Abita Beer Dinner at Graywood

I scored a ticket to a fundraiser dinner for a local Autism organization. It was held at the Graywood Clubhouse in the Evergreen Room. One reason for going was the concept of beers being matched to food. Another was the menu itself. I know the two managers and they informed me that they had a new chef. I just caught his first name even though I got to meet him in person. David is a graduate of an Austin Tx culinary school. I looked forward to his cooking. My table mates turned out to be a fun group. The guys were enthusiastic about both beer and food and the ladies delightful. I was told that Abita has a program that if you are a non-profit and want to have a fundraiser like this they will supply the beer and give the people making the food a list of what beer goes with what food. Sounds good to me. I must apologize for some of the pictures. Some were taken after I started eating. That happens when I am engaged with my table mates. Taking photos escapes my mind

Appetizer Course
Seared jumbo sea scallop with a Jalapeno cream on a seared corn pancake paired with Abita Light

The beer had great flavor for a light. It's slightly hopped and more malty flavor paired well with the perfectly cooked sweet scallop and the slight earthiness of the corn cake. The sauce was just mildly spicy
Crawfish bisque en Croute with Abita Bock Reduction paired with Restoration Ale.
It had a nice puff pastry dome before I destroyed it. As you can see it was a cream bisque. For my taste it was not rich enough. Nice flavor though with the maltness of the bock coming through. The well balanced ale with its bitter nip somewhat dominated the dish. Better if it would have had more richness to it

Pecan smoked duck on mixed greens with red onion, red and yellow bell peppers and a warm tasso vinaigrette paired with Strawberry Harvest. Another one I almost missed. The duck was lightly smoked and cooked to perfection with a med rare center. The tasso gave the dressing a slight smoky edge with intensified the duck. The greens, onion and bell pepper gave a vegetative background to the dish. The fruit forward beer mixed well with all these flavors. Not sweet but a definite backnote of fruit that brought all the other flavors together

Grilled beef tenderloin with New Orleans BBQ shrimp roasted fingerling potatoes and grilled asparagus paired with Jockamo. The steak was tender as can be with a nice beefy taste, the shrimp had the right flavor profile but were slightly overcooked. The potatoes tender and the asparagus slightly smokey. The double hopped IPA went well with this. The bitterness cutting through the beefy richness of the steak and sweet richness of the shrimp. It also married well with the earthiness of the potatoes and grassy smoke of the asparagus.

Roquefort with honey served family style on toasted baguettes paired with Andygator flew by on a platter with no chance for pictures. The strong flavor of the cheese tempered with the honey made an excellent accompaniment for the double bock beer with its inherent higher alcohol and malty taste.

Abbey ale frozen souffle with a Abita Root Beer reduction paired with Purple Haze. This was a little too frozen for my taste. Once it warmed up the hoppiness of the souffle and concentrated earthiness and sweetness of the reduction was met by the slightly sweet raspberry flavor of the beer. However all that sweetness did affect the taste buds giving any beer drunk after that a weird taste

About a hundred people attended this dinner and both the Evergreen staff and the volunteers from the St Nicholas Center did a bang up job. Both the beers and the food came out in a timely manner. Except for the shrimp being slightly overcooked the food stood out. If they make this an annual event I am in.

Mowata Boudin

I find I do not care for this version. It is very mushy and watery. Also while it has nice shredded pork in it there are also chunks of gristle. One thing I do like about it is that the heat comes from black pepper. I even tried grilling it. The skin got crispy but the rice portion was still mushy. We will see how their pork sausage fares.

Brioche French Toast

Here is some pain perdu made with some Challah bread I bought at Albertson. This was a very dense loaf so it did not work as well as the Hawaiian bread.

Dana Kaye Lunch

Dana Kayes on Nelson Road in the Market Basket Plaza is a plate lunch only place in the former Quiznos. They also serve a couple of short order items ie hamburgers and fried shrimp. The plate lunch lineup has changed a bit but Wednesdays is always pork. She is now doing a bone-in 8-10 oz braised chop with onion gravy. This puppy is plastic fork tender with a medium spicy profile and a great gravy. Fresh chowder peas with bacon and in house creamed corn with a yeast roll fill it out. If you are a person that likes heat hot food this place is for you. It took a solid 10 to 15 minutes for this to cool down to where I did not burn my tongue. The peas had a nice spice kick and the corn was old school using no dairy only the "corn milk". It also had a nice spice level. This lady is from Welsh and if you like SW La country cooking you need to come here.

Johnny Carino Wine Dinner

Did you know that Johnny Carino's does a monthly wine dinner. I did not until a couple of months ago. I was on their site to print up a menu for Curb Side pick up. I do this occasionally since I live on the end of town they are. There are certain things they do that I like and sometime I just don't want to cook or go in a restaurant. Usually on a weekend. So I got on their e-mail list and have been looking at the menus. The May menu seemed nice and it is a reasonable price. A four course meal with wine pairing goes for $29.99 plus tax and gratuity which came out at around $37.00. Once I got there and the dinner started it became apparent that corporate makes up the menu and does the wine selection. The three server allocated for this event (there about 40 people) did not know a thing about the wine or the meal. At dinners I usually attend the chef presents the meal and a knowledgeable wine person presents the wine. None of this was done here. However this way lends itself to a group of friends enjoying a night of decent food and wine pairing at a reasonable price without having to do any of the work themselves. People are sat by reservations so the conversations are with people you would know. This is something both neophytes and the experienced can enjoy. A pleasant evening just enjoying yourselves without any decisions. Following is the meal

Bruschetta Caponata
Toasted garlic bread topped with a grilled eggplant, roma tomato, black olive, artichoke, caper and roasted red pepper relish
Little Black Dress Pinot Grigio


This was great. The toppings tasty with no bitter flavors from the eggplant. The tomato and relish lent a sweet flavor while the capers and olives added a salty note. Artichoke is a noted flavor enhancer. The slightly fruit forward pinot grigio brought it together.


Chicken Dijon Pasta
Grilled sliced chicken, fresh zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, broccoli and roma tomatoes in a Dijon cream sauce with bowtie pasta
Five Rivers Chardonnay

This would have been good also however the pasta here is evidently not boiled in salted water. It was tasteless and bland and brought the whole dish down. Believe it or not there were no salt or pepper shakers on the table. The servers were running their tails off and I just could not bring my self to disturb them. I did see one customer get up and find some salt though so it was not just me. The chardonnay was slightly oaked with buttery undernote and the chicken went well with it

Chianti Gorgonzola Steak
Grilled sirloin topped with red wine braised mushrooms and gorgonzola, served with seasonal vegetable medley
Banfi Centine Cabernet Sauvignon-Sangiovese Blend

The steak was a perfect med rare (pink in the middle not bloody) and quite tasty as were the mushrooms. The reduced red wine gave it an almost balsamic flavor. It would have been even better if I had gotten more than a sprinkling of gorgonzola. Look closely. The white specks on the steak is the cheese. They would have done better to take the gorgonzola and make a sauce and serve on the side. The grilled vegetables were good. The Banfi contained enough tannins and berry flavor to meld well with the steak.



Cherry Ricotta Rum Cake
Traditional Italian style ricotta cheesecake with graham cracker crust, topped with Amarena cherries
Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling

Kinda looks small but believe me it was intensely rich and sweet. Amarena cherries are an variety grown in Italy and preserved in sugar which forms a very cherry syrup and renders the cherries themselves like candy. The ricotta gave a tangy undernote which was a welcome relief to the the sweetness. The Riesling was done in the European style, on the dry side. It was perfect with this super sweet dessert. If it had been sweet also all would have been cloyingly sweet. As a matter of fact the red would have gone well with this cherry dessert too.



I would give this experience a 85% and I am likely to attend another one if I can get some of my group to go with me. A better experience with friends

http://www.carinos.com/

Prejean

Unlike some people I like the food here. I have had only one thing here that I did not care for. It is no doubt somewhat of a tourist trap but I can overlook that. I basically got the same things that I had at Another Broken Egg at half the price and twice the flavor.

First a disappointment when they did not have cafe au lait. However the server brought me coffee and half a glass of milk. As the milk was not hot, I opted to do as my mother did for years. Coffee Milk. As I took sip I brought up the level with the coffee until it ran out

I opted for the Prejean's Napoleon A tower of delicacies - a crisp potato cake sits below a plump crab cake, crowned with a poached egg, drizzled in hollandaise sauce and laced with fresh shrimp & smothered Tasso

That is the description from the web site as is the picture. I forgot my camera and did not feel like going to the car to get it. Prejeans is somewhat of a landmine waiting to happen for a person on crutches. You come in through the bar whose flooring is a slick brick that I have had problems slipping on. On to the food. It was a grit cake rather than a potato cake. The crabcake was tasted like fresh crabmeat (70 percent) with 30 % filler. The egg was perfect with solid whites and runny yolk. The hollandaise had 70-90 shrimp and chopped tasso. Because of the thickness of the hollandaise and the smallness of the two components it more like a sauce than Another Broken Egg. Very delicious and filling and 4 dollars cheaper.

I also ordered a side of grits. Wonderful. Just the way I like it. Thick and creamy with lots of cheese. I buried it in margarine and black pepper and ate like a hog. If given a chance I will definitely return for breakfast. I have now eaten every day part now. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Albertson Meat Case Cooking

Sometimes the meat case at Albertsons has interesting stuff that you don't see anyplace else. Below are two of those items. A stuffed crab in a real crab shell. I cooked it and the burger patty they called a pub patty with bacon and cheddar cheese in it on my tabletop appliance. I basted the crab with nuoc cham and it came up a treat. It seem to contain about 50% crab mainly claw and rest sauteed vegetable and breading. Not bad for a couple of bucks. The patty was less satisfying. It could have been thicker. I may try just sauteing in a pan next time.

Mowata Store

Coming back from Lafayette I got off at the Crowley exit and proceeded up Hwy 13 to the hamlet of Mowata. These day it consists mainly of Bubba Frey's Restaurant and the attached Mowata Store. Mr Frey is a relative of Donald Link and is purported to make the best boudin and stuff around. I did buy some boudin and sausage but as I had plenty to eat in the frig they went into the freezer for another day. I did buy a couple of other things however to snack on. Below is cracklins. They are of course made from pig belly and seasoned with a creole mix. However he follows a golden rule. They are kept hot under a heat lamp so at least they are semi edible and there is a minimal of seasoning My favorite are Breaux Bridge style

Below is some old fashion Head Cheese. No fancy gelatin and upscale meat. This meat was boiled off the hog's head and then the broth reduced. The meat and trinity roughly chopped then added to the reduced broth. When chilled it sets up. Can't buy this in no supermart.

Finally a Cajun pie. Coconut this time my favorite.

Aunt Sally's Praline Lite

My favorite publicist sent me a sample of a new product. A praline made with Swerve. According to the press release" Swerve is the first sugar alternative that looks, tastes, measures, cooks and bakes just like real sugar." As you can see from the package it claims to be have 85% less sugar. Also from the press release "Swerve is a unique combination of ingredients, which have been part of the human diet for thousands of years, naturally occurring in a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as melons, asparagus, corn and citrus, and is derived through a natural enzymatic process. Swerve has zero calories, zero glycemic index, is equal to the sweetness of sugar, has no bitter aftertaste, and does not cause tooth decay, making it the perfect alternative sweetener for a praline. " Check out their website for further info. http://www.swervesweetener.com/

I would like to try the base product so I hope it makes it to a local grocery soon

As for the praline it did not seem to have the snap of a regular Sally's. A bit soft but had the right flavor profile and I could detect no off or after tastes. In simple a simple good.

Beef Cheek Debris

Made another batch of my beef cheek debris. If you want to see the process just do a site search with beef cheek. This time it is served over just plain rice. It will serve several functions in the coming week. Stay tuned

Robin's in Henderson

I have heard about this place for a number of years and have wanted to go to it. It never seemed to work out. Either I remembered it too late or it was closed. This time I made a sustained effort to go there. Even the repaving of the road going there did not deter. However it is a sad sad situation. It is past it heyday. The structure is fine and the dinning rooms with stuffed ducks and other hunting memorabilia are in excellent shape as is the seating. However the world has seem to past them by. I was only one there for lunch except for a couple that arrived as I was leaving. Pat's Wharf with it advertising seems to taken the wind out of their sales. I hope the dinner trade and locals frequent it. I heard from a reliable source he could sell it but he wants to keep the legacy going. Below you see the pirogue of crackers


I ordered Shrimp Remoulade. It came not with a white French one or a red New Orleans on but one based on a Creole grain mustard. The boiled shrimp were perfect if a little bland but mixed up with the remoulade they were perfect. Hell even the lettuce was great. All leaf lettuce and spinach and not a touch of berg. Shows pride in my opinion

I order the Crawfish Platter as it is crawfish season. Below is the crawfish bisque portion. Now this is a true crawfish bisque in my opinion. Dark rich tasting roux. I am thinking it is a red roux where you put a bit of tomato paste in it as you are stirring it down. The spice level was just right and they served the rice on the side. A medium size body filled with a spicy filling was in it. I would come here just for this and I may next time

The platter included fried tails, etouffee, cocktail, boulette, crawfish pie, and stuffed bell pepper. The boulette was made with rice whereas I prefer potato but it was tasty enough. The crawfish pie was overcooked and watery. The bell pepper seemed to be stuffed with crab dressing and was very good. The cocktail was pretty standard. The fried tails and etouffee were out standing. They fried the tails with a light flour coating and they were irresistible, like pop corn. The etouffee had no tomato produce but was rich with the crawfish fat. The thing that made all the crawfish dishes great was the texture of the crawfish. Most times the crawfish can be mushy and little off flavor. These were firm and juicy with great flavor. I may not get this again but the fried tails and etouffe a must have

This ice cream was one of the reasons I have wanted to come here. It is Tabasco flavored. However it was a disappointment. Not because of the spiciness which I loved but because of the pronounced vinegar flavor. This was no background nuance but a slap you in your face flavor. I did not care for it.

However they have fig ice cream as well. I got a scoop as well. This one was great. A deep figgy taste with slight crunchy texture do to the tiny seeds. Again something I would come back for in a second. I finished off this scoop and left most of the other.

Give it a try and keep an bastion of Cajun cooking around

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1897/robins

More fast food

Yeh that's right more fast food. I had a coupon from a mag for a single piece of the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken. It was coming up on the date so last weekend (still behind) I redeemed it. That is a thigh below. They must use a weighted clam shell grill to do this on. It is one flat piece of chicken. The flavor profile is lovely. Quite tasty. You get the nice grill marks and no skin. However eating it in hand there was some grease left on my fingers so they can still call it "finger licking good". I would definitely get it again. Not because of calories saved but for the flavor


Below is a Heritage Pizza from Domino's. I wanted the Fiery Hawaiian. I went online and ordered it. However with Domino's new site you can make all sorts of adjustments. I was never really a fan of ham and pineapple pizza. However here you can sub BBQ sauce for the marinara. Now that made sense to me. I got it with BBQ sauce but evidently the system needs work as there was no jalapeno slices or Tabasco sauce on it. However I loved it. The tangy sauce, sweet pineapple and salty crunchy bacon and ham made it for me. I have also gotten the Memphis one also which I liked. I hope they kept them around for awhile. I only order pizza about once a month.

Full on Blogging

tomorrow. I am back and busy catching up. Will resume blogging in the morning

Road Trip

On vacation and going to Lafayette a couple of days to eat, back Thursday afternoon. Hopefully a couple of posts here and a couple of articles for the mag. I have no laptop or internet capable phone so expect nothing till I get back

Pork

I recently brined and cooked a raw ham roast from the hog. After munching on it and making sandwiches and stuff I did a troll the frig and larder something. I cubed the pork and fried it in some bacon grease I had left from a bacon and eggs breakfast. Tossed in some dehydrated trinity and garlic added some Pace Three Pepper speciality salsa, nuoc cham, and chipotle paste. Added some water then cooked it down. Here it is on top some Naan bread I got at Whole Foods. I wish I would have had some raisins. That addition of sweetness would have made it perfect but it was pretty good anyhow.

Domino's Pasta Bowl

Don't. In a word nasty. Bland pasta in an soft, mushy bread bowl. Yuck. Heritage pizzas much better

Fast Food Friday

To show how far back I am this was last Friday. Had a coupon for Wendy's Spicy Chicken. Not bad at all. Crispy with just the right amount of heat for me. However not likely to buy it except with a coupon

Went to Darrells drive thru and got the Surf and Turf with Jalapeno mayo. Excellent. Good combination of flavors. Roast beef dripping with gravy and spicy boiled shrimp on crunchy bread that held up well.

Burger King Three Cheese XL Steak burger. Like the kaiser roll, lots of cheese and bacon. Could have done without the lettuce. Not bad for a chain burger. Probably will not get again. I like to try them to see if perhaps the burger meets the hype. Usually not. But it is fun trying

Steamboat Bill Lakeside

I am not a particular fan of Steamboat Bill's but I had never had been in the lakefront venue (except when the building was a tikki bar and I had a blue hawaiian there). But I had an envie for fried seafood and it is not far from my work. The interior is decorated for tourists and they have plenty of tables and such. I started off with a cup of shrimp gumbo. Not too bad. Medium dark roux with good shrimp flavor and plenty of 71-90 shrimp. The rice was just this side of ok.

I know it is softie aka soft shell crab season and I have not had any yet so I went for the large platter. They use a corn flour crust with mild seasoning. They were just ok. Really not crisp enough for my taste and also not really full but it satisfied my craving. The fried pistolette was perfect. Sometimes these are so greasy that they are inedible. The cole slaw was fine also. I barely touched the french fries but I seldom do.

Coming in a noticed they carried Cajun Pies which I seldom see in this area. They are out of Lafayette and I had done a story on them for a magazine several years ago. Coconut is my favorite flavor but I will take fig if I can get it. A totally satisfying end to the meal. The sweet dough crust perfect and the filling uber sweet and gooey.

Salmon at Sam's

Sam's has a new product. They come two to a box and you microwave them. They are encased in a paper envelope with a plastic window. They go straight from the freezer to the microwave and the undergo a steaming process similar to cooking en papillote. This was salmon with pasta shredded carrots and edamame with a teriyaki sauce. It tasted ok. The salmon was perfectly cooked. Not a bad alternative for a night when I don't feel like cooking bachelor that I am

Link Restaurant Group

See what a local boy doing good in New Orleans is doing this summer.

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Grass fed beef

This is my first taste of the grass fed beef that my cousin and I bought from Brookshire Farm north east of Abbeville. The cattle are a mixed breed herd that has been tended by the same family for 6 generations. They are pasture raised and finished off on a seasonal grass plot. No grain involved. I used my table top appliance and a lime pepper coating. The taste brought me back to my childhood when my grandfather a cattleman from Cameron would butcher a calf to split among the family. Leaner with a more mineral taste that the beef you get in the store. We are booked for a goat in July. I am looking forward to that

The Kitchen

I have not eaten here in awhile. It just slips my mind. I should remember it as it is just minutes from where I work. Yesterday I remembered thanks to the Lagniappe Restaurant guide. This meal cost me $9. That is without a drink as I drink water per doctor's advice. Below is a slice of cornbread and a piece of pineapple bunt cake. The cornbread had a undertone of sweetness that reminded me of my mother's cornbread. It was excellent for soaking up cooking juices.


Now here is the main attraction. While not listed on the Tuesday menu ox tales are available if you know to ask for them. While classified as offal it is not organ meat but a cows tail. When done right it provides a beefy flavor that surpasses any steak in existence. They did it right yesterday. Because of bone ridges you cannot knife and fork this. It is pick up in your hand and eat the meat off the bone, totally satisfying. I am a bone sucker from way back. The meat was tender and flavorful with a nice spice kick. The mustard greens were spicy and delicous. The cabbage smothered down just right. The natural sweetness of the cabbage and slight spiciness played well against each other. My only complaint was the rice was not salted enough. Basically the best meal I have had in several weeks. I have eaten at The Kitchen in all its incarnations. From the shack on McNabb where it was take away only to 13th street where it took over the Manuel tamale place with limited seating to the Prater St place with lots of seating although I suspect they still get a fair amount of take away. Remember Thursday is BBQ and it is good

Johnny Carino's

Sorry I have not been posting. It is a combo of a heavy workload, personal things that I had to do and being under the weather in a manner of speaking. This heat has sucked the energy out of me. It takes awhile for me to adapt. I am near the end of the process and feeling much more energetic. A couple of weeks back one of my group had a birthday and our mutual friend set up a meal at Johnny Carinos. It was well attended. I did not bring in my camera as I find it is distracting at such event and any time there are more than about 5 other people I cannot get the shots I want.

When dinning at these pseudo-Italian places, there are few things that I really like. But I do have favorites and strategys. This time I followed my sister's one of only ordering appetizers. Fortunately the ones here are so big they are a meal. I started off with a new salad they have, Italian Wedge. Applewood smoked bacon, candied pecans, gorgonzola, roma tomatoes, apple slices with roasted garlic ranch. A wedge of berg lettuce smothered with an excellent dressing with all the extras adding flavor. You got smoky, nutty, sweet tangy, tart etc in each bite. This is a keeper and I hope they keep it on the menu. The server was also kind enough to charge the lower price when it is gotten with an entree.

The appetizer that I got I have gotten several times before. As I said this one is a meal onto itself as it would feed 6 as an appetizer. Shrimp Scampi with Garlic Toast. Pan sautéed with roasted garlic, white wine butter sauce and roma tomatoes. What makes this a winner is the fact that the bread here has improved 1000% since they first open. At first the bread was the worst type of grocery store Italian in the world. No crust and dense and gummy. Yick. Somewhere along the line they changed . Now while not superb it is edible. Nice crust and crumb. Here they toast it with garlic butter. Fits perfectly in this dish. You get 6 jumbo or 12 large shrimp depending what they have in house in a decent garlic butter sauce. It comes in a bowl. In the center is a pile of chopped roma tomatoes with a basil chiffonade on top surrounded by the sauce. Six diagonally cut slices of Italian bread are placed leaning on the bowl rim and into the sauce then the shrimp layered into the whole. The shrimp are not overcooked and placed on top of the sauce soaked bread are delicious. They give enough sauce to soak all the bread and the if you so desire as I do you put the tomato on top of the shrimp. This bite results in something better than sum of the parts. I hope they keep this on for a long time.

For dessert I get what I always get and if you know me at all you know what it is. Tiramisu. My theory on Tiramisu is the same as some on sex. They is no bad Tiramisu. Some are better than others. This place does an above average one. It is a classic interpretation. Although the next time I may have to try the Mascarpone Bread Pudding.


http://www.carinos.com

Charley G

Visit Charley G's to enjoy our new seasonal three course menu for $29.95.
Join us for dinner Monday-Saturday starting at 5:30.
Reserve a table today by calling 337-981-0108.
1st Course Choices
Cup Seasonal Soup, Small Caesar Salad or Cup Duck & Andouille Gumbo
2nd Course Choices
8oz Aged Rib Eye, yukon gold smashed potatoes & grilles asparagus
Wood Grilled Redfish, Louisiana crawfish cake, braised beet greens, meuniere
sauce. micro greens
Wood Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna, roasted corn & black bean salsa, cilantro-
avocado vinaigrette, wonton strips
Crispy Duck, blackberry glaze, roasted corn pudding, creole green beans
Dessert
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Thanks and we look forward to serving you soon! Charlie

Chinese King

I had not been here in awhile and if I go depends on if I can find a space. There is a handicap one that is sometimes open. I lucked out one day. They have cut back on their dinner hours drastically and the lunch menu has also been trimmed. I started off with egg blossom aka egg drop soup. It was wonderful and flavorful with the soft luscious egg strands contrasting against the crunch of the fried won ton skins

I then had the Tong Cho shrimp. This was not the way I remember it being served. It also seemed have a aggressive vinegar taste than I remember. However it was not inedible but I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. You also get a egg roll with the lunch meal. The soup was not included. The egg roll was good.

Sea Bass Steak

I got a really nice Sea Bass steak at Whole Foods. A fish steak is when they cut across the body rather than along the body as in a fillet. With a steak you get a section of the backbone and usually a ring of skin. I marinated it in Tony Chachere's Butter and Jalapeno. Since it contained no acids to denature ie cook the flesh I left it in over night. I then seared it in a combo of Smith's Creamery butter from the Red Stick and olive oil. After some nice coloration I transferred to my table top convection/light appliance to finish off. While it was doing that I took some corn my cousin had put up last year and sauteed it what remained in the skillet. The flesh was so tender I could not lift it with breaking. Here is the pic below. Incredibly sweet with a slight spicy undertone enhanced by the sweet corn. Delicious