Thursday, August 5, 2010
1107 Restaurants Open Around Town
Coolinary And Other Special Summer Menus Now In Play
Martinique Bistro Goes Coolinary
More Uptown restaurants are offering summer specials this year. Martinique Bistro, whose lush outdoor dining garden is more comfortable than you might imagine even on warm nights, offers this French-tinged menu featuring a lot of regional ingredients of better-than-average quality. The price for the three-course dinner is $34.
Yellow Tomato and Heirloom Cucumber Gazpacho
~or~
Spinach Gnocchi à la Parisienne
Roasted eggplant, chevré
~or~
Summer Salad
Sunflower sprouts, hazelnuts, orange supremes, brie, honey-lemon
Vinaigrette, chive oil
Prince Edward Island Mussels
Sauvignon blanc, leeks, garlic, garden herbs
~or~
Savory Basil Crêpe Provençal
Roasted oyster mushrooms, fire roasted red peppers, Creole tomatoes, niçoise olives
~or~
Sautéed Medallions of Organic Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Rustin peach-sage demi-glace
Vanilla Bean Sponge Cake Trifle
Peach caramel, vanilla malt ice cream
~or~
Daily Housemade Sorbets
They're also offering these three wines (from three different countries) at the attractive price of $6 a glass: Brownstone Chardonnay, Marques de Caceres Rose, Cesari Pinot Noir.
Martinique Bistro. Uptown: 5908 Magazine, 504-891-8495.
All The Summer Menus So Far
NOMenu has a page listing not only all the summer specials we know about, but all the menus, too. I'm adding new ones daily. That list is now online here.
Saturday, July 24. Wine Dinner At Carmelo. Tropical Storm Bonnie is still heading toward New Orleans, but the prognosis now is that it will fall apart before it gets here. So my Saturday radio show got a reprieve.
Before wine dinners were an every-night thing hereabouts, Carmelo Chirico was staging a lot of them in his former French Quarter restaurant. They were better than most, particularly as regards their use of Italian wine. In his new place in Mandeville, he kept the schedule going, with a major feast almost every month.
He has one tonight, and I liked the menu. I should have called sooner. They squeezed us in--and barely, at that. There must have been sixty people in attendance, taking over the back half of the dining room. Regular customers filled the rest of the place, with more people waiting at the bar. Carmelo has a regular clientele after less than a year. In a location that can't be put into directions easily.
We were seated at a table full of new faces. Some (not all) of them knew me. The conversation was strained, not because we were strangers (I find strangers easier to talk with than friends), but because the restaurant was so well packed that one had to shout over the ambient sound. I am at my least articulate when I'm shouting.
The dinner was good but not spectacular. We started with Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc, a nice bottle of wine that we had a few weeks ago at Ristorante Filippo. Then an assortment of poached seafood, antipasto style. Some seafood can make it on its own intrinsic flavor, but all this needed some olive oil, garlic, vinegar, herbs, or something more, or to marinate in it longer.
I decided that what the table needed was a pizza. One of Carmelo's daughters was serving our table, and when I asked if she could smuggle one over, she took care of it without hesitation. That picked up not only the enjoyment of the meal, but also the camaraderie at the table. In other words, we all screamed even louder.
The seafood risotto with lobster, clams and mussels was better. Best dish of the night, I'd say. The wine was certainly the top of tonight's liquid refreshment: Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay "Les Pierres," a wine I haven't had in over twenty years. I remember being impressed by it then. I still am.
Two entrees. Most people--Mary Ann among them--went for the osso buco, of which I got only the marrow. (Marrow presents a texture problem for MA.) But that's my favorite part of that dish. I also got some of the wine matched to that course: Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir 2007, which I thought was terrific.
But my order was for the fish. Carmelo had raved all night about the fish "in cartoccio." That's Italian for "en papillote" or "in a paper bag." The fish steams in its own juices inside a parchment bag. Good, fresh, vivid--but, as was the case with the antipasto, the bag needed more flavoring elements inside than it had.
We ended the dinner with an assortment of berries and cheese. Well, that's simple enough to make. But it worked fine as a last course. Teddy Graziano, the wine distributor representative, opened bottles of Korbel Rose. Not impressive, but good with the berries anyway.
Mary Ann told me on the way home that if I thought any wine dinner had a chance of going on longer than three hours (as this one did) to let her know so she can bow out.
Ristorante Carmelo. Mandeville: 1901 US Hwy 190. 985-624-4844. Northern Italian.
Sunday, July 25. Sunny Hurricane? Tamales At La Carreta. What was left of Bonnie passed through the New Orleans area in the morning. There was a pretty good storm in the wee hours, raining hard and blowing the trees around. But by the time we were up and moving around, the sun was out. The only real effect of the storm was to bring the temperature down almost to Pacific Coast levels. So it was a lovely day. Even the BP ships and drilling platforms--which evacuated the broken well in fear of the storm--are already back at work.
The decree of the Marys was that we'd have lunch at La Carreta. I believe the main reason was so Mary Leigh could gorge on the chips and salsa. She has determined that the world's best salsa comes from a chain known both as Rio Grande and Uncle Julio's. The Marys go hundreds of miles out of their way on their cross-country trips to pick up bags of chips and gallons of salsa.
The girls ate the usual array: queso with chorizo, beef tacos, a salad. I couldn't remember having had the tamales here. I will remember now, and not get them again. The chile relleno with which the tamales shared the plate (below) was good, though.
That finished the eating for today. I spent the afternoon as if we were leaving for Texas tomorrow, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, although Mary Ann's plans for this trip either a) have not come through or 2) haven't been made at all. If we don't leave tomorrow, all we'll be able to do is drive to Dallas, do a television show there to promote Hungry Town, then drive to Houston and do it again. But neither of these stations, she told me, confirmed our appearance. Must everything be up in the air?
La Carreta. Mandeville: 1200 W. Causeway Approach. 985-624-2990. Mexican.
Click here for the Dining Diary entry before the one above.
Click here for an index to the last five years of entries.
French.
Mid-City: 3127 Esplanade Ave.. 504-945-5635. Map.
Lunch and dinner Wednesday-Sunday. Sunday brunch.
Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
One of the longest-running and most Gallic of the local French bistros, Cafe Degas has a unique style in both environment and cooking. The dining room is actually a deck that's been surrounded by the thinnest of barriers against the environment. It's easy to be charmed by the place. The Sunday brunch is a rarity in carrying lunch prices.
WHY IT'S GOOD
Cafe Degas gets a little better every time I go there. The premises are so comfortable (in a totally casual way) that one begins any meal in a good mood. And they have enough specialties to flesh it out deliciously. They've kept a French flavor throughout the menu, even when that means using a French-style ingredient when a local one might actually be better.
BACKSTORY
The restaurant is named for seminal French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas, who lived for a time in New Orleans not far away from the restaurant. It opened in 1980, a collaboration of Jacques Soulas and Jerry Edgar, who had in mind the cafes of the French Quarter, but in a different setting.
DINING ROOM
A tin-roof-covered deck surrounded by awnings (they're lifted when weather is nice) gazes onto the little park across the street and into Esplanade Avenue's big live oaks. Even when awnings are down, the place has an outdoor feeling, although the temperature is reasonably well controlled.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
Board of assorted patés
Cheese board
French boudin noir
Escargots Bourguignonne
Mussels with fennel and pommes frites
Onion soup gratinee
Salad Esplanade
Brussels sprouts and Stilton salad
Salad with warm goat cheese
Crabmeat salad
Salade Niçoise (with fresh tuna)
Hanger steak with pommes frites
Mignonettes de veau au parmesan
Dijon crusted rack of lamb
Daily special entrees
Crawfish omelette
Quiche Degas
Blanquette de veau
Liver, bacon, and onions
Sunday brunch egg dishes
Creme brulee
FOR BEST RESULTS
Never come here in a hurry. The service and undersized kitchen move at a slower than average pace, but that's right for this place.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The food is all fresh, but the quality of the meats is less than you might be used to. I have never been impressed by a fish dish here.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment +1
- Consistency +1
- Service +1
- Value +2
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar +1
- Hipness +1
- Local Color +3
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Courtyard or deck dining
- Romantic
- Good view
- Open Sunday lunch and dinner
- Open all afternoon
- Historic
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- Reservations accepted
Honey-Mustard Salad Dressing
In the first year of my radio show, this was the most often-requested recipe on my radio show. At that time (1988), the dressing had become very popular in restaurants, but few recipes for it could be found in cookbooks. It's easy to find one now. In fact, there are many honey-mustard dressing formulae out there. Here's my original from back in its heyday.
- 1 Tbs. Creole or Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- 4 tsp. honey
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp. onion puree
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. white pepper
- 1/4 tsp. white Worcestershire sauce
- 2 dots Tabasco
- 2 Tbs. tarragon vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1. Mix all the ingredients except the olive oil in a bowl with a whisk.
2. Whisk in the olive oil in a thin stream, little by little, until it's all incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
3. Chill for one hour before serving.
Makes two cups of dressing.
