Mayhaw Man

I had a great meal at Postrio (in the Hotel Prescottwhere I was staying-nice place, I highly reccomend it). Really good, as a matter of fact. Service was great, food was better, and the night that I ate there it was probably like serving a zombie, as I was completely exhausted.

Were you there at Dick and Jennie's last night? The crowds at Corona during the lunch hour have been pretty amazing since school started up. I was in Roma last night (Sophie Wright location in LGD) and they were, the neighborhood was, dead as Generalissimo Franco. The food was very good though, even though it's a limited menu and their beverage service is bizarrely and inexplicably limited. It's kind of, well, half open I guess. But the Roma Special is still one of my favorite sandwiches and it was really, really good. Great bread and fresh stuff on it.

Welcome to the party, Brooks! ← I don't know about anything about a party. I'm going to go buy about 5 lbs. of good coffee. At least that's something.

Tom Fitzmorris has been running a radio show concerning food on one of several stations here in New Orleans for 35 years or something like that. Currently it's weekends on WWL (available on the web, check website for broadcast schedule as it changes) and WSMB 1350 on your a.m. dial. His WSMB show is every afternoon during drivetime. While I don't always, in only about half of the time, agree with him, it's a fun listen and he gets a very broad crossection of callers. He is also an expert and experienced cook and spends a great deal of time discussing cooking, rather than restaurants.

Alright, so, well, why not. Count me in. Last time lasted 10 years. Who knows? Maybe I'll get twenty this time. I'm going downstairs to knock out the last one now. Yikes. I am spending the week at home, I might as well give it a shot-though smoking seems to be the least harmful thing to do down here right now.

Are you just eating more or is more of it sticking (literally, I suppose) with you?

Thanks Sara, Having seen you speak a couple of times in New Orleans at the Tennessee Williams Festival gave me an idea of how interesting this chat would be and, happily, I was right. Thanks for your participation in this and I look forward to occasionally seeing you around as a "regular" member of the Society. You've been a good sport about all of this and your answers to questions have been detailed, to the point, and often funny. A perfect guest, you are. Also, thanks to all who worked so hard putting this together. Nice job!

No, but maybe later if they decide they are bored enough Yep, ate there last weekend. Still good. Nope, done for. Yes, it's good too. Really good.

Here is a nice piece on both Galatoire's and Willie Mae's Scotch House in the Dallas Morning News: They both have their place in our dining culture.

This is exactly the kind of thing that I am always envisioning you folks doing. It must be the cold that prevents your brains from functioning in a manner that would allow them to transmit the message, "Hey, it's damn cold and you are warm blooded. What you should do today is make a big fire, put on your flannel jammies with the feet in them, and snuggle up next to someone warm" Nope, instead, your barely functioning gray matter says, "Hey, it's damn cold outside. Let's go out in the middle of a frozen lake and chop a hole in it! Then, just to make it even more fun, well get a bucket, a tiny little fishing pole, and some bait. We'll bait up the hook, put the line in the hole, and sit on a bucket looking hopefully into the whole while out entire body turns into a Minnesota Creamsicle (you can see by Paul's coloration that this process has already begun)." Yikes. It's 45 here today and I have on a heavy coat. You people just aren't right. But they are nice wallys you got there. You betcha! I would have made Walleye Pie. I should post that recipe. It's a great one that came out of the little cookbook that comes with those Kershaw camping knives. Really good recipe. Congrats to Paul. I hope that he is warm now and that you rewarded him for this behavior-at least he brought home some fish.

You're saying that I'm old? Or just that I, and millions of my Southern Brethren have superior tastes similar to those of your obviously well raised dad?

It's true. I have done it as recently as last summer. Used to do it almost everyday at lunch during school. What's not to like-salt, sugar, cold liquid? Hell, it's good. YOu get a delicious drink and a snack when you are done. But to do it right, well, Tom's or Lance are the official nuts for dunking in Dr Pepper (if course, we used to do this with Delaware Punch, as well) And while we are at it, Tom's Snacks of Columbus, GA makes the superior Peanut Butter Cheese Cracker. Period. Don't even try to make the argument that your little snack cracker is somehow superior to this delicious taste treat.

Rhonda, Click on the SFA link above and you will see what they are talking about. Mary Beth is still looking for some volunteers and I am sure that you would enjoy both the work and the company. Brooks

We were all over each other this weekend, though we didn't know it. I went to see Snooks for a bit (but he never sees me) and was in the Quarter for part of the time that you were, as well. I'm glad that you had a good visit. Those beets at Lillette have become one of my favorite apps in New Orleans-certainly my favorite root veg treatment in town-and if I had known that you were going I would have told you to go for the pork belly with cucumbers and grape tomatoes. It's a great dish. And you are completely right when you postulate that you just can't get it unless you see it. There is no way to comprehend just how totally this place was wrecked. The Gulf Coast is in many ways as bad or worse. You didn't miss much, just imagine bad or worse or just plain gone. Your observations about Magazine St might not be far off of the mark right now, as so many things on Canal have not yet reopened. Even then, there are still many kinds of businesses that have not reopened there and I am sure that will slowly change-but slowly is the key word. I have not been to Alberta yet, though coincidentally I was invited there by two different folks this weekend. I will need to check it out soon, I think. I'm glad that you had a good visit and thanks for the report.

My flight is booked and my car rented, so I'll be there for the last weekend Feb 10-12. I'm really looking forward to helping out. ← I'll be there as well, for most of the time anyway-that is also the weekend of the Viking/Beard House thing and I will have to go to a couple of events during that. You should have a great time if the first weekend's reports are any indication. Thanks for helping out. We need all of the help that we can get down here. Brooks

This link will take you to photos of the participants in the first weekend of rebuilding Willie Mae's Scotch House. These were taken by my pal Pableaux Johnson. He will be documenting the entire process and posting the photos here. By all accounts, much was done. The place was stripped and is now drying out. More volunteers are needed if you happen to have some good will and a free weekend. Just contact the Southern Foodways Alliance if you would like to help out. You don't have to be very handy, you just have to show up. You'll meet some nice folks and no doubt get something good to eat in the process.

I had dinner at Upperline this weekend. The place was packed and Joanne said that she had turned a ton of people away thanks to Tulane opening back up and so many parents being back in town (I had the duck-which was perfect and the person that I was with had redfish mueniere with the addition of crabmeat-both were delicious. We split an Oysters St Claude for a starter and a bread pudding with caramel sauce for dessert. Both were delicious. All in all, a really great meal prepared and served by some great folks. The food was superb as was the service. I love the place. Truly it's a gem and I am glad to see that they are doing well. Also, in the "she's great and a selfless person" category-Joanne donated the proceeds from Christmas Eve (all of them-not profit-the till) to Habitat for Humanity and she enjoyed doing it so much that she did it again on New Years Eve-though the proceed went to the Charter School in the neighborhood. We're not talking small sums here and it was a really great thing to do. THis is just the kind of stuff that she does. She is, truly, one of the good guys.

Like I said... And just to be clear, this is not my favorite thing, but they are fun and can be very tasty in a (to quote Poppy-or misquote her, whatever), "mishmoosh kind of way"

Well, all you have to do is send an email to sfamail"at"olemiss.edu and she will promptly get back in touch with you. Mary Beth is, in fact, the most efficient person that I have ever met. Her skills in cat herding are renowned all across the Southland. There is more information here on the Southern Foodways Alliance website. I am going to do a halfway decent job of trying to report what is happening at Willie Mae's Scotch House, progress wise, with this project as we go along. With any luck, it won't be the only one that we do. You can't ever have enough volunteers, so you might give it a shot. At least you know that your brown bag lunch will be pretty tasty.

Why not just get the real deal? Here's a funny piece that Sara Roahen, former writer of great columns in the New Orleans Gambit-look for her in a bookstore near you this fall, wrote about Turduckens several years ago. It's very funny.

Why would you buy a chest freezer when you live in a chest freezer? I would have thought that your money would have been better spent on some of these. You should really think before you shop.

Here's a plus! When the power goes out, or you have a giant, honking hurricane show up and everything in it melts into a big pile of unidentifiable, but really stinking goo, they are really easy to clean out as the vents that let the cold air in are on the top. This means that the thing is, essentially, a big igloo with a motor on it. You can (speaking from multiple experiences here) take it out, dump out the goo, hose it out, and go plug it back in again. They're great like that. On another note, when you are making your insurance claim, be sure not to insist that you had just stocked up on lump crabmeat. Insurance adjusters see right through that.

The reason that I posted the info above is that I believe that she is in Montreal and I am pretty sure that there are some shops that sell it locally.

Amazing stuff!!! I''ve been using their verjus for a few years which is indispensible right now to me....their wine vinegar is very versatile and I use it as I would balsamic...at the begining of the year I cook a lot of it down for a glaze which lasts half the season...I ordered on-line..only took about a week to get to me...I'm out in rural NB...I think it came from Sudbury or Niagara. Get some and keep Canadian cuisine going strong! Cheers! Markian ← You need to contact Rachel Thompson @ 905-329-3729. She is in Niagra Falls, ON. You can also reach her by email @ minus8vinegar@yahoo.c-m (add the o to com). Tell her that I sent you. It probably won't help you with the price, but it might help me out and I would appreciate it. It's an amazing product. Her client list is pretty much made up of places on the East Coast that are regularly discussed here.

10,000 pies per day. Mmmmmm, pie. I love pie. And ladies and gentlemen, you will notice that Ramsay was getting pies and sweet potatoes, not some kind of filling. These are delicious, always fresh, and omnipresent. They are everywhere and I'll be glad to see them back on the counter. Mmmm, lemon, pineapple, apple, I love them all. Savory Simon is the man! Welcome Home.