done enough quality control, it might get you a beer or two.

They're heavy. Though for gumbo I use this one almost exclusively this one: It's really old and really, really does what I want. It was my grandmothers. I have really been impressed with the quality of that stainless stuff. It's held up well both on the stovetop and in the oven. The other night a bunch of different folks who cook for a living were putting them through their paces and everyone commented on the quality and the heft of the things-they are very heavy duty.

OK, so I have been using these pans since last January and I am, suprisingly, totally satisfied. They were purchased after a bunch of internet research and were a compromise between quality and price, heavily leaning towards the quality factor. They cook well, the handles are superior grade, and the stuff cleans easily. Basically, after 3 months of heavy use, they still look like new and have shown no signs of warping and the stainless seems to take a pretty good beating without scratching noticeably. I like them. I have never been a "set buyer" but in this case I needed all of this stuff and the price was right. To me this proves that there are some alternatives out there that are well made and will do the job well.

Just for the record, they are writing parking tickets sometimes, but apparently not for meter violations-just for no parking, fire lanes, loading zone, etc. And the best part is, they don't even know what to do with them exactly when people try to pay them. As far as parking goes in the Warehouse District and the CBD, things have improved a bit, as some of the relief workers in hotels have moved out and have taken their cars with them, but at night, it can still be a several block circle before you find what you want. The rest of town, pretty much, is no problem. Lots of parking in Lakeview, Gentilly, The East, etc. Even in my neighborhood (Lower G.D.), it's usually not to hard to get close to the house. Read more about it here: New Orleans:Proud to Park at Home

Wal-Mat has been open for a few weeks, but only a small corner. And it's not the corner you can see from the street. At this point, it's basically a grocery store and a drug store. I'd prefer to shop elsewhere, but we certainly need more places to buy food. ← That's amazing. I drive by it every morning on my way to work and I assumed, wrongly, that it was closed. GIven what the parking lot looks like, it seems pretty bereft of commercial activity. Who knew?

I went to Hong Kong Market last night (it's actually quicker for me to run across the bridge to big box land than it is to drive uptown and stand in line at the groceries there-grocery shopping is pretty limited in New Orleans proper, though it's improving slowly-I only live 5 blocks from the now famous Wal Mart and all operations there, once it was cleaned up, seem to have ceased. I'm thinking that they may not reopen at all, but everyone says that I am wrong) and enjoyed pho with my youngest son, a bit of exotic grocery shopping, and a couple of those 2 buck sandwiches to go. It's a great way to kill a couple of hours and it's conveniently located between Wally World and Target, so it's a great enticement if I am trying to get the boy in the car. After all, Hong Kong Market has exotic drinks, weird vegetables, live fish, live crustaceans, weird pickeled fish in jars (I'm sorry, I'm adventuresome, but I'm not the adventuresome), a killer candy aisle with all manner of odd treats, and a frozen food section that is, really, the bomb if you are looking for some frozen oriental fast food. I love that place.

August-can't miss Herbsaint (I ate there the other night and had what I consider one of the three finest meals that I have had since they let us back into town-the other two being one at the Longbranch and the other at my house). You'll dig it. I promise. Upperline Lillette Brigsten's (it's great, but do not, under any circumstances, skip dessert-get the pecan pie and after you take the first stratospherically good bite, look at the ceiling and thank your lucky stars that I told you to order it no matter what-it's the best pecan pie on this or any other planet) Watch the Offbeat for my food recs for the Jazz Festival. It should be out pretty shortly before you arrive for the fair. It's going to be a great 10 days. The best ever. No doubt about it.

There is now an excellent video production that briefly documents the efforts being made to rebuild Willie Mae Seaton's restaurant. This film, put together by The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, contains some great footage and comments from such luminaries as Lolis Elie, John Besh, Sandra Jaffe, John Edgerton, and John T Edge. It's really well done and I would reccomend a viewing for anyone who is not only interested in this project, but for anyone who cares at all about what is happening here and who is making it happen (hint: who is making it happen is US). Thanks to all who participated in this project and to all of you who are looking for a bit of volunteer work, I recieved this from Mary Beth Lassetter in yesterday's email: Good morning, Scotch House Volunteers! We thought it's about time for an update. Work is progressing on the Scotch House. Local volunteer John Robinson will team with some visiting volunteers to reinstall the siding on the restaurant this weekend. John Currence, of Oxford, purchased the materials in Memphis and drove them to New Orleans last week. If anyone is interested in helping replace the siding, e-mail sfamail@olemiss.edu. We can certainly use the help. This will be a supervise-yourself-crew, as some volunteers prime and paint and others make good use of a hammer. If we have volunteers willing to work Easter weekend, we'll also be on site to do some basic framing, replacing of floor joists, etc. Carpentry skills are a plus, but strong backs that can take direction are also welcome. Again, e-mail sfamail@olemiss.edu to volunteer. You may be interested in a video just produced by the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. This film will be used to raise awareness for the project, and aid in fundraising. See it online: For PC users: mms://65.56.1.67/stream3/cvb/williemae.wmv For Mac users: http://65.56.1.66/video/quicktime/cvb/williemae1.mov We are continually grateful for everyone contributing to this effort. A couple from New Mexico, who worked at the Scotch House on one of our first weekends, hosted a benefit party that raised over $2000. Volunteers who work as journalists, when not swinging hammers at the Scotch House, have penned articles that spurred donations in excess of $3000. Restaurants in Canada and Vermont are hosting fundraising dinners. And this is all in addition to the many kind individuals who have offered personal donations. To donate, make checks payable to the Gulf Coast Renaissance Fund and mail them to: Southern Foodways Alliance Barnard Observatory PO Box 1848 University, MS 38677 All contributions are tax deductible, and funds will be used to buy building supplies and materials. No administrative fees will be deducted. The work is moving along, and though rebuilding is a slow process, our hopes are high that Ms. Seaton will soon be in her kitchen. Please pass the word and share her story. Mary Beth Lasseter Southern Foodways Alliance Center for the Study of Southern Culture P.O. Box 1848 - Barnard Observatory Corner, Grove Loop & Sorority Row University, MS 38677 662.816.2055 662.915.5814 (fax) sfamail@olemiss.edu www.southernfoodways.com As always, with just a quick phone call, you too could be involved in a little disaster cleanup!