Say Hey, Kid

Ahhh, the great Willie Mays. That was his nickname: The Say Hey Kid. You all remember him, right? The awesome Hall-of-Fame center-fielder for the New York slash San Francisco Giants, who finished his career with the New York Mets. With 660 home runs. With a .302 batting average. With a dozen Gold Gloves. Those were the days...but...don't worry; this blog has absolutely nothing to do with him.

You see, I'm talking 'bout Willie Mae's. Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans, to be precise...

Willie Mae's was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but with the help of the Southern Foodways Alliance and donations of time and money from friends and neighbors, was rebuilt and reopened two years after the tragedy...

Doesn't look like much, I know, but Willie Mae's is famous for many things, and has stood on the same corner in the city's Tremé neighborhood for over 50 years, originally opening as a bar. Now, it's a food destination, notably for its fried chicken, and people come from all over to line up and get a taste. They're only open from 11 AM until 3 PM, so you can imagine that there's a wait sometimes, as there was the day Significant Eater and I went. But I'll bet the famous people don't wait as long...

You gotta figure - if Barack likes it, it must be good, no? There were lots of happy faces, so he's not the only one.

Significant Eater and I both ordered the fried chicken; there are also fried pork chops and smothered veal chops on the menu, but today was a chicken day. Along with our chicken, we had sides of red beans and rice as well as green beans with rice and gravy...

I haven't had green beans like this...well, at least since my mom opened up that can of Green Giant...but, let's also say the green beans were helped along by the perfectly cooked rice and scrumptious gravy. Okay - I'll say it - they were. But really, are you here for the vegetables?

Nope - you're here for the fried chicken...and when our platter arrived, it looked like this...

Crunchy, juicy and moist - and even somewhat delicious once you get past the salt, which there is no shortage of. Would I eat this stuff every day? No, probably not - unless I brought my cardiologist with me. But if you're heading to New Orleans, give it a try - I'm betting you won't be disappointed.

Willie Mae's Scotch House
2401 Saint Ann Street
New Orleans, LA 70119

(504) 822-9503

Is It August Already?

Often, I scoff at the whole "celebrity chef" thing. Even though often I like the restaurants of celebrity chefs. Of course, just who or what a celebrity chef is means different things to different people. To me, Eric Ripert is a celebrity chef; Tony Bourdain (with all due respect) isn't. Mario Batali is a celebrity chef; Guy Fieri (with no due respect) isn't. Remember, it's just me.

So what about a guy like John Besh? Some of you might say: "Who?" Don't worry - trust me, he's a celebrity chef, at least in his native city of New Orleans where he has like 30 restaurants. Well, not really; it's more like 7, but I digress. And...he was one of those people who made sure that Hurricane Katrina wasn't going to be the death knell for New Orleans that it might well have been.

It just so happens that Significant Eater and I are taking a little vacation in New Orleans and the first place I wanted to try (since I'd heard good things) was one of celebrity chef John Besh's restaurants called Restaurant August. Sometimes these celebrity chefs let their places get away from them and they turn into caricatures of themselves. Or worse, with tourists flocking in to dine at the altar of greatness. I've seen it at Batalai restaurants (though at Mario's the food generally remains the focus); I've seen it at Bobby Flay's places. Emeril's...you get the drift.

But August was great. It's a beautiful restaurant (though not located in a particularly beautiful part of town) with soaring flowers decorating the room...

Our prix fixe lunch started off with an amuse, a zabayon with local caviar...

First courses on the prix fixe menu (have I mentioned the prix fixe is $20?), from which you have 3 choices, included these fried brussels sprouts with Marcona almonds and Serrano ham, which was quite lovely...

And this hunk of pâté de campagne, served with various gelées, mustards, pickled chanterelles and baby greens, which was so good...

Moving on to our mains, Sig Eater had shrimp stuffed with many things, including the famous andouille sausage. I felt mine was the better of the two, described simply as grillades of veal. The crispy light as air pucks of tender veal were served over grits and were napped with a delicious tomato and veal based sauce...

And finally dessert, which in SE's case was described as S'mores, while I opted for some house-made ice cream. But these s'mores were so much more, with house-made marshmallows decorating the plate like a forest floor...

Our meal finished with a few more "gifts" of the house, a pair of truffles and a couple of pieces of brittle. Service was exemplary throughout the meal, in a Southern (i.e. really nice) style that works because, well, we're in the south right now, y'all.

What more to say about John Besh? Well, here are a few things I found out using the google. For instance, right after the hurricane:

"It was a life-changing event for all of us," said Alon Shaya, who was the chef at the steak house before the storm. "I had only known John for a short time, and we really just had a professional relationship. But I tell you, when we were stirring pots of red beans in his driveway at four in the morning, it created a bond for all of us."

Preparing food and delivering it to hospitals, rescue workers and stranded residents -- and "every civil servant in St. Bernard Parish for a year-and-a-half," was the start of everything that followed, said Shaya, who now leads Domenica.

And, at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. shortly after Katrina:

That day Besh and the other 19 chefs making po-boys, the traditional New Orleans sandwich, raised $27,000 in two hours, Rathle said. But the event also made Besh a spokesman for his stricken hometown.

Though all that he did for his home-town city of New Orleans was not necessarily altruistic (as a matter of fact, he has been able to open 5 of his restaurants since the disaster), I'd say John Besh wears the title of celebrity chef, and is as true to its meaning, as well as anyone else behind the stove.

Look Who's Behind the Stick

"Behind the stick." That's a term I have to tell you: I basically had no idea what it meant. Well, until a number of years ago that is. Isn't that when other clever terms, such as "mixologist" and "cocktalian" came into being? Whenever. Whatever.

However. This past Monday night, for the first time in a long time, two excellent mixologist cocktailians were behind the stick. Yeah, yeah - there were 2 bartenders behind the bar; I get it. Glad we got that out of the way.

You see, these two gents, whom I first met way back in the mid-2000's at a place called Pegu Club, were working a shift together for the first time in, well, a long time. At a place called Fatty Johnson's, which appears to be hosting guest bartenders on a fairly regular basis. By the way, Fatty Johnson's is a pop-up restaurant - and yes, pop-up restaurant is another new and clever term, isn't it?

So, when I arrived at 6, the duo was kinda just starting to work...

Then things started heating up a bit, as can be seen from the multiple brown drinks ready to be stirred...

I started with an old favorite, since that's what these special nights are all about. So a Oaxaca Old-Fashioned was on the bill, as was a Cornwall Negroni, Monongahela Mule and a Martinez variation, called a Martica and a few others whose names escape me at the present time.

Yes it was fun seeing old co-workers back together again, if only for a night. And both Brian Miller and Phil Ward were kind enough to allow me to take a quick picture of them both. Thanks, guys...

It's All Happening...At the Zoo

With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel, of course.

Since it was my birthday and I'm spending the week in D.C. with Significant Eater (it was also our anniversary), I decided to treat myself to some pho. This pho was from a joint in a strip mall called Pho 88, out in Beltsville, Maryland, and it was damn good. That raw beef next to the bowl cooks up just right in the steaming broth, and it's served with half a lime, bean sprouts, herbs and chilis, all to be added as the diner prefers...

I like to do a little reflection on my birthday (why? I dunno)...you know, go to a museum, wander around, take pictures, whatever. Washington, D.C. is a pretty amazing city for that - it's OUR city, and by our, I mean all Americans. Many of the museums are free; they're the ones that are part of the Smithsonian. (Hey, even the Cooper Hewitt in NYC is a Smithsonian Museum...but it's not free...what are you kidding me?)

In my opinion, one of the great "museums" the Smithsonian has to offer is the National Zoo. It's in a beautiful setting, it's within a mile of our DC abode, and it has giant pandas...and who doesn't love a giant panda? It was cold yesterday, but I figured pandas love the cold; after all, they have all that fur. Upon arrival, the first sign of giant pandas appears:

Okay. Walking a little further on, there's this...

Located within...

So, you know, there's gotta be giant pandas somewhere. Getting closer, I spot...

And...

As well as...

Now, I figured if there's one of those souvenier penny thingies, there has to be a giant panda around, right? Starting to panic, I thought I spotted one in a tree...

Till I finally realized we have those wandering all around NYC. Then, I saw this...

Which appeared to be laughing at me. As if he/she knew that I was wandering aimlessly in search of something which I wasn't going to find. On my birthday, no less. But, as they say (I told you I like to reflect on my birthday), seek and ye shall find. And finally, there he was...

In all his, ummm, giant panda glory. Whew. He was rolling around, enjoying his stash of bamboo and I spent a good 15 minutes with him, practically alone in the zoo on a frigid February day. Not bad. But guess what? The giant panda wasn't my only "prey" on this day...no...the zoo also had some new arrivals last year and I wanted to see how they were doing...

But it wasn't in the cards...too cold for the cubbies. They're not the only great cats, of course...

And that one was prowling around...

It was getting close to closing time, and I had one more stop to make, to see one of the zoo's great families...

That's Mandara, with her two year old baby Kibibi...

And finally, this gal, who really is a charmer...

Lucy is almost 40 years old - not quite as old as me, but a treat on my birthday nonetheless.

Dude Cooks Cookies

After yesterday's startling exposé in the New York Post (see my previous post, please), that bastion of good hard-nosed reporting, I figured I'd bake some cookies. I mean, if all those dudes are doing it, shouldn't I?

I like to bake cookies because everyone else likes them. And that's me, after all - making everyone happy. I especially enjoy biscotti, those twice-baked cookies of Italian heritage...mostly because I can bake a batch and they stay fresh for a week or more as opposed to something like chocolate-chip, which really are only at their best for a day or two.

Fascinating, I know. But let me show you a few tips, weisenheimers...

First of all, you do this, right?

Yep - weight out your dry ingredients on a scale directly into the strainer. That's flour, salt, baking soda/powder, and whatever other dry ingredients your recipe calls for. That way, you can sift them all together.

Then you do this, right?

Correct. Get your eggs and other liquid ingredients ready, right in a bowl. That way you won't have to measure anything at the last minute. Chop up nuts, if they're part of the recipe. And finally, the sugar and butter go right into your mixer bowl, so everything is all prepped and ready to go.

Then, make the cookie dough. It's ready when it looks like this - don't overbeat...

If you're making biscotti, you're usually baking logs first. Want them equal? Want anything equal? Then do this...

Yep, throw the whole batch on the scale, take half of it off, and voila - exactly equal. I bake these on parchment; it's so much easier to deal with. Other cookies bake directly on the cookie sheet, but not these biscotti. Floured hands make them easier to shape...

And then, after the first bake, they'll probably look like this...

Wait 5 - 10 minutes, and then slice the logs into, well, biscotti. Use a nice, serrated knife and cut on a diagonal. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or so (I actually turn the cookies over halfway through) and stand back to admire your handiwork. You just made biscotti.

Dudes Cook? According to the Post

This was going to be a blog post about cookies. But then I saw this:

"Dudes do food

More NY guys are cooking at home (and impressing the ladies, too!)"

Here's a link to the article in today's NY Post, where you can read additional gems like:

"Who do women have to thank? For one, the Food Network, for making the act of filleting a fish a masculine affair"

If you're learning to cook from the Food Network now, you've got a lot of problems.

That's all. I have to go bake some cookies. Short rant over. I like to rant about things that are newly discovered when I've been doing them for 40 years.