Jason Perlow

I'm in the Austin area for a couple of weeks. I need solid BBQ, Tex Mex, Mexican, Latino and Asian reccomendations. Don't be shy.

Tough choice. I love Upperline, but Herbsaint and August and K-Paul's are all excellent as well.

I wanted to get another podcast released before I flew out to Austin tomorrow, so here it is: Podcast #6: K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen

Thanks FFR. I have to admit though, I really hate listening to the sound of my own voice. If anyone thinks I sound bad now, you should see what I sound like BEFORE I do the editing and I pull out all the extraneous "ummms" and "ahhhhhs". The first two or three I definitely was asking questions too fast and I was very nervous -- I'm now a bit more conscious about slowing down and annunciating my words properly. Recording converstation and talking in a broadcast form is way, way different than a natural conversation, but I try to keep them as natural as possible. I'm seriously considering taking voice lessons. You are right about them not being done in a studio -- they are being recorded in the kitchen or noisy dining rooms or the streets of New Orleans, so they have quite a bit of background noise. I need at some point to really read up on the editing software I am using, Audacity. It has a lot of stuff you can use to improve sound quality, and it has nice splicing features for editing in music and fade out/fade in effects to make things sound more professional. The hardware I am using is very cheap, its an Olympus DM-20 with the optional external stereo condenser mic, which ran me about $230 total. If I want to take the next step up in sound quality I will need to go with a Marantz recorder and a studio type microphone like a Sennheiser which is like another 200-300 bucks. I havent done the editing and the intro segment on the Prudhomme yet, I hope to do it tomorrow in my hotel room in Austin.

Day 4: French Quarter / K-Paul's If you take the devastated areas of the city out of the equation and only concentrate on the areas that are of concern for tourism and dining, one would think that virtually nothing happened to the city. It was a beautiful sunny day today in New Orleans, and mondays are pretty slow to begin with in the city, so we decided to take a walk thru the Quarter, have a casual lunch, and look at the pretty architecture. Oyster Gumbo at Stanley Bulgogi Beef and Kimchi Po Boy at Stanley. Jumbo Shrimp Po Boy at Stanley. Yes, the Beignets are Back. Beignets from Cafe Du Monde. I'm quite sure they are overdoing it on the powdered sugar, just out of solidarity. A view down Decatur Street. K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen is the fine dining restaurant that really started the Cajun cuisine movement in New Orleans, and is the one that everyone benchmarks Cajun food to. When you hear of "Blackened" anything at any restaurant throughout the U.S., its largely because of the fact that Paul Proudhomme (as chef at Commander's Palace in 1975 and later at K-Paul's in 1979) was responsible for introducing that dish in the mid 70's. Prior to that time, Cajun food was relatively unknown in New Orleans and throughout the country — it was relegated to the Acadian parrishes in Louisiana. Up until that point, it was Creole French that was featured at classic New Orleans restaurants such as Galatoire's, Arnaud's, Antoine's, Dooky Chase, as well as Commander's. Today many of those restaurants have Cajun dishes in their stable — but you can credit Paul Prudhomme with all of that. Rachel and I had dinner at K-Paul's, and it was phenomenal. I also spoke with Chef Prudhomme for a bit, and I hope to have that podcast up in a few days along with a few others. However, at K-Paul's, I also ran into New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and I did manage to get my interview with him uploaded in time. The famous bread basket containing jalapeno bread, blackstrap molasses muffins, and biscuits. Jambalaya with Sauce Piquant. Spicy. Blackened Fish with Crabmeat. Smothered Veal Chop with Grape Tomatoes and Crabmeat.

Day 3: Seder Plates in New Orleans / The Upperline On Sunday morning and the afternoon we joined Congregation B'nai Israel in their Passover food project. Before I left for New Orleans, I interviewed Rabbi Steven Bayer and congregation member Evelyn Baron about their special New Orleans mission. We passed out lots of Passover food to Jewish families in need of help, and I got a chance to interview the recipients as well as the Jewish Federation project manager, Jackie Silverman as well. I hope to have Part 2 up in a few days. Left to right: Rabbi Steven Bayer, Jackie Silverman, Evelyn Baron In the evening, we ate at Upperline restaurant. I got a chance to interview Jo Ann Clevenger and Chef Kenny Smith. Jo Ann is very passionate about being a New Orleanian and helping her community, and Kenny is her perfect partner in running the kitchen in one of the finest restaurants in the entire city. Chef Kenny Smith and Owner Jo Ann Clevenger Crab Cakes over Fried Green Tomatoes in Crystal Sauce Beurre Blanc

Day #2: Breakfast at Mothers, Vietnamese in Gretna Mother's is by far the most famous 'Po Boy eatery in the entire city, and it has throngs of devoted fans, including US presidents and major celebrities. But Mother's is an everyman's sort of place, and irregardless of your station in life, every patron is treated the same way — you line up to the counter, place your order, and take your stuff to an avaliable table. On our first morning in New Orleans we went for brunch, as Mother's was just down the street from our downtown hotel. I also got a chance to speak with Jerry Amato, chef/owner of Mother's. The big sign on Poydras Street, beaconing like the lighthouse at Pharos. Big lines start to queue up by 10AM. The reduced post-Katrina menu. Shrimp Etouffee Omelette with Grits. A plate of fresh biscuits. Roast Beef Debris Po Boy. Shrimp Creole Omelette. New Orleans isn't just about Creole and Cajun cuisine — its also one of the biggest centers of Vietnamese food in the United States, due to the huge community of Vietnamese vegetable farmers and agricultural workers. Gretna, on the southeast of the city on the other side of the Mississippi river, is one of their largest enclaves. In addition to a number of large Vietnamese eateries. After sleeping off our breakfast at Mothers, in the afternoon we joined fellow eGullet member TAPrice to check out the somewhat incorrectly-named Hong Kong Market, which is a veritable Wal-Mart of Vietnamese food. Inside you'll find Mr. Bubble's Tea House, a Bubble Tea/Sago Drink parlor. This is the flavor selection. There's also different flavors of tapioca pearls you can put in your drinks. After blending, each drink is sealed with this really cool heat sealer machine, leaving a plastic seal on top that you puncture with a thick plastic straw. The supermarket inside. Aisles upon aisles of amazing asian food items. The very scary Durian. There's a number of live fish tanks where you'll find, among other things that swim, fresh tilapia. The Banh Mi stall, where you can get an amazing sandwich on Vietnamese French rolls for $2. These are the meatballs they put on top of the luncheon mystery meat and the fresh veggies. Banh Mi cross section. Pho Danh, the restaurant in the shopping center. A plate of raw Pho condiments. A fresh lemon soda. Beef Pho, and one of the best broths I have tasted in a Pho anywhere.

Night #1: Casamento's. Casamento's is a true New Orleans institution. Opened in 1919, it's probably the most famous oyster house in the entire city. A narrow passageway of a restaurant with only 12 tables, it still does everything the old fashioned way, using cast iron pots filled with pure peanut oil to fry its seafood. Casamento's recently lost its patron, Joe Casamento to Hurricane Katrina. But Casamento's is continuing on under the guidance of his nephew and neice, CJ and Linda Gerdes, and as a true testament of his legacy, the food is as fantastic as ever. Casamento's is one of the places I had greatly anticipated going to with this trip, and I absolutely wanted to go there our first night. Something told me it would be special, and I was right. On the line going out the door to the restaurant, I came upon no other than Ms. Leah Chase, owner of the famed Dooky Chase restaurant, which was heavily damaged by the storm and is currently being rebuilt. Dooky Chase is of huge historical and cultural importance to New Orleans and to African-Americans, because it was a virtual headquarters of the the civil rights movement in the South during the 1950's and 1960's. I got to speak to Ms. Chase about food, her restaurant, and Casamento's, of which she is a huge fan. Leah Chase and Family. Raw oysters from the bar. The Oyster Loaf on Pan Bread. The original. Crab and Shrimp gumbo. The folks that tought me how to properly eat oysters on the half shell, New Orleans style. The old school frying set up that's been in place since 1919. Chef CJ gets ready to put a softshell out of his misery. He tasted very good. NOTE: I don't know where the hell my hi-res shots went from the first night... if I can find them, I'll replace them.

Rachel's been posting dligently on eG Forums for the last week or so, while I've been updating Off The Broiler with photos and podcasts. We've just gotten home, and I still haven't posted all the material yet. There's at least several really important podcasts that are backlogged and a lot of pictures that haven't been posted yet, so you'll have to bear with me for a bit before I get some stuff posted here. I'm going to be posting selected hi-res versions of my photographs, there's more material the blog, but not all of it is food related. I'm going to be in Austin for two to three weeks working at a client starting Monday, so I'll be posting intermittently during that time. I hope to get you a few good barbecue photos (and some podcast interviews with some of the local pitmasters) though.

A more conventional presentation of the seafood chowder we made the other night: We had this tonight with some shrimp cocktail. The chowder was definitely more intense tasting, after having a night to "cure" in the fridge.

Red Lobster even.

Damn, like Englewood doesn't have enough sushi places.... Wild Ginger, Daruma, Sangria Sake.. Kuma... just to name a few

Yeah, I thought that was pretty weird. ← Well when you pull the heads off, and the legs, all you got left of a shrimp is the tail.

I am not a staff member of the NYT and I do not write "reviews" nor do I have a regular column. See my response on the other thread.

Well if you can make Gumbo with crawfish tails, no reason why you can't make Chowder. I'd lean towards a red chowder though instead of a white one, just because of the amount of fat that crawfish tails have in them.

Speaking of Pizza on Arthur Ave... I'm beginning to make a habit out of bringing home a pizza from Full Moon after dinner. Say what you want about Patsy's or Arturos -- which I both love as far as the coal fired genre goes -- but when it comes to steel deck pies, Full Moon is what I think if when I want a New York style pizza. Not too thin, not too thick -- just right.

Actually, I could see the utility of a shrimpsteak, especially if you chicken fried it and put it on a sandwich. Provided the shrimps arent stuck together with some strange chemical substance and they are just using "shrimp glue" alginate or something natural I don't see huge problems with it. The applications could be interesting.

I've yet to try Mario's. I've been told several times by others that I should go.

For the Freshdirect link, be sure to type in "10010" (Manhattan, NYC) as the zipcode to see a picture of the Shrimpsteaks. http://www.freshdirect.com/product.jsp?pro...h_burg&trk=srch

I've been tweaking a "Cape Cod" chowdah recipe for a couple years that calls for celery. It's a great idea. I started adding a cup of diced fennel as well, especially if there is cod involved. As for Salt Pork, I render it completely so I can saute my onion, celery and fennel in it, then apply the salt pork "cracklings" on top of each bowl as a garnish. ← Celery is frequently used in Red chowder recipes. Most Manhattan clam chowder served in this area (NY/NJ/CT) of the country has it.

I watched the pre-Oscars for about 15 minutes last night while waiting for my pizza to bake at Full Moon in the Bronx. It was entertaining to watch these seasoned Italian pizzabakers make fun of the celebs. "eh, you stupid @#$%^ actor! You make-a too much !@#$ing money! Shut the #$% up and get off the carpet!"

And of course, you DON'T have to use clams to make a chowder. Any kind of seafood can be used. In Brooke Dojny's book, she has mussel chowders and fish chowders featured from restaurants in different parts of New England as well. In the Caribbean, they use conch.

So "Killdevil" is really an apt description for what they were drinking back then, I guess.

After a 4 year plus self-imposed boycott of Dominick's (due to being raped on a bill a number of years ago) Rachel and I went for dinner there tonight, because she was in the mood for red sauce stuff and I couldn't figure out who in Jersey can make decent manicotti. Antipasto salad, a large Lurisia sparkling water, Veal Parmigiana, and a plate of Manicotti: $46. Not rediculously expensive but not cheap either. The antipasto salad was their trademark usual, it was enjoyed with the really good bread. Rachel liked her manicotti although it was not made with fresh crepes, they used pasta tubes. Good red sauce, although my veal parmigiana was just eh. Too much breading and the accompanying penne rigate pasta seemed to be both undercooked and overcooked at the same time -- pasty, like it was not boiled and held in water for a long time. No need for us to go back. I'll stick with Umberto's and Robertos and Pasquale's.

Okay, I'll check next time. I think we've spent our load on Chowder for a little while, though!