TAPrice

Steven, have you actual seen a hamburger served on crusty bread? That sounds like an abomination.

Where are you located? Gulf oysters on the half shell would be a light way to start a meal if you could get them. What about hogshead cheese? I know, not much cooking required for either of these.

For anyone too lazy to click on the link, here is the note from Chef John Currence. He's been leading the effort to bring Willie Mae back. They're looking for volunteers this weekend. Call SFA if you can help.

Here's my guess...alcohol was involved.

Isn't that the cutest little pig? Wouldn't you love to know what it tastes like? Come to the Slow Food "Pig Out" this Monday to sample this rare mulefoot hog. Poppy Tooker, leader of the New Orleans Slow Food chapter, sent me the following note:

I agree. Clearing the salt and pepper shakers before dessert is proper service, isn't it? It was always done when I ate out in France. I can't imagine that the tradition is just theft prevention. In fact, Wikipedia claims that "dessert" means to clear the table:

The New Yorker picked up the little feud as a Talk of the Town piece: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/arti...ta_talk_collins A Slate piece, a New Yorker piece and endless blog posts. It's beginning to look like Chodorow's money was well spent. Sure, he's not coming off so well, but more people know about the restaurant.

No work or effort here. I just drove out to Cajun country and bought the bird already deboned, stuffed and frozen.

This one still had wing bones. Perhaps I should have removed the wings, and then sliced it as a galatine. Thanks for the suggestion.

I've finally gotten to the point where my carved birds don't look like props from a horror film. Last night, however, we cooked a deboned chicken stuffed with shrimp dressing. Staring down this chicken, with no bones as a guide, I just wasn't sure where to start cutting. Any advice on how to take one of these things apart?

Maybe it's a regional difference in the U.S. Down here in New Orleans, Galatoire's serves its fried eggplant appetizer with a side of powdered sugar to cut any bitterness in the dish.

New Yorker staff writer Dan Baum has relocated to New Orleans for four months to blog about the city and research a book. It can be an achingly depressing read, but the entries on food offer some sunshine in the gloom. The New Jersey-bred writer buys pickle meat and visits a Vietnamese bakery out in New Orleans East. The blog's main page is here: New Yorker blog on New Orleans

Didn't Joan Didion once write that New York's lack of garbage disposals was another reason that California was superior?

Agreed. A little fermentation, aging, controlled rot, makes the world go 'round. ← Maybe I choose the wrong emoticon to express that I was joking. (Although I'm willing to take some controlled fermentation and rot. You only live once, I personally I'd rather die eating something delicious.)

Just sounds like a little dry aging to me. What's the big deal?

Does that imply that there used to be other choices? I mean, could you have ordered a "meat-and-two." Why didn't people just say they had the "special"? I'm not sure I find the "honor system" explanation real convincing. (Although most origin story of popular terms often seem like folk myths.)

I would put peanut butter itself at the top of the list. What better definer of culture. It's incredibly popular in the U.S., yet many other nationalities are repulsed by it.

The original location opened yesterday. I called around 10:30 a.m. to confirm the opening, and they said there was already a line outside. Any firsthand reports?

For what it's worth, we sent a Haydel's cake to friends in New York. They reported that it came in a nice package. I don't have many details, but they were pleased.

Haydel's does a brisk business in mailorder king cakes: Haydel's Bakery

You really just want to eat them boiled. And they should be served on newspaper and consumed with an Abita beer. The problem is that the best boils are found in someone's backyard (hell, I might even say the very best boil is found in Brook's backyard [which actually looks out on what used to be my backyard before Katrina--small world and all]). Short of wrangling an invitation to someone's house, you might check out the Big Fisherman on Magazine Street. You can buy crawfish by the pound and then walk across the street to the Bulldog for outdoor tables and pitchers of beer. --- I just noticed that you need to eat them in GA. Don't know about that. You need them alive for a boil, so I bet they would be expensive.

Yeah, that was my guess too. I've got no evidence, but it seems likely.

Interesting. How long has it been common in Japan (obviously not before the final years of the 15th century ).

I ate recently at local Korean restaurant, and the little plates of banchan served with my meal there included a bowl of creamy, U.S.-style potato salad. I was surprised, but I have this vague memory of encountering potato salad before at a Korean restaurant (I think I was surprise the first time as well). Is this an odd quirk of my particular local restaurant? Or is mayo-based potato salad not so unusual on the Korean table? What's the story here? Some kind of cross-cultural contact? A immigrant's substitution of a traditional dish with a somewhat similar American product? (On a less scholarly track, the potato salad went well with the various kimichis and bibim bap.)

I've been curious about that myself. I don't think Pampy has been sentenced yet, so I guess a lot depends on how much he's fined and how long he spends in the slammer. The place really survives as a haven for African-American power brokers. Will the association of the restaurant with an admitted crook make them lunch elsewhere? I don't know. I usually don't let the personality or politics of the owner influence where I dine, but I'm not sure I'd eat at Pampy's again. And I really like the place. I loved it when Austin Leslie was there. The swashbuckling crooks of Louisiana are a big part of the state's lore, but it's pretty hard to deny that thieves like Barre are one of the main reasons that New Orleans is on the verge of dying. I'll climb down from my soapbox now.