A Frolic of My Own

Jazz, Books, Food, and the Writing Life

Blogging from New Orleans, La

28 November 2006

Add my voice to the chorus calling Casino Royale the best Bond flick ever. It’s tough, cold and more thrilling than any movie I’ve seen in recent years. It’s not art by any means. A film this good, however, makes you wonder why most other movies are so bad.

My friend in Madrid watched Casino Royale behind the spiky hair of Pedro Almodóvar

Posted by Todd at 12:28 am | Comments (1)

26 November 2006

To hell with tradition, this Thanksgiving we ate salt baked speckled trout, a big salad with roasted beets, several fine cheeses and a lemon souffle. It was my first time to bake a fish under a layer of kosher salt. My local market had nothing firmer than speckled trout, which flaked into a messy pile. It tasted great, though, and that’s more important.

It was a small meal just for Andrea and me, but we were thankful to be together in the same city.

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25 November 2006

There are many wild and wonderful people in New Orleans, but I arrived in the city too late to hear James Booker:

Yep, he’s singing, “There was a sweet white woman / Down in Savannah, Ga. / She made love to my daddy / If front of the KKK.” [Thanks Rob]

Posted by Todd at 10:11 am | Comments (2)

22 November 2006

Chef Scott Boswell of Stella impressed New York writer Steven Shaw:

Boswell prepared two savory course from the current menu. The first was a squash soup — excuse me, “Autumn Heirloom Squash Purèe” — with pancetta *and* bacon, olive oil and Valrhona Xocopili (a newish Valrhona chocolate product meant for use in savory cooking). I had a couple of objections to the dish on paper — I feared the use of Valrhona Xocopili might be self-consciously trendy, and as much as I like all parts of my dear friend the pig I worried that pancetta and bacon would make for strange bedfellows. Boy was I wrong. One bite, and I was in the “this guy can cook!” zone. The soup was served in a wide, rimmed soup bowl, and the bacon, pancetta and chocolate were in the center. The bacon and pancetta made for nice textural variety, and the chocolate was present in a very small amount — just enough to add spicy/bitter/sweet interest. It really worked.

Some call Stella the best restaurant in New Orleans. Ok, Boswell calls Stella the best restaurant in New Orleans. I’m not willing to go that far—yet. After a recent meal, I’d agree that it’s in the running for the top spot.

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17 November 2006

Heard about the GQ brouhaha? Acerbic eater Alan Richman decided now was a good time to give New Orleans a few swift kicks. Why not, it’s so much easier to kick someone when they’re already on the ground.

He can dislike the food. That’s his right and his job. His snide remarks about the people and the city, which are even more foolish in this podcast than in the article, were just ill-informed and an embarrassment to the magazine.

I’ve had way too many conversations about this topic, but I’m willing to listen to just one more. On Saturday, local blogger Robert Peyton, who scored an email interview with Richman, will talk about it all at noon on Lorin Gaudin’s new food show on 99.5 FM.

And yes, I’m back.

Posted by Todd at 10:28 am | No Comments