Chris Hennes
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Posts posted by Chris Hennes
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I just got a cancellation notice about a forthcoming meal (restaurant closing due to a positive COVID-19 test among staff). The problem is, it's a Resy reservation, so the text message came from their generic address. So I know that one of my upcoming reservations is being cancelled... but I don't know which one yet!
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GW Fins makes a lot of lists for "place you must try in NOLA", and has for many years. The danger with that sort of place is that it's resting on its laurels, or was purely a tourist trap in the first place, etc. I'm happy to report that I just had a very good meal at GWF, and while probably not as good as today's lunch, it's still worth recommending.
They start you off with biscuits, which does feel a little "Red Lobster" to me, but the biscuits were fine. I found them too sweet, but my wife disagrees, so YMMV:
The butter was soft enough to spread here, so bonus points for that. The wine list had a 2013 Albariño on it, which I thought was highly unusual (that's not a wine that often has much age on it, in my experience), so of course I ordered it. And it was excellent... but it was not a 2013
. You had to study the label pretty hard to find it, but this was really a 2019. Delicious, but not quite as unique as the menu may have (accidentally) suggested.
As an appetizer I had a tilefish ceviche. To be honest, I don't know what a "tilefish" is, but in ceviche it hardly matters: it tasted like fish and acid, and I mean that in the best possible way. It was served with a habanero sorbet, which was sort of intriguing and texturally complementary, so overall I liked this one, even if it's not much to look at on the plate:
My wife had a red snapper app advertised as being a "sustainable" cut, as in, it was from some part of the fish normally reserved for stock. She said it was good, and didn't share any with me, so I guess we'll take her word for it:
For the salad course I had "shrimp remoulade" -- it was served with tempura-fried tomato slices and a very nice mustardy sauce. And the shrimp were perfectly cooked. And I don't say that lightly. There's this magical place in the cooking of shrimp where they are just done enough to not be raw, but haven't yet crossed into a firm texture: as a cook I find that sweet spot highly elusive, so was very happy to find it here. Also, the flavors were excellent, and the contrast with the hot tempura battered tomato slices worked perfectly. A+. Unless this is eBay, then AAAA++++++OMGWTF, etc.
On to the mains. My wife cheated and got the black truffle gnocchi. At a seafood restaurant! For shame! Alas, it was spectacularly delicious so all is forgiven. She did indeed let me try a small bite, and it is so very hard to go wrong with black truffles, potatoes, and cream. One of my favorite foods.
I had the "dry aged swordfish steak" served with parsnip puree and haricot vert. The swordfish was heavily wood-smoked, so if there was something unique to the dry-aged flavor I was supposed to be tasting it was lost. Still, wood smoked swordfish is not a bad food, so I enjoyed it nevertheless. And the haricot vert were spot on as well. But the parsip puree. Oh my. I've tasted some terrible things, but this... this was BAD. So very, vey bad. Like, did they accidentally put marshmallow fluff on the plate instead of the parsnips? It was truly horrifying. Thankfully in small portion and easily sequestered to a far corner of the plate, never to be spoken of again. Wow. No joke, I think they put vanilla in it. Run away.
OK, I don't want to leave on a low note, really the meal was overall very good, and so much better paced than yesterday. A solid two hour meal, with plenty of time to chat and enjoy. For dessert, the house specialty, the Salty Malty™. Or something like that. It was malted milk ice cream, with some pretzels and caramel. Too much ice cream, not enough pretzels. And although the menu listed Lagavulin 16, they were out. OUT! For shame, how do you run out of a product that stores flawlessly for years without degradation? I "settled" for Laphroig 10 (still one of my favorites, but not Lagavulin!).
OK, overall this came across more negative than it should have: the meal was very good, and the hits were really hits. If we forget about the parsnip fluff, then all of the food was excellent. So some better curation of their liquor list would be nice, but that's not enough to remove the "you should eat here" recommendation, in my opinion.
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1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:
One of the best fish dishes I've ever had was the lump crab stuffed pompano at GW Fins.
Funny you should mention GW Fins…
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Today's lunch plan got upended when my original choice (selected for proximity to my hotel, since it's cold out today!) called and cancelled due to construction! However, it turned out for the best, the replacement lunch option was outstanding. We ended up going to Herbsaint, which is just a few blocks from our hotel:
Once upon a time this was a go-to restaurant, but their James Beard awards were over a decade ago, and my feeling is that they've faded into relative obscurity since. I approached the meal with some trepidation, but it turned out to be unfounded, I have not had a lunch this good in a very long time. I started with a delicious Domaine Boyer-Martenot 2018 that they had available by the glass. Which was brought promptly, I might add, in contrast to last night! Today's pacing was perfect: the service was attentive but relaxed, in a beautiful sunny space that we really enjoyed. The bread is a French lean, well-executed, though the butter was a touch too cold for spreading easily:
I started with gumbo (yes, again... I love gumbo, and did I mention it's cold here?):
This was unusual to me, it was much thinner than I normally make mine, with a more broth-like consistency. But it was still very rich and flavorful, and paired very will with the wine. My wife had a salad with duck prosciutto that I am told was excellent:
For our mains I had shrimp in a leek beurre blanc with fresh horseradish: it was excellent. Very well-balanced, with just the right amount of horseradish. It was also well-portioned for lunch, though here I am three hours later and still full.
My wife had a "small plate" of homemade spaghetti topped with breaded egg. She reports that it, too, was excellent.
We also enjoyed a side of the vegetable of the day, which today was roasted baby carrots in a spiced butter. They had just a hint of anise to them, and were excellent:
Finally, for dessert we had the "Black Forest cake" -- really a mousse with cake-like crumbles on top and studded with amarena cherries. Here I thought the proportion of cherry-to-mousse was off, and should have either had more cherries, or less mousse. Still, it's hard to go wrong with good chocolate and amarena cherries.
Overall this was a superb lunch, and I'd happily dine here again.
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5 minutes ago, heidih said:
What part of town are you guys staying in? I am a Cochon fan.
Tourist Central :). Canal and St. Charles.
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1 hour ago, weinoo said:
And qualify Drago's by saying I wouldn't necessarily go to the one in the hotel; rather, the OG.
The original is pretty inconveniently located, I don’t have a car here, and public transportation is not awesome (though the bus from the airport was pretty convenient).
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Coffee in this area is pretty scarce, but Cafe Bon Ami is pretty solid. And quiet on this cold Monday morning.
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6 minutes ago, ElsieD said:
Those saltines look as though they may have been fried or something. We're they or is that the lighting that makes them look like that?
Definitely fried.
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1 hour ago, weinoo said:
@Chris Hennes - how'd you decide where the two of you will end up eating and drinking this week?
I started with this post from @Mayhaw Man, then worked out who was a) still open in 2022, b) serving food on one of the days I was here, and c) had reservations available on short notice (or didn't take reservations). I will let the list unfold as I dine, no spoilers
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8 hours ago, liuzhou said:
Looks like they threw it onto the plates from a great height, too.
Yeah - obviously the cellphone photos aren't helping any, but none of the food was aesthetically plated. As you say, it was just piled on and served.
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10 hours ago, heidih said:
Trying for positive - the "saltines" hosting the redfish dip look different and house made?
Yes, the saltines were house-made, and that definitely helped the dish.
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Things started off slowly at Luke: we were about ten minutes early for our 8pm reservation, so I guess they decided to let us wait out that ten minutes at the table. Or something. Anyway, once they remembered we were here, things proceeded in a hurry. So strike one for Luke: bad pacing. We got a bottle of Sancerre, which I am a sucker for. This one was pretty decent:
I had a hard time narrowing down what I wanted off the menu, so I just ordered a bunch of things. I think this confused the kitchen, who sent it all out at once, more or less. Let's just say the table was full. First order of business, some smoked redfish dip on saltines:
Also, some Brussels sprouts:
Obviously I had to have gumbo:
My wife had the swordfish:
And I had the shrimp and grits:
The winners here were the gumbo and the shrimp and grits. The Brussels sprouts were also delicious, but in that way that Brussels sprouts are nearly always delicious. Nothing that interesting, just normal caramelized Brussels sprouts. The swordfish was sort of phoned in, there wasn't much there. The smoked redfish dip was good, but not quite the standout that the grits were. I enjoyed the gumbo as well, but for me most restaurant gumbo is just me confirming that I'm on the right track with my homemade gumbo. Which of course I like better
. It was a very quick meal, considering all the food. I figured we'd kill two bottles of wine, but they just sort of threw all the food at us at once, so we didn't get a chance at a second bottle. In and out in one hour flat. For better or worse...
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Well, it took a pandemic, but I’m finally in New Orleans. I’ve meant to come for many years and it just never happened: but a relatively last-minute cancellation of a scheduled trip to Amsterdam left me with a week off, and plenty of airline credits.
When traveling I typically divide my trips into “food trips” and “not food trips” (for example, in 2021 I did a lot of national parks: those are very much “not food trips”). So finally, here is a trip that is most emphatically a “food trip”.
My timing is a little awkward here: to map with the time off I’d already taken, but avoid New Years and football bowl season, I am here Sunday through Thursday—it’s not ideal dining days, but I’m sure I can make it work.
So without further ado:
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No, it is thin stainless, no point. No heat capacity worth worrying about.
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7 hours ago, Robenco15 said:
the detroit pizza sauce makes a lot or pizza sauce, right? I didn’t mess something up?
Pretty much all of their sauce recipes are based on the size of a can of tomatoes, not on how much sauce you need for a given pizza. I always have lots of leftover sauce.
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8 hours ago, Robenco15 said:
why don’t you feed it at peak?
Because it still has plenty of food then. Feed it when it’s hungry
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In the feeding regime I was describing there, it "peaked" at 12-14 hours, and by 24 was nearly exhausted. I wouldn't bake with it at 24 hours.
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Is that a…. GREEN TOPPING?!?! What is the world coming to? Looks delicious.
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12 hours ago, KennethT said:
Now I'm curious as to where you went!!!! Do you remember the name of the place?
I just wandered around in Google Maps and I think it was Bravo, on E 14th.
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I've never had a bartender not understand that "neat" means "no ice or anything else", but I have definitely had bartenders (typically at hotel bars) look at a "neat" pour and decide they must have done something wrong, and add more. And more. And more. I decided not to argue when my single became a quadruple.. or more!!
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Ortolana Pizza (KM p. 276)
on
High-Hydration Al Taglio with Second-Chance Levain (KM p. 81)
The toppings here are tomato sauce, pizza cheese, grilled zucchini, grilled eggplant, and grilled poblano pepper (the recipe calls for red bell pepper but I didn't have any at hand). I had to finish the pizza with a torch because I overtopped it a bit. Still, the topping combination is a delicious one, I'd make this again.
The dough is exactly the same as the standard Al Taglio except inactive levain replaces the mature levain. It has a slightly more sour flavor, but is otherwise very similar, and is still one of my favorite doughs from the book. It's certainly my favorite pan pizza dough. It crisps up very nicely on the reheat stage, and the multi-stage cooking process means you never have a gel layer, and it's easy to time dinner for when you want to eat, even on a weeknight.
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11 hours ago, weinoo said:
Where does this fit in with your experience, both @Chris Hennes and @scott123?
Going only by appearance (obviously!) it looks a lot like the slice I had when I was in NY a couple of weeks ago, which is the one and only slice I have ever had in NYC. I actually had decided against posting about it because a) mine was from some random chain-looking place just off Union Square so I figured it wasn't really representative and b) it didn't have the big puffy rim that I thought was characteristic of the style. So I'm interested to see that I was wrong on that count, at least. Had I known that I was supposed to be seeking out Joe's I'd have gone there, I probably literally walked past it, you said they have a Union Square location, right?
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5 hours ago, Merkinz said:
- Ball (250g per) and ferment for a further ~7 hours at room temp
How did you arrive at the 7 hour number? At first glance I'd just suggest very, very underproofed.
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And a day later, changing the toppings up a bit (brussels sprouts and blue cheese added, switched to pizza cheese underneath, same sauce):
Still good, but not quite as tender a crumb as yesterday. I might try freezing it right after baking next time.
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New Orleans 2022: A brief foodblog
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
That's probably more an artifact of the photography, though I will say that they used "normal" sized plates, not those gigantic almost-charger things you sometimes see in fine dining at the moment. While none of the plating was particularly notable, I didn't find the plates to be offensively crowded, either. Well, except the crowding induced by trying to keep the parsnips at bay
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