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New Orleans—May 2011:
Putting My Feet Up in New Orleans
TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS
The next day I had my first real taste of New Orleans
cuisine: jambalaya at Riverfront Restaurant on Decatour. I went in about
2:30 PM when few customers were in the restaurant.
Not knowing anything much about jambalaya, I ordered it with noodles rather than
rice. That may have been a mistake but it was still good. It certainly had a
characteristic flavor of peppers but it was more than that. I asked the
waitress about it. She punted.
"The chef is sitting right over there," she
said." Why don't you
ask him?"
He was a friendly guy sitting at a table in the back.
He explained to me that the flavor that I was tasting had a lot to do with a
reduction involving meat.
But I will have to admit that I did not
completely follow his explanation. I do not always listen as well as I used
to when I worked as a reporter and always tried to "get the facts
straight." These days I pay more attention to the essence, which
involves both facts and feelings. I'm usually content if I capture the
essence, even when a few facts prove elusive. But here I was clearly in error. Some
attention to details is still required. I chastised myself when I got back
to the hostel and looked over my notes. I assigned myself twenty mental
pushups as punishment and resolved to become a better listener.
Now let me both
jump backwards and forwards in time. I said previously "my first taste of New
Orleans cuisine." That wasn't quite accurate. On my second full day in New
Orleans I was eating New Orleans cuisine but just didn't know it. When I was
staying at Saint Vincent, the old orphanage, one day the weather was hot and I went in search of beer.
There was a place nearby called Dot's. It's on the corner of Champ
Street and Felicity. It was one of these little "markets" that sells beer
and almost nothing else of value unless you count candy bars and popcorn. I was hungry when I went in
for beer and ordered a
sandwich too. I remembered seeing a sign outside advertising sandwiches. But like
everything else at Dot's, the sign was old and the letters somewhat faded. So I asked when I went in if
they made sandwiches.
"You want a Poboy?" the clerk
asked.
"I
guess I might," I said, trying to drawl my words just a little.
"Meat or shrimp?"
"Meat," I said.
"Hot or cold?"
"Hot." Why not?
He called out an order to a guy
in back.
What the hell was a PoBoy, I wondered.
I got the
beer, then waited.
Ten minutes had gone by and no sandwich, cold or
hot, came out of the back. I got a little
irritated. Why the hell was it taking so long to make a sandwich? I assumed
Zen-like patience, as I have done many times in China when things weren't
going the Western way, and waited another five minutes. Finally, "the
sandwich" arrived. It was wrapped in tin foil and carefully placed in a bag.
I took it back to the hostel and examined it, but only after I had popped a
cold beer. It had a puffy, flaky bun that was overstuffed with meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles.
It was not bad but I did not think much of the bun. Where did they get such a crummy bun, I
thought. I was used to high-quality French baguettes used as buns, or nutritious, whole-grain
breads with seeds. What was this thing they served it in? Why make a nice
sandwich, then serve it on something that seemed day-old at best? Well, as I would discover
later on, this was the way a PoBoy was made—good one, bad one, cheap one,
expensive one. I just didn't know about PoBoys yet.
I ate about half and
wrapped the rest back up for later. I was beginning to understand the name,
if not the bun.
Now, jumping ahead, a few days after my first taste of
Jambalaya, I dropped by the Chartre House Cafe in the Quarter and ordered
their PoBoy. By then I knew about the PoBoy, as I had seen it listed on the
menu of just about every restaurant in New Orleans. This one came with the
same terrible bun but deep fried shrimp, as ordered, and the same shredded
lettuce, thin-sliced tomatoes, and pickles. It was personally delivered to
the table by the chef himself. It was quite delicious, except for the bun of
course. Next time I may bring my own bun. French fries and a bottle of Abita
Amber ale, Louisiana's own—something like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from California—compensated
a bit for the bun.
Okay, since my introduction to the
PoBoy, I have done research on it. The bun is supposed to be like that.
Apparently that is the way the sandwich was first made and that is the way
it is still made in New Orleans. The bun retains the historical heritage of
the sandwich. I am not going to argue with that, especially in these times when
you are lucky if you can afford a PoBoy. So be it. But I don't know where I would find
such a bun in California if I wanted to make the PoBoy there. Maybe at the
day-old counter of the Wonder Bread factory, if there really is one.
While I am eating, there are two guys at the bar who are yelling at
women in cars as they drive by, but they are quiet now. My waiter comes by for a chat. He lives in
the Quarter, just up the street at Royal and pays only $500 per month. He
asks me where I'm from. I tell him just about everywhere, then am a little
more specific. I tell him Shanghai, Paris, and San Francisco, by rotation.
He finds that intriguing in a way I no longer do; I'm more impressed with
his cheap rent.
Now a car with some women goes by and the guys at the bar
are yelling again.
"Those guys," my waiter says, "they are no
gentlemen."
I am surprised to even hear the word "gentlemen" anymore but agree.
"What can you do?" I ask. "Young men are like this everywhere
now. At least they are not shouting obscenities at them."
"Not yet,"
he says.
"And what about young woman?" I ask.
"Not as bad," he says. "At least not yet."
After
lunch I took a walk up Saint Louis Street and spotted
the New Orleans Cooking School. I had been curious about something
for a long time. I know that coffee with chicory is marketed a lot of places
as "New Orleans style coffee." But I wasn't sure whether this was just
marketing or if people actually drank the stuff in New Orleans or not. I
rather like it myself but a lot of people don't. It is kind of like the Sazerac cocktail—divisive.
I walked in and sprang the question on
a guy working the shop out front of the school's demonstration kitchen. Yes, I was told. Moreover, he added, most of the restaurants in
New Orleans serve coffee with chicory.
"What about the effect
of the chicory?" I
asked. "To me it still tastes like regular coffee but with a peppery
smell."
"That sounds about right," he said.
It was nice
to have gotten something right. The jambalaya had confused me. I liked it
but didn't know exactly where the flavor came from. But I am a coffee aficionado; I
was raised on the stuff and love it. Moreover, not too long ago back in
California I had been doing coffee tastings. One day I included a "New
Orleans Style" coffee with chicory from Trader Joe's. I had scrutinized it
until I thought I had it down. The confirmation was nice. I resolved to
taste more carefully the next cup of coffee I was served in New Orleans.
Another
coffee that we tasted back in California was a coffee from New Mexico that
added ground piņon nuts. The nuts appeared to add a sweetness to the flavor without
changing the aroma. New Mexico is another area of the United States where
spiciness and flavor are appreciated.
Then there are the "flavored"
coffees, which are only appreciated by bored and jaded palates. My advice
to the young, in their own language: stay the fuck away from 'em. They only lead to Krispy Kremes
and corruption of the coffee palate.
Later on, back at the hostel, I
hear a bit of odd conversation. There are a number of guests crowded around
the pool table, including young woman, who have taken up the game in great
numbers these days. One of the guys is about to shoot but clearly doesn't
know the game.
"Hey, dude," says a young woman, "you never shoot that ball because if you make it you lose."
They are playing 8-ball of course.
The guy,
tattooed like a sailor, baseball cap on backwards, looks embarrassed.
Katrina & A Change of Plans
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