Category: dining

Posted on

Parking The Zeppelin / Lunch At Roots And Revelry

Av was going to be in New Orleans for a couple of days around Valentine’s Day, so he took me early to Roots and Revelry, the new 2nd floor restaurant at the Thomas Jefferson Tower in Birmingham — the building that has the last zeppelin mooring mast in the world, apparently.

There’s valet parking out front too, for those of us on four wheels.

First of all, these chandeliers are terrific — and the mural here is by Claire Godbee, a local artist.

View toward the bar:

While waiting, we got up and went out on the balcony for views of the city (and cornhole, though we couldn’t find the throws)

Thomas Jefferson Tower, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Thomas Jefferson Tower, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Av ordered the crispy chicken sandwich with chutney and while it was all good, the chutney was *amazing*
Roots & Revelry at the Thomas Jefferson Tower, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

and rather than an entree, I ordered an app and a side: the R and R vegetables (top left) — wouldn’t necessarily get that again as it was heavy and overloaded with ginger and sauce, and the pork rillettes with pickled vegetables and chicken liver mousse which was conversely fab
Roots & Revelry at the Thomas Jefferson Tower, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Afterwards, our server encouraged us to see more of the second floor, where the open area had a selection of more of Claire Godbee’s art (and one of the longest Chesterfield sofas anyone’s ever seen) and this ballroom area

Thomas Jefferson Tower, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Hi!
Av & Me at the Thomas Jefferson, Birmingham AL//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

—
Though Av was working in NOLA on Valentine’s Day, after I dropped the boys off at school, I met a bunch of friends that day at Canterbury UMC as they were hosting ‘Stop Hunger Now’ which is also known as ‘Rise Against Hunger‘ — our jobs were to fill bags with soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, rice, and vitamin packets which altogether serve six people each in areas which are food insecure all around the world. Last year’s bags went to Haiti, and this year, our bags are going to Central America.

Next year, make plans to rock a hairnet with me! It’s easy work, goes by quickly (waaay too quickly! We were having so much fun on our shift!) and it’s a good deed. Yay!
Stop Hunger Now at Canterbury UMC//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Posted on

International House, Rosalie, Root, And King Cakes

At 221 Camp, the International House Hotel is just a couple of blocks from Canal, meaning it’s easy walking everywhere — one night we walked over to 160+ year old Tujague’s (just a few minutes so Av could chat with the owner, who he knows, and is a Bama grad) before a late supper at Irene’s Cuisine, which in all this time we had never been to before, but now that we’ve been, did not have the same fabulous experience so many other people have there. No matter, we had a really great trip.

Very nicely, the gentleman who checked us in comped us a couple of drinks for the hotel bar, Loa. I had the Rosalie, which the menu describes (before actually describing):
Rosalie: Italian saints work overtime; seems they’re always between the Rock and a new hard place. Just as St. Joseph decimated drought she headed off plague in Sicily, and more recently vanquished an anthrax epidemic among the cows of Kenner, for which protection her clients are to this day grateful, toting her life-sized statue lovingly to her home-church at her festival each year. 

 Sparkling local kombucha, cucumbers, aperol, limoncello, brandy, tangerine, Peychaud’s bitters

Going up to the room, this mural made up of tiny tile pieces in the elevatorInternational House Hotel, New Orleans LA

The room was a nice size and comfortable, though not especially colorful or memorable — pretty greige.
International House Hotel, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

International House Hotel, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Actually the first night we were there (the boys were out of town on their own adventure) we had a celebratory supper at Root as Av’s company had just had a couple of big wins in the span of about a week.
Root and Square Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

I was thinking that we might have a really long supper (we used to settle in to those booths when Root was back in the Warehouse District), but perched on these — I think they may be Tolix Marais or cousins — I think the idea is more to snack and go
Bar Stools at Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Almost always at home, I just drink water, but in New Orleans, if a cocktail looks interesting, every now and then I will indulge. This is vodka, basil, pineapple, oloroso, Mexican vanilla, and (this is what got me) champagne gummies, which…tasted like gummies. hahaha!
Cocktail with Champagne Gummies at Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

As always, we made up a charcuterie board with some duck prosciutto, chicken liver pate, and a couple other items
Charcuterie with (my fave) Chicken Liver Pate at Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Av had the duck and grits which was amazing
Duck and Grits, Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

and I did the snack board: black mission fig (honey-whipped goat cheese, prosciutto), 62* egg (brioche, everything spice, chicken skin), salt cod beignets (pickled garlic aioli, parsley), pimento cheese (cheddar crackers), and wild boar sticky bun (Szechuan peppercorns). I love these little bites — just so much fun to be able to have one or two little bites of such different tastes.
Snack Board: Black Mission Fig, 62* Egg, Salt Cod Beignets, Pimento Cheese, Wild Boar Sticky Bun at Root, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

We had zero intention of getting dessert, but our server was just so friendly that after we were talking for a while and told her why we were celebrating, she insisted that they bring us a baked alaska, complimentary. It had fennel sorbet, pistachio custard, genoise cake, and herbsaint. So so so nice!

We only had a couple of bites but it was so appreciated.

—
Downstairs from Root is its sister restaurant, Square Root, with its only offering being a 16-course prix fixe menu. Fun! Chef Lopez’ latest is Part and Parcel in the CBD, a super-casual sandwich shop in the same building as Willa Jean. 
BTW, the next time I’m at Willa Jean, I’m bringing home their ‘Valrhona caramelized milk chocolate + espresso king cake’ AND the other king cake I need in my life this year is most definitely the babka king cake at Shaya.

If you’re thinking of making a galette de rois this season, my recipe for that is here.

Galette des Rois

Posted on

Automatic for the People

On East Broad in Athens sits low to the street this kermit-green building putting out pork chops, vegetable plates and the like since 1986. The prices are reasonable which means the citizenry, including college students, are able to get their fix, and the world best knows Weaver D’s for what the owner sing-songs — not just your order, but his mantra, that it’s all “Automatic for the People”.

This sign previously hung outside but for the last few years it’s been here in the dining room

R.E.M. paid him for using his ‘Automatic for the People’ phrase on their 1992 release

From the L.A. Times
Weaver wasn’t into rock. Motown is his style. And he didn’t know that R.E.M. was really big. But they struck a deal. Weaver got “a pretty good amount.” And the deal put Weaver D’s, then open only six years, on the rock music map. Soon he found himself roasting 7,000 bags of peanuts for a Warner Bros. record promotion.

“My life changed,” he says. The world made its way to Weaver D’s door. CNN. CBS. MTV. Spin. Some came just to gawk. Some came to see the star-shaped metal sculpture, photographed by Anton Corbijn, that was on the album cover. “People think it’s on my roof,” he says. In reality, it’s in Miami. Maybe, he muses, he’ll have one built.

With its communal tables covered with checkered oilcloth, mismatched chairs and walls bedecked with things R.E.M., Weaver D’s continues to be a magnet for the band’s fans and the curious. At the height of the “Automatic” frenzy, someone stole Weaver’s sign, later returning it with a $10 bill and a note apologizing for ripping off “a genuine piece of Athens history.” Campaigning in Athens in 1992, Al Gore promised he and Bill Clinton would be “automatic for the people.”


The James Beard America’s Classic award is nonchalantly leaning up between the Mountain Dew machine and the television

Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods, Athens GA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

It’s all good: collards, broccoli casserole, corn, peas, cornbread
Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods, Athens GA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

banana pudding
Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods, Athens GA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Posted on

Galatoire’s

Lunch at Galatoire’s — this wasn’t a Friday lunch like Av and us like to do, but a less-busy but still cheerful and fun afternoon

Three martini lunch?

Crab and okra gumbo
Crab and Okra Gumbo, Galatoire's, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

broiled drum Rockefeller
Broiled Drum Rockefeller, Galatoire's, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

lemon tart
Lemon Tart, Galatoire's, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

It’s always delicious, but I think what ‘makes’ Galatoire’s is not so much the food (there are better places to get a piece of fish) but the atmosphere. That, and that it’s the kind of place at which they will just take care of you. Want something different? There’s off-the-menu fried chicken if you ask.

all those coat hooks

They’re slow to change, which is another thing to love about it. It wasn’t until the mid-90s that they bought an ice machine so they could stop bringing in blocks of ice to hand-chip. And we’re still waiting in line (famously, Huey P. Long was even made to stand in line), though last time I just used Open Table. Also, it’s still the kind of place at which you may just want to leave everything to the waiter (especially if it’s John) and take their lead on what’s best. Forget that menu business. Or just remember the fried chicken…

—
From ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ (Tennessee Williams was a Galatoire’s regular and had his own table):
(Stella:) I’m taking Blanche to Galatoire’s for supper and then to a show, because it’s your poker night.
(Stanley:) How about my supper, huh? I ain’t going to no Galatoire’s for supper.
(Stella:) I put you a cold plate on ice.
(Stanley:) Well, isn’t that just dandy!

Posted on

Everyone Loves Allan Benton, Including The Tennessee Governor’s Art Awards

Very happy to see that the State of Tennessee has bestowed its 2017 Governor’s Art Award, Folklife Heritage Award to Allan Benton.

About him, they note:
Benton has been curing over 12,000 hams a year for over 40 years. He uses traditional techniques passed down to him by his parents and grandparents. The hams are slowly cured through several stages and temperatures for at least nine months before they are sold. He uses the same cure his father did in the smokehouse behind his childhood home—a family recipe consisting of salt, brown sugar and pepper. Benton hangs pigs’ legs from wooden racks until the time is right, anywhere from 14 to 24 months for the aged hams. Country ham is a simpler recipe and a shorter cure. Bacon bellies are smoked for three to four days.

…He has been described by Saveur as “one of the most respected producers in the United States.” Benton’s hams and bacon have become the standard against which all others are measured and are sought after by top chefs like Sean Brock, David Chang, and Hugh Acheson. In 2015 Benton was awarded the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America” Award, given to those in the food industry who have contributed to America’s culinary scene.

Using his artistry, expertise and devoted adherence to old traditional methods in one of Tennessee’s renowned foodways traditions, Benton’s Country Hams truly reflect the diversity and depth of Tennessee heritage. Those who would like to incorporate a few pounds of bacon into their pantry or want a whole country ham of their own would be wise to plan on ordering in advance. Benton owns the distinction for being the first foodways awardee in the history of the Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards.

—
We’ve been huge fans of Allan Benton for years now, and have enjoyed every side-trip to Benton’s in Madisonville, Tennessee with the chance to get to visit with him.

DSC02726

His is a simple block building with metal roof and paneling on the walls, but it is a mecca when it comes to smoked meat.

DSC02722

These pics come from different visits, but any time you come, Allan seems to always be happy to take anyone in the back to see where the magic happens.

DSC02721

DSC02720

DSC02717

Love, love. Good job, Allan. Well deserved.

DSC02723

Benton's Country Hams, Madisonville TN//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Benton's Country Hams, Madisonville TN//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Benton's Country Hams, Madisonville TN//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Posted on

Lunches at Commander’s

I was just thinking of Richard Saja’s embroidered toile, and he has some new work from this summer up on his site. I never mind waiting in the foyer at Commander’s Palace as we check in for our reservation because it gives me a great chance to see things in his work there that I haven’t noticed before.

(this pic from an earlier visit:)
Commander's Palace, New Orleans//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

These little bites of bread are so good — butter/garlic/dill spread upon french (I imagine this is just poboy) bread they just shatter when they’re bitten into. There’s something about it that seems a little silly, but it’s fun. And yummy.

And then there’s the *real* bread, served perfectly warm
Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

In this post, I’m consolidating the dishes from a couple of different lunches we enjoyd, but one of us always gets the turtle soup that they note on the menu takes three days to make. It’s finished table-side with sherry
Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Louisiana seafood boil tamale: spicy poached redfish, shrimp and oysters, grilled corn tamale, crab boiled vegetables, tomato chili coulis and roasted poblano-cilantro cream
Louisiana Seafood Boil Tamale, Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Crispy Des Allemands Catfish: wild catfish filets with warm crab boil potato salad, Creole mustard-dressed cabbage and mirlitons with pickled okra aioli and NOLA BBQ vinaigrette
Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Barbecued Gulf shrimp and grits
New Orleans Barbecued Gulf Shrimp and Grits, Commander's Place, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Creole Bread Pudding Souffle, created by Paul Prudhomme when he was chef here in 1980, looking for a special dessert to celebrate Commander’s 100th birthday
Creole Bread Pudding Souffle, Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

pecan pie a la mode
Commander's Palace, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Ha! They surprised us with a couple of things, and one was this sundae!

On one visit, they made Shug a foil snail — how great is this!?!

Foil Art: Leftovers Snail at Commander's Place, New Orleans LA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

—
The documentary about Ella Brennan, Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table, was released in October. About her, the doc’s site reads:
Ella Brennan is a household name in the restaurant industry. Known today as the inspirational matriarch of the rambling Brennan family of New Orleans and the force of nature behind first Brennan’s and then Commander’s Palace. Fired by her family at one point, she shouldered on. She was the creator of elaborate New Orleans breakfasts and jazz brunches and revolutionized creole cuisine. A pioneer of the modern American food movement, she pushed her chefs to the forefront helping to launch the celebrity chef phenomenon.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/175593627?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table Trailer

—
Just because: foil squirrel takeout at a restaurant in Portland