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Recent
Questions And Comments
Where Is Bayou Bang?
"Silly Gentilly" asks:
Anyone know what ever happened to Chef Bang and his great product? I
used my last bit of his Bayou Bang spice last week and cannot find it
anywhere. The phone number on the website is disconnected. I really
enjoyed his spices--they were salt free, but you would never know it. I
hope this is not another Katrina story. Maybe he is still here and just
not doing the spice thing anymore.
Tom sez:
I'm not sure where he is, but indeed he isn't doing the spice thing
anymore. I was a big fan of Bayou Bang, too, and used tons of it for
years. But it's hard to get shelf space when you're a little guy with
just one product. For those who don't know the story, Eric Eason--"Chef
Bang"--was a former Antoine's chef who went on his own to do catering
work and other projects. He made up a blend of seasonings and did
pretty well with it, until everybody on earth started making similar
things. (I'm waiting for the Ray Nagin Creole Seasoning any day now.) I
heard a rumor that Chef Bang sold the formula to someone who would
bring it out again, but I haven't been able to reach him either to
confirm this.
In the meantime, here is my approximation of Bayou Bang. (I don't know
the actual recipe.) There is no salt in it; I prefer to control
the salt in a recipe as a separate ingredient. Mix these ingredients
and store it in a jar with a tightly-fitting lid.
- 2 Tbs. granulated onion
- 1 tsp. granulated garlic
- 2 Tbs. black pepper
- 2 Tbs. paprika
- 1 Tsp. basil
- 1/4 tsp. thyme
- 1/4 tsp. marjoram
- 1/2 tsp. white pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne
- 1/8 tsp. dry mustard
When Is Turtle Soup Not Turtle Soup?
"Bakerboy" asks:
If a restaurant does not use turtle meat in their turtle soup should they have to say so on their menu?
Tom sez:
Interesting question.
What if there's no description of any dish on the menu? What if the
practice of using other than turtle meat in turtle soup is so
widespread that everybody takes it for granted?
In France and Italy, a number of dishes called "birds" are actually
made by rolling up slices of meat around a stuffing. They're not really
birds, but nobody is troubled by it, because most people know this.
What about "vermicelli"? That means "little worms" in Italian. Those aren't worms, of course.
It seems to me the biggest question of all is: What if the stuff tastes
terrific? Better than most other real turtle soups? I would say
that's true of Mandina's (no turtle at all) and Commander's Palace
(only some of the meat is turtle). I'd prefer a great-tasting turtle
soup with no turtle than a blah turtle soup made entirely of the real
thing. (I could name a few of those. Manale's comes to mind.)
A number of others have expressed opinions on this. You can read them and add your own by
going to this subject on our messageboard.
Gravy Made From Nothing
Rocky asks:
I love brown gravy, especially served over rice. Often times, when we do
a pork roast, there just doesn't seem to be enough gravy. Is
there a secret method for whipping up brown gravy in a
pinch? The stuff you buy in cans is seriously lacking. I bet the great chefs have a backup. Do
you?
Tom sez:
A lot of restaurants--including a shiocking number of poor boy
shops--buy finished gravy in big plastic bags from food service
companies. That's not really available in the retail market. The stuff
in cans is terrible and too salty.
Gravy is a by-product of roasting meats. You collect the drippings, you
remove the fat, and you thicken if necessary. If the meat is
well-seasoned and cooked in the presence of savory vegetables (onions,
celery, etc.), not much more needs to be done.
But when that doesn't happen, you have two recourses:
1. When you sear the meat
in the pan (a good idea, even if you plan on slow-roasting later), move
it to a roasting pan in the oven, then deglaze the pan with stock or
water. "Deglaze" means adding the liquid with the pan on the heat, and
stirring to loosen the and dissolve the dried juices and browned bits
that stuck to the pan.
2. Make a stock with the
trimmings, cutting the fat away first. Sear the trimmings, add water
and seasoning vegetables, and bones if available. Simmer (don't boil)
for an hour. Strain, and reduce to the quantity you need. Make a little
brown roux and stir it into the stock until the texture coats the back
of a spoon. Salt and pepper. Worcestershire sauce. Brown gravy. But not
as good as one made entirely from drippings.
Kraft Garlic Cheese Roll, And Other Junk
Someone on the messageboard
asked about a recipe for mock oyster dip over the weekend. Someone else
pointed out that it required Kraft Garlic Cheese Roll, a product that
is no longer manufactured. Then began the weeping and gnashing of
teeth. The string is here. I had some thoughts about the matter.
This brings up (for the millionth time, because I get a lot of questions along this line) an interesting question of taste.
When a commercial product like this Kraft garlic cheese roll
disappears, why do people pine for it forever? Clearly, if the product
sold well, it would still be out there. If it were good, it would sell
well. It's gone because it's not good.
But its reputation--and those of dishes made with it--grows in
brilliance as the likelihood of finding it again fades into the past.
I can understand this. Just yesterday, I saw a bag of Bremner's Oyster
Crackers on the shelf at Winn-Dixie. Bremner's was the baker of a
product called Jumbo Pies, their version of Moon Pies. Jumbo Pies
achieved sainthood in my personal memory bank of flavors, because my
mother bought a box of them every week for us when I was about nine.
When I was in my twenties, I found them in Pap's Supermarket. I bought
a box of them and. . . wham! My version of Proust's madeleine. It
tasted exactly as I remembered. Which is to say, only as good as a
chocolate-covered marshmallow pie can get. Which isn't really a lot.
But the flood of nostalgia! That's what made it good, really. Not the
reality.
I kept buying them until, one day, they were gone. I never saw them
again. About four years ago a guy named Bremner wrote me about
something. I asked whether if, by chance, he knew about the fate of his
namesake company's Jumbo Pies. In fact, he was a member of that Bremner
family, and knew all about it. He told me that Jumbo Pies had been
discontinued quite a few years earlier, and that there was almost zero
chance of their ever returning, since so many competing products were
in the market.
That allowed me to cease my search for Jumbo Pies. If I ever see them
in a store again I will, of course, buy them. But the quest is
finished, and I have moved on. My wife, who had the opportunity to eat
some Jumbo Pies with me early in our marriage, told me then that they
were pure junk. And she eats a lot of junk, so coming from her, that's
saying something. She lacked my nostalgia, so she could see reality. So
that's all it ever was, all along. Nostalgia. No substance.
Time to move on. If I really wanted to taste that Jumbo Pie flavor
again, I guess I could try to make them myself from scratch. I think I
could, if I tried hard enough. (After all, I developed a taste-alike
recipe for Antoine's oysters Rockefeller.) But the result is not worth
the effort. Because regardless of how good they were, there would be no
Jumbo Pie box. No cellophane wrappers. No nostalgia.
So it is with mock oyster dip. And Jim's Fried Chicken. And turkey
poulette, and all those other things from the past that went away
because they really weren't very good, and will never return.
There are only two sane things to do:
1. Work out a recipe
using available ingredients, repeating the experiment again and again
until it tastes like what you remember. This can be done, even without
Kraft garlic cheese roll.
2. Forget about it, and
move on to another of the pi billion other recipes out there. You can
be assured that many of them are better than mock oyster dip, and that
your taste will lead you to them.
You can't drag everything from your past along with you to the grave.
You have to let some things go. You will be a happier person for it.
Peas, Please
Hughes asks:
Where do I find fresh peas? I want to make some split pea soup.
Tom sez:
Fresh peas are indeed hard to find. That's beacuse less than five
percent of the peas grown are eaten fresh, instead of frozen or canned.
The problem you will have now is that this is not the time of year for
peas, really. Down here, this is a good time to plant peas for harvest
before it gets really hot. Most people plant them in summer and harvest
them in mid to late fall. They do not grow especailly well in our
climate.
You wouldn't want fresh peas for split pea soup anyway. Dried work
better, dissolving a little as they cook and thickening the soup. Start
with a vegetable stock and forget about ham. How that became part of
split pea soup I'll never know. I love ham, and I love peas, but I
don't really like them together.
By the way, in all my years of dining around New Orleans, I've
encountered fresh peas exactly once: at K-Paul's. The waitress told me
that they had fun sitting around shelling them, a very time-consuming
process.
The Cap Steak Of Prime Rib
Andy asks:
What is the piece of meat that surrounds the eye of prime rib? Not the pink meat, but rather the brown/grayish piece. To me it
has far more flavor that the pink meat and the mouth feel is superb. I'd
kill for and order of this cut of beef without the other, less
flavorful part of the rib.The mouth feel is similar to a good piece of
hanger steak.
Tom sez:
It's called the cap of the rib, and many beef connoisseurs agree with
you. In fact, at our recent Eat Club dinner at Restaurant August, John
Besh served this cut alone, exactly as you suggest. It was terrific,
and with good reason: even in lower grades, it naturally contains a lot
of marbling and a texture tenderer than any other cut of beef I know.
(Much tenderer than the rather chewy hanger steak, if I may disagree
with you about that.) It's not often served on its own. In fact, August
was the first place I ever I saw it that way But that wouldn't stop you
from trimming it off a standing rib roast and grilling it separately.
Open Kitchens
Troy asks:
Do you have a list of restaurants where you can watch the action in the
kitchen? The ones I already know about are Emeril's, Luke, and Taqueria
Corona. I'm looking for others.
Tom sez:
The original open kitchen--above the level of a diner like the Camellia Grill--was
Mr. B's Bistro.
When they opened in 1979, their kitchen was more open than it is
now--although you can still see a lot. You can even walk through the
kitchen on the way to the parking garage, and nobody will stop you if
you stand and observe as long as you like.
That design became popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but I'd say the trend is on the way down now.
Some restaurants with kitchens fronted by a food bar, where you can
dine while observing the chefs on the other side of the counter,
include
Nola, Maximo's, One, La Cote Brasserie, and
Cochon.
Other restaurants with easily-observable kitchens are
Commander's
Palace, RioMar, La Boca, Arabesque, Palace Cafe, Jacques-Imo's, Juan's Flying Burrito, Slice, and (if
this counts)
Houston's on St. Charles Avenue.
I'm sure I've left out a few. If you--I mean you there, reading this--know of some others, please let me know at
tom@nomenu.com.
Mandarins, Tangerines, And Kin
Lois asks:
What's the difference between tangerines, mandarins, and clementines?
Tom sez:
Let's also throw in our local favorite, the satsuma, into this
consideration. All of these are closely enough related that in commerce
the names become almost interchangeable. They all are descended from an
orange-like citrus tree that grows in Japan. The satsuma is probably
the closest to that original tree (it's named for a former Japanese
province, and the ones we grow here are descended from some of the
first of those trees to grow in this country). Mandarins, tangerines,
clementines and satsumas have in common a loose, easy-to-peel skin,
sections that pull apart easily, and a high sugar content. Their flavor
is distinctive enough that while it's hard for the average person to
tell them apart by taste alone, they are distinctly different in flavor
from oranges.
Clementines tend to be smallest, most brilliant in color, and seedless.
Tangerines are usually the sweetest. There are numerous varieties in
all four categories, making it even easier to say that if you have a
hunger for one of these luscious fall citrus fruits, any of the others
will likely give you the same satisfaction.
The Times-Picayune Dining Guide
A number of people on the radio and by e-mail asked questions like the following, which is a composite of them all:
What's behind the Times-Picayune's Dining Guide that came out Sunday?
How did they pick those restaurants? Why were Arnaud's [or Le Parvenu,
Andrea's, Mother's, Nine Roses, Ninja, Broussard's, Brennan's] left
out? Is it about advertising or something? And why were there no
ratings, if their restaurant critic wrote it?
Tom sez:
The T-P's dining guides have always been mysterious. They originally
were unambiguous advertising sections, with a one-to-one correspondence
between articles and ads. At some point they replaced that lame
editorial content with their critics' annual summations of what they'd
written about during the past year. But that was also puzzling, because
it always left out many restaurants that clearly should be included in
any summation of the dining scene.
I can say from long experience that it's impossible to cover the
essence of the restaurant community for locals with fewer than 200
restaurants on the list. Too many important places get left out. The
last time I was able to make a decent list of just one hundred was in
1978.
As for why the reviews didn't carry ratings. . . well, that's another
mystery. So few rated reviews appear in the newspaper anymore that it
seems as if they're phasing them out. That's okay with me. I love
having that monopoly.
What I found peculiar in this one was the way two competing (sometimes
invidiously competing) restaurants were combined in a single review.
Antoine's and Tujague's? Irene's and Tommy's? Crescent City Steakhouse
and Dickie Brennan's? Whose idea was that?
One more thing: get ready to see all this copy over again when they do the spring dining guide.
Lady Cream Peas
Tim asks:
Browsing around the dried bean section in Rouse's, I picked up a pound
of Camellia brand lady cream peas. They look like mini-Great
Northerns. The label directions sound like most local bean
recipes--add meat and onions, etc.,--though the cooking time is very
brief. Any insight, advice or secrets?
Tom sez:
They're related to blackeye peas, crowder peas, and field peas, but are
lighter in color. Unlike those beans, lady peas don't make the water
muddy-looking in the early stages of cooking (although that has no
effect on the final look or taste). They cook quickly
because they're small. Like other beans, however, they get better if
they sit around a little while. I find they go especially well with
seafood.
Shrimp And Grits
Lisa asks:
I see shrimp and grits in restaurants a lot lately. I've never had it,
but I'm curious. Are the grits cheesy? Is it shrimp etouffee or shrimp
Creole served with grits? When did this become popular?
Tom sez:
Shrimp and grits is a dish from the Low Country of North Carolina. I
guess it was inevitable that it would catch on here, since we already
eat both major parts of the dish commonly in New Orleans.
If it seems that it suddenly popped up all over the place, you're
right. Ten years ago, you wouldn't have seen it at all. I think one of
the reasons many chefs offer it now is that a) it's simple to make and
b) it offers a lot of opportunities for creativity.
As a result, no two versions are alike. The grits, the shrimp, the
sauce, the presentation. . . all differ from restaurant to restaurant.
I've seen some versions using an etouffee-like sauce, some with a
barbecue shrimp aspect, and others in which the shrimp are just
grilled. Some of the grits contain unusual additives, and some are just
plain. The funny thing is that almost all versions are good, and most
are very, very good.
I'm not big on shrimp as an entree. But this one has grabbed me. Among
the best are those at the Upperline, Luke, and Cafe Giovanni. But many
more are out there for me to discover.
Best Meal At Galatoire's
Nolamom" asks on our messageboard:
Our fifth anniversary is coming up, and my non-native husband
has never been to Galatoire's. I have, lots of times. But what would
you say is the ideal Galatoire's meal? It will just be the two of us
going, so don't go overboard with what you would order if you were with
a large group where everyone was sharing everything.
Tom sez:
I see that a number of other people have given their ideas on this, but
I'll add mine. Here is what I would consider the best normal-size
dinner for two at Galatoire's to introduce someone to the best of what
they offer:
Galatoire's Goute (shrimp remoulade, crabmeat maison, and either crawfish or shrimp ravigote, split for two)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oysters Rockefeller (one order split for two)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grilled pompano meuniere
Lamb chops bearnaise
Brabant potatoes
Asparagus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caramel custard
Bread pudding
Cafe Brulot
Happy anniversary!
The Decline In Dressing For Dinner
On our messageboard, "BR-NO" asks:
Why are upscale restaurants so lax on a dress code? I am not
talking about coat and tie for men, either. We were dining in Emeril's about a
week ago where most people were dressed nicely. There were a couple of tables
where men had on jeans and nice shirts. Here comes a table of eight wearing
shorts, ratty jeans, ball caps, and T-shirts with slogans! Are owners so worried
about the volume of business that they will not enforce some sort of a dress
code? What are your thoughts?
One word: Katrina.
That explains it all. After the hurricane, we were so eager to return
to our restaurants (a good thing) that we allowed restaurants to lower
all kinds of standards (a bad thing, although at the time it was
entirely understandable).
The problem was that once you do something unthinkable--like go to a
first-class restaurant without a jacket or in a T-shirt--the idea
becomes thinkable. Then common.
It's terrible. But I don't think this tide will ever be turned.
My favorite idea: Reserve certain rooms in first-class restaurants for
underdressed people. Or vice-versa. In an extreme example of this, in
the 1960s there was a rule at Arnaud's that if you wanted to dine on
Saturday night in the Richelieu Room (where their Jazzz Bistro is now,
and which I think is the nicest room in the place), you had to be
dressed formally. Black tie. Tuxedo. Evening dress.
A restaurant that did something like that (perhaps toned down a little)
would, I think, find a lot of eager customers and get a lot of
publicity.
Stuffing Garlic In A Beef Roast
Tara asks:
I
have a question about the common practice around here of stuffing whole
cloves of garlic into a rump roast before searing. If the point of a
good sear is to seal in juices (as well as provide the basis for a
deglazing sauce) isn't it counterproductive to put all those holes in
the roast? And is it just me or does the garlic usually end up tasting
like bitter mush anyway?
Tom sez:
Careful.
You're trodding on holy ground here. Many people would think it a
sacrilege to leave out the slivers of garlic (not whole cloves; I don't
know anyone who does or advocates that) from a beef roast. Why? Because
their mamas told them to do that, and their mamas got it from their
grandmas.
I don't stuff beef roasts with garlic myself, but not for the reasons
you mention. I leave it out because I don't think it adds much, except
to the few bites that have the garlic actually in them. If you cut a
small slit and stuff it with a slice of garlic an eighth of an inch
thick, it will seal the cut and not allow much juice out. What juice
comes out, if it's a pot roast, will go into the water in the pot and
add something to the gravy. But you could as well just put crushed
garlic cloves into the pot.
The bitter aspect comes from leaving the garlic whole. Garlic must be
crushed or at least sliced. Garlic caramelizes better if it's crushed
first. And the cloves won't get enough heat down in that beef hole.
I'll bet we get a few rebuttals on this one.
Skirt, Flank, And Marinades
Wilson asks, on the Talk Food With Tom Forum:
What's
the difference between skirt and flank steak? Are they the same cut of
meat? I had this not long ago and when I asked the person who grilled
it which it was they said they didn't know. Is there something besides
fajitas I can do with it.
Any ideas or marinades? I've been eating only ribeye's for so long I have forgotten there are other cuts of meat out there.
Tom sez:
The
skirt steak is a fringe of meat that comes off the primal roast called
the "plate," a word you don't see much outside of butchering circles.
It's on the lower part of the cow, in back of the brisket (which would
be where the cow's armpit would be, if cows had armpits). The flank
steak is behind the plate and its skirt. Skirt and flank are somewhat
similar in that they both are shaped something like an airplane wing,
thick at the top and thin at the bottom. And they both have a grain
that runs up and down. You have to cut across the grain when slicing,
or you'll be chewing awhile. (You slice after cooking, not before.)
Both cut benefit from marinating. I like to use a combination of
pineapple juice, red wine, Tabasco Caribbean steak sauce, marjoram, and
a little olive oil. The pineapple juice doesn't alter the taste, but
does tenderize it quite a bit.
Skirt is, as you note, the classic cut for fajitas.("Fajitas" means
"skirt" or "fringe," in fact.) Flank steak is the cut classically used
for London broil, although that expression is often used for other cuts.
Jim's Fried Chicken Recipe
From the Talk Food With Tom Forum:
I have tried for 20 years to reproduce that dark and super
crunchy fried chicken that Jim's served on the corner of Carrolton and Earhart.
Does anybody have any insight on their secret?
Tom sez:
I've been asked this a lot. It's hard to get a recipe from a restaurant
that's been closed for many years. Even harder when the recipe was
secret, as it was there. Ask me about how dumb "secret" recipes are
someday, if you haven't already heard me grouse about that.
What I was able to learn was that the coating on Jim's chicken was
seasoned cracker meal blended with flour, atop a thin batter of egg,
milk, and flour. That does come out pretty good. Which may mean it's
not the recipe, because I never though Jim's chicken was very good in
the late 1960s and 1970s, when I ate there once in awhile. I think that
the elapsing of time makes the memory of anything more delicious, and
this is as fine an example of that effect as I can imagine.
The Oily Side Of Roux
Fred asks:
I've spent years trying to figure this out but to no avail. Why is it
that, when making gumbo, there can be wild differences in how much fat rises to
the top? Using a cup of flour and a cup of oil for the roux, I've had as
little as a quarter cup to as much as the entire cup of fat rise to the top, to
be removed.
I've experimented heating or not heating the stock when combining,
among other things. I would like for some fat to emusify into the gumbo, which
it sometimes does, but other times almost none of it seems to combine and I have
to skim it away to prevent the oil-slick look on top of people's servings.
Tom sez:
This most often happens when the roux and stock are at drastically
different temperatures when they come together. Even though you note
that you've paid attention that, I'd recommend paying a bit more.
Try this. Have all the vegetables chopped before beginning to make the
roux. Cook the roux over a medium heat, stirring quite a lot
(insufficient stirring is another possible source of the problem) until
it gets to the right color. Then turn off the heat and add the
vegetables, continuing to stir all the while. The roux will cool and
the vegetables will caramelize quickly.
Meanwhile, have your stock (or water) simmering in another pot. Add the
roux into the stock, using a wire whisk to blend it in. Add only as
much as you need to bring the stock up to the right thickness. You
might not need all that roux. This is the way chefs do it, mainly
because they don't make gumbo in one pot the way home cooks do. But
also to control the amount of roux more accurately.
At that point, add all the seafood or chicken or sausage or whatever,
along with the okra if you're using it. Let it simmer (no more than a
simmer) for just a little while. gumbo that sits there even at
the lightest boil can break and there's the oil floating on top.
Back to that sausage I just mentioned: that's another source of
floating fat. I always cook it first, usually in the microwave on paper
towels, to get some of the fat out.
Cooking Alcohol
A reader asks:
If
a person is an alcoholic, what should he or she use in a recipe that
calls for wine, beer, etc. I know the alcohol is suppose to cook out,
but wouldn't the taste still be there and might that trigger someone if
they have a problem?
Tom sez:
I'm
not qualified to talk about the health aspects of alcoholism or its
treatment, so nothing I say here should be taken as informed advice on
that. However, from a cooking standpoint, I can tell you a couple of
things. First, most--but not all--of the alcohol content of wine,
spirits, or beer does indeed boil out after a few minutes at high heat.
Second. alcohol in and of itself doesn't have much of a taste. It has a
vague bitterness (it's a base), but it's the least part of the flavor
of the beverages in which it's found.
On the other hand, the other flavors may elicit a response from someone
trying to remove alcoholic beverages from his or her life. Wine tastes
like wine, after all, and that's the taste you want when you add it to
a dish.
Here's another matter: alcohol is found in many foods where you don't
expect it. Bread, for example, has an alcohol content comparable to
that of a dish whose sauce had a little wine that boiled for a few
minutes. So it's almost impossible to avoid alcohol completely.
The best substitute for wine in a dish calling for it is fruit
juice--notably apple juice, cranberry juice, lemon juice, and pineapple
juice. For spirits like brandy or vodka, you can just use water or
ginger ale. (You won't get the flames, of course, but you can live
without.)
Toasting Hot Dog Buns
Christine
asks:
You're
going to think this is a dumb question, but I have to ask. How can you
toast a hot dog bun? I hate to have a hot dog on a cold bun. If you
microwave it it gets too soft or too hard. It won't fit in the toaster.
The slots are wide enough, but the bun sticks out the top. Any ideas?
Tom sez:
The
best two ways are too much trouble, unless you're doing a bunch of
them. Either fire up the oven to 400 degrees and put them in there,
without breaking the buns open, for three minutes. The second is to
heat up a flat-top griddle, open the buns, and put them inside-down
until they toast to your liking.
But I get the impression that you're talking about toasting just one
bun. (Hot dogs do make a good solo light lunch or supper, don't they?)
Here's an idea that came to me a few years ago that works almost
ridiculously well. Open the bun up, without breaking the two halves
apart. Place it atop two of the slots in your toaster, so it straddles
the gap between them. Push the lever down.
Stand there and watch.
The heat rising up will toast the exterior of the bun, so it gets a
little more browned and a little crisp. Meanwhile, enough heat goes
through and over the bun to warm it, without making the inside crusty.
Every toaster is different, so you have to experiment to get the
setting right. Do not set it and walk away. The bun may get hot enough
to catch fire (although this has never happened to me). Fortunately,
it's easy to check the bun to see how far along the toasting process is
going.
Peeling Eggplant
Lynda asks:
Do you have any suggestions on how to peel an eggplant? I have
found they are very difficult to peel. And do you have any good
recipes for eggplant, my husband is growing them and I'm running out of
ideas on how to cook them.
Tom sez:
You're probably trying to get just the skin off the vegetable. This is
all but impossible. You have to take some of the meat off, too, as you
would when peeling a potato. But even more--an eighth to a quarter of
an inch, depending on how frugal you want to be and how much time you
have on your hands. Just take a sharp knife and cut in.
By the way, the skin of an eggplant is edible, like that of its cousin
the tomato. We don't see it served often, but it can be.
As for recipes for eggplant, you'll find more than enough to last you a
lifetime by doing a web search on the words "eggplant recipe."
Here
are my results--over nine million recipes.
Kaye adds:
I find a regular potato peeler works much better than a
knife for getting the peel off eggplants.
Tip On Top Of Tip
Dave asks:
Recently I took my family out to dinner. The meal was fine and the
service was good as well. I left a twenty-percent tip. However,
when I looked at the receipt the next day I saw that an automatic
twenty-percent tip had already been added. So I effectively tipped more
than forty-five percent, since I tipped on the bottom line.
What is the proper thing to do in a situation like this?
Tom sez:
Several rules apply here.
Rule
#321: Your check in a restaurant will contain a
surprise one time in ten. It will be a pleasant surprise one time
in a hundred. You must look over the check closely to make yourself
aware of these deviations from expectations.
Rule
#322: For reasons not well understood, large
parties are more likely to under-tip than small parties. That's why
restaurants add a tip to those checks. You should always investigate
whether this has been done before you add a tip to a check.
Rule
#323: No tipped person ever received a gratuity he
thought was too large. Enormous tips are always registered as
generosity, never as mistakes.
Rule
#324: Many people double-tip when a tip has been
added automatically. All you need do if it happens to you is to point
this out to the manager. Or call the restaurant if the error was
noticed after departure. If that fails, you can stop the charge through
your credit card company.
Rule
#325: Actions
you take while you're still in a restaurant have twelve times more
force and efficacy than anything you do after you leave.
Rule
#326: If the situation described in Rule #324
occurred when you paid with cash, you are SOL. (Sertainly Out of Luck.)
Dining In Grand Isle
Tom asks:
Not long ago, someone asked me what restaurants were worthwhile in
Grand Isle. I haven't been there in a long time, and the hurricanes did
so much damage that any pre-storm knowledge was worthless anyway.
However, one of our readers has some suggestions:
Cidette sez:
I have a camp in Grand Isle have eaten at each of these resturants
often. There are four restaurants I like, in the order that I prefer
them.
Barataria on Hwy. 1
opens at 11 a.m. It's the newest and nicest. The
Lighthouse opens at 5 p.m. #3
Sara's is open for breakfast and
lunch.
The Starfish is open
for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Carl sez:
I live in Grand Isle, and agree with the restaurant rankings above. But
if you want to step it up, it's worth the drive to Toupsie's in
Fourchon. The same family owns Barataria. The steaks are
phenomenal, as is the crab finger Fourchon (the sauce is even better on
the bread). The seafood crepes are good (but rich) if you're
craving seafood. I'm not a big fan of fried seafood, but they
usually do it well, and the seafood platter is huge. Almost
forgot the crabmeat salad.
Tom asks:
Anybody reading this have more to add?
Click here
if you do.
Everybody Loves Braciole
John asks:
I am a regular viewer of the show
Everybody
Loves Raymond. They are always talking about a dish that sounds
like "bra-jole." What is it, please?
Tom sez:
It's
braciole, a stuffed beef
roll, simmered in red sauce. The word means "branch," because of its
resemblance to a stick broken off a tree. You are probably more
familiar with this dish than you realize. Around New Orleans, we make
it bigger, with more stuffing. Its real name is
braciolone. But it's misspelled and
mispronounced "bruchalone," "bruccaluna,"
"brociolini," and many other ways. It's a lot of trouble to cook, which
is why most restaurants offer it as a special one day a week. The
stuffing includes a lot of garlic, bread crumbs, ham, hard-boiled eggs,
and parsley. Really good, old-style Sicilian dish.
Requiem For An Old Recipe From D.H. Holmes
Nivia asks:
About twenty years ago or more the D.H. Holmes department store on
Canal Street had two restaurants--one a cafeteria, the other a sit-down
restaurant. In the restaurant they had stuffed bell peppers. They were
the best ever! After they closed I've tried different stuffed peppers
everywhere but no luck. Do you have the recipe?
Tom sez:
Whenever I read a question like this, I feel a pang (more than a
twinge, less than a spasm) of regret. It is because there is no good
answer, no matter how fervently the asker wants one.
We must face a few facts.
1. When persons or
restaurants die, their recipes rarely survive. Perhaps a few famous
specialties live on, but the little dishes (like this one) vanish into
the ether, unless a cookbook was written. I don't know of a D.H. Holmes
cookbook. The best bet may be finding a plate or casserole that has the
recipe on the side. Holmes did a lot of that sort of thing.
2. The more distant the
demise, the less likely it will be to find recipes. The cooks who made
the dish disappear. The number of people who remember anything about
the dish also dwindles. (I note you said nothing about what the pepper
was stuffed
with. And that
could be almost anything.) And. . .
3. As time goes on, even
vivid memories of a dish change. This may be the saddest part of all. I
have been present at the revival of quite a few authentic, formerly
lost recipes that I or someone else wanted dearly to taste again.
Almost without exception, the reaction was, "This isn't like what I
remember." Meaning, "Not as good as I remember." This is because, in
memory, a dish grows more delicious with each passing year. (I call
this the Jim's Fried Chicken Effect.)
That's why I give this urgent advice: if someone in your family, a
friend, or a restaurant makes something you really love, you should get
the recipe for it
now.
When they die, it's too late.
If it's a person, book time with him or her to actually watch the
cooking of the dish. Measure and time everything. Do not trust the
person to tell you how it's done; they leave out too many important
assumptions. Make them show you. Buy the ingredients and visit. The
old-timers will love you for that anyway.
If it's a restaurant, ask for the recipe. restaurants are not as
secretive with recipes as you might imagine. If they have it in a
cookbook, buy the cookbook. If they say they don't have it written
down, ask when you can come by and talk to the chef. (Unlike a home
cook, a chef will give you an accurate recipe, because he has to
explain it to others all the time.) If they refuse to give you the
recipe, it's probably because there's something embarrassing about it.
(Most often, they buy big parts or all of the dish already prepared.)
And remember: just because you loved that lost dish doesn't mean that
there aren't a thousand better dishes out there. Move on and find them.
Dining In Destin
Chris asks:
We will be vacationing in Destin this summer. Most breakfasts and
lunches are done at the condo, but we usually go out to dinner. What
are some of your favorites?
Tom sez:
I
don't get to Destin often, now that my kids would do anything to
prevent being seen on a beach with me. (They say my wearing jacket and
tie
embarrasses them.) I will now ask other readers who have more curent
tips to forward them to me
here. I will add them to
this
article as they come in.
However, I do know that the restaurant scene there is burgeoning. When
I made it there regularly, one mostly went to Grayton Beach and Seaside
for restaurants like Cafe 30-A, Criolla's, and Bud and Alley's, all of
which are still there. (The reports from readers and listeners are all
good.)
In the immediate are of Destin itself , the
Marina Cafe and
Louisiana
Lagniappe have always been reliable.
Commander's Palace is soon to open
their Destin restaurant, headed up by the estimable Chef Danny Trace.
The other side of the Brennan family also has a restaurant there,
called
The Royal B. It's owned
by Clark and Blake Brennan, who used to
run Brennan's on Royal Street for their dad and uncles. Haven't been,
but the buzz is strongly positive.
Anybody reading this have some more to add?
Click here if you do.
Paula sez:
The new hot spot out on 30-A is called
Stinky's
Fish Camp. It is near the spot where the old Lake House
restaurant was (which later burned down). The fresh fish there is
outstanding.
John sez:
Every year we trek to
Louisiana
Lagniappe. It's family oriented and on the water in a gated
community. Usually a wait, but the kids can go around back and feed the
fish. Standard New Orleans fare. For lunch we usually walk up the
beach to
The Back Porch. It's
right on the beach, typical beachside restaurant. There may be a wait.
For pizza try
The Mellow Mushroom
across from Big Kahuna's. It's a locals place and the ingredients
are all fresh.
Susie sez:
The main trouble in Destin during the summer is the absolutely horrible
traffic from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. US 98 can be bumper to bumper
for miles with tourists looking for places to eat. If I am at Seaside
and I want to go all the way to Commander's in Destin, the trip could
well take more than an hour. After one such trip you realize that
you must look closer to home. It's the main idea at Sandestin Resort,
where they have multiple restaurants on site (
Seagar's, Acme Oyster House, Poppy's
and
Bijou Bistro). Outside of
Sandestin are
La Provence, Beachwalk
Cafe, Royal Orchid.
At Seaside:
Bud and Alley's,
Angelina's, Goatfeather's, Basmati, Smiling Fish, Borago's. . .
really, no stinkers in that area.
The area has an influx of young people from Eastern Europe and Russia,
and service has gotten a lot better than when most waiters were "summer
job" local students. Prices are all over the place.
Non-Stick Shrimp Shells
Fred on the West Bank asks a very
common question:
My barbecue shrimp are sometimes are very difficult to peel. I cook
them on the stove with a black iron skillet. The shell sticks to meat,
and I don't know why. They look and taste perfectly cooked. Any clues
or recommendations?
Tom sez:
Shrimp meat sticks to the shells when the shells soften and begin to
dissolve. The part on the inside solidifies again, and grabs hold. This
also happens with boiled or grilled shrimp, The best way to prevent
this is to be very conservative with temperatures and cooking times, so
the shell doesn't soften. Shrimp cook faster than most of us imagine.
If you have even an inkling that the shrimp might be cooked, they
are--turn the heat off. In my barbecue shrimp recipe, I cook them just
until I see no more gray or brown, just pink. Then I turn the heat off
and start whisking in the butter. (
My
recipe is here.)
Boiled shrimp only take a few minutes, after which some cooks even add
ice to the pot after they're done to keep them from cooking any more
while they absorb more of the seasonings.
I think part of your problem may be the black iron skillet. Cast iron
holds heat a long time, and keeps cooking even after you turn the heat
off. Try using an aluminum skillet instead.
Sid-Mar's
Captain
Norman asks:
Have you heard if Marian and kids will re-open Sid-Mar's in a new
location? After Katrina all that was left was the front steps.
Tom sez:
Sid-Mar's--a classic seafood house in the old part of Bucktown--was
outside the protection of the levees, and like all the restaurants at
West End Park, it was blown completely away by the storm. Since then,
the Corps of Engineers has taken over the location of Sid-Mar's to
build a secondary pumping station with floodgates. Ultimately, they'll
build an entirely new pumping station there, and it will be enormous.
The Burgess family said they would fight this, but as much as we all
loved Sid-Mar's, there were no other reasonable options at that
location. They said they'd like to reopen, but without the lake view a
new Sid-Mar's won't have its unique selling point. There have been no
plans announced, but restaurateurs have a track record now of
reappearing when everyone thought they were dead. It's a long shot, but
we may have Sid-Mar's again someday. I hope so.
Olive Oils: Virgin And Not
David asks:
What's the difference between extra virgin and regular olive oil? I
always use regular olive oil when I pan fry or saute. Should I be using
extra virgin?
Tom sez:
Extra-virgin olive oil comes from the first cold pressing of the
olives. That puts a great deal of fresh olive fruit into the oil, and
results in a pronounced flavor and aroma. That's great for salads and
for very quick, medium-heat sauteeing (for example, making the sauce
for pasta aglio olion). However, at higher temperatures the elements
that make extra-virgin so flavorful can burn off. So it's better to use
pure olive oil (another name for "not-so-virgin) for heavy-duty saute
and pannee dishes.
A caller on the radio show asked about using olive oil instead of
butter for blackened fish. I suggested he try light olive oil, which is
the last pressing of the olive pomace, using heat and sometimes even
chemicals to extract the oil. It has almost no flavor at all, but it's
the least likely to burn. He reported back that this worked perfectly.
So we finally find a good use for light olive oil. (Although I think
I'd use canola oil instead .)
Strict Kosher Dining
Dina
asks:
I
would like to take a friend out to dinner for his birthday. He keeps a
kosher diet. Do you know of any good kosher restaurants in New Orleans?
Tom sez:
The only two strictly kosher restaurants in the New Orleans area are
Casablanca and the Kosher Kajun Deli.
Casablanca (3030 Severn
Ave.,
888-2209) is a Moroccan restaurant with a highly varied menu and deli
sandwiches. It is inspected regularly by a Chabad rabbi and is
certifiably kosher.
The Kosher Kajun (3519
Severn, 888-2010) is primarily a sandwich shop, although they also have
soups and a few platters. They also sell a full line of kosher
groceries, including glatt meats.
A handful of other restaurants--most of them in major hotels--will
prepare a meal in kosher circumstances, using new dishes for the meal
and food from kosher suppliers (probably Joel Brown at the Kosher
Kajun). But that's usually for private parties, not a la carte service.
Andrea's is the only independent restaurant I know other than the two
above who will perform this service, but it requires advance notice and
consulting with the chef.
What Happened To Genghis Khan And Henry Lee?
Ed
asks:
We really miss the food and the music we used to enjoy at the old
Genghis Khan. What happened to Henry Lee since the storm?
Tom sez:
Actually, Genghis Khan when down well before the hurricane. After
moving to a beautiful new restaurant on Baronne at Common (in the old
Sears Building, now a hotel), Henry Lee had a dispute with the hotel's
management over the number of hours he was required to be open. He
wound up losing the lease. Meanwhile, he'd leased the old space on
Tulane near Carrollton to another restaurant. The Katrina flood made
that facility a complete mess (it wasn't much to begin with). Henry and
family left town and are now living in Houston. He still is active
musically, leading the Korean Children's Choir, among other things. But
last time I spoke with him he said he was not likely to reopen Genghis
Khan. He's beyond retirement age, and the restaurant business is hard.
Why Aren't Oysters Salty
Right Now?
A
number of people reported and wondered about this on the radio show
yesterday:
The oysters right now are large and meaty, but they almost seem bland
because they're as unsalty as any oysters we have in awhile. What's
going on?
Tom sez:
I was about to answer this when I got an e-mail from Frank Brigtsen,
who nailed the situation. So I'll let him tell you:
The salinity of our oysters is totally determined by the rise and fall
of the Mississippi River. It is extremely high right now and pushing a
lot of fresh water into the oyster-growing areas.
The freshwater diversions are contributing to this reduction in
salinity as well. February and March are probably the best months to
eat Louisiana oysters, but I know the Caernarvon diversion near
Delacroix usually opens in February, which messes up the oysters and
saltwater fishing in general. The Caernarvon diversion on the east side
of the river, and the Davis Pond
diversion on the West Bank, are pushing the oystermen out of
traditional growing areas.
The pros and cons of the freshwater diversions could be debated
forever, but they are here and helping us slow coastal erosion, though
not everyone is sold on that idea. Coastal erosion may be the biggest
problem we face in Louisiana. Hurricane protection is one issue we are
all aware of now, but our fisheries are also suffering. As we lose
marsh, the band of brackish water that nutures our seafood gets more
narrow every year. The oyster-growing areas are shrinking at an
alarming rate. Oystermen have been preaching this for years and it is
all too true.
For all of our sakes, we must save what marsh and coast we have to
protect ourselves, our homes, our cuisine, and our culture. Ask Drago
Cvtanovich about Empire. The marsh there is gone. From Hwy. 23 to the
Gulf, it's now all open water.
Seafood is probably the only wild food most people eat anymore, so we
must take what nature gives us, when it is given. One can't blame the
restaurants if something is not available or not at its best.--
Frank Brigtsen.
About
Restaurants And Dining Out
Click here for an
index of all
current restaurant reviews.
About Recipes
And Cooking
Click here for an
index to our 100 most popular recipes.
- Bacon Fat: How To
Store It
- Basil: Preserving A Big
Harvest Of Leaves
- Beef: Dry-Aged vs.
Wet-Aged vs. Non-Aged
- Beef: How To
Freeze It
- Beef Round: Inside,
Top, and Eye
- Beef Tenderloin:
How To Grill It Whole
- Bird-Eye Peppers
- Black Iron Skillet
Seasoning
- Blender
Hollandaise
- Bones
For Stock-Making
- Bordelaise Sauce:
New Orleans vs. French
- Brining A
Turkey
- Brisket
Boiled In Crab
Boil
- Butter: Hard And Cold
- Butter: Quality
Criteria
- Cafe Au Lait
Technique
- Caesar Salad:
Must It Be Prepared Tableside?
- Cappuccino:
Faking It
- Cast Iron
Cookware: How To Season And Clean
- Char-Broiled
Oysters: How Fattening Are They?
- Cheese: Remove The
Rind? How?
- Chicken
Breasts Light, Legs Dark: Why?
- Coffee And Chicory:
My Favorite Brand
- Condensed
Milk, Boiled Or Baked In
Can (Don't Do This!)
- Cooking With Wine
- Cooling Before
Refrigerating
- Corned Beef: Curing
Your Own (Tip: Don't!)
- Crabmeat Ravioli
- Crawfish Boil
Options
- Crispy Coatings:
Keeping Them That Way
- Fish With Nut
Coatings
- Focaccia: Is It Just
Garlic Bread?
- Garlic In A Jar:
What's Wrong With It?
- Gastrique
- Gourmet Dieting
- Horseradish: What
Is It?
- Kitchen Knife Sets:
Which To Buy
- Knife Sharpening
- Lobster:
Tropical Species
- Lobsters in
Crab Boil
- London Broil
- Marinade For Fish
- Multiplying
and Dividing Recipe Quantities
- Mushrooms, Dried
- Mushrooms: Which
Wild Ones Can
You Eat?
- Oil For Frying:
Which Kind?
- Olive Oil For
Bread Dipping
- Oysters:
Are The Small,
Expensive Ones Better?
- Oysters By
The Sack, Quart, And Gallon
- Oysters: How To Fry
'Em
- Oysters:
Why Aren't They Salty?
- Pancetta
- Pasta Milanese
(St. Joseph's)
- Pecan Pie,
LeRuth's Back Door Style.
- Pepper Grass
- Pizza: Saving
Take-Out From Sogginess
- Pork Loin
vs. Tenderloin
- Red Drink: What's That
Flavor?
- Romano vs.
Parmesan Cheese
- Rotisserie Chicken
- Roux In A Rush
- Salmon: What's Right And
Wrong
- Salt-Crusted
Fish
- Shallots
vs. Scallions vs. Green Onions
- Shrimp
Creole vs. Etouffee vs. Stew
- Shrimp: The
Right Way To Boil
- Skordalia
- Steaks By Mail-Order
- Steaks,
Pan-Seared Resaturant Style
- Stocks And
Demi-Glace For Sale
- Stocks:
Where To Get Bones
- Sushi: How To Eat It
- Sweating
vs. Caramelizing Vegetables
- Thickening A
Sauce With Roux
- Tiramisu: What's The
Real One?
- Tomatoes: A Peeling
Trick
- Turkey Brining
- Turtle Meat: Where To
Buy It
- Whiskeys:
Bourbon vs. Scotch vs. Irish
- Why Some
Dishes Taste Better
The Second Day
- Wineburn: Avoiding It
- Wine, Cooking
With It
Get All My
Recipes
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Restaurants
That Haven't
Reopened Since The Hurricane
Hurricane Katrina closed every single restaurant in the New Orleans
area for at least a week. Some of those restaurants have not reopened.
These are the ones that I'm asked about most, in alphabetical order. If
you don't find the
restaurant you're interested in here, it's probably back open; see the
Restaurant
Index to check this. If it's not there, ask me at
tom@nomenu.com.
Bella Luna. Horst Pfiefer,
chef and owner of Bella Luna, has decided that he will not reopen Bella
Luna. Although he didn't say so, I think the problem is with the
landlord: the City of New Orleans, which
owns the French Market, including the building where Bella Luna was.
They dragged their feet on repairing the roof. Horst and his wife Karen
continue to operate their catering facility, The Foundry,
in the Warehouse District, and they just bought Middendorf's in Manchac.
Bruning's. Everything in West
End Park was completely obliterated by Hurricane Katrina; all that's
left is pilings. Sam Urrate, fourth-generation owner of Bruning's, says
that he would like to reopen at West End or somewhere else. However, my
feeling is that the kind of building that would have to be constructed
in order to get insurance at West End would be so expensive that a
casual seafood restaurant like Bruning's would probably not be viable.
I do hope this old classic makes it back to life, though. Who knows?
Cafe Sbisa.
It reopened for a couple of weeks in early 2009, and then closed again.
Some sort of lease problem. Whether it will come back is up in the air.
Chateaubriand Steak House.
The Croziers have thrown in the towel and have moved to Knoxville,
Tennessee. They are
not
running a restaurant there. The former Chateaubriand space is now a
branch of Little Tokyo.
Christian's.The
building has been sold to--ironically--a church. I'm not saying that
Christian's will never return, but it looks very unlikely at this time.
Dunbar's.
This great soul food
restaurant on Freret Street was in a very deep flood zone, but
Celestine Dunbar is planning on fixing her restaurant and reopening
there. In the meantime, she's moved her great food to the Loyola
University’s Broadway Activities Center, at 501 Pine. (That's a long
block river side of St. Charles Avenue, on the former campus of
Dominican College.) It serves breakfast, lunch and early dinner Mondays
through Saturdays.
Gabrielle.
While Greg and Mary Sonnier's restaurant did not flood, a falling tree
pulled down an exhaust hood unit and left a gaping hole in the roof
that let a lot of water in, creating much damage. They have abandoned
that location. They were planning to move to the
corner of Henry Clay and Laurel, but it seems that the neighborhood
organization has shot that down. After Greg spent a few months as the
chef of the Windsor Court Grill Room, that fizzled. He's now mostly
doing private parties at the Henry Clay location.
Katie's. Like everything else
in Mid-City, Katie's was flooded very deeply. But the building seems to
have been repaired, and the word is that its reopening is on the way.
No date known, however.
La Riviera. Valentino Rovere,
the owner, says that he will not reopen La Riviera. The restaurant is
now a spa. He adds that he may open another restaurant sometime in the
future.
Mandich. Restaurant Mandich,
on St. Claude at Louisa, is gone for good unless someone else buys and
opens it. Long-time owner Lloyd English
says that he and his wife (who was the chef) have decided after almost
fifty years there to retire.
Ruth's
Chris On Broad Street. It
will not reopen. Ruth's Chris has donated the building to the City of
New Orleans. They did reopen in Orleans Parish, however--in the Harrah's
Hotel, where Riche used to be.
Revised
3/10/08
Miscellaneous
Matters
United Bakery. The
best bakery for muffuletta bread, the United Bakery, was drowned by
flood waters. The equipment is ruined and it was all uninsured. The
United also made those great Italian twist breads you see in the better
Italian places. I spoke with them a few weeks ago, and at that time
they had not decided what their plan would be, although they did seem
reasonably determined to reopen. I don't think anybody makes muff bread
as well as United, and with them out of the game, you will see much
variation in quality.
My Outdoor Grill. It's
called
The
Big Green Egg. That really is the name of it. It's made of
inch-thick ceramic, weighs a ton, and will without doubt last me the
rest of my life. It works as a grill, a roaster, or a smoker, and
admits of many fine adjustments in temperature. I will say that it
took me awhile to get the hang of it, because it works much differently
from most grills. It burns onlt charcoal, but does so very sparingly,
getting the most heat out of every burning ember. I love it! I got mine
at
Bassil's Ace Hardware,
which specializes in outdoor grilling gear. It's on Transcontinental
near West Esplanade in Metairie.
Where Can I Get A Schedule Of Eat Club
Dinners? All the Eat Club events are posted on the
Eat
Club web page as soon as I
have the plans confirmed. I don't plan them more than a few weeks in
advance.
Why Don't I Get The Newsletter Anymore?
In January 2007, I resigned from NewOrleans.Com, where I wrote a free
newsletter for many years. That newsletter is now available through
this
website, but I was unable to transport the mailing list from there to
here. To sign up again for the weekly Red Bean Edition,
click here. It's still free.
If you are a
paid subscriber
to the New Orleans Menu Daily Five-Star Edition, you should
be getting the e-mail version every day. However, e-mail is very
unreliable. Your e-mail system (or something else) may be blocking
those messages. Often this can be solved by adding
news@nomenu.com
to your list of accepted e-mail addresses.
But remember: the full newsletter is updated several times every day,
with at least five new articles daily. It is
always available on the web at this
location:
http://www.nomenu.com/Subscriber/index.html
Click on that line above, and set it in your browser as a Favorite
(bookmark) so you can get back to it easily with the updated edition.
You will need your user name and password.
If you have further trouble, please let me know at
tom@nomenu.com.
About The Radio
Show
Why Is 1350 AM Hard To Hear At Night?
The Federal Communications Commission requires the radio station (on
which my show appears from 3-6 p.m. every afternoon) to broadcast with
a directional pattern to the south after sunset. It has been that way
since the 1930s for 1350 (the former WSMB, now WWWL), and nothing that
can be done about it. All AM
radio stations have this problem except the very few lucky stations on
a clear channel (WWL is the only one here). I wish it could be
otherwise, but the problem is an artifact of the low-tech, 100-year-old
technology of AM broadcasting. The good news is that as sunset gets
later, the daytime signal stays on later. After Daylight Savings Time
comes into effect, the whole show gets in even to the North Shore.
How Do I Listen To The Radio Stream Online? The Food Show can now be heard on your computer. It's on from four till seven weekday afternoons.
Click here to start the stream.
What Happened To Richard?
Long-time radio listeners know the deep voice of Richard Dominique, who
produced The Food Show for many years, and was as much a personality as
I was. (He was to me what
Roz was to Frasier.) His home was ruined in the storm. He left
town permenently, and is living in Houston. A great old pro, Richard
has been in radio for decades. I miss his great work on the show
tremendously.
When Are You On The Air? How Can I Call In?
For the schedule and all the numbers,
click here.
Subscribe
To The Five-Star Edition
Every weekday, I write even more articles, reviews, and recipes for the
New Orleans Menu Daily.
I send it to subscribers by e-mail, and make it available on a private
site on the website. They also get access to all past articles, indexed
for easy use. No advertising!
Upgrade to the Five-Star Edition! You truly cannot argue with the
price: whatever number of dollars you think it's worth. (If you give
too much, I'll extend the subscription.) If you change your mind later,
I'll give you a refund.
Click
here for more information and a sample.
Copyright © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All
rights reserved. 
