New Orleans Eat Club

Upcoming
Crescent City Steak House--July 8
La Crepe Nanou--July 12
Gautreau's--July 15
Galatoire's-July 20

Menus and other details will be posted here as soon as I get them!

About The Eat Club Dinners
Eat Club events are open to everyone! Singles are as welcome as couples. Don't worry about being among strangers. About a third of the people at every dinner are first-timers, too, and you'll make friends with the others at your table quickly. Our dinners are convivial and unpretentious. We don't give speeches or long diatribes about the food or wines (just a little at the beginning). Just good food and wine.

The host is me-- Tom Fitzmorris, host of The Food Show on 1350 AM radio, and the publisher of the New Orleans Menu Daily. I move around from table to table all night long so I can tell the same jokes over and over again. I hold these dinners as a service to diners and restaurateurs. The entire payment for the dinner goes to the restaurant--I get no part of it. I'm there for the fun and camaraderie.

Reservations Essential!
Once you're reasonably sure you'll be there.
We usually sell out, so reserve early. If you need to cancel, please let me know no less than two days before the dinner. Please understand that I sometimes have to pay for no-shows out of my own pocket.

Confirmations Because e-mail is not entirely reliable, I now post a list of the last names of everyone whose reservation is confirmed. It's in the right-hand column of this page. Allow 24 hours after you send your reservation to give me time to post  it. If you're on the list, we look forward to seeing you. If not, please contact me again here. I will still send an e-mail to you as soon as I can after you reserve.

Unless otherwise noted, the prices include the complete dinner, tax, tip, and wine, but not cocktails. Cash will get you out faster, but credit cards are okay. At some dinners, we collect at the beginning just to speed things up at the end. Smoking is not permitted at Eat Club dinners.

First-Timers
If you've never been to one of our dinners before and are hesitant, please give it a try! You'll find a very sociable bunch of people, many of whom will also be first-timers. Singles (some of whom are married to too-busy spouses) are also always with us. We sit together at big tables, and share easy conversation as well as the wine and food. No gourmet pretensions or speeches; we're primarily interested in eating well and having a fun evening. The chefs and wine distributors give us unusually good work at attractive prices.

Non-Drinkers
Discount
There isn't one. The wines are usually provided by a wine distributor or wholesaler, and we don't pay much (or anything) for them. But if you'd rather drink iced tea, go ahead! You won't be the only one.


New Orleans' Original Prime Steakhouse
Crescent City Steak House
Mid-City: 1001 N. Broad
Wednesday, July 8, 7 p.m.
$75 inclusive of tax, tip, and wines.

Click here to reserve.


This is the steakhouse that set the standard for all others in New Orleans, and good enough to make New Orleans one of the great steak cities in America. The formula at the Crescent City is very simple: they buy nothing but USDA Prime beef (including the filets), dry-age them on the loin in house, cut them into steaks right before broiling, and send them out in the original sizzling butter sauce. Join us to get your favorite cut, and all the classic sides.

House Salad
Fresh iceberg lettuce with tomatoes, topped with white asparagus, with or without anchovies, and choice of Blue Cheese Vinaigrette or House Vinaigrette).

Prime Aged Beefsteak
Your choice of ribeye, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, or sirloin strip.

Steakhouse Sides
Lyonnaisse Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, Steamed Vegetable of Day

Dessert Of Choice
Bread Pudding, Creole Cream Cheese Cake, or "Z" Pie.

Wines will be matched to the main course.

Click here to reserve.




Celebrating Bastille Day A Little Early
La Crepe Nanou
1410 Robert (at Prytania). Map.
Sunday, July 12, 6 p.m.
$75 inclusive of tax, tip, and wines.

Click here to reserve.


Long before French bistros were all over New Orleans, Nanou felt and tasted like a slice of Paris. The food is classic bistro fare: fresh, French, inexpensive, and more delicious than you anticipate. Crepes remain a specialty that few other local restaurants purvey. We'll sample the best of La Crepe Nanou's menu in a rare Sunday dinner. It will be one time when you'll be able to show up there and sit right down!

Marinated Creole Tomatoes
With arugula, shaved Vidalia onion and Dijon vinaigrette.

Moules Marinieres
Mussels steamed with white wine and herbs.

Grilled Sweetbreads
With lemon beurre blanc and capers.

Grilled Filet Mignon
With Cognac cream sauce.

Crepes With Housemade Fig Ice Cream

Wines from Vino will be paired throughout. Dress is nice casual. Parking is easily available at the nearby street curbs.

Click here to reserve.




A Summer Night In The Coolest Old Restaurant
Galatoire's
French Quarter: 209 Bourbon.
Monday, July 20, 7 p.m.
$100 inclusive of tax, tip, and wines.

Reserve at cgaudet@galatoires.com
You would think that after a hundred years, we all would have been to Galatoire's enough. But that's never the case. Especially among the people who go there most. The definitive old-line Creole restaurant does, however, have the ability to come up with new ideas. I posted the menu below on the Talk Food messageboard, asking people to guess where it came from. Over twenty people guessed before someone who had seen the menu before let the cat out of the bag.

As unusual as this all seems for Galatoire's, Chef Brian Landry assures us that all these dishes are really only modest reworkings of classic Galatoire's items. I'd say not to worry, but so many people have already signed up that it's clear that's not necessary.

Note About Reservations! The restaurant would like to handle the reservations themselves. Even if you've already asked for a reservation, you must contact Galatoire's at this e-mail address: cgaudet@galatoires.com

Pass-Around Appetizers:
Soufflee Potatoes with Rosemary Aioli
Homemade Hog’s Head Cheese
Louisiana Shrimp Mousse

At The Table:
Summer Bouillabaisse
Louisiana jumbo lump crab and shrimp in a chilled saffron broth.

Warm Salad of Sautéed Snapper
With oyster mushrooms, hazelnuts, and sherry vinaigrette.

Double-Cut American Lamb Chop
With Clemenceau garnish and bearnaise..

Berry Napoleon
Mixed summer berries in puff pastry with a vanilla bean sabayon.

Wines, of course, will be paired with all courses. I will be there broadcasting live from the restaurant from four till seven. Come early and I'll stick a mike in your face! (Unless you don't want me to.)

Reserve at cgaudet@galatoires.com



One of the First and Best Gourmet Creole Bistros
Gautreau's
Uptown: 1728 Soniat.
Wednesday, July 15, 7 p.m.
$75 inclusive of tax, tip, and wines.

SOLD OUT. Click here for the wating list.
Gautreau's has a uniquely fine history: three of its chefs have made the covers of national magazines. Fromt he time it opened in 1983 and still today, it's offered a menu that stands out, not just because it's different from all others, but because it has managed to keep a certain style and level of excellence.

And that's all I have for right now. I'm wating for the menu, and will post it here as soon as it's in hand. Feel free to reserve if you like.

SOLD OUT. Click here for the wating list.





Confirmations
Updated July 3


Crescent City Steakhouse 7/8

Juan 4
Vincent 1
Trowbridge 3
Van Hoven 2
Traina 5
Manners 1
Wright 2
Jones 3
Wilson 2
Piechowicz 1
Rochel 1

25




La Crepe Nanou 7/12

McDougall 2
Grant 2
Siebold 2
Tucker 2
Roussel 2
Stelly 2
Teague 2
Carr 2
Kleven 2
Rees 2
Graf 1
Vincent 1
Weidman 4
Vincent 1
Girard 1
Benson 2
Rosenfeld 2
Weidman 6

38



Gautreau's  7/15

Tuhro 2
Schoen 2
Grant 2
Maher 2
Wang 4
Myers 2
Gaffney 2
Gambino 2
Cales 6
Igert 2
Marshall 2
Pohlmann 3
Sellers 3
Eigher 4
Plaisance 2
Cerise 2
Rittler 2
Manners 1
Keever 2
Calonje 2
Benson 2
Vincent 1

52

SOLD OUT





Galatoire's 7/20

Reservations must be made directly with the restaurant. Click below:
cgaudet@galatoires.com