Join Me at E's Kitchen in Lafayette Tonight!

Paul Ayo of E's Kitchen

Tonight, Monday, June 24, 2013, I'll be at E's Kitchen in Lafayette, Louisiana helping Paul Ayo pour and discuss some different Louisiana craft beers.  Some good folks from Shilling will be there to share the Louisiana beers in their portfolio including beers from Parish and Bayou Teche in the Lafayette area.

We'll be doing the beer tasting from 6-8 PM.  You can find more information on the E's Kitchen Facebook Events Page.  Come on by, check out E's Kitchen, say hi to me, and taste some beers!

Also, Paul Ayo, the owner of E's Kitchen, joined me on the Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket a few months ago.  You can listen to that episode using the player below!

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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!

The Man's Meal at the Marcantel's

I really love a traditional manly meal.  They take me back to my childhood days of cooking on open fires at hunting camps in south Texas with my father.  Most of my first memories of outdoor cooking, and certainly of grilling, come from those mesquite flames kissing the sizzling slabs of steak while foil-wrapped potatoes baked in the hot, glowing embers below.  Last week I was invited over to the Marcantel's residence where Paul recreated the man's meal and I just hung out and enjoyed the show.  I guess I did pitch in by creating the garlic-cayenne butter sauce for the corn, but we'll get to that later.  Brian and Michael joined in on the feast as well as Michael's newly born son, Levi, and Pam and David Marcantel, Paul's in-laws.

The potatoes were wrapped in foil and baked in the oven at a high temperature, the fresh ears of corn were shucked and placed on the grill, and beautiful slabs of raw beef were brilliantly seasoned by Paul and thrown on the pit to sear until reaching a medium-rare temperature.

Seasoned Steaks

Corn on the Cob and Steaks on the Grill

The corn was allowed to heat on the top rack of the grill for a while and was rotated at key intervals.  Paul likes to get a little bit of char on his corn so that the starches caramelize and the natural sweetness comes out a little more which is a fine way to do it, if you ask me.  When the corn was eventually moved to the bottom to give it a nice scalding, it was also coated with a garlic-cayenne butter sauce that I created out of nothing but butter, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt (credit goes to Courtney Holbrook for the idea).  It was about as simple as it gets, and mighty delicious on an ear of corn!

Man's Meal: Loaded Baked Potato, Garlic-Cayenne Ear of Corn, Medium Rare Rib Eye, and a Cold Glass of Sweet Tea (I had to rest my liver for a day)

The final meal was spectacular.  The loaded baked potato featured butter, sour cream, and cheese with a little salt and pepper.  The garlic-cayenne ear of corn came out perfectly seasoned and extremely flavorful.  It had just right amount kick to make your lips tingle while the sweetness of the caramelized corn kernels danced a tango on the tongue.  The steak was cooked to a perfect temperature with a warm red center that was tender and juicy throughout.  It was the kind of meat that needs no other topping or sauces and should be enjoyed for the flavorful piece of beef that is.  In the end, I left the Marcantel's house full, satisfied, and absolutely delighted to have eaten such a fabulous man's meal that both brought me back to my childhood and made me appreciate the food and friends of today.  Happy Eating!

Good Times at Sammy's

Among my list of absolute favorite places for food and drink in Baton Rouge is Sammy's Grill on Highland Road.  Sammy's is a classic neighborhood bar and grill that has recently grown and expanded but has still, for the most part, retained the character that made it so great.  The best place to sit is by far the bar area which used to also be the main dining room.  If you can't sit there, the old patio which is now enclosed into a dining room is also good.  I try to avoid the new dining area at all costs, but that's probably only because I remember the old days and still haven't adjusted.  The grub is not your typical pub fair.  The menu is diverse and features a lot of Louisiana favorites and daily specialties that always please.  Many things on the menu could be considered some of the best of their kind in town including their homemade fried cheese, boiled crawfish (in season), poboys, house salad dressing, and chicken fried steak!

I was joined at Sammy' Grill a few days ago by Paul who is still in town from Chicago, Brian, Eric, Brent, James, and Eusebio.  It was pretty much exactly the same as the Chimes reunion group but sub Eusebio for Michael.  We started with several buckets of domestic beer (mostly Coors Light, Budweiser, and Bud Light) as well as a couple orders of fried cheese with marinara sauce.  We also ordered a coach's plate and subbed the tomatoes for fried mushrooms!  Always a good decision.  The coach's plate features chunks of grilled chicken breast, slices of pork sausage, little pieces of Swiss and American cheeses, pickles, and in our case, fried mushrooms, and is all served with mustard, barbeque sauce, ranch dressing, and enough toothpicks to skewer it all.  It really is one of my favorite appetizers.  It is so simple, yet so good every time (minus the pickles).

The Coach's Plate at Sammy's

For dinner I kept drinking beer along with the rest of the table and then eventually ordered the grilled shrimp poboy.  I had heard a lot about this sandwich around town but had never actually ordered it before.  Most shrimp poboys are fried, not grilled, so this was already a little unique.  To add to the originality they topped the scrumptious shrimp with melted pepper jack cheese, sauteed onions and peppers, lettuce, and tomatoes.  The poboy was as delightful as promised.  The fresh french bread surrounds the flavors inside and every bite of the sandwich delivers a mix of flavors and textures that makes me all warm inside.

Grilled Shrimp Poboy at Sammy's

My game plan was to have a few more Silver Bullets and Ice Cold Steveweisers (If you know the reference, good for you, and if you don't, then also good for you!) for dessert.  That game plan worked out, but then we saw that they had a White Chocolate Bread Pudding on the menu and had to give it a try!  The white chocolate sauce was fantastic but the bread pudding was very different, though good in its own way.  It really had the texture of a cinnamon roll.  It was not moist throughout and certainly was not reminiscent of a pudding of any kind.  I'm a fan of daring to be different, and this was still a tasty dessert even if it is not what one traditionally thinks of as a bread pudding.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding at Sammy's... with a Third Row Koozie in the Background!

Sammy's Grill is most certainly worth the visit.  I recommend pretty much everything on the menu.  And while you're there, get a table in the bar area, order some beer or cocktails, and stay a while!  You'll be glad you did!

Nothing like a Chimes Reunion!

Tuesday night brought upon the latest in a long history of reunions at The Chimes by LSU. The Chimes is a classic eatery and watering hole that is dear to so many in the LSU community and all around Baton Rouge. Their beer selection, which was by far the best in town for a long time, is extensive and various, and their food is always delightful. This particular Tuesday night reunion was brought about by Paul Holbrook who happened to be in town from Chicago and wanted to get together with a group of buddies. Brent came and picked me up, and we rolled to The Chimes where we met Paul and Michael Northington at the bar. They promptly sat us at a table for eight where we ordered a round of drinks (Shiner Bock for me), an order of boudin balls, and two dozen oysters. After all, Tuesday is 35 cent oyster day... all day!

Boudin Balls at The Chimes

Two Dozen Raw Oysters at The Chimes

After a few minutes of feasting on the fried boudin and raw oyster delicacies, we were joined by James Lawson, Brian Thom, and my brother, Eric Ducote.  James ordered a double Talisker on the rocks which is one hell of a Scotch Whisky.  Order one whenever you feel like going top-shelf and you'll see quickly why we call it the "Marksalot".  Talisker is distilled on the Isle of Skye and is a single malt whisky with a strong peat content and a very unique, spicy taste and smell. 

With appetizers and drinks in our belly, the seven of us set our eyes on some main courses.  It is pretty hard to go wrong at The Chimes, and there were some pretty good off-the-menu tweaks to popular dishes, which is common with our group.  I went with one of my favorite sandwiches of all time, that way I could write about it here!  My order: The Chimes Club, fried, on a croissant, no mayo, with a side of alligator sauce, and an order of hushpuppies.  The only thing I did wrong was forget to say "no pickles!"

The Chimes Club, Fried, on a Croissant with Alligator Sauce and an Order of Hushpuppies

This sandwich truthfully is one of my all-time favorites, but not many people have ever enjoyed it.  The normal Chimes Club comes with a grilled chicken breast on whole wheat bread and regular old mayo.  Getting the chicken fried, the croissant added, and the alligator sauce in exchange for the mayo... MONEY!  The warm, buttery croissant melts in your mouth as it fills with the juicy, tender chicken breast that is topped with succulent ham and crispy bacon.  What a feast!  The hushpuppies are one of my favorite side items at The Chimes.  They make one of the best hushpuppies that I've ever had so when I'm there I like to get an order.  They are beautifully fried balls of corn meal and spices that make your mouth water with excitement and anticipation while you slice them open to spread some butter on the inside or just dunk them one at a time into the butter to get a nice coat of cream on the outside.

This Chimes reunion was short and surprisingly sober.  I guess we are all getting older now with jobs to worry about and such.  No worries though.  It was still as great time with fantastic friends, plentiful drinks, and delicious food.  I'll be back many, many more times and continue to have a smile on my face every time.