Crescent City Clown

Ok, so here's the deal, the first person who can give me a source for these things in D.C will get a couple of belts out of a conveniently located absinthe dripper up on the Hill. I can find them in New Orleans, but they can't sell me enough to make it worth my while, though I did order a bunch of them today (it will be a month before I can get them). Is there any decent place selling absinthe supplies in the DC area that sells something like these: http://www.absinthiana.com/absinthe/produc...nthe-Sugar.html Or, failing that, anyone know who sells these (same thing, just not wrapped and swell) http://mybrands.com/Product.aspx?pid=4825 I can't find the domino stuff anywhere, which is funny because I'm in NOLA and you guys are in DC and the Domino plants are IN NOLA and Baltimore. It doesn't look like it would be such a long row to hoe. Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Brooks

Well, for me, last night, it was all possible evacuation methods. I am thinking of doing a infomercial called, "Lose weight with the Nats!" As someone who decided to change his allegiance after 25 years, I have to say, I might have picked the wrong team (though I kind of knew that going in-so, once again, I should have thought it out a bit more. But, happily, I like my seat partner so it's worth it).

Well, if last night's game is any indication, you can take your time having a multi course meal, and then, best of all, you will suddenly lose all of that caloric intake as the last pitcher blows the whole thing in a 1/2 inning debacle that doesn't even approach the effort of a decent high school team.

A tourist at the distillery the other day brought me a bottle of Thomas Handy Rye. While I will be the first to admit that tourists, while really welcome always at Old New Orleans Rum, can take a lot out of the day-when someone shows up with a lovely gift like this remarkable product, well, I love tourists. The Handy is delicious, massively complex, and a bottle will last a long, long while. I mean, the bottle that I got was about 148 proof which means that you can cut it in half and make it go a long way. It's damned swell, if you axe me.

You might want to buy a map or consult Google before making any more "expert" comments. Saying he was mostly in the Ninth Ward was, well, slightly innaccurate. It was a good show. The guy is a cook and a writer. He gets it. While anyone, me, him, a guy who drives a streetcar, could have put a more "positive and Tourist Commission" friendly face on it, he pretty much nailed things on the head. This isn't pretty, but, it's us. I appreciate someone coming here and doing a piece that is reasonably well balanced and, at times damned funny (though, in fairness, if you aren't from here some of the humor might have been a bit fleeting). Operating restaurants here, more than anywhere in the US at the moment, is a total crapshoot. Some nights you're picking up all of the dough and some nights-bust. And that, before you jump to conclusions, has almost nothing to do with your dining attendance. When you are sitting there at your desks, you might want to consider a weekend down here to see for yourselves. You damned sure won't starve to death and you just might learn something. Plus, thanks to the bazillion thieving contractors and well meaning non profit workers winging it back and forth everyday, you can get direct flights cheap. I do it all of the time, though in the reverse direction. Tonight on PBS there was an American Experience episode on New Orleans. In it, John Scott (recently deceased and a friend), a talented artist and teacher in New Orleans summed it up better than almost anyone that I have ever heard. "In most cities, you go home in the evening and get dressed for a night of culture out on the town. In New Orleans, you wake up in the morning and you AREe in the middle of a cultural event." We're not like you. We're ok with that.

In New Orleans, generally across the board, when you just say, "tea", you will get plain tea. Unlike most of the rest of the Deep South, you won't see sweet tea unless you ask for it-though some places,Willie Mae's Scotch House, for example, will ask whether you want sweet or unsweet. I was just in North LA recovering from a little accident involving a car door, my swell bike, St Charles Ave and Audobon Park, and my brain and skull, and unlike New Orleans, got sweet tea everytime unless I remembered to say unsweet. It's a New Orleans thing, I think. Even just down the road in Gulfport or Biloxi, you get sweet pretty much no matter what. Also, I don't know if the episode has run yet, but Alton goes to a number of my favorite up Hwy. 61 in the Delta. I'm not sure how the episode turned out, but I got a few phone calls from some people involved, and they really enjoyed meeting the guy.

She and Johnny close every year at this time. It's a good deal for the employees (paid vacation) and generally everyone who works there appreciates it greatly. The Taqueria will be closed as well. They'll open back up just after Labor Day. And for those of you who have figured out the drink thing at Nacionale, make sure that you try the hibiscus stuff. It's awesome.

I too am a fan of Gerolsteiner, but lately I've been buying the 365 Brand Italian Sparkling Mineral Water at Whole Food. It's a good deal, moneywise, at .99 per bottle and it comes in a convenient 6 pack. I drink a a couple of bottle of the stuff a day, so I try not wo go crazy and buy water at 3 bucks a pop, as even though I really like it, I still hate paying for water. I'm a tap water guy if I'm not drinking bubbles. But, for my money, I would rather drink Swill. It's getting pretty hard to find these days. Those pesky environmentalists cleaned up the lake and ruined the source, I guess.

I've always thought that the BEST possible thing that could happen in a restaurant is to have the owner/chef/indian chief hanging around in the dining room during service-maybe sitting at the bar, or having dinner, or having a drink with friends at a table. I don't know how many of you are in the business or have perhaps waited tables, but nothing gets the staff fired up more than having the chef/owner sitting at a table. This is the one time that you are most likely to get perfect service and perfect food because a sharp operator, no matter how relaxed or how much he is enjoying himself with a break in his own place, is looking at everything all the time. Those guys can't help it, it's how they are wired. While you are thinking, "wow, this tuna with special truffle enfused shark's fin and fois gras sauce is certainly delicious," the chef is looking at your food (and those of every table within sight) thinking, "that looks great!" or "that looks like warmed over shit and I am going to kill someone in a violent manner very shortly." When the chef is hanging out in a well run place, things are almost always better. After all, big deal chefs don't get that way just because the can cook their asses off and have "vision." They get to the top because they are great business people and operators. Those guys spend as much time training a staff to do things JUST THE WAY THAT THEY WANT THEM TO BE as they do cooking or they don't become big deal chefs. Sure, there are plenty of examples of places that are run, damned near every night, with the chef/owner in the kitchen and he sees every plate but in reality, that's not how the business works most of the time. Most people, even crazily dedicated chefs, can't work all of the time and, frankly, don't want to-so they hire the best and train like crazy until the folks that carry his or her banner every night care as much about the food going out and the service going on as the chef does. That's how you build a successful place. It's about delegation as much as it is about anything else. Sure, you had great ideas going in and you have input every day on the menu, ingredients, and the million other physical issues, but at the end of the day, it's generally going to be your employees who carry out the majority of the work. So, to me, it's not such a big deal that the head guy is in his own dining room. Hell, it's his place and hopefully he's built it into something he enjoys just as much as his paying customers do. Besides, they can drink for free! That's a good enough reason for me.

At least we got that out of the way. And Don asked me to say, by way of disclosure, that I am a "friend of the house," though I have no financial interest in any of Ann and Johnny's projects anywhere, anyhow. So there. I said it. I can't think of a better house to call a friend. They're good folks, those two.

Having eaten alot of Koolickles over the years (many of them with the brave explorer who wrote the piece) I can safely say that pickles and Kool-Aid are a snackfood that are alot more interesting to read about than they are to eat. They have gotten to be kind of ubiquitous in the Delta in the last few years or so. They are on virtually every zippy mart counter between Vicksburg and Memphis.

There's meat, and then there's swell meat. Surely ya'll know that by now. I'll see about getting some provenance for you-but knowing them, you can bet it isn't coming from Con-Agra but probably from folks who name their cows or some such.

Had a late dinner at Rumberos last night. This was our third visit (it's pretty close to the house) and, once again, I really enjoyed it. Started out with Arepa con queso y ropa vieja (Colombian) 8 Flour corn cake mixed with hard Mexican cheese, served with shredded beef stew. and Calamares al tequila 8 Grilled squid with a drop of tequila, Spanish paprika, olive oil and sherry vinegar. The arepas are really good. Nice, crisp little grilled pancake with perfectly seasoned filling. I think that we have had the whole list of them now and these are our favorites. The ropa vieja is really delicious (I've had it as a main, as well). The calamari is FRESH and well grilled with a very thin, light, slightly oily, piquant sauce and come with a couple of chunks of baked potato which are always perfectly turned out (this is harder than it sounds with potatoes). I could eat this as a main if I just ordered 3 orders. For mains we had Mero entomatado ** 17 Filet of red snapper cooked with garlic, bell pepper, red onion, fresh tomato, splash of white wine. Covered wih Choped fresh cilantro. Asado de tira 21 Grilled short ribs and pork sausage. This is one of the best fish dishes that I have had in a long time (and that's saying something as I live in New Orleans and while we may not have much right now, we have lots and lots and lots of good fish dishes). The veg portion of this dish compliments the fish perfectly (it's a big piece of fish) each veg stands on it's own and can be tasted along with the fish and a very light white wine sauce redolent with lots and lots of butter and garlic. It's a bang up dish and worth a trip just for it alone. The Asado is interesting. It was the first time that we had ordered it and were just a bit taken aback when they asked how we wanted the ribs cooked (hey, we're chefs, but, you know, we're from the South. You cook ribs one way-a long time). It turns out that they are cut on the bias so you basically have a cross-section of rib meat with little rib chunks on the top of the piece of meat(I have no clue what this cut is called, but apparently you can get it from any meat company when you order and it does have a name-but don't axe me). The sausage is house made and really, really good. This dish comes with a lightly dressed green salad and there's a reason for that-you need to eat the salad with the meat (literally with it-the same fork, same bite) as it brightens the whole thing up and really makes a perfect bite (acid and pork is a really good thing). Anyway, after reading the comments above, I think that some of the people here have given up on Rumberos a bit prematurely. It's a really good restaurant foodwise and in terms of ambiance, I like it even more. Last night the sound system played a series of Arturo Sandoval selections (just saw him at the Jazz Festival in NO) and a really nice selection of other kinds of Latin jazz over the really well designed sound system. Service is good to really good, though if you are one of those who is in a giant rush to get the check, you might need to ask for it. They use the Latin service theory-they are not worried at all if you linger over your coffee and will generally only bring the check when you ask for it. Also, there is a very interesting list of wines by the glass-all of them from Argentina, Uraguay, Chile, and a couple from Spain. There are some really good choices there for under $10 bucks. Rumberos is a good spot in a neighborhood that's getting ready to be busy as hell as soon as they open up that behemoth Target across the street-so go now while you still have a shot at finding somewhere to stop (it's also pretty convenient to the Columbia Heights metro stop-about a block away).

Monday-Hamburgers made from swell meat on tasty buns with pimento cheese Tuesday- Brisket Sandwiches Wednesday-Chicken Pot Pies (they're delicious as well as cool looking) Thursday-Meatloaf Friday- Jambalaya

Weekdays only. Apparently you people in DC abandon Capitol Hill and our Nation's business at about noon on Fridays to go off to your opulent weekend abodes and being open on the weekends would make no sense at all.

Those brown box containers that they are using are all recycled material as are the plastic cups. It's as good as it's going to get for this kind of thing. They are a crazy expensive option for someplace that has a check average that low (which is why most places don't use them-think about it-a $2.50 taco in a .20 box kind of cuts into the bottom line), but it's the best option given that it's a 100% TO GO kind of place. If it's really something that makes you crazy, you can take your own container if you like, but given how busy they seem to be, it might kind of throw everything into turmoil in the order packing dept (though given a bit of time-they've only been open for four days, c'mon!-they will probably be able to happily handle this kind of thing eventually-though now that I think about it, the Health regs will probably prevent that). I had fish tacos on Friday afternoon. They were really good, with just the right amount of white sauce mixed in with the cabbage. Also had a horchata which was pretty danged skippy, as well. Lunch special on Friday was Jambalaya and it's chock full of shrimp and sausage with just the right amount of spicy tomato wang to it. Edited bekauz im a bed speler

Opens for breakfast and lunch Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.

John Besh won last year (Best Chef, Southeast). Basically, the way these awards work, is that you are more or less done once you finally win unless you end up in one of the more global categories later on in your career or unless your restaurant is somehow singled out for something (like Link is up for Best Chef South and at the same time, Cochon, is up in another category).

I've had probably close to a dozen meals at Herbsaint since reopen occurred. I walked away happy every time. A couple of those times I walked away (waddled might be a more accurate description of my stride) very, very happy. It's a good restaurant. Link's other place (with Steven Stryjewski-the pork guy) Cochon was nominated as one of the 5 "Best New Restaurants." They're in there with some pretty heavy company, and, other than Momofuku in NY, really the only non fine dining place in there. Cochon is a truly great place-innovative on the one hand, but, on the other, serving what most of us here (at least those of us from the more rural parts of the state) consider to be comfort food. I've eaten there pretty close to once a week since they opened up last year. I'm crazy about the place. You can go in and eat just a few small plates or you can do the full on porkfest kind of meal. Either way, more than likely you will leave fat and happy. Cochon

For those of you who are just dying to come down to New Orleans, I can't think of a better reason than to attend the Keys to the Kitchen handover dinner. It's on a Sunday night and there's a pretty good chance that as an added bonus you will be able to see Joe York's excellent documentary, Above the Waterline, which details the story behind this effort (After seeing myself in the movie, I now believe that my media career is better off staying on the print side of things). The food will be great (John Besh -- Restaurant August John Currence -- City Grocery, Oxford, MS, Donald Link -- Herbsaint, Stephen Stryjewski -- Cochon, Greg and Mary Sonnier -- Gabrielle) and if you plan accordingly, this dinner could be a topper to a really nice weekend in our semi-fair city. The Atlanta Constitution-Journal had a good piece in the Sunday paper about the current situation at Willie Mae's Scotch house. New Orleans cook savors Samaritan's aid

The patio area opened on Monday and smoking is allowed there. There is a grand piano on the patio complete with pianist playing during lunch hours and a full service bar on the patio-all provided for your drinking and listening pleasure.

OK, so it's just a joke. But, it is a joke about Chili tastings and it's damned funny (especially if you have ever had to taste at one of these things-it makes for a pretty long day) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In San Antonio , they have a chili cook-off every year around Halloween that takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the city park. One year Judge 3 was an inexperienced chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Atlanta . According to Frank, "Recently I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The originally scheduled judge called in sick at the last minute and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking for directions to the Coors Light concession, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges, both native Texans, that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy --- and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted and became Judge 3." Here are the scorecard notes from the event: CHILI NO. 1 - MIKE'S MANIAC MONSTER CHILI Judge 1 - A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick. Judge 2 - Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild. Judge 3 - (Frank) Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the fire in my mouth out. I hope that's the worst one. These Texans are crazy. CHILI NO. 2 - AUSTIN 'S AFTERBURNER CHILI Judge 1 - Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang. Judge 2 - Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously. Judge 3 - Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides the pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlick Maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face. CHILI NO. 3 - FRED'S FAMOUS BURN DOWN THE BARN CHILI Judge 1 - Excellent firehouse chili. Great Kick. Judge 2 - A bit salty, good use of peppers. Judge 3 - Call the EPA. I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I've been snorting Draino. Everyone knows the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back --- my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I'm getting shit-faced from all the beer. CHILI NO. 4 - BUBBA'S BLACK MAGIC CHILI Judge 1 - Black bean chili with almost no spice. Judge 2 - Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili. Judge 3 - I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. This 300 lb. woman is starting to look HOT --- just like this nuclear waste I'm eating. Is chili an aphrodisiac? CHILI NO. 5 - LISA'S LEGAL LIP REMOVER CHILI Judge 1 - Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive. Judge 2 - Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement. Judge 3 - My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that chili had given my brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I'm burning my lips off? It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw them. CHILI NO. 6 - VERA'S VERY VEGETARIAN VARIETY CHILI Judge 1 - Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers. Judge 2 - The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions and garlic. Superb. Judge 3 - My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I pooped on myself when I broke wind, and I'm worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind except that Sally. Can't feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my butt with a snow cone. CHILI NO. 7 - SUSAN'S SCREAMING SENSATION CHILI Judge 1 - A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers. Judge 2 - Ho hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chili peppers at the last minute. **I make note that I'm worried about Judge 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably.** Judge 3 - You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn't feel a thing. I've lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chili, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least during my autopsy, they'll know what killed me. I've decided to stop breathing, it's too painful. Screw it --- I'm not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I'll just suck it through the 4-inch hole in my stomach. CHILI NO. 8 - BIG TOM'S TOENAIL CURLING CHILI Judge 1 - The perfect ending. This is a nice blend chili. Not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence. Judge 2 - This final entry is a good, balanced chili. Neither mild nor hot. **Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge 3 farted, passed out, fell over and pulled the chili pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he's going to make it. Poor feller, wonder how he'd have reacted to really hot chili?** Judge 3 - No report.

They are now open-currently serving lunch and dinner with breakfast coming soon and the take-out space coming sometime after that. Go there. Eat. Drink. Have fun. It's a beautiful place.

Actually, it should open Monday after next. Several more events and some mock service is planned this coming week and by next Monday, barring any unforseen issues, things will be up and running for good. It's a beautiful place. And that banana pudding canape was, simply, the best dessert that I have had in a very long time. Johnny's is lucky to have Valerie Hall (and Valerie is lucky to have an actual, seperate, and incredibly well equipped pastry kitchen-a little laboratory for creating sweetness) as a pastry chef. The little lemon chess tarts and tiny pecan pies were pretty danged skippy, as well.