May 2017 • Page 2 of 2 • Deep Fried Kudzu

May 5, 2017

Derby Day

In honor of the Derby (which I never watch, but I have a new fab friend who does dressage (and I realize that has nothing to do with thoroughbreds other than, you know, horses) so maybe I will this year), a collection of Derby-ish pics

Derby cake
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Derby Lounge in Crowley, Louisiana
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Emerson’s Ginger-Mint Julep mural in the Quarter
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and…you knew this was coming…

mint julep at SoBou
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when the Veranda was Veranda and not what it is now
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at Giardina’s
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at Commander’s Palace
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at Stanton Hall
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May your Derby Day include cute biscuits and maybe some sweet little benedictine canapes, and whatever you’re calling the pie you don’t call ‘Derby Pie’, and bourbon in just almost everything else that sounds good too. xoxo!

May 5, 2017

Hello Gorgeous!

I found these in downtown Natchez. Hello Gorgeous!
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May 4, 2017

La Provence: Supper And A Show, And Petanque — And The Possibility Of Leaving Nashville With Bespoke Jeans

John Besh sold his La Provence in Lacombe, Louisiana yesterday (as I’m writing this, I see that they haven’t yet updated the website to note the new owners, Eric Hunter and Jennifer Pittman, who are already living on the property)

“Our plans for La Provence is to preserve what La Provence is,” Hunter said. “For us, that’s an institution with memories of people for the last 40 years.”

We were there last summer, and well, it wasn’t particularly busy. Granted we were there for an early supper because we had something later that evening, but still.

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Carbs photobombing carbs.
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Thiiiiiiis. Chicken liver pate.

Chicken Liver Pate at La Provence, Lacombe LA

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Quail gumbo. And you know this is going to be right because John Besh and Chef Loos and whoever is in the kitchen would/could not get this wrong.
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So previously, the best gnocchi in my life came from John Besh’s August in the CBD but this came really close. It was a special this evening and they were considering adding it to be a regular item.
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Mangalitsa blade steak
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We enjoyed supper and were invited to visit the gardens behind the restaurant where much of the food they use is grown. One of the employees was back there (on his day off — he said he just wanted to check on it) and telling us all about it.
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…and these little piggies were really friendly — there are a bunch of chickens in the back and we were having this whole conversation with the garden guy about chickens and raising them and broody hens and superior eggs and cleaning pens and varieties and their chickens and our chickens…
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The manager came out and he was crazy friendly too and wanted to tell us all about the court they put in and had everything for us to play petanque and gosh even though we had something else to be at we must have stood out there for almost an hour because the guy was so great and nothing in the world mattered because our tummies were full of fabulous gnocchi and we’re playing petanque and this guy has these fabulous stories.

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And just like when we go to Chez FonFon in B’ham and Av beats me every single time at boule, he had no mercy and won at this too.

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—
We’ll visit again this summer after the new owners have had a couple of months to settle in. The setting is fantastic, the food was fab, and I’m ready to revenge-win at petanque. And I hope they’ve kept everybody, because what a great experience.

—
Even minus La Provence (and the Luke in San Antonio that was shuttered a few months ago), John Besh still has a stable-full of restaurants:
August
Besh Steak
Domenica
Borgne
Pizza Domenica
Luke
Johnny Sanchez New Orleans and Baltimore
Shaya
Willa Jean

We’ve been to all the above minus the Johnny Sanchez outpost in Baltimore, but we now need to get to his:
Caribbean Room — yes yes yes. And look at how gorgeous that is.
Bayou Bar — they’re also serving mile high pie here a la the Caribbean Room
Silver Whistle Cafe — breakfasty
Hot Tin — rooftop bar (this and the other three above are all at the Pontchartrain)
Pigeon and Price — this is the private events venue

John’s website mentions the ones above, but I didn’t see note of the new places in Nashville at the Thompson:
Marsh House, L.A. Jackson, and Killebrew

BTW, the Nashville Thompson has an imogene + willie jean package that includes a phone consultation (pre-visit) and in-room tailoring and styling session so you leave town with a new pair of custom jeans.

May 1, 2017

E.T. Wickham Headed For The West On His Completely Amazing Concrete Sculpture Ox

In December, we drove up to Palmyra, Tennessee to visit the concrete sculptures of E.T. Wickham.

From the Nashville Scene:
Using tin cans, coat hangers, stovepipes, bed rails, old auto parts, and whatever else he could find to create an armature, he went on to mold enormous, sometimes 800-pound figures out of a self-styled mix of masonry concrete. After meticulously painting them, he then added a wild assortment of riches: Blue light bulbs became the eyes of a bull; real eyeglasses rested on the nose of Estes Kefauver; a saber was placed in the hands of Gen. Jackson. Then Wickham would adorn each sculpture with messages. On one, in which Paul Bunyan sits atop a rearing bull, he etched the base with these words: “ET WICKHAM HEADED FOR THE WILD AND WOLEY WEST REMEMBER ME BOYS WHILE I AM GONE.”
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Time/weather and vandals have damaged these works to a stunning amount. How they originally appeared can be viewed via this short video.
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It seems as though the works were generally created in a twenty year span between the early 1950s and late 1969. This was Andrew Jackson on his horse, dedicated 1961
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E.T. Wickham was born in 1883 grew up being known as ‘Tanner’ or ‘Tank’ in the family. His father passed away when Tanner was nine, and though his older brother, who had gone to Vanderbilt and was practicing as a country doctor tried to step in, Tanner resented it.

WWII memorial:
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From this excellent biographical sketch, E.T. got married in 1906 and had a disagreement with the rural mail carrier that serviced his route, who said to E.T. “If I never have to see your face again, it’ll be too soon.” In turn, E.T. constructed, as the legend goes, his first concrete work, which was a mailbox with E.T.’s face on it.

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A timeline here.

This piece by Dan Price on the art environment (and others) is worthwhile as well.

Here: Estes Kefauver, Patrick Henry, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy
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The sculptures’ appearance in the mid-70s
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A number of the pieces have been moved behind a fence to help further protect them
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Religiously, E.T. Wickham converted to Catholicism in adulthood and his first piece had been the Virgin Mary. One piece I found on him noted that he had gained inspiration in his works from a visit to Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. In fact, his daughter Nora (Sister Justine) resided at Sacred Heart Convent there.

Judge William D. Hudson
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