Month: July 2019

When I’m on the road I’m always on the lookout for a place like Louie’s, but alas, those are not easily found. I’ll do the hotel breakfasts of grits, scrambled eggs, and sausage with the DIY waffle makers and pantry style toast or biscuits, but I’m almost always better off just finding a Waffle House and bolting down the All-Star before gassing up again and hitting the road. I missed out on a Shony’s in Natchez for various reasons, but I had high hopes for this place when I found it on my phone when I was preparing to leave Huntsville to return to Natchez, then BR. Probably should have just ordered some cake.

The place tried hard to look the part of a fifties diner with a lot of neon lighting and Elvis pics and who knows, maybe the watery grits and tired omelet were authentic to that period, but we can do so much better now, and it is disappointing when people don’t live up to what’s possible with the easy access to fresh produce and local dairy. I guess I was mainly miffed because they had biscuits and sausage gravy on the menu and just could not produce a quality product. Not saying there should be sausage and gravy police, but how do you stay open if you can’t cut it in that most basic area of the Southern breakfast menu?

I really hate to dog a place like I’m doing now, but I was really disappointed that this was the start to a six hour drive. The staff was nice and the place was clean and the dessert display looked really good–but if you are a restaurant, diner, taqueria, or even just a bar with bar food, you need to get the menu right and hire people that can make the food happen the right way. Bottom line, that is what it is all about.

Bet I know what he’s thinking about.

Maybe it’s because the university is so close, or the Space and Rocket Center, but I’ve never seen such a string of ethnic restaurants as I encountered packed in a four hundred yard strip of Jordan Lane in Huntsville. Viet Cuisine was the one I chose, but I was torn because there was a Korean joint, an Indian place, and two taquerias right there as well. Huntsville isn’t a small town. They have a Whole Foods and a Chuy’s, and I did not realize that it is located in the Appalachian foothills until I left Natchez to go visit the Saturn 5 at the Space and Rocket Center. I hate not being able to check out the other places in that strip, but I was only there for one day so, Viet Cuisine. I at least walked a bit out of my lane and ordered the wonton soup and the seafood clay pot. Both very good moves.

The cilantro and green onion with the pork broth and minced pork stuffed wontons was wonderful, and I am immediately upon my return going to search for the best wonton soup in BR. Always good to gain a new focus in life. The seafood clay pot was very satisfying and although I ate it straight up, there were a number of condiments on the table I could have used to dress it up a bit if I so desired. The staff was quick and friendly. I either had two servers or a server and host/manager. Hard to tell, but they were both very polite and considerate. The store looked like it might have been a repurposed Burger King or some other chain, but they owned it with the decor.

The real beauty of driving two-lane asphalt highways across Mississippi hill country to reach the Interstate that takes you into the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama is that hills mean ravines, and changes in elevation produce magnificent vistas as you pass through the many national forests on this route. Even headed to study the fruits of one of this country’s most astounding technological achievements (the Saturn 5 rocket), I could not dismiss that niggling ambivalence regarding the European discovery of this beautiful continent. As invasive as kudzu and carp, European culture and religion and avarice and disease remade this land. One has to wonder who we could have been if the genocide brought about by disease had not preceded European immigration. What if the cultures and beliefs and practices that were already here had merged with the new ideas instead of those communities having already been decimated by smallpox and syphilis to name two enemies of the people. Some would argue that it’s pointless to speculate. It is what it is. But without dreams and imagination, would there be a Space and Rocket Center to visit? We re-examine. We re-imagine. And we move on. Another delightful aspect of the drive was the number of mimosas I could see from the highways. Invasive, yes. Also lovely.

This is a nice little spot close to the Grand Hotel where I was staying. Tablecloths and black garbed waitstaff cooly reciting the specials when they returned with whatever drink you had requested. Like a lot of places, Cotton Alley emphasizes their New Orleans connection with their menu and they are both river towns. What distinguishes our northern neighbor though, is the emphasis on desserts. When I looked in and saw this, I had to take a table.

I can’t think of many places in BR or NO that aren’t bakeries that have a dessert display case in the dining room. Dessert carts are pretty rare as well, but it is a thing up here and also in Huntsville, Alabama, the next leg on my journey. Here’s a pic from the City Cafe Diner up there.

So how about we skip to the chase and look at the house made chocolate eclair I had for dessert (fancy name for Mississippi mud pie) , then circle back to the beginning of the meal?

Yes, it was delicious. This one had a graham cracker crust, and you can see the s’mores resemblance. Not really anything like an eclair, but tomato, tomahto. The house salad dressing was a very brisk and interesting garlic/sour cream concoction, and the house pasta was a bechamel with tomato, artichoke, and capers. I do love the kick capers bring to everything from smoked salmon to pizza to pasta sauces. I got them to sub shrimp for the grilled chicken it normally comes with.

Part of the elite funkiness that every operator in downtown historic Natchez ascribes to is splashes of local art on the walls, and sculpture where there’s room for it. I, of course, am all in. Anyone who gives local artists an opportunity to display their work scores points in my book. Everything at Cotton Alley Cafe was a positive, and I enjoyed it very much, but it doesn’t really rank as can’t miss. If you are in Natchez and something else catches your eye then by all means check that one out, but if you are casting about for a place to just chill and have a good meal then linger over coffee and dessert or an aperitif before taking a stroll along the river, Cotton Alley Cafe will always be there for you.

I’ve been having really good luck with bbq lately, first with Hannah Q Smokehouse in BR and now at Pig Out Inn in Natchez. Great atmosphere, great potato salad and baked beans, and really good bbq. Nice smoke flavor, not dry at all, and no need for any sauce. I finished the chicken off first again, and I’m starting to think after all these years that I like my chicken more than pork ribs or brisket.

I started the day taking the nature walk in Bluff Park right on the riverfront. Very interesting being that close to the river without a levee. You could see the levee structure on the Vidalia side, and there is a path even closer to the water that was submerged with the water so high. Lot of antebellum homes about as well.

Beautiful drive up to Natchez. At one point, looking out on the horizon from atop one of the highest hills, it felt like I was seeing the land before DeSoto showed up with all his syphilis and small pox. There’s a lot of undeveloped land on the Vidalia side as well as the Natchez side of the river. That sense of timelessness is very liberating. Downtown historic Natchez is a bit like a movie set. Lots of empty storefronts. Signs saying businesses have moved or closed. Got a haircut and my barber said they were trying to revitalize, but that there were still over five hundred homes for sale in the area.

I was thrilled to discover Planet Thailand. Of course you can find all sorts of places on your phone nowadays, but when you walk up to a place like this, you do still get that feeling of finding something intensely unique. From the sidewalk plants, to the offering plinth and stone garden, the water feature inside the restaurant, the traditional family portraits, and the super nice teapot and excellent garni (my personal plural for garnish), Planet Thailand makes it more than a transaction, something all too few restaurants still care enough to attempt. When you put in that kind of effort, you raise the stakes. It’s about more than money. It’s about the total experience. It’s about the owner’s reputation and standing. And it’s about you, the guest, not you, the customer. A subtle but real distinction.

I am a tremendous fan of pan-Asian restaurants. The ability to combine elements from different cultures is very alluring. I ended up going with spring rolls and shrimp pad thai, but after a visit to Huntsville and the Space Center Saturday I will be coming back through Natchez and I’m tempted to return and try the sushi since this meal was so fresh and well executed. (Unfortunately, they were closed Sunday when I came back through, not permanently, just on Sundays, thank goodness, because this will be the first place I head when I come to Natchez next time).

The Bet-R has always been solid. Good meats, breads, veggies and dairy and an extensive collection of Blue Bell ice cream. Plenty of parking, really nice staff. I stopped in to load up on hurricane supplies (bottled water and Spaghetti-0’s) and couldn’t pass up the hot deli counter.

Sure, there are buffets all over town, but where else can you put together this plate lunch? Dark meat chicken, mac n cheese, crawfish étouffée and corn bread. Yum.

Bet-R isn’t the best at anything, but they are good at so many things that it will always be a go to place for ingredients, supplies, and cooked foods. They have a hot box right by the deli where they leave the leftovers from lunch. I’ll stop by and grab some fried catfish every now and then to slap between two pieces of white bread for a fast dinner. Great place. Great people. And really close to me.

You know how some folks just can’t pass up a yard sale? I’m that way with taco spots, even if they’re a split concept-shared kitchen-strip mall taco spot. I did a few tacos and they were quite nice. The chips and salsa were woefully generic though. Like plastic bag and gallon plastic jug generic.

I think I’ve got to go back at least one more time to try the smoke chile cumin wings from the Bayou Boys side of the store. And I did like the tacos enough to want to try a quesadilla. The meats and sauces were well seasoned. Scared of the salsa, but maybe the guac and pico would be okay. The true find here was the decor. A lot of interesting wall art and near dream catchers.

And here’s an old piece of mine that fits the day’s yard sale theme.

Collegetown Summer
Tie-dyed yard sales
Worn paperback libraries
An entire thrift store’s worth
of mismatched plates and cutlery.
And here and there only debris
left over from the glory days—
header and footer of a sleigh bed,
pieces of cum stained couch,
kitten riddled blinds, I remember
a pair of size four hiking boots
left to dry on top the water heater
forgotten in the scramble to live again
somewhere new, somewhere different.
She also left a Chinese lantern, the kind
that covers a naked bulb above a waterbed–
abandoned witness to love and trying to love.

And yes, there are tongue pulled U-hauls
sweating in the shade of mimosas and crepe myrtles
Coughing up beds and clothes and desktops like hair balls.
Everyone must live the dream, everyone must be broken,
everyone must move on. Somewhere new.
Somewhere different.

I have to admit I was a bit leery of corporate ramen, but I wanted to go see the new Spiderman movie and Jinya is right next door to Cinemark in Perkins Rowe. Turned out to be a great move. The place had at least fifty percent bar seating at the real bar, the bar around the exhibition kitchen, and under the windows. There’s a little patio outside (that looks great for people watching) located in the portico of the Cinemark theater. Most importantly though, the bowl of ramen I ended up with was fantastic.

The three boneless skinless chicken thighs were fried perfectly and set in the umami chicken broth along with half a spicy egg, bamboo shoots, nori, green onions, and thin noodles. It was only one of many choices, and there’s a long list of additions you can make to customize any bowl you order. The staff was young, into it, and kept doing that Thank you! in unison thing, along with a couple of other shouts I didn’t really grasp. In my defense, I was really busy with the ramen. The decor was a sharp, upscale take on traditional Japanese style elements. Normally I would call that corporate clinical (or cynical) but this rendition was quite nice throughout the store.

I don’t know why, exactly, but I’ve long had an affinity for one parking spot for two or more activities. When I lived in Culver City, my brother and I would haul our laundry to a spot right next to a pizza parlor. The pizza wasn’t great, but the beer was cold. Same thing here in BR when the ex and I would haul our laundry to the place right around the corner from Chelsea’s in University Shopping Center. Or one better, Igor’s on St. Charles in New Orleans where the bar and laundry are the same business. At any rate, dinner and a movie just got a lot better with the addition of Jinya next door to Cinemark. And yes, the new Spiderman movie is both funny and intense.

This was mainly a nostalgia trip. I’ve been to this Gatti’s before and they have a nice buffet. Pasta bar, salad bar, five or six fresh baked pizza’s laid out for you to choose as many slices as you want. And very inexpensive. You can really throw down here if that’s what you want to do, but I was really thinking about another Gatti’s, the one that used to be on Florida near Sharp where I would meet my high school sweetheart on Friday nights after I was done playing football at Olympia Stadium, or occasionally at Memorial Stadium. She’d wait at Gatti’s with friends while I took the long bus ride home with my guys (we had a lot of injuries my senior year and ended up losing more games than we won) and taking a quick shower and jumping into the Rambler to go catch up with her. We would always order her favorite–Canadian bacon, mushroom, black olive–and gaze at each other over the top of the plastic pitcher of beer we shared before paying up and finding a parking lot to work on our night moves. These guys on Essen went a little crazy with the black olives, and the sauce now seems almost as bright as Chef Boyardee, and the one on Florida seemed a lot swankier (at least to us back then) and wasn’t mainly a buffet like this one is now.

Some memories still taste good, no matter how old they become. She was and still is a fantastic artist, but when she was born again, I just couldn’t take that journey with her. Every now and then I will order up a Canadian bacon, mushroom, and black olive just to think back on those days filled with passion and drama and joy and fear as only the last days of high school can be, but when it’s about the pizza, I’m always going to head over to Fleur de Lis or maybe Red Zeppelin. Then and now. Funny how they only intersect now and then.