painperdu

Sitting Down with John Besh: Part 1-Syrena and Café Reconcile

Chef Besh with young Syrena

 

The Monday after the International Food Blogger’s Conference ended, I decided to visit Restaurant August and sample their $20.11 pre-fixe lunch (an amazing deal, for one of the city’s top restaurants) before I sat down to interview its chef and owner, John Besh. Chef Besh had spoken to the conference attendees on the previous Saturday night. He won me over right then and there with his good looks and charisma. More importantly, I was so impressed with the plan he had cooked up to help all the employees who had joined him in returning to New Orleans in the earliest days after the flooding caused by the levee breach post-Katrina. They started out feeding the National Guard and other emergency personnel, for free at first, and then he secured lucrative contracts to do so.

 
 “I shouldn’t say that” he joked, as he shared with us what he called his “Communist plan.”

“I’m an American, and I was a Marine,” he was quick to point out, as he proceeded to tell us how he had used the money he made then, to set up each of those key employees as co-owners with him in restaurants around the city. “When they’re able to take over on their own, I’ll turn the restaurants over to them.” 

After feasting on an incredible lunch, I sat down to speak with Chef Besh.

When I started out by asking him what Café Reconcile (I had just seen it mentioned on a brochure in the restaurant) was, I learned the plan he told us about at the conference wasn’t his only social engineering (and I mean that in the best sense of the phrase) project.

“A couple of organizations have joined together to target at risk inner city youth and give them a future in the restaurant business. But it really teaches more about life skills than anything else. These are just great kids taken off the street, and they’re given dignity. They’re given great lessons, from how to balance a check book, to how to apply for a job. We have a thriving hospitality industry, but yet, we have completely dropped the ball on preparing young people for its workforce. So, how do you break that cycle that so many people are in? That’s something that means a lot to me. And our foundation kind of took it to the next level. What about those in that system, that really have a shot at making the big time? That really have the drive, really have the focus, really have the smarts, and the book smarts necessary just to get through culinary school, so that they’re able to move into the management side of things, and make a great living for their family. That’s what our scholarship is all about.”

“Do you mind if I introduce you to someone?” he jumps up to run to the kitchen.

He returns leading a young dread locked woman with a huge smile towards me. “This lady just had the drive and tenacity that it took to win the scholarship, and she’s headed up there (to New York where she’ll be studying at the French Culinary Institue). Both Marcus Samuelsson (Chef/Owner of Red Rooster, Street Food, C-House and Marc Burger in New York City) and Aarón Sanchez (chef/owner of Centrico Restaurant and Tacombi in New York City) have been tweeting about “can’t wait for Syrena to get up here. We’re going to show her the city.”

“I’m just-I want to go like right now... get my stuff together down here, but I can’t wait ‘til I get there. I’m looking forward to seeing something other than here.” Syrena gushes.

“Syrena joined our restaurant-she’s been here for about a month, maybe a bit longer- just to kind of acclimate herself. Restaurant August is one of the more French run restaurants in the city. She’s working garde manger, working on all sorts of different things. Garde manger in this restaurant is much more than just salads (your LA2LAChef can certainly attest to that, having opened her lunch there with a fabulous pâté plate). And here, even a salad is this incredible undertaking,” Besh adds.


“Thank you so much,” Syrena tells me as I wish her good luck in the Big Apple. “I’m looking forward to everything. Thank you so much (she turns again to Chef Besh), for giving me this opportunity. And I can’t wait until the next one’ll pop up.”

“So, I think the whole, my point of what we’re trying to do now is to use food, as a tool-we can create meaningful change in all of our communities. It’s the fact that food is much more important than what you ate today.” Besh continues.

Yes, and I'd say the food I ate was pretty darn important, too.

You may also like: Chatting with Ti Adelaide Martin of the Brennan Family-from the Origins of Commander's Palace to Mr.B's Bistro

Pâté de Campagne at Restaurant August

 

Post script- After I posted this, I spoke with the publisher of Besh’s latest cookbook, My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking, which Library Journal calls a “stunning volume ... filled with intimate photographs of the Besh family in the kitchen, at the table, and outdoors with friends.” She offered to donate a signed copy, which she told me she’s given away very few of, to a contest I have devised. The entry to the contest is a donation of any size to the John Besh Foundation, whether it’s $2 or $200. Just click on the Give Back link, and then come back and leave a comment (at this post or the following one-Sitting Down with John Besh-Part 2-The Diverse Richness of New Orleans Cuisine) which includes your confirmation number.

 

For a second entry, you can tweet about the contest and your donation, and encourage others to enter, too, then let me know in a second comment with the URL of your tweet. You have until midnight on March 31st, 2012 to enter. On April 1st, some lucky fool's name will be drawn (and that's no foolin'). The time to enter has been extended to April2, 2012 at Midnight. On April 3rd, some lucky person's name will be drawn. The pool is tiny, so you have an excellent chance to win, and support a great cause.

 

Mom's Seven Layer Spinach Salad-First in a Occasional Series

 

My family moved to Los Angeles from New Orleans when I was 6 years old. While all of my father’s family remained in New Orleans, my mother was the last member of hers to make the move westward. It was the late 1950’s, before the coming culinary explosion in America, and way before that culinary explosion began modifying New Orleans’ very codified cuisine.

My father was the one primarily responsible for cooking our family's holiday meals, which meant mostly the traditional Creole food that he and my mother grew up eating. On the other hand, my mother, the every day cook, was the one who eagerly explored the new culinary world we found when we arrived in Los Angeles. Fish Fridays often became pizza Fridays. She discovered the Jewish deli, and developed a fondness for items like cheesecake and blintzes. We visited Chinese restaurants, although in those days they were primarily of the egg foo young and chow mein variety.

And for our weekly family meals, she was an inveterate clipper of recipes, mostly from the L.A. Times. She created a couple of systems to store them-one consisted of manila folders whose sides were stapled to make large pockets-and the other a series of bound notebooks. Each folder and notebook was labeled according to category- Salads, Chicken, Desserts, Party Food, etc.-one curiously labeled Oriental and Polynesian, a designation that died when, by the early 70’s we became much more ethnic food savvy.

The recipe clipping fell to the wayside some time in my teenage years. By that time, I had become consumed with recipe reading and cooking myself, and she grew a bit tired of cooking every day. Occasionally, in later years, I would call and ask her for a recipe, but for the most part, the folders and binders remained in cabinets and on shelves in the kitchen, a culinary moment frozen in time. Now that she is gone, I find myself browsing through the mostly forgotten clippings. Some of the tried and true favorite recipes have disappeared (or at least I haven’t found them yet), and some I had completely forgotten, but was glad to be reintroduced to, as they came flooding back to me while searching through the clippings. Some are interesting records of a dining style I don’t really care to revisit, some, I am curious to see how well they’ll hold up to my more sophisticated tastes, and others are timeless.

Today, I am beginning an occasional series, to run through the rest of the year, of food and recipes my mother introduced me to, beginning with this Seven Layer Spinach Salad.

This dish became one of a couple of her go-to favorites for our annual extended family Christmas Eve celebrations.

I haven’t found the original recipe as of yet, but my Uncle Reiss, who Mom gave the recipe to at one point, helped me to recreate it. He asked her to share it so that he could bring it to a potluck. When he put the salad on the potluck table, he told me, people stopped eating all the other dishes, and dug into this one.

BTW, in later years when several members of the family stopped eating bacon, Mom replaced that layer with sliced mushrooms.

There's Always Room for Improving a Roasted Chicken-Roast Chicken with Olives, Garlic and Lemons

Roast Chicken with Olives, Garlic and Lemons

I’ve been following Susan Spicer since she was featured in the PBS series on the “new garde” of Louisiana chefs. Every few years, I drop in to her flagship French Quarter restaurant, Bayona, for a meal. In 2006, just a few months after New Orleans flooded, I got the chance to meet her briefly, and have maintained a relationship since then. Well, Bayona is almost 22 years old now (still a “must stop” when visiting NOLA), so she’s no longer part of the “new garde”, and she’s attained nationwide celebrity as a result of her featured role on the HBO series Tremè.

Last year, a client of mine was going to be stopping over in New Orleans after returning from the Caribbean, and asked me for recommendations of places to dine. Of course, I recommended Bayona. He had barely finished the meal before he called thanking me for telling him about the place, and raving about the food. When I saw him a couple of months later, he was still raving. “She uses such interesting combinations of ingredients” he gushed. That she does.

When I was in New Orleans last August, I got a chance to sit down with Ms. Spicer and chat more extensively. I asked her about the eclectic mix- which includes items like assorted chiles, curry pastes, even sambals and lime pickles- on her menus (she has since opened a second restaurant, Mondo- meaning world, in her Lakeview neighborhood). She told me that her training and experience in the culinary world was traditionally French, both classic and bistro style, but admitted that “I’ve added in everything, now... I grew up eating that way.”

You can read my interview with Susan Spicer at OKRA, the online magazine of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.

Last week, I roasted this Chicken with Olives, Lemon and Garlic, adapted from Spicer's cookbook, Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans. I tossed some lovely little Pee Wee potatoes I picked up a month ago at a luncheon for food writers at the downtown L.A. facility of Melissa’s Produce, which soaked up all those fragrant, lemony juices. The aroma that hit my nose as I opened the oven door when this chick was done was incomparable! Spicer introduces the recipe by asking, “Think there’s no way to improve on perfectly roasted chicken?” I say there’s always room for a recipe like this. The recipe follows...

Bananas Foster Pain Perdu

 

A few days ago, I wished my cousins a good time as they took off to attend the Mardi Gras. I, sadly, will not be at the festivities this year, but as I write this on the Sunday before, I am thinking about a Sunday 6 years ago in early 2006 when I wrote this:

“Next Sunday at this time I will be in New Orleans. I have just reread an article sent to me a few months back called Optimism on Lake Ponchartrain by New Orleans freelance writer, Deborah Cotton. She writes that upon returning to the city (post-Katrina), she was driving to pick up a friend when she passed a favorite Mid-City joint -'Captain Sal's, where you could get the fattest, juiciest, whole cooked crab in spicy broth for only $4 apiece.” She had visited Captain Sal’s a couple of days before having to flee New Orleans at the end of August.

She continues:

‘the entire shop's contents, along with those of their next door neighbor’s, The 99 Cent Store and a beauty supply shop, were strewn across the sidewalk, equipment bent, twisted, rusted, piled up with a legion of flies swarming around everything ...

And then the levee broke. And I cried long and hard over everything that everyone has lost.

As I read those lines, the levee burst for me, too. Perhaps it’s because I am anxious about what will face me next week. Or perhaps it is because I read an article in the L.A. Times this morning about the Crewe de Vieux, a bawdy, old fashioned Mardi Gras parade that I attended with my brother, Eric, and visiting friends, Fran and Osseo, several years back, or because the article mentioned The Court of the Two Sisters, a venerable French Quarter restaurant, and I am remembering how on a summer visit to New Orleans, in the late 1960's, how my father dressed all of us up in our Sunday best and took us to lunch there, where we sat, on our best behavior, and were served graciously. He said he had always wanted to dine there when he was growing up in New Orleans, but that it had been denied to him because of the city’s racial caste system. Even though I have an excellent memory, generally, and a pretty damn good taste memory, in particular, I cannot now, for the life of me, tell you what I ate, what the food was like, or anything at all about the place. I do know that it was an important day for him."

When I told the story to Leah Chase later on that visit, she said, “Of course. We all heard stories from the men in our community who worked in those restaurants, and we all wanted to dine at them.”

I’ve traveled to New Orleans several times since that anxious day in 2006. Many parts of the city are looking better than I ever remember, and that especially includes the French Quarter. When I was there last August, prowling through the streets of the Quarter, I happened upon The Court of the Two Sisters. It’s not one of the hot culinary palaces one hears buzz about-like August, Bayona or Stella, nor is it one of the distinguished old eateries that’s a “must visit someday” on everyone’s list-like Commander’s Palace, Galatoire’s or Brennan’s. But there it stood, on Rue Royale (which on Mardi Gras day, like the rest of the French Quarter, will be mobbed with revelers), housed in an early 18th century building in the heart of the Vieux Carre, as it has for over 60 years, serving the traditional Creole dishes.
 

Two of those traditional dishes on every Creole restaurants menu are bread pudding and Bananas Foster. In this recipe, I’ve combined the two (with inspiration from Restaurant Stella's Scott Boswell) for a special Mardi Gras treat. Recipe follows:

Pierre Maspero's Oyster Po'Boy with Spinach and Artichoke

Oyster Po'boy with Spinach and Artichoke

Saturday's lunch at IFBC NOLA brought  yet another huge spread- well, no surprise... we were in New Orleans and at a food blogging conference. There was so much, I (unfortunately) had to make choices about what to taste and what to pass up. The Crawfish Slider Cakes (pictured below) were certainly worthy of an honorable mention, and while it all looked amazing, the stand out for me was the Oyster with Spinach and Artichoke Po'Boy from Pierre Maspero's.

Now, you can get oyster po'boys all over the greater New Orleans area, but this one was an over the top, decadent po'boy on steroids. It had not only a creamy mix of spinach and artichokes slathered on the French loaf, but was finished with a Thai aioli and blue cheese crumbles. Yep, now that's decadent.

I was so taken with it that decided to give Pierre Maspero's a shot for lunch on the Monday after the conference. I'm glad I did. Located on the corner of St. Louis and Charters Street in the French Quarter, the restaurant is housed in an old coffee house (and slave) exchange built in the 1780's (now there's something you'll never find in L.A.), where reputedly pirate brothers Jean and Pierre Lafitte met to plan their escapades. Not all of them were wicked, though. It's reportedly the site where they met with Andrew Jackson to plan the defense of New Orleans in the War of 1812's decisive battle.

I ordered Crab Cakes for lunch (also pictured below), usually a dish that disappoints at restaurants, but these were worthy. I spied Carol, the manager, who I had briefly met on Saturday, walking from the kitchen to the bar. She was carrying a sample of a "new" dish they were planning to add to the menu, for the staff to sample. I went over to say hello before I left. "Stuffed Pork Chops", she told me. "We're focusing on bringing back some of the old time dishes".

"Ah yes, I remember my mother making them when I was a child," I told her.

"Please come back and see us again when you're in New Orleans" she said, as I ran off to meet with Susan Spicer at Bayona.

Lucky for us, btw, Carol was gracious enough to share the recipe for the Po' Boys, so get your hands on some Louisiana oysters and make this one soon! Oh, and you'll need some sweet French bread with a thin crispy exterior, and a soft fluffy interior-no chewy, textured sourdough for this. Continue reading...

  Crawfish Cake Sliders from Pier 424 Restaurant  (Photo Courtesy of Foodista)

Crab Cakes at Pierre Maspero's

Muriel's Goat Cheese and Shrimp Crepes at IFBC NOLA

 

 
Goat Cheese and Shrimp Crepes- Photo Courtesy of Foodista

 

After finishing our delightful lunch at Commander's Palace, Nancie MacDermott and I rushed back to the venerable Hotel Monteleone (the lobby was bustling even on a sweltering NOLA night in late August) in the French Quarter, to the opening sessions of the International Food Blogger's Conference. Following a panel discussion, and a time of shared tips from extremely talented food photographer and stylist, Andrew Scrivani (take a look at his portfolio), we were treated to a reception showcasing the wines of Navarra, with treats from Muriel's Restaurant. There were frittatta bites, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus served, certainly worthy complements for Spanish wine, but the standout treat of the reception for me was a home grown NOLA dish, the Shrimp and Goat Cheese Crêpes. Not much surprise there-3 things I love (crêpes, goat cheese and shrimp) in one dish! Chef Gus Martin, of Muriel's (located in the heart of the French Quarter), kindly shared the recipe with me to post here. BTW, Chef Gus trained in the kitchen Commander's Palace, under the watchful eye of Chef Paul Prudmhomme and Ms. Ella Brennan, like so many of New Orleans' chefs.

Also, you can get a recipe for crepes and view a video of me making them at my small pleasures catering blog by clicking the link in the recipe, which you'll find below...

Chatting with Ti Adelaide Martin of the Brennan Family-from the Origins of Commander's Palace to Mr.B's Bistro

Yesterday was King's Day, the Feast of the Epiphany, and  in New Orleans, the official beginning of the Carnival season. Seems like a good time to start my long awaited series on my time there last summer.

So I begin-with a segment of the wonderful interview I had with Ti Adelaide Martin.  Before we headed to the Hotel Monteleone for the International Food Bloggers Conference NOLA at the end of last August, fellow food blogger (and cookbook author), Nancie McDermott and I, were privileged to sit down and enjoy lunch at Commander's Palace with Ms. Martin, manager (along with her cousin Lally Brennan) of the venerable New Orleans restaurant, and daughter of Ms. Ella Brennan, matriarch of the famed restaurant family.

Ms. Ella, as she's known, has been credited with making New Orleans an eating destination, and has launched the careers of many well known chefs. We touched on all sorts of topics from the history of NOLA restaurants, cocktails, the "crashing" (as Ti Adelaide put it) of Cajun and Creole cuisines, the meaning of hospitality in general, and what makes a great restaurant, in particular.

Today, I'm so happy to share the first post from that interview, in which we talk about the origins of Commander's Palace, their flagship restaurant housed in a 19th century Garden District mansion, straight on to the beginnings of the modern restaurant history of New Orleans. Enjoy! and don't forget to check back peridiocally for more from our talk, and my time in the city.

 

Good Luck for the New Year Italian Style-Cotechino and Warm Lentil Salad

Cotechino and Lentils with Sautéed Tuscan Kale

 

Okay, I’m a Southerner by birth and in much of my food tastes, but to tell the truth, I have never liked black eyed peas, which are the traditional Southern dish, along with greens (greens for money, and the legumes for good luck), eaten for luck at New Year’s.

So I was happy to learn from Creminelli Fine Meats that in regions of Italy, Lentils and Cotechino, a mouth-watering sausage, originating in the Modena region and spiced with clove and garlic, is the New Year’s good luck tradition. I broke out a favorite recipe of mine, Lentil Salad, and warmed it up to serve with the Cotechino. In keeping with tradition, I’ve sautéed some Tuscan kale with garlic to add to the platter.

And lucky for you, Creminelli has generously offered to send a New Year’s gift of Cotechino directly to one of you so that you can welcome 2012 properly, too. 

Just leave a comment here at this post, and then retweet the post (and send me a note or comment with tweet URL) for a second entry. But hurry, this contest ends soon, on the 29th at Midnight, PST. BTW, this is my very first contest, so please respond generously! 

Bon Appetit and Good Luck!

Crabmeat Gratin-A New Orleans Classic with a Jarlsberg Twist

Crabmeat Gratin with Jarlsberg

I am so grateful to Jarlsberg USA , who as I mentioned in my last post, made my August trip to New Orleans and the International Food Bloggers Conference held there possible. I've recreated this classic dish, found in many venerable New Orleans restaurants, with Jarlsberg as my tribute of thanks. It's a great dish-a bit rich, but it's only a small serving, so feel free to indulge. I recommend it as a first course for a fancy sit down holiday dinner-like the French (and still observed in some restaurants and quarters of New Orleans) December holiday réveillon (from the word réveil-meaning "waking"-the late and long meals served on Christmas and New Year's Eves) dinner. And by the way, It happens to go great with Champagne.

Enjoy!

Looking Back at 2011 in Gratitude

In spite of the many difficult things this year brought, there was still so much to be grateful for, a loving and supportive family being the most important.

And as I look back, there are also many to thank in the realm of food blogging, and over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing more about them, along with recipes, but for now, here are the people and happenings making it on to my gratitude list for 2011.

1. I am truly grateful to Ronnie Campbell and Jarlsberg USA for their continued support. In the spring, Ronnie commissioned me to work on a Summer Garden Party menu featuring Jarlsberg. I invite you to view the entire menu, and test some of the tasty results like Jarlsberg Vegetable Canapés, Jarlsberg Stuffed Shrimp Cakes and great Summer Vegetable Frittatas for yourself. As always, Ronnie was a delight to partner with.

2. And speaking of Jarlsberg USA and delight, I was overjoyed that they sponsored me to attend the International Food Blogger’s Conference in New Orleans at the end of August. I had intended to post a series reporting back on the trip shortly after returning to L.A., but life intervened. It was a fabulous time, however, and the series, albeit a bit delayed, is still coming-kicking off soon with a great interview with Ti Adelaide Martin, general manager of the legendary Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. So please check back.

BTW, Ronnie sent me this great Jarlsberg T-shirt to wear at the conference. It captured many an eye, as you can see the burgers are rather prominently featured. Ronnie's response- “well, you will be around the corner from Bourbon Street.”

3. While I’m remembering sponsors, I have to thank Lindsay Olives for sponsoring me to attend Camp Blogaway last May. They sent a case of their Black Olives and their wonderful new Lindsay Green Naturals for me to play with. Take a look at the Fiesta Cheesy Olive Spoon Bread and the Chicken PIccadillo Chiles Rellenos I created using them.

 


4. More opportunities came to create featured menus when the lovely Barbara Blake invited me to create menus to feature at her website, Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch, including a Summer Sonoma Winery Picnic Brunch, and at and At Home for the Holidays Brunch featuring yummy Cheese Blintzes with Chunky Apple Compote, Shiitake Stuffed French Toast and Spiced Pumpkin Waffles.

5. Speaking of summer and wine, there were many sponsoring companies that allowed me to revive a much beloved summer tradition in my household-the Rosé Fest, my tribute to pink wines. Big thanks to all the wineries (please check out the list at the Rosé post) that contributed their delicious fruits of the vine, and to Melissa’s Produce, the California Fig Board and Creminelli Meats for sharing product that I was able to use in creating tasty and properly rustic summery dishes to accompany blush wines. BTW, Creminelli has generously offered one of their custom salume products-one traditionally served at New Year’s for luck-to give to a lucky reader at my very first blog giveaway. So please check back next post to enter the contest.

6. Okay-this company is one I should have thanked last year, but their gift to me lasted well into 2011. Albert Uster Imports sent me a surprise chocolate goody each month for a year. Not too good for the waistline, but oh, soooo yummy. You can check out a few of the treats at my Valentine’s Day post.

 7. I’m grateful to Ballantine’s PR for inviting me to dine and get away at two of the fabulous resorts they represent-Coast Restaurant at the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, and the Portola Hotel in Monterey. Because of the turmoil in my life this fall, I have not been able to tell you about the Portola Hotel yet, but I promise I will soon. Hint-if you’re a beer lover, you must check back for that.

 8. I am truly grateful for the food blogging community, for all the wonderful fellow bloggers I met at IFBC in New Orleans, for the old and new friends I spent a weekend communing with at Camp Blogaway in Big Bear, and for our local Food Bloggers Los Angeles community. You’ve all been a uniquely supportive and nurturing bunch that I am proud to be a part of. 

And last, but certainly not least, a BIG THANKS to all of you, who continue to check in and read my blog, even when I’m not too regular about posting (I commit to being better in 2012), and giving me your feedback through the comments you leave. And don’t forget- next week I’ll be doing my first giveaway contest. So come back and leave a comment!

 

Bon Appetit!