MA has become a fan of chargrilled oysters. Something about zinc. These are consumed only with restrictions. Which are: Preferably small Well done A lot of cheese So it was no surprise when the lunch suggestion of Acme came up, because she considers these the closest to meeting her criteria. And she likes the coleslaw. No one has to ask me twice to go to Acme. We were surprised by manager Jeff Mitchell, who told us he was sending a new item to the table. Crabmeat stuffed mushrooms, which he says he’s been trying to add to the menu for years. Six to an order, these were big meaty mushroom ..read more

My wife surprised me yesterday by deviating from our predictable Monday lunch. Monday is my designated at home radio show, set in stone when I was singing with NPAS. (I have to get back to that.) Our order at New Orleans Food and Spirits in downtown Covington is as predictable as our weekly visits there. A half dozen chargrilled oysters to start, followed by pecan catfish with a side of red beans for me, and grilled shrimp over a small spinach salad for MA. But right before our departure, MA remembered that she wanted to try Sticks BBQ, because she was curious about the name change from Sticks ..read more

Five-Star NOMenu, 5/8/2019: Back Issue. Desayone. A Finely Carved Sazerac. Ox-Lot Nine. Left with a rainy Sunday, I volunteered to accompany the Marys to one of their favorites, the Chimes. To their great surprise, I have warmed to this place, but only for their Sunday brunch. I’ve decided it is pretty good, and in some cases like grillades and grits, really good. But one Mary was already at her house renovation working, leaving me with the Mary who loves Ox Lot 9. Open Table had nothing available, which, considering the rain, seemed odd. We called and were told to go on over. They were abou ..read more

Left with a rainy Sunday, I volunteered to accompany the Marys to one of their favorites, the Chimes. To their great surprise, I have warmed to this place, but only for their Sunday brunch. I’ve decided it is pretty good, and in some cases like grillades and grits, really good. But one Mary was already at her house renovation working, leaving me with the Mary who loves Ox Lot 9. Open Table had nothing available, which, considering the rain, seemed odd. We called and were told to go on over. They were about as busy as the rain would suggest. I had a show at 1pm, so eating lighter was in order ..read more

Left with a rainy Sunday, I volunteered to accompany the Marys to one of their favorites, the Chimes. To their great surprise, I have warmed to this place, but only for their Sunday brunch. I’ve decided it is pretty good, and in some cases like grillades and grits, really good. But one Mary was already at her house renovation working, leaving me with the Mary who loves Ox Lot 9. Open Table had nothing available, which, considering the rain, seemed odd. We called and were told to go on over. They were about as busy as the rain would suggest. I had a show at 1pm, so eating lighter was in order ..read more

Enjoying A Diary For Four: Among the most fully entrenched of the NOMenu in recent pages presents pages in the late 5/20/and 2019. The feature shows off the Sunday brunch menu at nine, bacon, biscuits and desayone. The latter is an expression of a sort of translation to Spanish, all with reference to a Spanish-language breakfast. MA and I have been enjoying these breakfasts at almost as long we began trying them. They came from Ox-Lot Nine and beyond, with entertainment from a guitarist whose music repertoire comes mostly from the 1930s and earlier. I have encouraged the musicians to let me t ..read more

Diary For Tuesday, 5/07/2019, after over an hour driving around, looking for a restaurant for dinner with the Marys and visiting son Jude. Over and over we chose venues for the evening meal, and over and over we descended into a parking of a restaurant that is closed for for Monday, Tuesday or both. It’s a new restaurant phenomenon, this closed-Tuesday business. Used to be that you would check to see whether a restaurant is open on Sunday and/or Monday. Now we have to check Tuesdays. Some places even close on Wednesdays. Maybe doing that is what brought down Dante’s Kitchen, which took Wednes ..read more

Five-Star NOMenu, 5/8/2019: Looking For North Shore Italian Eats. Diary For Tuesday, 5/07/2019, after over an hour driving around, looking for a restaurant for dinner with the Marys and visiting son Jude. Over and over we chose venues for the evening meal, and over and over we descended into a parking of a restaurant that is closed for for Monday, Tuesday or both. It’s a new restaurant phenomenon, this closed-Tuesday business. Used to be that you would check to see whether a restaurant is open on Sunday and/or Monday. Now we have to check Tuesdays. Some places even close on Wednesdays. Maybe ..read more

Dining Diary For Monday, 5/6/2019. Radio Into The Roosevelt. Lunch at Martin Wine Cellar. Looking For Dinner In The French Quarter. I have an incredibly long list of people who I must see today, most within a short and inconvenient time. Yesterday, I found that today I had to be at Ochsner at 7:15 a.m. for a simple pulse. It’s part of trio of such examinations which so far have shown I am in good shape. After that, I returned to my desk, there to meet up with the Marys in late morning. MA delivered me a new plan for rejiggering the NOMenu newsletter, which she feels needs to be modernized. Sh ..read more

Diary For Friday, May 3, 2019. Do you remember any of the restaurants that occupied the 3000-ish blocks of Magazine Street in the 1980s? That area continued to grow over the years, and new restaurants came and went–especially in the building that once was Flagons. The building that was the ancient Turci’s in the 1970s became a cheap steak house for a time in the 1980s. More recently, the Rizzuto family moved in during the last couple of decades, but only after changing the names a few times (remember Amici? In the past couple of months we have seen the Amici space replaced by a puzzling new ..read more