Appetites A Quick One December 3, 2008 9:35 PM | Permalink Pupusas. We all love them. Now there's another place to buy them: Pupuseria La Macarena has an Uptown location on Hampson Street. Marvel at the multicolored facade:  Multicolored!Wonder at the pupusa lunch special: pupusas (stuffed with beans, cheese and pork), plantains, Salvadoran slaw, crema, salsa, and a little garlicky black beans for $9.95: Pupusa!It's a tiny little space. There's probably room for 20 people to eat inside, if at least 4 of those people are gnomes. Or imaginary. The food was very good, but I could have used a little more in the portion size on the plantains and the beans for the price. Still, I'll be going back for some of the other items on the menu, particularly the Salvadoran stews and grilled selections. Next in the Series December 1, 2008 5:50 AM | Permalink  Scotch on the bar at MiLa Great Chefs November 29, 2008 7:01 PM | Permalink I have tried to write something poignant about the television show that's in part responsible for my interest in cooking, but I've run into a serious writer's block on the topic. I've mentioned Great Chefs before, in the context of "why can't the Food Network suck less?" But I've wanted to devote some actual time to the show for a while now. I was inspired to do it again, when I found that Great Chefs has a new website, where among other things you can read about how the show got its start in New Orleans, and how it developed thereafter. It appears that you can buy DVDs of certain shows, but more importantly, there's now a You Tube Channel, where a lot of the episodes are posted. This is pretty good news, because while some of the episodes are pretty dated, overall it's a wonderful show, and it documents a time when the culinary arts were becoming more popular, if only among the viewers of public television. If you've never seen the show, please stick around past the introductory music, and check it out. I promise you won't be disappointed. Unless, that is, your preference in food television is a raging douchebag. But if that's the case, why are you here? Don't answer that. Help in the Kitchen November 29, 2008 3:50 PM | Permalink My son came with me to the farmer's market today, and insisted that we buy some pole beans. He ate two, raw, before I got them home. Since he seemed enthusiastic, I asked him to help me trim them. Elliot trimming pole beansTechnically it's not child labor if I don't pay him. Galatoire's Bistro November 27, 2008 7:44 AM | Permalink I had a late lunch at Galatoire's Bistro earlier this week after taking a deposition in Baton Rouge. It's the second time I've eaten there, but the first time I actually sat down and ordered from the full menu. When I sit down at Galatoire's, the first thing I do is order souffle potatoes (and the fried eggplant, usually).  Souffle Potatoes at Galatoire'sThey did a decent job with the potatoes. They suffered from a problem I've noticed at the New Orleans joint as well: they were a little overcooked. Still, add a little hollandaise, and it's hard to complain.Next I decided to go off the reservation and order one of the "Bistro" dishes not on the menu at Galatoire's: sweetbreads.  Sweetbreads with LentilsThese came over "French" lentils, and with a bacon, wine and onion sauce. The lentils weren't the tiny Le Puy variety, that's for sure, but they were good, and the sweetbreads were cooked properly. The sauce was a great compliment to the sweetbreads, and all-in-all, this was something I'd order again without hesitation. To end the meal, I had a Godchaux salad. Godchaux SaladThis is another classic Galatoire's preparation that includes iceberg lettuce, boiled shrimp, lump crabmeat, and a creole mustard vinaigrette, topped with anchovies. It's an excellent salad, as long as the individual items are good, and these were. Nary a piece of shell in the beautiful crabmeat, and the shrimp were cooked perfectly, which is not always the case. In other news, I am on Facebook. Sort of. I managed to screw up the initial setting-up process, so I'm a bit limited by the fact that when I added my password, I mis-typed one of my 3 or 4 standards, and the "reset" option doesn't seem to work. Still, if you do a search for Robert Peyton, you'll find me. Feel free to send a friend request; if we haven't met, just put "appetites" in a note along with the request, and I'll add you. Assuming I can figure out the password. Ginger-Sastsuma Cranberry Sauce November 23, 2008 6:26 PM | Permalink I bought some Louisiana Satsumas recently, along with a pound of cranberries. Today I got around to making the sauce that's been percolating in my head for a while. The recipe that follows is based on one from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, but I made some significant modifications that I'll note in the actual recipe. 4 cups fresh cranberries1 and 1/2 to 2 cups sugar2 cups Satsuma juiceZest of 1 Satsuma (around 4 tbs.)2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into a few slicespinch of saltCombine the ingredients in a covered saucepan, bring to a simmer and cook on low heat for around 10 to 15 minutes, or until the berries begin to break. The more sugar you add, the more firm the sauce will eventually set. The recipe makes a quart of sauce.Bittman's recipe used water instead of Satsuma juice, and did not include zest or ginger. The amount of sugar, combined with the use of Satsuma juice, makes the sauce pretty sweet, and the next time I make it, I may add either lemon or lime juice to the Satsuma. Then again, I may not, because it turned out really well. I'm also glad that I chose to keep the ginger in 4 to 5 pieces, because it is just pungent enough in the finished sauce, and my initial inclination, to grate it, would probably have made it too assertive.It went very well with the pan-roasted pork tenderloin I made this evening, and it couldn't be easier. As I write this, it hasn't completely set, but it's delicious.  Ginger-Satsuma Cranberry Sauce iPhones for Lawyers November 22, 2008 3:26 PM | Permalink A friend and colleague of mine has launched a new website: iPhone J.D. is, as the title suggests, focused on the iPhone, and the usefulness to which lawyers might put it. Jeff's one of the smartest people I know, and I know a lot of smart people. He's also tech savvy, and last year was a member of the American Bar Association Techshow faculty. Indeed, on the group blog for that show Jeff wrote a post that turned into the genesis for his website: iPhone May Be Best Smartphone for Lawyers. Jeff's current post is about the most recent software update to the iPhone, and it demonstrates, at least to me, that his blog will have application for more than just lawyers. Anyone with an iPhone will find it useful, though it's probably more useful for people who at least intend to use the phone professionally. I don't know, because I don't have one. If that sounds petulant, it's because I am a whiny little freaking baby, and I want my goddamn iPhone. The problem is that my current phone, a Treo, is paid for by my law firm, and our carrier isn't AT&T. You see where this is going? Anyway, I learned about Jeff's blog the other day when he and another friend and local blogger, Ernie Svenson and I had a quick lunch at the St. James Cheese Company. I had a very nice sandwich, which I will document here to ensure that I make this post at least tangentially about food: Boquerones with roasted tomatoes, sprouts, and parmesanSo it was a pleasant lunch, apart from my insane jealousy where Jeff and Ernie's iPhones are concerned. And, you know, you should check out Jeff's site. He said he'd still be my friend if you do... Edible Plants of the Gulf South November 18, 2008 5:57 AM | Permalink This is the first in a series titled, "Things you should not buy me for Christmas, because I already have them, but thanks for thinking of me and happy holidays to you, too." Also: "things I have been working on for months, but didn't have a block of time to devote, and so was delayed." Or something.A few months ago I became interested in foraging. I poked around a few local bookstores, and did some focused searching online, but not until my friend Martina Ellis tipped me to a fellow she knew of in Pitikin, Louisiana, did I find what I was looking for. Edible Plants of the Gulf South, by Charles M. Allen, Andrew W. Allen, and Harry H. Winters is the definitive work on foraging for local flora. It’s a less-folksy, but still similar version of Euell Gibbons’ classic Stalking the Wild Asparagus, with much more utility to residents of states along the Gulf of Mexico. I’d already picked up a book called The Forager’s Harvest, by Samuel Thayer, and although that book is not as specific geographically, it has the benefit of photographs, where Allen’s book contains only drawings. There are, however, a few photographs to supplement the book at Native Ventures, the Allens’ website. In addition to a section devoted to basic botany, the book contains entries on around 150 separate plants, a very good glossary, and a detailed list of references which I’m guessing are available at your local library and/or barbershop.* It’s really an incredibly interesting book, and while you may not spend too much time actually foraging for your dinner, the book is valuable if you have any interest in local ecology generally. The drawings in the book, by Andrew Allen, are well-done, but photographs would have been better, and hopefully the Allens will continue to update their website with additional examples. Dr. Allen, hosts workshops that include field trips, which I would think is the best way to actually learn about foraging. Personally, I have done a little mushroom-hunting for Chanterelles, and even collecting such an easy to identify mushroom makes me a bit apprehensive. One of the first things in the book is a warning that you should make sure you’ve positively identified the wild plants you’re foraging before eating or cooking with them. Which is good advice, but hopefully not so disconcerting that it discourages us from foraging in the first place. Finally, I would be remiss if, writing about this topic, I didn't mention Celeste over at Bouillie, who wrote not too long ago about graines a voler, a locally foraged lotus seed. I had no idea. Edible Plants of the Gulf South is only $23 with shipping, and it’s well worth the money.  Edible Plants of the Gulf South A. A. Gill November 11, 2008 8:43 PM | Permalink I think I have mentioned before that, where restaurant criticism is concerned, things are done a bit differently in London. This review by A. A. Gill is typical, and typically hilarious. A sample:Bel Canto is stuck in the basement of an office block, up an alley, off a dead end. It would be easier to find the meaning of life. You’re shown into a small lift, wallpapered with a photograph of La Fenice, which gives you the oddly uncomfortable feeling of falling through a great big room, trapped in a very small room. The dining room is possibly the dullest eating space in England. It is an evocation of chemical depression. The walls are painted with broad red and gold stripes, the tables and chairs bring to mind Travelodges of the 1980s. The floor is a percussion instrument of plastic wood veneer. There are framed opera posters, and just to add that touch of terminal despair, random headless mannequins in Cornish pageant fancy dress. In the middle of the room, where there ought to be a chemist, there is a grand piano. Not all of Gill's reviews are this scathing, and not all of them are this funny, but occasionally he reaches great heights. I'm not sure anyplace outside of New York could support a critic of his stripe, but it would certainly be interesting to see. Edit: after I posted this, it occured to me that if you don't know me very well you might misunderstand my views on Gill and his ilk. There's a certain irony in my posting favorably about a piece that might be compared fairly to what Alan Richman did when he came to New Orleans. It's called "taking the piss" out of someone or something in Jolly Old, and it's generally not appreciated by the person whose piss you are taking. Or perhaps I have that wrong. Let's you and I pretend I never got onto the subject of urine, shall we?To return to my point about how Gill is similar to Richman, take this piece about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Hugh F-W is an author and television personality who functions as something like the British version of Alice Waters. He's all about eating seasonally, and locally, and apparently he's something of a scold about it. Gill's critique starts with a germ of truth: it's difficult if not impossible to live up to the green, self-sufficient ideals of people like Fearnley-Whittingstall, but by the end of his extended flight of hyperbole you might think he considers a backyard garden a sign of idiocy. I can tell you from personal experience that it's easier to be amusingly critical than to be accurately critical. I don't have the slightest clue whether A. A. Gill knows what he's talking about when it comes to reviewing restaurants. I do find him "wickedly" funny from time to time, though I admit that I read him very infrequently. It may say more about me that I find some of his references (which I'm sure slay the hemophiliac cousin-f*ckers at the Drone's club) funny, but there you are. Anyway, that is my defense to the accusation of hypocrisy on this occasion. In all other particulars I plead guilty. Changes at Lilette November 9, 2008 7:43 AM | Permalink Another quick post re: a recent meal. This time at Lilette (whose website appears to be down). Chef John Harris has changed a few items on the menu, the most significant of which is that the hanger steak that formerly came with chimichurri sauce and potatoes is now served with gnocchi and mushrooms. Lilette is one of the few local restaurants that regularly features oysters from outside the Gulf. I like a little variety, and although $15/half dozen is a little steep, I have trouble resisting: Alaskan Oysters on the Half Shell with Mignonette SauceI ended up with an all-shellfish lunch, because the pasta with king crab claws and littleneck clams was too appealing to pass up. It was spectacular. There's a tradition in Italian cooking of using breadcrumbs in place of (or more accurately, in the manner of) grated cheese in certain dishes. In this dish Harris used bread crumbs as a toasty, slightly crunchy textural contrast that worked amazingly well. There was a bit of chile in the sauce, and a little citrus, and both were welcome offsets to what would otherwise have been pretty rich stuff. It was absolutely one of the best dishes I've had in a restaurant this year.  Pasta with Clams and King Crab ClawsIn all, there are maybe a half-dozen changes to the lunch menu. For Lilette, that's pretty remarkable, and definitely welcome. Clever November 7, 2008 6:41 PM | Permalink Clever, a wine bar connected (physically and otherwise) to Cork & Bottle wines has opened. The big day was delayed a little by Gustav and Ike, but if you enjoy wine, you should check it out. There's a ton of options by the glass, and if you like something, you can bet it's available by the bottle next door.  The bar at Clever, and the menuCork & Bottle is one of the easiest places to buy wine you'll ever experience. The staff are all very helpful, and they know their stuff. These are folks who will give you suggestions designed to meet your tastes, not to sell the most expensive bottle of wine. My understanding is that Jon Smith, who owns both establishments, beats his staff if they don't meet his exacting standards. I would certainly not want to meet Jon in a dark alley, unless I had a decent bottle of wine with which to appease his violent nature. But seriously, if you've never been to Cork & Bottle, go now. I fear Jon will hit me with a tire iron if you don't. The Election November 4, 2008 5:57 AM | Permalink I have gotten thousands of emails asking for my thoughts on today's election.* I resisted the temptation to sway the election, as I generally consider myself above such petty concerns. However, upon reflection I am prepared to make an endorsement. Ming for President. How could you not vote for this man?I believe that these trying times call for a leader with a clear sense of purpose and direction. A man whose iron fists are housed inside fabulous velvet gloves. A man whose sense of decor makes Elton John look Amish. A man who eschews traditional concepts of masculinity and coiffure. A man, in short, like Ming T. Merciless. You know what you must do. *Or promising to add inches to my penis. It's hard to tell. Iris November 2, 2008 5:24 PM | Permalink Iris, as you may know, has moved to the Bienville House Hotel, at 321 North Peters Street. The move increases the number of seats in the restaurant, and significantly, means they're open for lunch at least Thursday and Friday. (I need to double check that; call them at 504 299 3944 to confirm). Hopefully I'll have time to elaborate on the recent meal I had there, but for now, you'll have to rely mainly on the photographic evidence:My friend started with the market salad:  Market SaladI had the Shrimp salad, which featured green papaya and Vietnamese Herbs (Mint and Thai Basil): Shrimp and Papaya SaladThere was a pork tenderloin special, which is what my friend had:  Pork TenderloinI went with a lamb tenderloin salad. It may look like there's too much dressing on this salad, and I'm particularly averse to that, but it was perfect.  Lamb Loin SaladIt's an outstanding restaurant, in an even more beautiful space. I had some reservations when I heard Iris was moving, but I'm optimistic that it was the right thing for them at this point. Chef Ian Schnoebelen is really talented, and while the Uptown location was intimate, he's clearly playing on a larger stage in the Quarter. That said, the restaurant is still small by most standards, and if my meal there recently is any indication, the kitchen hasn't missed a beat. As of this weekend, they still did not have a liquor license, but it's imminent, and until it arrives they aren't charging corkage. For God's sake don't assume that's the case if you go in the next few weeks. Call ahead, as suggested above, for the latest information. A Return October 23, 2008 7:50 PM | Permalink I had dinner recently at Ralph's on the Park, and I arrived early. As is my custom, I retired to the bar: NectarWhile I waited for the rest of my party to arrive, I pondered such imponderables as, "who has better hair, Sidney Torres or Andrew Knowlton?" Then it occurred to me, has anyone ever seen Sidney Torres and Andrew Knowlton in the same place at the same time? These are the things that keep me up at night my friends. Well, that and the recurring nightmare about Paula Deen, but the less said about that, the better. 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