Atmosphere Makes for a Memorable Meal at Houmas House

by Sydney Blanchard

What makes for a great meal?

I'm sure anyone you ask will answer this question differently,  but I'd argue many favorite food memories have less to do with what was served and more to do with the people sharing the meal. 

It might be the Southerner in me speaking, but few things beat a meal blanketed by the warm shroud of friendly conversation and banter.

Back in September, the Bite and Booze team (with the delightful addition of Rue Rusike) had the opportunity to dine at one of the finest restaurants in the area with Houmas House owner Kevin Kelly.

Latil's Landing is situated on the Houmas House Plantation grounds, both a tourism hotspot and highly coveted wedding and event venue. 

Executive chef Andrew Foster, Jr.'s menu is ambitious, flavorful, and it tastes like home. They're doing something that feels really special at Houmas House.

We started off the evening with appetizers. I had the crispy pork belly covered in Houmas House honey. The crispy, salty pork was complimented by the honey with perfect subtlety. 

Crispy pork belly with Houmas House Beehive honey

Next came the scallop and foie gras "sandwich." Seared foie gras nested between two rosemary seasoned scallops. Generally scallops are not my favorite, but the corn coulis made all the difference. 

Scallop and foie gras sandwich

For the soup course, we had the famous crawfish, corn, and curried pumpkin bisque. This, to me, was the highlight of the meal. The pumpkin worked well with the spicy, salty crawfish tails. This is something I would love to try to recreate at home. 

Curried pumpkin bisque with crawfish and corn

Onto the beets, Blair's favorite root vegetable (and one of mine). The salad was composed of jumbo lump crab meat tossed with a lemon basil dressing with sweet roasted beets and organic greens. I found the crab and beet combination a bit weird, but in a delicious way.

Roasted beet and crab salad

If there's anything Latil's Landing is great at, it's pretty plating. All of the entrees and event the desserts featured a pop of color courtesy of an orchid flower. I opted for the grilled, butter basted filet mignon with parmesan potatoes, Burgundy mushrooms, and Abita root beer demi-glace. It was as tasty as it was gorgeous.

Filet mignon at Latil's Landing

Last, though thoroughly stuffed, we indulged in dessert. For me, that meant chocolate bourbon cake with coffee bourbon syrup. How could I say no?

Chocolate bourbon cake

Sure, the Latin's Landing dinner we shared was a culinary delight, but taking the time to enjoy a meal with friends is the real pleasure. If you haven't toured the neatly manicured grounds at Houmas House, sipped cocktails at The Carriage House, or dined at Latil's Landing, you're missing out!

Get Your Slurp On: Soupspiration in Baton Rouge

by Sydney Blanchard

Baton Rougeans: what have we done to deserve this? Who have we displeased? 

Because I am 1000% done with this weather.

I want to run errands without worrying about my car turning into a boat. I'd like to leave my house without getting soaked to the bone. Ideally, it would be cool if people could stop getting into wrecks.

Really, I've only come to one conclusion here. We all need to just stay in and sleep. Skip work, play hooky from school, and binge watch the newest season of Hemlock Grove.

We're not going to judge you.

Here's some local soupspiration to either fantasize about, try to recreate at home, or heck, have GoButler deliver it straight to your door.

Lemongrass Soup at Thai Kitchen

This soup is guaranteed to get your sinuses right. Trust me.

Pho at Dang's

By now, you should be aware of our obsession with Dang's. They're even using this blog post as their listed website on Facebook.

Black Bean Soup at MJ's Cafe

Since we all just found out that red meat is "carcinogenic" to human, I figured I'd include a vegetarian option for those of us affected by the new Red Scare.

Duck and Andouille Gumbo at The Chimes

No one makes gumbo as well as my grandma, but The Chimes is a pretty close second. 

Curried Pumpkin Bisque at Latil's Landing

This curry, pumpkin, and crawfish blend is both seasonal and life-affirming.

Iverstine Family Farms, Uprooted

by Sydney Blanchard

Each month, our Uprooted series will highlight local chefs, restaurants, organizations, and farmers who are spearheading the farm-to-table and local foodways movements in South Louisiana.

Galen Iverstine (right) and his wife Angela (left) at Iverstine Family Farms in Kentwood, La.

When Galen Iverstine was nearing graduation, he said he found himself faced with the age-old question all liberal arts majors ask themselves: "What the hell do I do now?"

Following graduating from LSU, the political science major considered a number of options including the military or law school.

But a school project on food policy and environmental impacts of food systems got him thinking. He began looking at alternative methods of farming and how to bring products to consumers. 

Iverstine saw a gap in the Baton Rouge market for sustainably farmed proteins, and with zero experience, lots of passion, and some start-up capital from his father, Iverstine Family Farms was born the winter of 2010.

"[My dad] never saw a business idea he didn’t like," Iverstine said.

At the 127-acre farm in Kentwood, Louisiana, it's a family affair: Iverstine's father acts as the head project task manager; his mom does the bookkeeping; Iverstine keeps up with daily chores, harvesting, and marketing and sales; and Galen's wife Angela works full time in Baton Rouge "to support [Iverstine's] farming habit."

"[Angela] always jokes she started dating a political science major and married a farmer," Iverstine said. "Every time I have a crazy idea, she’s like, 'Hey, if you think you can do it, go for it.'"

Iverstine's crazy idea wasn't a novel one. But it was one that predates the industrialization of meat.

The farm utilizes animal impact on land to improve soil quality. Iverstine uses what is called an "intensive rotational grazing method," in which beef cattle, chicken, turkeys, and hogs work together on a patch of land.

Here's how it works: the cattle intensively graze the tall grass in pastures for one day. The cattle effectively trample the grass, feeding microbes in the soil, and defecate, fertilizing the soil. Next comes the poultry, who sanitize the manure by eating parasites in cattle feces, which reduces the amount of chemical de-wormer used on the cattle. Then, the hogs are rotated through any wooded areas and act as a kind of controlled burn.

Needless to say, for a newcomer, it isn't easy to break into the world of farming.

"While we have a large agricultural university, we’re not seeing any farmers coming out,” Iverstine said.

According to Iverstine, the biggest prohibiting factors for new farmers are acquiring land and start-up funds. Land is expensive and tends to stay within families that own it.

Further, mentors are hard to come by. Not many older farmers are eager to help out the next generation, but Iverstine was able to learn from local cattle producers and from a farm he interned with in New Hampshire.

Iverstine hopes to help foster new farmers and to pass along the skills he's learned in the last years, including how to sell products to consumers.

For Iverstine Family Farms, that includes actively keeping their customer base informed, engaged, and growing.

“Social media creates this level of transparency about what we do," Iverstine said. "I think there has been this development of mistrust between people and their food for some reason. [Social media] creates a complete open door.”

Using social media not only helps Iverstine promote his products, but it helps him to educate his consumers. Creating a smarter consumer who will support local agriculture means teaching people to eat seasonally, Iverstine said.

Often, that can mean convincing customers to cook something they've never looked before.

"It’s about people gaining confidence in cooking real food and different cuts of meat," Iverstine said. "That's what it takes: an open-minded consumer who’s flexible in the kitchen.”

Iverstine said once people taste "real food," it's a game changer.

Currently, Iverstine Family Farm products are available at the Red Stick Farmer's Market and through IndiePlate, and local restaurants including Nino's Italian, Table Kitchen & Bar, City Pork, Houmas House, and Velvet Cactus put Iverstine products on their menus.

“There’s a larger call to keeping your local economy booming by supporting people who are circulating their dollars into the local economy," Iverstine said. "Just like our animals work together on the pasture, there is defintiely this produce-consumer symbiotic relationship that has to happen.”

Read more Uprooted here:

Nino's Italian, Uprooted

Indie Plate, Uprooted

Red Stick Farmers Market, Uprooted

Louisiana Culinary Trails: Capital Cravings

Rolling cameras on Iverstine Family Farms with Galen Iverstine,
Jay Ducote, Fred Mince, and Dan Jones

The Louisiana Culinary Trails crew had more of a home-field advantage for the filming of the fourth video in the series. We took a trip to Kentwood to talk to local, first generation farmer, Galen Iverstine, about the bustling Red Stick Farmer's Market. Chef Jeremy Langlois shed some light on his farm-to-table practices at Houma's House Plantation and local food enthusiast Julie Laperouse and myself give a little commentary on the current Baton Rouge food and beverage scene. The Capital Cravings video would not have been complete without a trip to Tony's Seafood and to talk to Bill Pizzolato about their incredible Gulf seafood selection and those amazing boudin balls!

Fred Mince climbing counter tops while Jordan Lewis and Dan Jones grab some shots of Chef Jeremy Langlois in the kitchen

Big Chefs in Small Towns: Country Roads Magazine Names 2014's Best Small Town Chefs

Country Roads Magazine in conjunction with Triumph Kitchen is awarding the Best Small Town Chefs Award for the first time ever. There are many great chefs that go unnoticed in small town settings around the state, so Country Roads and Triumph Kitchen decided to change that! Three restaurants are represented in the inaugural awards: Chefs Keith and Nealy Frents of LOLA (Covington), Chefs Cody and Samantha Carroll of Hot Tails (New Roads), and Chef Jeremy Langlois of Houmas House (Darrow) are this year's Small Town Chefs.

A celebration of their work will be displayed at a special dinner on June 26th featuring passed hors d'oeuvres by Triumph Kitchen and Louisiana Culinary Institute students and a tasting style menu showcasing signature dishes by each Best of Small Town Chefs of 2014. Wine pairings, live music by Kirk Holder, and tours of the LCI Demonstration Kitchens are on the list of activities at this inaugural event.

Early bird tickets for the event are on sale now until the end of May for $65 and enter you in a drawing for a free leisure class at LCI. After May 31st tickets are $75. Proceeds benefit the efforts of Triumph Kitchen.

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year

Pappy. It is one word in the Whiskey world that everyone should know. Hailing the Old Rip Van Winkle distillery, the 15 Year Pappy is a 107 proof behemoth of a bourbon. Its nose fills the nostrils with a strong and bold caramel reduction kind of aroma. I could sniff it all day. Vanilla, honey, and oak are all present on this nearly perfect bouquet. Seriously, somebody needs to invent a candle that smells like Pappy 15. The wheated whiskey slams into your taste buds with a vengeance. My tongue tingled from the singe of the cinnamon-like spice profile. The heavily boozy bourbon lingers around on the back end, too. It is astringent and viscous, staying with you from the lips down your throat as it burns on the end while trickling down like syrup. But it hurts so good. It is high octane but even fuller on flavor. There is so much beauty going on in this bourbon and it is perhaps even masked by being 107 proof. I should have tried it again with a few rocks or just a dash or two of water to open it up some. Good thing I have more, so I can. This whiskey is rare. If you ever see it available, make sure to grab it while you can. It may be even more rare after the recent bourbon heist, but that mostly saw stolen 20 Year Pappy, the slightly more aged brother of the 15 Year. I got my bottle from the kind heart of Todd at the Turtle Bar at Houmas House. He might have it available by the dram for anyone who wants to try it. I owe that man a steak or something.

Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey

Average Score 91.0

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by Calandro's Supermarket. Calandro's has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys as well as wine and craft beer. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote, Eric Ducote, and Jeremy Spikes. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 90 is rather extraordinary.

BR Foodies Visit Latil's Landing at Houmas House

A group of Baton Rouge Foodies, proudly known quite simply as the BRFoodies, recently made a trip to Burnside and the famous Houmas House Plantation.  The historic house on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi is a thriving tourist and filming destination (including recent episodes of Bravo's Top Chef and Wheel of Fortune) with a Southern charm and beautiful gardens throughout the grounds.  My good friends Paul and Courtney got married at Houmas House and I got a complete tour after the Baton Rouge Socials Media Association's Coastal Social Conference last Fall, but this trip was for a different reason: FOOD!

L to R: Jeremy, Jay, Meghan, Brent, Kelly, Christina, Olivia, Josh and Nick at Houmas House

Our group met Jesse Lambert at the Turtle Bar to begin the evening with a couple cocktails.  Jesse works in marketing for the plantation and graciously offered to meet up with us and talk about the property.  The Turtle Bar sits in one of the twin Garconniere on the property which creates a really unique and historical watering hole.  From there were were off to Latil's Landing Restaurant in the old French House to find our table and start our feast. 

On the second floor of the plantation we found our beautifully set dining table in a private room.  Jesse stayed for dinner and we were also joined by the plantation's owner, Kevin Kelly.  Kevin, a New Orleans native, bought the home in 2003 and restored it to its luxurious yet preserved 1840's roots.  As great as the house and gardens are, and with all of the historical artifacts and relics around the home, Kevin seems to take equal pride in the cuisine that is served at his restaurant.  He told us that before Latil's Landing opened he would routinely find himself returning to New Orleans for dinner.  When he hired Executive Chef Jeremy Langlois to run the restaurant, all of that changed.  He now had a place in Burnside to dine, and it happened to be right outside his bedroom!

Our meal began with an amuse bouche to whet the appetite.  The cucumber and salmon tart refreshed our mouths and got us ready for more gluttonous glory.  The table was also spread with three types of bread and three different house-infused butters including one with fresh honey from the beehives at the plantation!    

Immediately following the very light salmon cucumber came a much heavier crab and mango cake.  The plentiful lump crab meat was sauteed and served with a gorgeously decorated chipotle remoulade sauce.  With the addition of the mango, the crab cake tasted simply sensational.  One of the most popular lunch dishes at Houmas House is the Crab and Mango Cake Salad, and it is quite easy to see why!   

The soup course featured a Latil's Landing specialty: a bisque of curried pumpkin, crawfish, and corn. The soup had a great flavor with a balance of sweetness and spiciness.  The pumpkin and curry tastes were bold and delightful while the crawfish and corn brought it back towards a Cajun bisque that we all know and love.   

For a third course, Sous Chef Bryan Duck delivered a Cosmopolitan Sorbet.  Meant to serve as a palate cleanser before the main entree, the sorbet delivered a little punch of refreshment.  The cranberry heavy sorbet received a little extra encouragement from a shot of orange Grey Goose vodka.  With the pre-dinner cocktails and the constant pours of wine, this sorbet was exactly what I needed to keep the night moving right along!

The duel entree came out to our table and our entire BRFoodie group gasped.  We had already been over-fed, but then we laid our eyes on the lamb and lobster and knew we couldn't stop eating yet.  The lobster portion featured a papaya stuffed lobster tail perched on top of Louisiana crawfish tails with a Creole tomato risotto.  It may have been one of the most inventive lobster dishes I've ever had.  Still, it had nothing on the lamb.  Not to slight the lobster, but the lamb nearly knocked my socks off!  The lamb had been marinated in Louisiana's own Community Coffee and then grilled to a succulent medium rare.  The chops were downright delicious and I was caught gnawing on the bones to get every ounce of flavor out of them!

Naturally, no meal is complete without a dessert at the end.  Latil's Landing served us their Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding to wrap up the meal.  The brown sugar and date bread pudding had a terrific texture and worked very nicely with the toffee sauce.  The blue berries and cream were a nice addition too!

But, as it would turn out, our meal didn't actually end with the bread pudding.  Sous Chef Duck came back up to our dining room with a round of praline shooters.  Chef explained that the shooters were a bit of molecular gastronomy.  It featured a dehydrated and finely ground praline mixed with salt.  When taken as a shot, the praline mixture re-hydrates with saliva and loosely sticks to your mouth leaving the flavor of a salted praline and a very unique textural sensation.  Playing with food is fun!

To cap off the evening, Kevin Kelly led us on a tour of the house and then out to the gardens.  We got an inside look at the former water cistern turned wine cellar that is stocked with an absolutely amazing selection of worldly wines.  Seriously... Mr. Kelly held nothing back when purchasing case after case of Wine Spectator's highest rated wines on the planet!

All in all, it was a great trip to Houmas House.  We had some fantastic drinks, an amazingly delicious meal, and an inside look at the home and property.  I highly suggest a trip out to the plantation whenever you get a chance.  I don't think you'll regret it!