Jason Perlow

NOTE: This topic is part of the Eating New Orleans series. Tan Dinh 2005 Belle Chasse Hwy., Gretna, 361-8008 After eating extremely rich Creole and Cajun cuisine pretty much non-stop for 4 straight days, we decided that our overworked digestive systems needed a rest and thus headed out to Gretna for Vietnamese food. While Tan Dinh isn't in Pableaux's book, Vietnamese food in Gretna is, so we figured we were within acceptable limits of interpretation. Tan Dinh would be considered an excellent Vietnamese restaurant in any city, let alone the Greater New Orleans area. Their offerings are tremendous, and while the restaurant was EXTREMELY busy during lunchtime and its a really big place, service was excellent and the food was top notch. Tan Dinh's pearl tapioca sago drink lineup. The place was really hopping. Ca Phe Sua Da, Vietnamese Iced Coffee, brewing. Goi Cuon, Fresh Spring Rolls (AKA "Summer Rolls" for you NY/NJ folk.) Cha Gio, Egg Rolls (AKA "Spring Rolls" ) Egg Roll wrapped up in lettuce leaf. Pho Tai -- and an excellent pho broth it was. Lemon Grass Chicken with fluffy buns. Banh Mi Sandwich I think these were desserts of some sort.

Kirk was invited last year before his restaurant was operational and Dino was not. This year, Dino is being given a chance, and I think that is only fair.

I finally got my first bottle of Pritchards last week, at Martin Wine Cellar in New Orleans. If you can find this rum, I highly reccomend you pick up a bottle as well.

Blue Smoke Dinosaur Pearsons Brother's [Note, editing in progress]

NOTE: This topic is part of the Eating New Orleans series. Pampy's Creole Kitchen 2005 N. Broad St., 949-7970 Moderator Note: Pampy's was destroyed by flooding in September 2005, and Executive Chef Austin Leslie passed away several weeks later. It has not been determined whether Pampy's will be rebuilt. Those of you familiar with our previous trip to New Orleans in 2003 no doubt have heard our praises of Austin Leslie, the genius behind the fried chicken and second-in-command at Jacques-imos. Pableaux Johnson discusses Austin at length in the Jacques-imos entry in his new June 2005 book, Eating New Orleans, who's restaurant reccomendations we used as the basis for our trip this year. Unfortunately, Jack Leonardi and Austin parted ways in November of 2004, and the book was not updated in time. In December, the 71-year old Austin quickly bounced back on his feet, and is now heading the kitchen at Pampy's, a swank Creole-Soul fusion eatery owned by Stan "Pampy" Barre', who was once the head of security for former New Orleans mayor Dutch Morial. We ate at Pampy's twice during our visit, the first a quick lunch with Upperline owner Joanne Clevenger, and the second via invitation from the man himself, who dazzled us with his generosity and his incredible skill as an accomplished Creole and Soul Food chef. The man definitely knows how to run a kitchen and his way around a skillet. If Willie Mae's Scotch House is the ultimate expression in Soul Food minimalism, then Pampy's is the polar opposite -- here Soul Food and Creole cuisine, the culinary legacy of poor African-Americans in Louisiana is elevated to the highest of highs. If anyone ever thought that Austin Leslie was nothing but a glorified fry chef, they would be wrong -- dead wrong, as you can see from the photos of food we had at Pampy's here. This is a destination restaurant that should not be missed -- and if you have to drag yourself out of the French Quarter or downtown New Orleans to do it, then you damn well should. Pampy's Main Dining Room Mustard Greens Tomato / Onion / Crab salad Austin's fried chicken with Garlic/Parsley Persillade. Perhaps one of the best examples of fried chicken I have ever had. As you can see, it was real juicy inside. Seafood Okra Gumbo Fried Pork Chop with Red Beans, Smoked Pork and Rice A Trio of soups -- seafood okra gumbo, file gumbo, and crab/corn soup. Cajun-injected deep fried cornish hen. In many ways, we felt this was one of the best dishes of the evening. Buffalo Shrimp with habaneros. HOT! BBQ Shrimp -- a creole and New Orleans classic. These were outstanding. I am not joking when I say these are the most amazing cornbread muffins I have ever had in my life. Stuffed Speckled Gulf Trout Meuniere Stuffed Peppers Bread pudding with a vanilla/sugar/bourbon sauce. Fantastic. Cornbread just out of the oven BBQ shrimp, in the pan Pepper crusted Filet Mignon getting a nice sear The secret to Austin's fried chicken -- NEVER BEEN FROZEN CHICKEN Finishing touches at the Salad and Dessert station. The "Godfather of Fried Chicken" himself

A word on the whole "better" aspect -- Willie Mae's is a very small production place, and the quality of her fried chicken reflects that. Austin makes excellent fried chicken, among many other things he makes at Pampy's -- he just has to do it at the scale that a large restruant does it at. Dunbar's which we went to on a previous trip is also another small-production fried chicken place, and they actually pan fry. They are also all-you-can-eat.

NOTE: This topic is part of the Eating New Orleans series. We wanted some andouille and tasso to bring home, so Louisiana forum host and site manager Brooks Hamaker (Mayhaw Man) suggested we try "Jacob's in La Place". La Place is pretty much considered to be one of the key centers of Cajun specialty meat production in the state. For an interesting article on andouille and La Place, read this peice by Pableaux Johnson. We looked it up in our GPS, and that yeilded Wayne Jacob's Smokehouse 769 W 5th St # A, La Place, LA 70068. Main Phone: 985-652-9990 Fax: 985-652-0999. We arrived to a somewhat ramshackle-looking building that included a small restaurant, and a small counter and fridge where you can buy Andouille, Smoked Sausage, Tasso, and Beef Jerky. Brooks made the place sound like it was a big operation like Poche's, but it wasn't. As it turns out, after discussing all things Andouille with David, the smokemaster and butcher at Wayne Jacob's, that we came to the "wrong" Jacob's, and he was glad that we did. Wayne Jacob's Smokehouse is the genuine heir to the original Jacob's Andouille recipe, and they've been producing it for many years. The OTHER Jacob's Andouille, also located in La Place, which is much more well known and is a much larger operation, uses preservatives and heavy nitrates in order to make their product shippable and thus has a USDA certification. Wayne Jacob's Smokehouse, on the other hand, only can sell locally, because its goods are highly perishable, even though they are salted and smoked. David encouraged me to compare his product to Jacob's Andouille, and he invited me to watch him make the product to show me how superior it was. I took him up on it. Here is finished andouille, after smoking in one of the 4 smokehouses for 10-12 hours. This is a cross section of a smoked andouille sausage. This is finished tasso. Tasso is kind of like a beef jerky but it is make with pork. Tasso is smoked longer than andouille, for close to 12 hours. This is one of the smokehouses where the prepped meat products are hung to cure and smoke using oak and pecan wood. This is David, the master butcher and smoker at Wayne Jacob's. A side view of some of the smokers. This is pork shoulder --"boston butt" , which has been fully cleaned of all sinews and veins, and has been salted with cayenne, garlic, and black pepper added. This is the starting point for both tasso and andouille -- in the case of tasso, the meat is cut into large slices and brought directly to the smoker for smoking. For andouille, the process continues. The pork butt is then put thru the meat grinder, and it comes out in smaller chunks. The chunks of pork butt are then stuffed into the hopper of an old hand-cranked stuffing machine made of cast iron which is about 80 years old. They have an electric stainless steel unit, but David prefers the older one because its easier to clean and much more simple to use. Beef intestine casings are washed and prepared for stuffing. The beef casings are hooked up to the stuffer, and you crank away! The first two links. Makin' sausage. A whole bunch of andouille, ready for the smoker. While at Wayne Jacob's, you can have a few po boys or some jambalaya or gumbo featuring their meat products. They also have a fully working, functional antique coca cola cooler stocked full of Coke and Barq's in old fashioned glass bottles. I highly encourage you if you are in the La Place area to buy some smoked meat products from Wayne Jacob's. If you have to, go to the nearby Wall Mart, pick up a cheap styrofoam cooler, and then have David fill it with ice to keep your vacuum-packed meat cool while you bring it back to your hotel -- in our case, we had a freezer/refrigerator in our timeshare, and we were able to keep the stuff cold. Then when you are going home, pack the meat in the cooler with frozen gel-packs (you can get them at local shipping supply stores), put the cooler in a cardboard box, and bring your stuff back home. The vacuum-sealed meat packed in that manner was easily able to survive a 6 hour trip back from New Orleans to New Jersey. Now that I have shown you Wayne Jacob's, here is their competitor, Jacob's Andouille: This is Jacob's Andouille, which claims to be the original. Andouille, tasso, and fresh sausage at Jacob's Andouille. The freezer case at Jacob's Andouille. They have a much wider variety of products than Wayne Jacob's, and of course they can ship throughout the US. Its a pretty good product, but its no comparison for something that is artisanally made. We did buy and taste products from both places, and we both agreed Wayne Jacobs has the better andouille. However, if you can't go to Wayne Jacob's Smokehouse in person, this is probably your best bet if you want good Andouille and tasso shipped to you. Here is their website: http://www.cajunsausage.com/

Kris, that Kewpie-laced yakisoba with sliced weenies ranks way up there with omuraisu as the ultimate in drunk -off-your-ass cuisine. I am impressed.

Bread Pudding with a Bourbon Vanilla Sauce, man: I had this last week at Pampy's in New Orleans.

I recently purchased a small production single-barrel bourbon, Eagle Rare 10 year old, at Martin Wine Cellar in New Orleans. This particular batch was specifically selected and produced for this particular wine/liquor store, and they are the exclusive distributor of it in Louisiana. Its definitely one of the best and smoothest bourbons I have ever tasted. Martin still has a number of cases of it left. At $24 a bottle its a great buy as well. http://www.alcoholreviews.com/SPIRITS/bourbons-rare.shtml http://www.martinwine.com/

I recently bought a bottle of Bulleit at Martin Wine Cellar in New Orleans. Its a lighter bourbon than most, but I like it a lot.

I'm glad to see the final product -- Ed really went out of his mind with various government regulatory agencies having to change the bottle size and change the labels to conform to US standards -- you can only use 750ml or 1L bottles (or bigger) for liquor products, a number of those French West Indies rums are 700ml or in other weird sizes. I tried several of these rums about a year ago when he was bringing in samples to show prospective clients, they are outstanding, especially the Rhum Vieux. Demerara syrup should work fine, but when I was in St. Martin, I bought several bottles of Sirop de Canne, which is what you are supposed to use for Ti Punch. I don't think you can easily get it in the US yet. The Demerara is going to be a bit darker than what you normally use, but it should taste fine.

I really want to get back to this place, but my in-laws who live in Florham Park, and the usual reason why we are in that area, are anti-sushi. So when we end up going out for dinner it's usually Chinese or something less "scary".

I like Silver Pond (718) 463-2888, 5650 Main St, but there is usually no reason for me to go there unless I am visiting family in that area because we have a very good branch in Fort Lee as well as China 46. However, the Dim Sum restaurant in the East Buffet building (718) 353-6333 on 4201 Main Street looks like it is really good, just by seeing how packed it is every time we go.

Ginseng tea. They have AWESOME quality ginseng.

And then we REFILLED that case of liter bottles from a 5 Gallon jug we got at Robert's only a few days later!

I love ketchup, and I am intrigued by specialty or obscure ketchups, like Mcilhenny's (Tabasco) http://www.ketchupworld.com

Just a minor correction -- Sumol is from Portugal, not Brazil. However it has distribution IN Brazil. http://www.sumol.pt It just so happens that they serve it at churrasquerias here in Newark along with Brazilian sodas like Antarctica (which also has distribution now in Portugal) because of the mixed Portuguese and Brazilian population, and the mixed Portuguese/Brazilian menus. So to recap, Sumol is a Portuguese soda that is distributed in Brazil and Antarctica is a Brazilian soda that is distributed in Portugal. And Guarana Brasilia is made in Newark. Clear?

Honestly, I wish we could have stayed another week. All my friends are in town right now for the Red Hat Linux summit and I heard the weather cooled down quite a bit.

NOTE: This topic is part of the Eating New Orleans series. http://www.plaqueminesheritageandseafoodfest.com/ About Plaquemines Parish This year over Memorial Day Weekend marked the very first Annual Heritage and Seafood Festival for the parish, and boy were we glad we went -- the entrance fee was a paltry $2, and it gained us access to some of the best Louisiana seafood we ever had -- huge plates of juicy shrimp and crawfish (with spicy sausage and potatoes) for $5 each, and charcoal broiled oysters. A view of the festival grounds. The food booths. A pair of Filipino women having their last taste of Crawfish before they head back home. Hey, you from New York... You want some crawfish? Seriously, does that look good or what? Crawfish Fried Rice. We didn't have any, but a nice lady let me snap this picture of hers. It looked really good. Charcoal broiled oysters. So while they don't beat the ones at Drago's, these were very well worth the money and very juicy and good.

I personally would expect nothing less of someone that is so dedicated to his craft. ← I would expect nothing less either. While I respect anyone's right to have a "political" issue with their food and choose not to eat a certain item (hey - more for me!), there is no evidence whatsoever linking Jonathan or his farm to the sort of inhumane practices that are much more common in industrial level commercial veal production. ← Yeah, I dont think that raising veal and and animal cruelty are bedfellows by necessity.

I personally would expect nothing less of someone that is so dedicated to his craft as Jonathan is.

In the words of South Park's Eric Cartman: Mmmmm. Veal! They look so delicious! Mmmm. Succulent and juicy. Episode 605 - Fun With Veal

Now, that sounds interesting, and the website is very informative. My local Brasilian Store carries a Guarana in a plastic bottle whose brand was new to me. Proprietor says it's from Brasil and it tasted great. She also had a soda made from "Acai" and the usual maracuja (passionfruit) and caju (cashew fruit) juices. (I really must try them before they expire!) There's a good chance she carries Matecouro, so now I have to brave this fierce gale and head over there. ← BTW, for those of you living in the NY/NJ metro area, Seabra's Market in Newark now carries Matecouro as of last week, if you are interested in trying it.

I'm hoping to get back about the time it reopens. I'm totally jonesing for Lard-fried Oysters.