joiei

Timh, have you had a chance to return to New Orleans since the Storm? In the midst of all the misery, there is great food. Because I am in a similar situation to yours, I want to input my feelings about the missed meal. For me, if my family decides at the last minute to go out for dinner, I just pack up the one I made and most times serve it to the staff the next day. I try not to get offended, I have a great job and want to keep it. My family are not foodies and I try to keep that in mind. They do enjoy good food though. And there have been the times when I have been told like a half hour before serving a meal that someone is joining them. In that case, I just make it stretch. For me it is not an emotional thing, it is what I get paid to do. Then I can go home without conflicts at the end of the day. I appologize for jumping into your gig Timh, Couldn't stop myself. We do have similarities and differences in the way we are allowed to practice our profession. I do a lot more property management besides the culinary. Keep writing, I find it well done and fun to read.

see the signature.

by "savory" do you mean take some veal demi, splash it with vodka, serve up with a pickled garlic or asparagus? Define savory for us.

Turtle soup without that splash of sherry is just not the same.

if you can I recommend Alberta, Lilette or Table One all on magazine.

I had lunch at Joe's Dreyfus Store Restaurant on the 13th and it was excellent. The gumbo was so good, but I am coming from Oklahoma where gumbo is a mystery. And the Crawfish po boy was pretty good also. But that gumbo was some good stuff.

When I worked at the Paradise Cafe in Grayton Beach, Fl (now long gone) the chef kept the tips until the end of the season and then split the total tips between all the kitchen crew. It came to a couple of hundred apiece. But that was unusual. I have tipped a kitchen, ususally I give it to the manager and ask them to see that it got to the correct persons. I know it worked because the next time I was in the restaurant, the kitchen staff took extra care with my food and it showed. I do not tip then every time, just when something is exceptional.

Thanks for the report, the next time I am down that way, I will have to check out Gloria's and the *bucks with valet parking.

joiei, we finally find common ground!! [edited to add:] thanks also for that very comprehensive links to other restaurant weeks! hopefully, we'll have our very own in kansas city soon! cheers. u.e. ← Me too, that would be just another reason to go up and dine. KC is a great town for weekend getaways.

I still get the eye rolling. They don't understand why I would drive to Dallas or Kansas City just to eat dinner. And with strange people that I met online at eGullet no less. They don't understand when I talk about visiting grocery stores in different places. I love it. I purchase wine from stores in 4 different states, hey, Oklahoma can be difficult sometimes, especially if I am looking for some Turley or Kathleen Kennedy. They don't understand why I stop at Dean and Deluca when leaving Kansas City to get lunch to go for the trip home instead of stopping off at McD's somewhere on the way where the "food is fresher" according to them. And I will never understand the joy and thrill of watching cars go around and around in a big circle for hours on end. To each our own.

Here are a couple of sites with info about Restaurant weeks in other places. If KC can get one together, I will drive up to taste a restaurant or two that I had been considering going to. NYC Restaurant week Philadelphia Restaurant Week San Diego Restaurant Week Norfolk Restaurant Week Atlanta Restaurant Week Open Table listings If I missed your favorite location, I appologize. But it is a fun thing for everyone involved. The patrons get an incentive to eat out. Restauranters get full dining rooms. I don't go to "Taste of ______" events, those are not truly reflective of what a restaurant serves. My preference is to go to a place with a reservation, sit down and have a marvelous pre-fixe meal. That way, I am getting a feeling of what a certain restaurant is about.

I have just signed up to take a class in judging given locally by the Kansas City BBQ Society. Has anyone else ever done this? If so, what was your experiences. It sounded like a fun kind of work for me. There are a large number of events that they are associated with. My thinking is that it would be me a reason to visit parts of the middle of America that I have not been to yet.

From doing a little exploring, there is not a Restaurant week anywhere in the Heartland. Both coasts, Texas and Denver. It appears that most of them are put together by the local CVB's probably as a way to get people out to eat during slow times of the year. The one in Dallas is by the local NPR TV station. So if you have connections with your local CVB, then get them on the ball to support their local restaurants. I have driven down to Dallas a couple of times during their special week.

IF Dallas can have one, why not KC? Interested minds want to know!

I also have backup fridge and freezer in the garage and love having the extra space during the holidays. I still have the honeybells that we received in the garage fridge.

So the chains are just abusing the terminology instead of being truly creative. Why am I not surprised. Anything to make the guests feel like they are truly dining in an upscale fashion but still putting out the same old stuff. Oh, they gave them a choice. And after my little venture into Applebees recently, I am not heading back that way any time soon to check out what it is they are doing.

There are those of us who like to think we are on the cutting edge of food trends. We enjoy finding new foods and trying them for the first time in out of the way places. Then there are out of the way places that are just trying to keep up. Last night, I had dinner in Joplin at Club 609. An interesting place with a movie theme in an old restored storefront in downtown Joplin. The menu reflected the location and the population of the area pretty much, but I was a little surprised to see ceviche as well as escargot on the menu. Cutting edge for a small mid-American city such as this one I would expect. And there was a surprising amount of seafood. A lot of the menu options read of an older time, but to see some new things on the menu that one would not find at any of the chain places out by the mall in Joplin was heartening. The food was well prepared and the portions were huge, a trend that chains started I would venture to guess. Where did these oversized portions start showing up anyway? and when? Is it part of the supersizing of food portions that created this monster. Why must restaurants feel like they have to put an entire dinner for 4 on one plate? I ask these questions because I feel this is part of the phenomenen of chain restaurant dining that started in fast food dining. Am I mistaken on this point? And also, when are chain restaurants going to start offering chef's tasting menus. And will the portions there be too large also?

Who creates movement in dining? Is it the chain with the predictable menu with predictable foods that can be had in endless variations at other chain restaurants or is it the local chefs who will go out on a limb and experiment. If it weren't for the locals who will and can pick up on trends faster and easier than chains, then we would still be looking at food choices from the 60's. I think it is the chains who overkill on any food trend. Those molten chocolate cakes, I did over 12 years ago when the trend was fresh and new but I could never personally eat one. the thougt of hot raw cake batter makes me gag for some reason, a personal thing. As for the seafoods you mention, another example is Blackened redfish. It was Paul Prudhomme who first served the dish. It was picked up by enough chefs at local places to see what it was about. And now, you walk into ANY chain restaurant and it is rare that some sort of blackened something isn't on the menu. And pretty much all of the chain options are pretty awful and so far from what the original dish was all about. Plus, because of the chains, redfish is now an endangered species. The last time I ordered blackened anything was at Eskimo Joes in Stillwater and it was so awful, I could not finish the meal. Chain restaurants with table service are successful because they are able to mass produce anything that will not offend anyone, thus predictablility. Are chain restaurants on the cutting edge of new food trends, no but they sure can wear out the welcome of any trend, thus stiffling.

How true, I think this statement pretty much covers the point of chain dining. I will stick with my local chefs who will take a risk and leave the chain dining to the masses who huddle near the doors waiting for their name to be called out while I dine in comfort with a reservation that is honored.

have you checked how recent the last review on the DMN's Guidelive was? It seems to me they did a review recently.

Yes, it's really me. I just joined the eGullet Society and am enjoying it tremendously. The book is available at Barnes & Noble and Lily's in the Oil Center (housed in the Bella Luna store next to the Kitchenary). If you're going to be in Lafayette February 4, there will be a book signing for STIR THE POT at Barnes & Noble at 6:30. A Cajun band will also be on hand as well as some hot boudin to munch on. Come join us. ← Roadtrip, roadtrip. If I can't make it, I will ask davebr to get me a book signed because he will probably be there from Shreveport.

Very nice, is that a candied lemon peel twist on top of the tart?

I also highly recommend Christopher Elbow's chocolates. I have had them and the flavors are excellent. They look just like the pictures on the site also. Like little jewels just sitting there waiting for you to have that indulgent moment. And to go into his shop in Kansas City and see a whole display case full is fun. Christopher posts on eG when he has time.

I suppose I would like Popeye's more if the ones here offered shrimp and crawfish. But they don't, so I only go on Mardi Gras to get chicken. A habit I picked up when I lived in New Orleans. It just wouldn't be Mardi Gras with out some Popeye's. THe perfect parade food.

I just spent 3 days in New Orleans. Most people who leave New Orleans after living there for a while leave with a part of the city imbedded in their soul. I know that is the way it is for me. I had to go back to see for myself what the Storm had done. After this experience, I recommend that everyone go see just how much damage a hurricane can inflict on a region. I didn't have time to go over to Mississippi, that is next. I encourage everyone who loves food and the culture of food to go. Spend money, be your own charity funds dispenser. Okay, and now on to the food of the trip. I drove down on Friday, having a small tire problem in Krotz Springs and finding out the folks there are just the nicest folks. Having been slowed down, I decided to have lunch at Joe's Dreyfus Store Restuarant in Livionia. I had a cup of the seafood gumbo and a crawfish po'boy. The gumbo was so good, I ordered a second cup of the gumbo. When the cute waitress came by to see if I wanted any dessert, I told her that I had just eaten dessert in that second cup. Man, that was flavors that are timeless. I arrived in New Orleans later in the day after driving on the Baton Rouge to New Orleans racetrack, I was doing 80 on the elevated to keep up and people were passing me like I was standing still. Traffic in Baton Rouge was BAD. After getting settled with my friends near the Fairgrounds, we took the tour. It was just unbelieveable. Driving out through City Park, so many trees are no longer there, just stumps now and the tent cities where workers are camped. I did not recognize Harrison until I was looking at what used to be the Steak Knife. We drove out Canal Blvd to Robert E Lee and I started missing Mimi's and the Roast Beef and the French Fry po'boys I used to get there. We then circled back down on Fleur de Lys. I didn't understand the house in the middle of the street until I realized that I was looking at where the break occured. The water marks on the houses were very high. My friends grandfather's house is condemned and will be torn down. So sad. Then we went over to the 9th Ward. It is hard for me to describe my feelings when we came over the Industrial Canal bridge. This is something a person has to see for themselves. No photo or tv footage can impart the impact of the devastation. I cried. I wanted a cup of coffee, so we went to the Quarter and found out that CC's on Royal was only open until noon. So we went to the Clover Grill and I was able to understand that the Quarter was okay. The characters that inhabit that part of town, that help make it what it is was safe. I took a deep breath and relaxed. The coffee was actually pretty good. Dinner on Friday night was at Gerard Mara's Table One on Magazine. When we walked in, my buddy recognized one of the bartenders, so life was good. We were sat upstairs and the three of us dined well. I do not remember all the dishes we ordered, but it was a 3 course dinner for all. The food was good, I have had better at one of Gerards earlier places. But the atmosphere was lively and cheerful. Lots of locals, and several big tables with lots of animated conversation. After this we went out to Mid City Rock n Bowl to catch Snooks Eaglin. It is rock'n again. I didn't indulge in the buffet they had laid out, but I did do some dancing. Saturday morning began with a coffee and conversation at Fair Grinds Coffee near the Whole foods on Esplanade. When you go to New Orleans, involve local people in conversation. I felt that a lot of them just needed to talk. You hear incredible stories of the storm, before and after. Plus, I feel it is theraputic for the survivors to just talk and share what happened to them. Went back to the Clover Grill for a quick breakfast and then on to exploring on my own. I have the feeling that Magazine is the new Main Street of New Orleans. It was very busy. I discovered a couple of new ceramacists or potters that I had never seen before. Then I met davebr's Mom for 1st lunch at Mona's. We had the mixed appetizer platter and the food is still excellent, even though the Banks Street location over by where I used to live is a long way from being ready to reopen. I especially like the hummus and the falafel. After a couple of hours of talk, talk talk, we moved on to 2nd lunch at Lilette on Magazine just a couple of blocks back down toward downtown. The grilled beet salad was just the best. The eggplant sandwich was aslo a high point. I did find out that the pastry Chef, Beth was there. I worked with her at the WCH a long time ago. She is doing excellent stuff. The Creole Cream Cheese tart with huckleberry sorbet and lemon curd, just perfect flavors. The Chocolate Bread Pudding made from brioche was also perfect. Nothing was tooo sweet. The bread pudding was more chocolate than it was sweet. The tart and tangy in the cream cheese tart was perfect. Make sure you have this place on your list of dining places. I missed a fundraiser party for the Krewe de Vieux because i was too busy eating. And because the only open reservation I could get at Alberta at 5015 Magazine, right next to the BP. I started with the crab salad, a mix of romaine, bacon, blue cheese, and buttermilk dressing next to a pile of fresh crab meat that had just a trace of remoulade. Then a soup of butternut squash, lobster and shrimp. My entree was roasted grouper filet and lobster mashed potatos with veal demi. Great flavors. Alberta was described to me as being the best new restaurant in New Orleans and they went a long way proving it to me with the cream Brulee. Warm on the top with just the thinnest layer of crunch and still cool on the bottom in a thin dish. Wonderful. Also, one of the waiters was someone I worked with over on the beach in Northwest Florida. Small world. After a little nap, we went to catch George Porter at Tipitina. If you go to New Orleans and don't go to Tips for some music, you have missed a large part of your trip. Sunday, I met another eG'er, Rhonda, at Cafe du Monde for coffee, begniets and conversation. There is truly nothing more New Orleans even for locals than Cafe du Monde. I even didn't mind paying the parking fees that exist now in the quarter. What a great time. Then I went out to Metairie, for the first time, to visit with some of my old professors in HRT at UNO. Catching up and going on. Sunday night, considering that is a hard night to find restaurants open, we went to La Cote Brasserie for dinner. I had worked with Chef Chuck Subra at WCH before and respected his cooking. We had the gumbo and the duck confit with gnocchi, followed by a ribeye with blue cheese potatos and the whole fish of the day which was tempura fried soft shell crabs over an okra stew, the okra was killer. We had the Chocolate tower and the goat cheese tart with winter fruits for dessert. Nice, but not the same as the desserts at Lilette. In all, a very good dining experience. Monday, I had to head out towards home. Otherwise, i would of started taking pictures, One of the reasons I went. At first, I found it hard to take pictures because I was getting so involved in the fact that it was peoples lives piled out on the streets. But the world needs to understand what has happened there. Go see it, you need to. Okay, i will try to stop preaching. Left the city on Highway 90 through Houma and around the bend to avoid the racetrack on I-10. Stopped in Lafayette for lunch at Prejeans. It was okay, didn't really rock my world. I had dinner that night in Paris, Texas. Definitely not a highlight of the trip. Now I am glad to be home, but so glad that I went. In the midst of all the rebirth, you can dine and dine well. I did. So buy your plane ticket, rent the car and head on down. I forgot about overtipping the bartender at the Rendevous on Magazine. I did my best to leave money with locals. Go and have a good time but don't just stay in the Quarter and uptown like the visiting politicos do, get out and see the city and the condition it is in. Spend time talking with the locals. The city will change, the culture will change, but be aware of what will be lost. And I didn't see any of those taco trucks I have been hearing about.