Text 16068, 88 rader
Skriven 2011-09-27 21:31:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: sep report cotd 960
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Our other big meal was lunch at Commander's Palace, which costs
half what dinner costs, which costs half of what it used to cost
back in the palmy dot com print your own dollars days. In fact,
though the service is as courtly as ever, the room just as grand,
and the chef Tory McPhail probably as talented as the young Emeril
or Paul Prudhomme when they worked here, two appetizers, two main
courses, and 6 martinis cost what the martinis alone would have
cost 10-15 years ago.

We got a table at the back of the main room, just ahead of the
stairwell. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad table, but
it's certainly a Different perspective. A genial though correct
fairly cute woman waiter.

The hook that is supposed to get people, young ones at least,
to come out and spend a few bucks for lunch is an offering of
25c martinis (limit 3 per person) in five varieties, to wit:

classic - decent cheap gin, nothing special, garnished with
a humongous olive, whose humongous pit hole was unfortunately
stuffed with a ribbon of pinkish extrusion with flecks of
pimiento; this available with vodka on request;

Cosmopolitan (pinkish, made with cranberry liqueur and Rose's)
- the best of the frou frou ones, quite limey and with a bit of
a bite;

Commander's Palace (orange, made with blue Curacao) - nice and
blue, nice and orangey, but way too sweet;

Ray's melon (green, made with Midori) - both of our least
favored, a child's drink, not that the others weren't.

Garlic-Parmesan bread (quite good though greasy) followed by
pretty standard baguette.

Lilli's hanger steak, garnished with Tabasco onion rings, which
she won't touch, so I got them, was excellent, cooked just
medium-rare-to-rare as she requested. Unfortunately, the mashed
potatoes, which she generally likes, were too salty to eat.

I started with a dark, rich, and very salty duck gumbo that I
finished by virtue of the fact that it was a small small serving,
and I had a blue martini to wash it down, and I asked for crushed
red pepper to go with, and what came was pequins, and I used the
whole ounce that came out of the kitchen.

"Creole couchon de lait" - the Restaurant Week menu claimed that
this was "sliced tenderloin, smoked shoulder, spicy cracklin'
and shiitake boudin with Tabasco onion rings, red pepper paint,
and liquefied hog's head jus," but the regular menu correctly
described what actually came - crab-boil seasoned loin, salty
and overcooked to my taste (but tender; also, probably just
right for the multitudes) and some grilled sausagy thing,
over a bed of good standard pulled pork, over a fried cake of
crawfish jambalayaish thing, the plate drizzled with red pepper
paint and the thick brown demiglace-based stuff that seems to be
the signature gravy of New Orleans. The onion rings, of which I
had a double dose, were fine but not very Tabasco. It was a good
but not a great dish - I'd have been happier with the Restaurant
Week presentation, or even just with a bit of the cracklin' thereof.

A gentle upsell from the waitress followed by the subwaiter
who filled our water glasses after the first sip followed the
busboy: dessert? The bread pudding takes thirty minutes, hint
hint. Also, the molten chocolate cake takes extra time. The
creme brulee is excellent. Whatever.

Not for me. What I got for dessert: an order of the angry
oysters, which are 4 lovely fresh ones fried in a batter
laced with Tabasco (but not much of it), served over the
kernels of an ear of excellent corn stewed in butter. This,
we agreed after I gave Lilli a spoonful of the corn, was the
best dish of the day.

The bill came to about $65 + tip, a relative bargain.

---

The only other ingestion that came close to interesting was
our obligatory tourist visit to Cafe du Monde, where I had a
glass of iced decaf, which came pre-creamed and tasted very
good indeed. As always, the beignets were hot, fresh, messy,
and pleasantly infantile.

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