Kent Wang

Report: Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Kitchen. 6 Oct 2007. For high-brow Southern cuisine, don't forget Green Pastures.

I believe it's only worth going for their Sunday brunch, which is typical American style with a hint of old Southern cuisine (high-brow, not the low-brow fried stuff you usually think of). Brunch comes with a bottomless milk punch for some nominal fee. Milk punch is another Southern tradition, kind of like vanilla ice cream spiked with booze. Overall, I think the restaurant is quite unique and good for taking out-of-towners. The ambiance is very Old South. If you go there and Lola's, you'll have eaten the entire range of Southern food, an exploration of contrasts. Evaluating it in a vacuum though, it is quite expensive for what it is, and the food is only so-so. The peacocks are cool. I haven't seen the albino one before.

That'd be the Elder Fashion, which is an old-fashioned with gin, St. Germain for the sugar, orange bitters (?) and a grapefruit (IIRC, not lemon) peel. ← I'm pretty sure you nailed it. I think it's 4:1 gin:St. Germain, which is on the sweet side.

A summary of the Manifesto from Wikipedia: How totally bizarre and radical, much like the rest of the futurist movement. Does this sound like molecular gastronomy to you? I wonder how this affected the slow food movement, which was also founded in Italy. I'm trying to locate an English translation of the Manifesto online, but the one linked from Wikipedia is broken.

I took a friend of mine from South Africa to Death & Co in New York and he really loved the Sazerac, especially the story behind it all. He wants to make Sazeracs back home but doesn't have access to Peychaud's. So I'm trading him that and some of other American goods for whatever he can get down there. There's van der Hum and Amarula, but I can get both here. He says: Have you heard anything about these? Are the KWV brandies any good? If there aren't really any good spirits, I could just get him to ship some wines, but I'm afraid of those being more susceptible to heat damage in transit.

Also seasonal, pumpkin pie. I'll have to try that soon. Essentially, anything with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg could use a bit more complexity from bitters. And consider orange bitters. I can see that being especially good in salads.

I just tried a scotch and St. Germain, with Bowmore Legend (cheap Islay, no age statement, my daily drinker). At 4:1 the scotch really overpowers the elderflower, 2:1 seems just right and doesn't really feel too sweet. I've never had the Peatmonster but I imagine it is at least as peaty as the Bowmore. I had one a few weeks ago there that was pretty simple. I think St. Germain, gin and lemon? Can anyone help with this?

Is this the same as "CLEAR CREEK APPLE EAU DE VIE [uSA] 375ML 21.67"? I'm thinking not. Would an apple eau de vie go well with Laird's bonded, to make a super-applelicious drink?

Justin, I'm going to try out both of those places when I am next in Houston. Please continue to keep us informed on the soup dumpling watch.

There's an older thread about Galveston. I spent age 10-17 in Galveston and return every year or so. I wouldn't really say that Gaido's is bad, just overpriced, but what do you expect from the island? Shrimp and Stuff is hole-in-the-wall but the food is pretty bad, so it's just as overpriced as Gaido's. It's just a matter of whether you want to overpay for low-end food, or overpay for high-end food. Perhaps the only redeeming food in Galveston is the Bronco. I usually had it from La Estacion and not from the original Doughnut Shop.

Heaven.

I went last week while johnder and donbert were 'tending. Weinoo happened to be there , too. Truly excellent. I think the Solstice was the best of the drinks I had there. More places need secret entrances. Bars, restaurants, laundromats -- just imagine!

Lola's crawfish etouffee. She doesn't make this everyday, but definitely on Thursdays. This is one of the best examples of this dish that I've had in the city, generous portions of crawfish, quite spicy. Quality Seafood is the standard bearer in my eyes and this is definitely on par with theirs.

Millersus, her husband and I got there early and we watched a 15 minute documentary a UT film student did about Lola and the history of the restaurant. It was very touching. Then Misplaced_Texan and his wife arrived with reinforcements of Shiner Bock. We began the festivities with a Belgian ale from my cellar, an Affligem Tripel (BeerAdvocate review). On to the meal: We started with a big basket of onion rings. People have different tastes in onion rings, but I like this style the best: thin strips of onion and flaky batter. My favorite basket of onion rings in the city. I had the chicken po' boy, which is really huge. You have to eat half of it first before you're able to close it and eat it like a sandwich. The chicken is well-seasoned and very juicy. Millersus had the shrimp po' boy, which featured some huge pieces of shrimp. One common gripe I have with cheap comfort food-type places is that they skimp on the ingredients to keep their costs low -- not so at Lola's -- the portions are always generous. Fried catfish, red beans and rice, green beans. It was a pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you everyone for your donations to the Society. Let's have the next one maybe two months from now.

I find printing a small menu helps people decide. They don't have to keep asking you what each one is and what's in it. You could even fit your menu on a 3x5 card.

Just an ultra-compact 6 megapixel Panasonic DMC-FX01, all default settings. The key is good natural lighting. I often have early dinner and try to sit by the window.

I make miso soup a lot. I like to add wakame seaweed, enoki mushroom, shitake, oysters, mussels -- not all in the same pot of course! I generally like mine less minimalist than the traditional way.

Certification programs will be effective at bringing cocktail levels up all over the country. All the fine cocktail places in New York appear to be in wealthy neighborhoods. Would a lounge in a gentrifying part of town be successful? The Peacock in Austin fits the bill, though the menu needs a lot more work. What if a bar only had a menu with good drinks? Would that entice people to order from it? Worst case, they can still order their rum & coke off the menu.

Central Market North by far is the best. Quality Seafood (topic) is your second best option. I agree with Walter. Also see [Austin] Groceries and farmer's markets. MT Supermarket. Uchi, Vespaio are all good choices but they're also the type of food you can get back home. Try Hudson's on the Bend for Southwestern-style wild game. For comfort food, look no farther than Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Kitchen.

I believe the farmer in question is called Texas Quail Farms or something similarly generic. They were at the Sunset Valley farmers market last year but I haven't seen them in over half a year. I do recall seeing their fresh eggs at MT Supermarket several months ago, so they might still carry them.

Wonderful. I wish we had something of the sort in Texas. I'd like to give it a try next year.

Are you just touring the world? I envy you greatly.

Mr. Fong is not just typical bad service, his is rude service on another level. Perhaps even more advanced than the Soup Nazi.

I believe he is deceased, though the restaurant is still in operation.

Edsel Ford Fong, aka Eddie Fong, worked as the head waiter at Sam Wo in San Francisco's Chinatown. He was made famous by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen as the "world's rudest waiter". The Wikipedia article reports that: Do you have any personal experiences with Eddie Fong to share?