Even though Jude's visit home began five days ago, tonight was the first opportunity we had for the four of us to sit down to a meal together. We chose a familiar favorite for supper: the Acme Oyster House. A dozen raw, a dozen grilled, a couple of cups of gumbo (one of each kind, seafood and chicken-andouille), a fried oyster poor boy, and a wedge salad with blue cheese. It was a wonderful evening not so much of catching up (each of us is very aware of what the others are up to) as of joking around and remembering things we haven't talked about in awhile.
The Acme was for years our default restaurant. But the manager told us tonight, "Where have you guys been lately?" Rightly so. Too many busy lives going off in too many directions. Indeed, this would be the only time during Jude's ten-day visit that our quartet would dine together without any others.
We will remember this night for the jollity, and for the weather. It has suddenly become really cold, with hard freezes in the immediate future. But, on the other hand, Venus is shining brilliantly in the gloaming.
[title type="h4"]
Acme Oyster House. Covington: 1202 US 190 (Causeway Blvd). 985-246-6155.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013.
Three For Bosco's.[/title]
Mary Leigh absented herself to collect The Boy, who will spend Thanksgiving with us. Mary Ann, Jude and I supped at Bosco's. That's another restaurant where we often dined in the simpler times of a few years ago, but where we hardly ever do now, even though it remains on our A-list. Everybody just has too many other things to do.
Tony Bosco's menu grows noticeably every time we show up. Tonight he was putting out two great soups. The corn and crab bisque was, coincidentally, on Jude's list of must-have dishes while he was in town. And the creamy artichoke and oyster soup that came my way was everything I could have wanted from that.
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Panneed chicken at Bosco's.[/caption]
Jude continues to be a scourge on the chicken population, decimating a pile of panneed chicken breasts with a side of pasta with red sauce. I enjoyed another new dish, this one a mild variation on Bosco's fish Giovanna. It's pan-fried instead of broiled, with a sauce of crabmeat, crawfish (in season early this year), artichokes and mushrooms. Nothing to complain about here.
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Speckled trout Giovanna.[/caption]
Mary Ann dug into her men's plates. She almost never orders anything when we go out anymore. However, it is quite possible for two hungry people to split one Bosco's entree and still overeat.
Over dinner we talked a bit–but not nearly enough–about our Thanksgiving menu. It's about time. It appears that the total attendance may top thirty. We haven't had that many people in years. And we're as scared as we are excited.
My side of the preparations are on time. The two turkeys are almost completely thawed, the ham is secured, and Elliott Lanaux–one of Jude's friends from their mutual Boy Scout days–brought over a load of sugar cane from his family's plantation up the river. That gave me enough with which to smoke those turkeys, and enough perhaps to plant. Even though past attempts to raise my own cane have never come to anything.
And for once I've washed all the wine glasses, so I don't have to do that one at a time when people start arriving in two days.
[title type="h5"]Bosco's. Mandeville: 2040 La Hwy 59. 985-624-5066.[/title]
