NOLA Dining: Commander's Palace

Posted by Chris

Commander’s Palace ranks as perhaps the most famous restaurant in New Orleans. The restaurant, opened in 1880 and located in New Orleans’s upscale Garden District, has been a hallmark of the city’s rich and diverse culinary landscape. Over the years Commander’s has launched the careers of New Orleans chefs such as Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. Its legendary service, beautiful interiors, and tradition of Creole food testify to the longevity of this venerable New Orleans culinary institution.

My wife and I dined at Commander’s on New Year’s Day. She had been there multiple times as a child for family dinners, while this was my first time. Again we decided to order the tasting menu with wine pairings. The meal featured some strong flavors although the portions were a bit too large for a traditional tasting menu. My wife did not finish most of her courses for a fear of getting too full.

1^st Course: Wild Yellowfin Tuna Poké, #1 Yellowfin tuna, crispy plantain, petite herbs, Louisiana soy beans, and Hawaiian poké sauce

This was a flavorful dish with the plantains especially standing out, but it seemed like an odd choice. I expected a more traditional dish at the home of haute Creole cuisine.

2^nd Course: Bone Marrow Roasted Gulf Fish, Crab boiled artichokes, eggplant, smoked tomatoes, and sliced olives with crispy capers & tarragon butter

I liked how the fish in this course played off the fish in the previous course. The roasted fish had a nice firm texture compared to the delicate texture in the poké. 

3^rd Course: Wild Game Bird Cassoulet, Game bird confit, heirloom legumes, smoked sausage, a “5 Hour Egg,” and gizzard jus

The 5 Hour Egg, cooked in an immersion circulator for 5 hours at 141 degrees created an egg whose whites and yolk had the same consistency and provided a rich sauce for the cassoulet. The cassoulet also featured black eyed peas, a southern tradition (that I was unaware of) meant to bring luck and prosperity in the new year.

4^th Course: Chestnut Crusted Sweetbreads & Hand Carved Veal, a selection of wild winter mushrooms flambéed with caramelized garlic & Hennessey cognac over creamy goat cheese stone grits with black truffle jus

This was the first time I’ve eaten sweetbreads (traditional made of organs or other less desirable parts of the animal) and they were quite tasty. The flambéed mushrooms offered some nice earthiness to accompany the proteins.  

5^th Course: A selection of artisanal cheese, Pecan biscotti, seasonal fruit, and red wine syrup

The pecan biscotti served as a crunchy and firm base for the cheeses. This was another example of the traditional French rather than Creole nature of the tasting menu.

6^th Course: A Tasting of Chocolate, Dark chocolate ice cream, chocolate tuile, and European dark, white, & gianduja chocolate with chocolate covered espresso beans

The dessert course was a lovely way to show off chocolate in a variety of ways. The chocolate tuile gave the course a salty element.

Bread Pudding Soufflé: Order it. No questions, no debate, just order it. And don’t skimp on the whiskey sauce. 

Service and Décor: The service was superb; formal, but friendly and attentive. The menu was paced well and the servers were receptive to questions and knowledgeable about the food and the wine. The décor was welcoming and warm. Commander’s was definitely an experience and one well worth having.

Overall, Commander’s Palace offered wonderful service in a classic Creole atmosphere, while supremely delicious, the food seemed to meander away from the restaurant’s Creole roots to more tourist pleasing fare.

COOLinary in New Orleans

Posted by Jamie

If you are ever in New Orleans in the month of August, no doubt you will be incredibly hot.  But, no worries, every negative comes with a positive.  During the month of August, several restaurants in New Orleans participate in a program called COOLinary.  The COOLinary program is organized by the New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau in order to encourage locals and tourists to brave the heat and humidity and patronize local restaurants in the off season.

Participating restaurants offer great discounts and tasting menus, so it is an excellent opportunity for locals and visitors alike.  COOLinary has over 50 participating restaurants offering both lunch and dinner options.  For lunch, across the board you get 2 courses for $20 or less and for dinner you can get 3 courses for $35 or less.  It really is an amazing deal, especially considering the wealth of fabulous NOLA restaurants that participate.

The great thing about COOLinary is that run of the mill chain restaurants are not the main participants.  The restaurants included are real New Orleans classics and they don’t skimp on the menu choices.  Restaurants that participate include favorites such as Arnaud’s, Antoine’s, Bourbon House, Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, Galotoire’s, K-Paul’s Kitchen, Muriel’s, The Pelican Club, and many more.

Ryan and I recently headed out to the city for a weekend “staycation” and took advantage of the Coolinary program.  Amongst a long weekend of excess, we dined at the swanky New Orleans Pelican Club.  The Pelican Club is located in a beautifully refurbished French Quarter Townhouse on the corner of Exchange Alley, right by the Green Goddess.  The Pelican Club serves up a menu of traditional Nawlis dishes with creative twists, and is well worth a visit if you are in the Quarter.

Ryan and I started with classic New Orleans dishes.  I had seafood gumbo and Ryan had the baked oysters, a specialty at the Pelican Club.  We both had fliet mignon, and finished with crème brulee and  sorbet respectively.  Overall, the dinner was fantastic and very well priced.  We even added wine pairings for a meager 20 bucks.

If you go for a weekend in New Orleans, COOLinary is a great way to experience all the classic restaurants without spending a fortune.  It is the perfect time to visit the city if you are interested in focusing on the culinary scene.  You can easily arrange a smorgasbord of top quality dining experiences without having to worry about being able to get reservations and without running up an astronomical bill.  In fact, if you have time for two visits to New Orleans, it is well worth it to do most of your eating during COOLinary.  You can see the sights in March, and run around enjoying New Orleans staples like the Camellia Grill and the resurgent seafood scene on the lake front, and take a trip through NOLA fine dining in the off season.

NOLA Snowball Tour: Papa Sam's

Posted by Benson

The second stop on our NOLA Snowball tour is a popular snowball spot on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain: Papa Sam's.

Papa Sam's is a Mandeville institution.  The stand has been around for as long as I can remember, and has always had a large and dedicated following.  The Papa is located on the Highway 190 service road on the edge of a large residential area between Highway 22 and I-12.  For those of you not intimately familiar with Northshore geography, this means Papa Sam's enjoys a superb location that is close to the highway, but can be easily and safely accessed by foot or bicycle.

Papa Sam's immediately jumps out with its new bright blue paint job and yellow umbrellas.  There is adequate seating, but the stand suffers from a cramped and awkward parking area.  During busy hours, it can be easier to park on one of the nearby residential streets and walk over.

What really distinguishes Papa Sam's is the flavor selection!  Papa Sam's has just about every snowball flavor and option you can imagine from a wide selection of cream flavors and toppings to unique offerings like the Mandeville Skipper (a personal favorite).

So many to choose from!

The Mandeville Skipper is really just shorthand for a particular two flavor snowball.  Getting two flavors is at any snowball stand is common practice, and many people develop their own preferred blends.  A two flavor snowball is constructed by the simple expedient of pouring one flavor of syrup onto one side of the snowball, and a second flavor onto the opposite side.  It can be tricky to do well, but Papa Sam's excels at it.

Ah, the Mandeville Skipper.  Liz did not believe it really was Blue Bubble Gum and White Wedding Cake.

The Mandeville Skipper is half Blue Bubblegum and half White Wedding Cake; a combination that sounds terrible according to my wife, but which I absolutely love.  The flavors pair well because both are very sweet, but Blue Bubblegum is sharp and immediate, whereas White Wedding Cake has a richer, more creamy flavor that is subtle and hangs around the palate longer.  In combination, you get a rich, sweet snowball with plenty of kick without being tart or cloying.

Just the right melt rate right there!

Papa Sam's hires friendly and efficient staff, and is generally very consistent in terms of quality.  Sam's uses just the type of ice I prefer: closely shaved without being powdery.  This gives you some texture without being mushy.  Sam's is also generous with the syrup, although my wife feels that they could be more generous with the condensed milk (Liz never thinks anyone uses enough - I keep telling her to ask for double).

Ieuan Demands to watch his snowball being prepared

There is one quirk about a Papa Sam's snowball.  The straw is usually jammed with a slug of ice that you have to clear before you can use it.  I think this comes from putting the straw into the snowball before the syrup, but I cannot swear to it.  Nevertheless, it is a small quirk that adds a bit of character.

 Ieuan goes double snowball with his Red Raspberry and the Red Cotton Candy

Liz got White Wedding Cake with condensed milk, Ieuan got Red Raspberry, and I got a Mandeville Skipper and a Red Cotton Candy.  All four were well-made thoroughly enjoyed.  I have to say that prior to writing this I had not been to Sam's very often.  I was a Yummies man, of course, much to the chagrin of my co-workers.  But having sampled plenty of snowballs in an effort to find a new go-to stand, I have to say that Papa Sam's came out on top! 

Ieuan also enjoyed splashing in the puddles, which ended in a screaming meltdown of epic proportions

Adventures in Amatuer Brewing: Stout

Posted by Bill

Cum Nihil Relictum

"When There's Nothing Left"

As a lover of beer, naturally I have always thought about trying to brew it myself.  The art of brewing is ancient and subtle, but I figured if it could be done thousands of years ago, I should be able to manage it, especially with the wide range of modern home brewing conveniences.  Nevertheless, home brewing was always little more than a passing thought, until I saw a Groupon for a beer brewing kit.  This was surely a sign.  The only thing I like more than beer is a bargain, so I snapped it up!

Now, the kit did not include a pot to brew the beer in, so it wound up languishing in my closet while I fretted over having to buy a pot…retail.  But the beer would not be denied!  On a lark, I went to a silent auction with a friend (note: lark = free food and alcohol), and to my surprise there I found a pot that would suit my home brewing setup perfectly.  But could it be had for the right price?  In an attempt to test providence, I placed a meager $50 bid.  Winning the auction was surely a second sign.  I must lead my hops to the promised land!

But was I really going to embark on this quest?  Looking at all of the equipment arrayed before me I began to have doubts.  Was I, William Bradley, truly destined to brew?  Sure, they did it thousands of years ago, but they knew what they were doing.  They had to do it to survive.  Who was I but some lowly paralegal drunk on hubris?  It was then, in the depths of my doubt, that I heard a voice.  “If you can boil water, you can brew beer.  You can boil water can’t you, numbskull?”  My third sign.

Onto the stove the pot went!  Into the pot went water, and into the water went the grains.  The brewing had begun!  As I watched the temperature of the water rise, I was afraid that the stove would not produce enough heat to steep the grains, but the grains turned to wort and the extract was ready to be inserted.

After cooling the beer I transferred it to the fermentation bucket.  With this first batch I only had one fermentation stage and required three weeks of fermentation.  Now came the first challenge.  Having failed to plan very well, I wound up being out of town the last week of fermentation…  I solved this little problem with the creative solution of letting the beer ferment an additional week.  Mad brewing genius?  Yes, I think so.  Not wishing to make the same mistake twice, after I siphoned off the beer I went to my calendar and marked one month from the bottling date as “beer drinking day.”

One month later I was facing the first bottle of…whatever I had made.  Would it taste okay?  Would it be edible?  Would it even be beer?  Yes, yes, and yes!  I had done it!  I was now a Brewer!  The beer, an Irish stout, came out a little darker than I expected, but it was definitely beer and definitely very tasty. I did not measure the alcohol content but let’s just say that I was feeling pretty good after enjoying a few bottles, to get the sense of it, of course.

So, now that I am officially a home brewer, look forward to further accounts of my (mis)adventures in the topsy turvey home brewing.  One day you can look back and say, I knew him when…

  

We have been encouraging Bill to make a label for his home brew beer.

Thus far, Bill has been reluctant to formally adopt Bradley Hause

NOLA Snowball Tour - Yummies/Sip n' Soups

Posted by Benson

I thought I would start off our NOLA Snowball experience close to home with a new snowball stand called Sip n Soup on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain.

But before we get into the actual snowball stands, I want to cover the 3 snowball commandments.  Violating any of these is a cardinal and unforgivable snowball sin.

1: Thou ice shalt not be crunchy.

A bit of "bite" to the ice is acceptable, but crunchy ice is a no-no.  Snowballs are not snowcones, and chunky, crunchy ice belongs in a snowcone.

2: Thou shalt not leave unflavored ice.

The snowball syrup should permeate the entire snowball.  One should never run into any unflavored ice in a properly constructed snowball.  It either means the stand has been stingy with the syrup or the ice is packed too hard.  Nothing is worse than finding a dense clod of flavorless ice in the middle of your snowball.

3: Thou syrup shalt always be flavorful.

Flavorful syrup is essential.  Now, not all snowball flavors are intensely sweet, but the flavor, whatever it may be, should always be strong.  Thin, watery flavor denotes watered down syrup, and if you are cutting corners on a cup of ice and sugar water, you need to find a new line of business.

Oh, Abita Snowball stand, how I hate you.  Suckered in so many times by your convenient location.

Sadly, the Abita snowball stand right down my street is an unrepentant sinner and is to be avoided on general principle.  Luckily, there are many quality snowball stands in the area.

Sip n Soup is a new snowball stand that I visited for the first time at the end of last week.  I had been avoiding Sip n Soup due to the emotional trauma of the stand having previously been Yummies Snowballs, the very best snowball stand in the GNO.

I regret now having never taken any pictures of Yummies.  That Google Earth maintains a street view of Yummies shows how fresh the wound is.

Too young to remember Yummies

Yummies was simply the best.  Yummies had the longest operational season of any stand on the Northshore, firing up its shaving machine as soon as the birds began to chirp and hanging on well into October until the average daily temperature dropped below 65 degrees.  If it was sunny and pleasant, Yummies would be open, and producing the best, most consistent snowballs in the GNO.

There may have been stands that produced a better snowball once in a while, though even so, Yummies was hard to beat in terms of quality.  But What made Yummies the best was its consistency.  Every single snowball was good.  There was never a dud, never a so-so snowball, never a mistake, and never, ever a snowball sin.  Every stand makes a bad snowball once in a while; every stand but Yummies.

Sadly, for reasons that remain a mystery, Yummies closed its doors last season and did not reopen.  A new stand took over the space with the odd moniker "Sip n Soup," because they proffer soups and sandwiches in addition to snowballs (don't ask my why).

Yummies put up that fence, by the way.  Useful for keeping sugar-fueled toddlers out of the busy street.

Sip n Soup is on the corner of US 59 and US 190 on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, in Mandeville, Louisiana.  It is right next to a Friendly Video and is consequently hard to miss.  It is a permanent location at the end of a little strip of offices, but like all snowball stands it is only open seasonally.

Sip n Soup has a small outdoor seating area with a few benches, and parking is spacious (another reason Yummies was awesome).  The selection of flavors is respectable, with classics like Strawberry, Tiger's Blood, Bubble Gum (only one color), and Cake Batter.  Sip n Soup additionally maintains a few oddballs such as Orchid Cream Vanilla and Turtle Pecan, and offers condensed milk as a topping.  Sip n Soup also stuffs, but with frozen yogurt instead of soft serve ice cream, and makes any flavor a cream flavor.

All in all, pretty standard and nothing terribly exciting.  The flavor selection is on the minimal end, but perfectly adequate.  The owner said that her family also operates a stand on the Southshore, so presumably they know what they are doing.

All told we ordered 5 snowballs.  My son Ieuan demanded Rasberry, my wife Liz got Nectar, and I got a couple of my favorites to make sure to get a good quality comparison (Bubble Gum and Dreamsicle) and a Sour Apple.

All easily identifiable by color.  Well, Bubble Gum is either Blue or Red when it comes to Snowballs.  I always get Blue.

The Pros:

Sip n Soup makes an adequate snowball.  5 out of 5 snowballs avoided any cardinal sins, the flavors were acceptable, syrup sufficient, and very generous with the condensed milk, which Liz greatly appreciated (most stands - even Yummies - never put on enough condensed milk to satisfy my wife).

Ieuan certainly enjoyed Sip n Soups but his palate is a bit unrefined.

The Cons:

Now, I am biased because Sip n Soup took over the Yummies location, but there were a few issues with our snowballs.  First, the ice melted far too quickly.  It wasn't a particularly hot day (for New Orleans in July), but those snowballs nonetheless collapsed into liquidy slush very rapidly.  Normally, you want a melt rate that allows you to sip and eat, but with these you had to sip almost constantly just to keep the snowball dry enough to use your spoon.

Artistic though it may be, snowballs shouldn't look like that after a minute or two

Second, the flavors were very...artificial.  Now, snowball flavors are super artificial to the point that it is like complaining a Jolly Rancher tastes fake, but nevertheless, the flavors were weird across the board.  You want a bit of an artificial taste in a Bubble Gum snowball, by which I mean that sort of tangy, processed note you get in a piece of Bazooka Joe or Double Bubble, but you don't really want that in your Raspberry or Nectar flavors.  I suspect that the syrup was based off of a cheap concentrate sourced from somewhere other than Snow Wizard (which supplies the majority of stands in the GNO).

Finally, the prices were a little stiff when it comes to snowballs.  Snowballs are dirt cheap, which is part of what makes them fabulous, so I can't really complain.  I couldn't really care less if my snowballs totaled up to 8 dollars or 10, and I usually leave a generous tip in any case.  However, for the sake of completeness I will note here that the prices were about 25 cents above market norm.

Overall:

Sip n Soup is an acceptable stand.  If you go there you won't get a "bad" snowball, but there are better stands out there, such as Papa Sam's which we will be visiting next week.  It is sad that Yummies is gone, and Sip n Soup does not fill the gap left by Yummies, both in the GNO snowball market, and my heart.