06/30/11

Passing The Torch...And, I Hate You Because You Stink

This will be the last Haute Plates blog that I author for a couple of months. I am taking a leave of absence. National security concerns¹ prevent me from disclosing what I will be doing in July and August, but I assure you that I leave you in good hands. Four good hands, as it happens.

Aaron Weidenhaft and Jenny Sklar will be alternating every week for the next two months; I will return in September, assuming I survive the extremely dangerous work I will be doing².
 
Aaron is a native of New Orleans and the former head of the International Monetary Fund. He speaks seven languages, only two of which are of his own invention. He enjoys long walks on the beach, piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.
 
Jenny is from...

Posted at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments: 7

06/23/11

Whiskey Bites and Lipstick on a Pig

Hey kids, do you like bars? I know I do! Well, if you like bars, and you eat food, then Whiskey Blue may be for you. The bar in the lobby of the W Hotel on Poydras Street has started serving small plates prepared by the hotel’s restaurant, Zoë. Things are priced between $9 (for the cajun-spiced fries) and $19 (for the Kobe beef sliders), which is a bit steep; then again, this is not typical bar food. Besides, someone has to pay for all those tiny incandescent candles.

Popcorn Oysters are odd-looking; the fried bivalves are pressed into disk-like shapes and served with...

Posted at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

06/16/11

Doldrums?

This is supposed to be the time of year when the restaurant world is stagnant. The seasonal rise in temperatures ushers in a corresponding decline in convention and other tourism related business, and typically that bodes ill for even the most local-centric eateries.

And yet over the last month several new restaurants have opened, and more are on the way. We have more restaurants now than we did in early 2005, and that’s with a reduced population. Is there a crest to this wave? I have no clue, but I’m going to “surf” this “wave” until I am “crushed” beneath the “breakers” of ... shit, I lost it.

Adolfo Garcia is bullish on the revitalization of Freret St., and this month he opened both the High Hat Café (a...

Posted at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

06/09/11

First Impressions of Cafe B

Ralph Brennan’s Café B opened at 2700 Metairie Rd. a few weeks ago, in the space that was most recently Old Metairie Bistro. Chef Chris Montero helms the kitchen, and while Cafe B does not really seek to duplicate what Montero did at Bacco, things are off to a promising start.

Brennan oversaw a thorough redesign of the space. The claustrophobic bar that sat just off the entrance has been removed, and drinks are now available at a long bar that’s centered between the two main dining areas. The move opens up the room considerably, and also serves to better incorporate a portion of the dining room to the left of the entrance that previously felt isolated. The views from the floor to ceiling windows are, if not comparable to...

Posted at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3

06/02/11

Moving Pasta

I recently moved into an apartment in Mid-City. The process was stressful, and by “stressful,” I mean goddamn exhausting. I have accumulated many things in my 42 years on earth, most of them heavy. It is during times like this that I begin to regret my mania for collecting books. The paperbacks aren’t such a problem, but I have several hundred cookbooks, and those sons of bitches might as well be made of lead.
 


Additionally, while the new apartment is very nice, it lacks the built-in storage space I have enjoyed for the last 14 months or so. It’s not exactly “Sophie’s Choice,” but having to choose which cookbooks I can keep on hand—and which I have to box up and store—added to my consternation.
 

Posted at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1