Culinary genius is nice when it happens, but that’s not every day, and it isn’t on schedule. Great ideas come and go, and hopefully you have the time and resources to pursue your dreams, but Wednesday is on its way, and we need to eat. I like the term culinary cleverness. Hacks, shortcuts, upgrades that make home cooking better and easier. One way to go about it is to take prepared foods and upgrade them with fresh ingredients. I picked up a box of rice pilaf, mushrooms, and shallots at Whole Foods, followed the box directions, added chopped mushrooms and sliced shallots, tossed the whole thing in my 5 quart rice cooker and moved on to making coffee and fixing breakfast. It was done before I left for the office, and I put it in the fridge for a microwave reheat when I got back to the house.
Here’s another upgrade:
A Red Baron Four Cheese frozen pizza topped with shallots, capers, and anchovies. Frozen pizza takes about twenty minutes in the oven. Plenty of time to heat up whatever toppings you want to add.
I’ve also found that when you have a leftover rice dish, adding scrambled eggs makes for a nice breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. I think I got the idea from the eggs included in some of my favorite versions of Chinese fried rice. And there are many other combinations that work well with leftover rice. Any canned soup just begs to be upgraded. So, three meals based on mushroom rice pilaf, maybe twenty minutes prep time all told. Good eats, not a lot of time or effort to produce–that’s a win in my book.
Whenever I make fried egg sandwiches for breakfast, my thoughts always go back to Mama Seabell and the time she spent on Chimes Street. Kitchen schedules blur lines, night shift/day shift, weekday/weekend so a whole lot of glorious nights turn into shaky mornings when you had to go in and start all over again. I’d hit Mama’s early and ask for fried chicken or a fried egg sandwich if she didn’t have any chicken ready yet. She’d look at me hard, not quite disgusted, but certainly exasperated at my current state. All she’d ask though was Mayo or ketchup? I didn’t even know people did egg sandwiches with mayo. I never really got to know her, or her me, but we shared the bond all kitchen workers share, whether you’re in charge or just washing dishes and taking out garbage. I can still see a trio of six gallon aluminum pots on the stove, a one pound stick of butter in each melting under a low flame. A stainless steel table loaded down with bags of chopped onion, bellpepper, and celery. Jars of Tony’s and black pepper, dried thyme and basil, sharpened knives, cutting boards, the ever present 16oz styro of coffee. Sometimes it’s just a box of medium mushrooms and a hotel pan of mushroom stuffing, some sour cream and a stack of sheet pans. Sometimes a whole pork loin on a cutting board, waiting to be trimmed and cut into pairs of 4oz boneless chops. Sides of salmon to be de-boned and portioned and always, every day, the smell of red beans cooking down and bacon on the flat top. Mama knew what I was, even if she didn’t know exactly who I was. And watching her stir her pots and plate her dishes helped ease me back into the here and now, from wherever I’d wandered off the night before. Gird my loins and all that. Down some chicken or an egg sandwich and get back to it, knife in hand.
I’m sure there’s always been boudin omelets in south Louisiana, but I’m pretty sure the first one for sale in Baton Rouge was at dawn on the first day of the first Baton Rouge Balloon Festival. Carlton LeGrange had taken a slot at the Fairgrounds to park the mobile kitchen (an old Frito Lay delivery truck refurbished with stainless steel prep tables, a six burner stove/oven with a griddle, and three Pitco Frialators) and sell to the festival crowd from dawn to dusk. We had lunch and dinner covered with shrimp and catfish poboys and fries, but we had to wrack our brains for breakfast because neither Café LeGrange location had a breakfast or brunch menu at the time. We bounced a lot of different ideas. Whatever we chose had to be quick to execute, low prep (who knew how many would show for the dawn firing, or whether they’d want to buy breakfast at the fairgrounds?) and support the brand. Café LeGrange and LeGrange Catering had always been all about boiled crawfish and jambalaya, red beans and gumbo, fried seafood platters and poboys. We couldn’t just offer a styro plate of bacon and eggs and biscuits. Carlton finally came up with the boudin omelet, fashioned after Jerry Lee’s boudin and pepperjack sandwich.
Boudin and pepper cheese poboy from Jerry Lee’s Cajun Foods on Greenwell Springs Rd
We used Jerry Lee’s boudin for the restaurants’ boudin balls, and since Jerry Lee’s was on the way to Baton Rouge from the catering compound out in Watson, we’d stop often on the way out to a catering gig for Jerry Lee’s free coffee and a breakfast of boudin links and saltines and on the way back for more boudin links and cracklins and jerky along with a six pack or two of tall boys. We had plenty of Jerry Lee’s boudin at the store, eggs were cheap enough and easy to prep, and the griddle made quick work of both heating the boudin and cooking the omelet. And they were well received, we did good business at that first balloon fest and many more afterwards. Jerry Lee’s Cajun Foods is still right where it’s always been, and Carlton has a place out in Central, Carlton’s Seafood, 12424 Hooper Rd. Carlton still rolls out the best boiled crawfish I’ve ever had. Ditto Jerry Lee’s boudin and jerky and cracklins. And don’t forget that boudin and pepper cheese poboy. Definitely worth the ride out there.
It’s too early in the game to start writing restaurant obits, but the foodie landscape will change. White Star has announced permanent closure, but if Katrina taught us anything at all, it is this: restaurant folk are resilient. One of the most striking things about that shutdown was what the diaspora of chefs and line cooks meant when NO slowly came back on line. Even the dive bars sported exquisite menus. I’ll take a High Life and the steamed mussels, please. The product got better everywhere. We can only hope for something similar here. But we will take losses. Even the most popular and successful restaurants operate on a very thin margin, and we might be surprised by who gets caught out by the terrible timing and length of this shutdown. And although everyone is working to minimize the resulting economic depression, millions are remembering how much cheaper it is to cook at home.
Dat’z Italian
Like the owner of White Star Market, the owner of Dat’z Italian says they won’t reopen. Not so fast my friend. We don’t know what’s around the corner. We are all in the process of relearning that tomorrow is purely speculation. It’s uncomfortable, definitely, and no one really responds well to uncertainty, but we know that we have to make assumption after assumption to render any kind of plan for the future. The White Star space is ready right now to reopen as an incubator food court. It would take a hefty investment to reshape that space for retail or housing. Perhaps it could be reshaped into an arts and crafts market, but those are weekend opportunities that might not fare well in a struggling economy. The landlord might think twice about not coming to an agreement with White Star if they spend just a little time thinking over their options in a deflated economy. Flea markets aren’t fun or pretty or profitable and no one wants to live beside one. There is a chance White Star could be reborn right there, or somewhere nearby. We just don’t know for sure. I believe the same holds true for Dat’z Italian. Good pizza does come and go, and they might have lost some leverage in the wood fired game to Rocca, but that doesn’t mean they are done, even if they return with a new name in a new space.
Fete au Fete
Fete au Fete was already gone when the pandemic shut everyone down, but they are worth the mention simply because their food was very good. Unfortunately, that often isn’t enough to make a go of it. White Star provided folks an opportunity to get their product out there to the public for review. Unlike shopping malls and airports, White Star wasn’t traffic driven and chain oriented. Traffic was produced entirely by the tenants. Their mastery of food and service and increasingly their mastery of self promotion on social media is what brought customers in. The communal kitchen and dining space was very helpful for some new faces, but not all.
MJ’s
The Dish
White Star gave MJ’s Cafe the chance to regroup once more and keep the brand alive while setting up another brick and mortar on Government Street. Their sous chef opened The Dish at White Star. Both enterprises rocked a lot of non-vegan diners with their work and opened a lot of eyes to what is possible when you devote the same time and energy to fruits and grains and vegetables as you do to meat and fish and poultry. A good bit of world cuisine is plant based, and if you ask the old folks, this country was not nearly as meat dependent before the world wars. One possibility of rattling everyone’s cage this hard is that the opportunity to reflect and being forced to abandon long standing habits may result in healthier eating overall. Maybe not right away as everyone rushes to the first pub that opens for a pint and a stack of nachos–but whenever patterns are disrupted, new behaviors result. I wouldn’t be surprised to see many restaurants have food trucks ready to go, to increase curbside delivery, and to think long and hard about scrapping Waitr and developing their own delivery menus and teams, perhaps even in concert with other restaurants. Certainly the next White Star will have pickup and delivery options for all their tenants to take advantage of. I’m a little surprised that the benefit crawfish boils haven’t inspired parking lot fried catfish, red beans, and jambalaya. Festival style with tents and servers running fresh food out to car windows. I’m also surprised no one has hopped on the festival food bandwagon and loaded their food truck with fried turkey legs and Scotch eggs.
Empanola
I never really thought that Empanola was going to make it anyway, but I was hoping to be proved wrong. Setting up right across from Gov’t Taco was not good. The tacos were much quicker and a “thing” for many more customers than empanadas, but they had made it work in NO, so there was hope for them here. I wonder if they could team up with someone else and expand the menu or just offer an alternative menu at the same brick and mortar. It’s not unheard of. I went to a sushi/Mexican joint in Mobile, Uno Dos Tacos and Bayou Boyz share a counter and storefront in Arlington Marketplace, and gas stations often have more than one chain inside. Unlikely allies happen in times of war, and Empanola might find a place in a bar looking to rent out their kitchen in the new world we are headed toward.
Gov’t Taco
Gov’t Taco was arguably the anchor of White Star Market from its inception. Jay Ducote’s fame was already established, and the taco pop ups had created just the kind of social media excitement that White Star needed to open the food hall. Gov’t Taco initially drew the customers who would come back to try the other brands under the White Star roof. They already had a brick and mortar picked out and under development when everything went sideways. I’m pretty confident they will find the backing they need to keep going. We don’t know what kind of space they envision–are we thinking family friendly or tequila shots?–but specialty tacos made it all happen for The Rum House and who knows, maybe they’ll invite their friends from Empanola to join the cause.
The Rutledge
The Rutledge would be a great loss to Baton Rouge. Their dedication to top notch food stands out. White Star wasn’t really their prime location, but I really hope they stay in the game. If I were running The Watermark Hotel downtown, I would think long and hard about offering these guys the space currently occupied by Milford’s on Third. That would land them right in the middle of those customers with the means and motive to seek out the best possible salads and sandwiches. They would complement rather than compete with The Gregory, and everyone would benefit. We need good outcomes when this disaster ends. Retaining The Rutledge would certainly be a gift.
Chow Yum Phat
Chow Yum Phat launched their brand at White Star and then opened a brick and mortar at the underpass on Perkins in the old City Pork space. They are fighting very hard to stay in the game, offering curbside pickup and delivery through multiple apps, hosting benefit crawfish boils, and collaborating with Curbside on specialty burgers and tots. This is the clearest picture of the future I have seen so far: Instagram driven sales, deep community involvement, a commitment to staff as well as management. Several other stores citywide are also doing their best. Mid City Beer Garden, Rocca Pizzeria, and Iverstine Butcher all deserve a shout out for giving it their best shot. I personally don’t want to lose a single Baton Rouge establishment, but that is unrealistic. We will mourn those we lose and celebrate those who make it through to the other side, but it is too early to give up on anyone at all right now. I can’t wait to head over to Phil Brady’s for a High Life and blues jam, or down to NO to meet up with friends at Henry’s Uptown Bar, Mid City Yacht Club, Jimani, or Ms Mae’s. Also hope that LUVI makes it through this mess because they are next on my list of places to try down there. Like I said, too early to count anyone out, but prepare yourself, we will all lose at least one place we love.
What’s not to like about Whataburger? Two near-beef patties on a sesame seedless bun, mustard and onion to go with the lettuce, tomato, and pickles. So wonderfully old school. Reminds me of the burgers at Hopper’s Drive Inn on Florida Blvd and Bonaventure’s Boat Landing on False River. The meal comes with a quart of fountain beverage or sweet/unsweet tea in a huge styro and their medium order of skinny fries which is like a giant order of anyone else’s. There’s only one shop in BR out on Siegen, but it’s definitely worth the drive if you’re in that oh-for-the-love-of-those-good-old-days mood.
Note to readers: I will be taking a short break (hopefully very short!) until Baton Rouge gets back on its feet. If I come up with something good at the house, I’ll toss it in the mix, either here or on Instagram. Be well. Stay safe. Watch those carbs!
Mason’s Grill is one of those watering hole type of restaurants like the old Hawks Nest and Chelsea’s. Got a rep for a few standout food items, but mostly a place to get something to eat while you’re indulging in your favorite pastime. Long bar with plenty of tv’s, lot of burger options, plenty of fried seafood and southern standards, and a famous brunch. I was there on a Thursday so I missed out on brunch. Instead, I checked out their version of Catfish Acadiana, fried catfish over rice topped with crawfish étouffée. I went with onion rings and slaw as side and salad. Catfish was cooked right, and the étouffée was really good, thinner, with a darker roux than most and a deep flavor throughout, but someone left it on the stovetop too long. The tails had shrunk and turned grey and while the flavor was there, the pop and texture of fresh cooked crawfish tails was absent. Old school o-rings. Thick cut. Hand battered. Slaw was a grade above most places, but not the best I’ve had. There’s only one location. Sometimes mom and pop joints have staffing issues which means both food and service can be up and down depending on when you visit. Mason’s didn’t build their reputation with overcooked étouffée, so I guess I caught them on an off day. Still, everything was good enough that I definitely plan on trying their brunch if I can, especially some of the cocktails everyone raves about, but, like Katrina, it’s very difficult to know how many businesses will have the resources to survive the pandemic. Let’s hope that all of them do. Unfortunately, given the thin margins restaurants operate under, it,s no more realistic to predict a 100 percent recovery rate for businesses than for people.
Initially I balked at the idea of visiting The Simple Greek when I went online and learned that it was a build your own setup. One of the joys of Greek/Lebanese/Israeli/Middle Eastern cuisine is that it comes wrapped not just in pita, but culture. Many beliefs, many tribes, but much like Louisiana, they share a love for cooking and meals. That translates to so many shops in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and I think that kinship with our notion of what food is all about is the reason so many are very successful. But I’ve had some pretty good success lately at build your own places like BurgerIM and Too Saucy, so I went for it. The place was marketed throughout as healthy food, food as fuel, no fuss, no worries and decked out in standard industrial chic aka metal and mass timber. I was impressed at how fast the counter worker found out what I wanted, made it, and sold it to me. I chose pita/falafel/tzatziki/tomato/red onion with a fountain drink (Barq’s root beer) and had my pick of all but one table in the joint. It was noon on Saturday, and there was a crawfish gathering nearby in the Gateway commons area, but there should have been a few tables occupied at least. Alas, all the marketing and presentation in the world falls flat if the falafel and the tzatziki are both tired and uninspired. Without the snap and spice this cuisine is known for, there is no way for this place to compete with the Torchy’s opening soon a few doors down. They should perhaps also rethink the shape and coloring of their falafel patties.
Free food, wine, and beer. Sculpture, wall art, multi-media. Live music. Located in the middle of historic City Park, surrounded by live oaks, nine holes, tennis courts, a croquet lawn. What’s not to like? Baton Rouge Gallery hosts an opening on the first Wednesday of every month featuring work by four new artists. The public is invited, and they come in good numbers to enjoy the feast put together by the staff and a few very talented volunteers. There are plenty of vegan and gluten free options to snack on while you wander the gallery to look, listen, and learn. To socialize or not. To see and be seen. So yes, there’s always a bit of posturing going on–but–free food and drinks. And art. And there’s always a good musical duo or trio or sometimes a larger group like the Florida Street Blowhards. Starts at six, but you’ll want to tag the event on Facebook because on occasion the weather causes it to be postponed. Well worth your time to attend.
Only the second time ever I’ve been to Bay Leaf, and I regret that. I wish it weren’t so far out of my path (also not a fan of Sherwood Forest Blvd) and I will have to make an effort to visit more often. The first time I went was a few years back and I got the grilled combo which was delicious. I don’t remember everything that was on the plate, but I have fond memories of being there with friends and putting up with them giving me a hard time for going so heavy on the meat at an Indian restaurant. Can’t say I’ve changed that much. The baked chicken on the buffet was outstanding, not at all dry. The fresh naan bread that comes to every table as soon as you return from the buffet is a plus as well. And I can’t go Indian without seeking out the onion pakora, onion and vegetable fritters. These were crisp and wonderful. I scooped up a taste of the butter chicken, the curry chicken, and the lamb masala as well and topped them with saffron basmati. These flavors are so different from my everyday that I always delight in them, especially when the meat is perfectly stewed and not overwhelmed but complimented by the sauce. I’m really ready to go back.
I know a lot of you meat lovers won’t be interested, but you should be. This stuff tastes great and sits easy in the system. If your doctor hasn’t told you already to space the red meat out, maybe every other meal, they will. Sooner or later. And if you have redux issues, this will help. Treat it like lean ground beef when you cook. Flavor profile is very similar and it will char nicely over an open flame and brown up in pot or pan. I like it for sliders with cheese and sprouts and avocado, but it will work for all your pasta dishes as well. The gluten free crowd might aim for tacos on corn tortillas and end up very happy. Give it a try. No need to quit eating meat, but taking a break now and then can really help out.
