Text 34432, 94 rader
Skriven 2015-12-21 16:01:46 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: NOLA - Sammy's and distillery 699
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Continental breakfast at the hotel - we were seated behind a post, as
befits two Diamond members with a free coupon. The buffet included a
number of surprisingly good pastries - double chocolate pound cake,
pecan coffee cake, and banana bread; also all sorts of muffins. Fruit
and fruit juice, and - as the staff pointedly noted - oatmeal being
the only thing allowed off the hot table, the entirety of which one 
could upgrade to for an extortionate amount of money. A perfectly fine 
breakfast for those who like large quantities of free starch.

So the Shipps had heard of this uptown dive called Sammy's, but they
had left town without having had the time to check it out; as there 
was a bus that goes up Elysian Fields, we decided to visit Saturday 
morning. The bus arrived right on schedule, dropped us off right
on schedule, so even though we took a wrong turn getting there (I'd
deputized Lilli to take me to Abundance St., but she managed to get
us to Treasure St. (the next one over) instead. It was coming on 11
when we ordered; almost 11:30 when we got our food, as the kitchen 
was just gearing up for the day, and we were apparently the first
chicken order, so the fryer wasn't up to temperature yet. 

White beans and rice tasted rather like red beans and rice; 
broad beans, maybe favas, stewed with smoked pork shank and
onions. They were very salty, otherwise quite good. Alongside
you can get sausage ($7-ish), a pork chop ($8-ish), or a half fried 
chicken (under 10). The chicken was nice and crisp, not hard the way 
Willie's was, juicy, a bit slick as if brined or otherwise treated 
in some way. On the whole pretty good, with a paprika and garlic
flavored breading. Sort of like Popeye's but not quite as good. In
fact, none of the chicken we tried in New Orleans (at some of the
places that came up in the "10 best" type lists) was as good as
a decent Popeye's.

Beers were Coors light or Miller High Life. I had a Barq's red cream 
soda followed by a Dr. Pepper, both strange-tasting extremely sweet
soft drinks. The former has an acidy-fruity bubble-gummish tang that 
overrides the vanilla of cream soda. The latter you have to have
encountered with its inimitable cherry-prune-almond aspect.

I'd go back, even despite the Guy Fieri endorsement (which the
restaurant does not tout).

Perhaps not quite coincidentally, the Old New Orleans rum distillery
is just three blocks away, and there was a noon tour.

We arrived right at noon, finding two other customers, a father and
son, plus the bookkeeper and the tour guide/factotum. We were
poured a strange brew of peach-mango tea with Crystal rum (their
unaged white product), sneakily intoxicating, with free refills,
plus Pat the guide looked the other way if we wanted to help
ourselves to more.

The company offers five products, four rums and a bottled cocktail.

The Crystal rum is the unaged product, the equivalent of Bacardi
silver. It has more sugar cane flavor than the mass-market ones,
but it was really nothing special - how can a white rum be?

Amber - rum aged 3 years in charred American oak barrels from
Bourbon distillers - this had some character, also more flavor
than the ambers from the competition, almost as much richness in
the mouth as the dark mass-market rums.

They don't offer a dark rum, a bit of a pity I thought as they
would have done a good job of it.

Spiced rum - this has cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cayenne,
allspice, and something else starting with C. Chicory. This was
more complex than the Sailor or Captain or the like products,
and a little less sweet. I don't know what the chicory added
except for a little Louisiana cachet. I would perhaps drink 
this again even if not severely intoxicated beforehand.

Celebration - a rum blended of 8- to 13-year rums issued to
celebrate the outfit's 20th anniversary - I found this painfully
woody and not very rumlike. The people at the distillery claim
kinship with Cognac or sippin' bourbon. I dispute this and
figure anyone who actually spends the list price of $85 on a
bottle is going to be sorely disappointed.

Gingeroo - a rum-spiked ginger beer, 20 proof out of the bottle 
- pretty good, pretty sneaky. I drank a bunch of this as if it 
were just plain old ginger beer, and I paid the price afterward.

They used to offer a 10-year-old, but the product was depleted,
and they say they're going to build up stocks for a few years
before offering it again.

The distillery offers a free shuttle from and to the French
Market area. This was a handy little thing. Today our driver
was a perky little girl who was on cloud nine because she
had gotten engaged to be married, plus had just had a play
that she had written produced.
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