Wines and Vegetables— The Dos Brisas Way!

As usual I went for a four mile morning run and got ready for Inn owner, Doug Bosch, to scoop me up and hit the highway for The Inn at Dos Brisas. I summoned some of the very best in the Houston food world to join me for lunch and dinner. For me, it was a continuous day of eating. I ended with cheese at lunch only to begin a cheese class and eat more house-made fromage for dinner. The lunch group, infamous Chowhounds all, led by the passionate food voice of Jenny Wang came to break bread and taste what all the buzz is about at Dos Brisas: Chef Jason Robinson, that is!

At dinner the select few who took to the road to Washington, Texas for a culinary excursion included longtime friend John Demers, who has the most educated palate and is a food historian, as well as my friend from the past who is as genuine as they come, Syd Kearney. New found foodie friend, Brad Meyer drove an hour and a half, which was most impressive. He made a great addition to our dinner clan. It went somewhat like this: the group perused the extensive gardens: four acres of vegetables, herbs and what is left of the fruit bearing trees. The heat was sweltering, but the passion of knowing what was in the certified organic gardens overruled. Back at the ranch a four-course tasting kicked off with about 10 varieties of miniature-size heirloom tomatoes, then delicate little risotto balls infused with corn and basil. A protein did make its way into the meal, but even day boat halibut could not distract us from the Broadway show of vegetables that had been harvested in the kitchen gardens not an hour before. This entrée let all the elements shine: the cucumber water balanced the firm salt-crusted fish and a sideshow of cubed rhubarb and cucumbers added the perfect balance in flavor. The course’s co-star (and partner in crime) was an accompanying beverage: not wine, but a cucumber cocktail: Hendrick’s small-batch gin and cucumber juice that defined the word “cocktail.” It was revolutionary! It tasted like a really good dose of bread and butter pickles. The group all agreed on the flavor analysis—amazing! We swooned over the vegetable tian wrapped in whisper-light strips of summer squash too. Then we really everyone almost licked the plate when the sweet eggplant beignets with eggplant ice cream came to the table. The garnish of baby eggplant sliced paper-thin with a touch of caramelized sugar had me yearning for more.

At dinner, I had my eye on one thing and I pulled in John to follow my lead. A surprise move from the most increasingly knowledgeable sommeliers I have met: Christopher Bates, who also plays a big role at The Inn at Dos Brisas, that of GM. It was the piece de resistance! He selected for the last course a bottle of Pétrus, a ’94. I said, “Oh we want it and we want it now.” It was divine!

Now for the sublime was a fast one pulled on us from the Inn’s owners Doug and Jennifer Bosch. They are so wonderful, charming, and fun. John Demers and I were the last ones left and we were treated with congenial hospitality. Not like rotten eggs! Oh John was glad he decided to sleep in one of the Inn’s four casitas, because liquid gold was the last pour of the night. Doug said, “Let’s go to the cellar and pick out one more bottle of wine.” I joked but truthfully, and not kidding, “I could go for another Pétrus.” He said that he would do better than that! He pulled from the lower level of the wine rack a bottle and I thought, “Oh it’s at the bottom, what could that be?” I gulped when I saw the label. It was a fine Bordeaux, Chateau Latour 1982 Pauillac. Robert Parker made a name for himself saying this was the best wine of all time, and confirming 1982 was an incredible year. Parker gave it a score of 100. I swished water around my mouth to clean my taste buds and let enter one of the finest wines of its time. For someone like me, knowledgeable about wine and who could share that moment with others who understand the complexity and purity of this particular vintage, it was heaven. Doug surely ended the evening in the most gracious way. Doug is truly a generous man at heart and does things in a big way—the Texas way!

On the road again. Texas Bound.

Usually when my friends and family get my voicemail or out of office message, they immediately assume I’m back home, in New Orleans that is! This week, they guessed wrong. Yes, I went south but this time west. Houston, Texas is somewhat like home with so many of my closest and dearest pals from New Orleans live there now. Right off the plane, my first call was to my childhood friend from age 4, Elisabeth Bickham (aka Lillabet). I told her I was in and coming over. Then I touched base with Charles Stern, another friend but more from the high school days. Over drinks at Lillabet’s house in River Oaks, we joined by one of my dearest work buddies now good friend, Vance Muse, who is an incredible writer, art aficionado and public relations exec for the Menil Collection. Vance popped over for a splash of bubbly (which he kindly snuck in) bearing gifts from the treasure chest at the Menil Gift Shop. And the Criners, were Vance’s arm candy, an elegant couple I have met several times in New Orleans and was so happy to get to know more this past evening. Wild that they live right behind Lillabet; perhaps it was really meant to be? We were sorry when the sunset ended and the warm night split our party up.

Dinner for Charles, Lillabet and I was more about catching up than cuisine. That is so hard for me to swallow as I was hoping to try Reef or The New York Times-featured hotspot for organs, Feast No luck! We went to a French bistro, that will remain nameless, as I am not about giving negative digs to restaurants trying to make it in this economy, but I have to mention that warm wine by the glass made me cringe. The bread and “butta” were great, but what really mattered tonight is being with each other.

Chef with a Mission

John Besh is a chef with a mission.

He has set out to restore the culinary heritage of New Orleans, not only by his daily support of local farmers, fishers, and artisan producers, but also in reviving fading or endangered cultural traditions of the city. In his research for his latest venture, Domenica, which opens July 1st in the Roosevelt Hotel, he came across a book called Italians in New Orleans by Joseph Maselli and Dominic Candeloro (Arcadia Publishing 2004.) We went through it together recently.

Now, maybe because my father was French and I was a child of the Sacré Coeur from a tender age (nuns and all!) France was my “ethnic” focus for the city. John’s roots are German. So although we’d grown up there, the length and depth of the Italian legacy in our city took us both by surprise.

Who knew that Tonti Street was named for Enrico de Tonti, who first explored the area in the 17th century with LaSalle, and stayed on to settle the colony? Almost since then, it seems, there’s been a well established Italian presence in New Orleans. A number of Italian states opened consulates there as early as the 1830s. Early prominent Italians included artists, musicians, soldiers, church leaders, physicians, the man known as “Father of the Rice Industry,” and, notably, grocery, wine, and liquor importers.

All-Italian battalions from New Orleans served in the Civil War. After the war, according to the book, the development of direct trade between New Orleans and Sicily in goods such as citrus fruits, figs, olives, and seafood significantly boosted the economic power of the city’s Italian immigrants – and their numbers were about to swell --

Following the Civil War, mass migration of Sicilian peasants filled demand for labor on sugar plantations, on the docks, and in the food industry. Before long, as much as 80% of the French Quarter was actually populated by Italians – and became known as “Little Italy” or “Little Palermo.” Many of the immigrants prospered as fruit and vegetable vendors. According to U.S. Census estimates, between 1850-1970 there were more Italians in New Orleans than in any other American city – again, who knew?? “For a good long time,” points out John, “our world-famous ‘French’ Market consisted primarily of Italian merchants!”

Stay tuned for more on how John will be honoring the legacy of Italian groceries, delis, and hard-working home cooks at Domenica in his own creative and contemporary way --

Bake, Rattle, and Roll

So in one of those fateful ‘what if’ moments, David Guas got an intriguing phone call the day before he was to sign a 10-year lease on a little property he planned to turn in to his ‘Bayou Bakery.’ It wouldn’t be all he had hoped and dreamed, but in this economy, it would be a good start. Then a call came from out of the blue, from Stephen Fedorchak and Brian Normile, owners of Clarendon’s popular Liberty Tavern. They summoned David for an impromtu meeting. They had acquired the property across the street, a well-regarded ‘grunge’ coffee house, and were looking for a partner with a compelling concept. They found it in David Guas, and the rest, as they say, is history. This is what those life savings were saved for!

Bayou Bakery opens in August. “It’ll be a homey Southern café – deep Southern – a community house where you come as you are, come with the kids, come and not be judged.”

Chef John Besh

Here in the Southern Comfort column, we keep up with news and notes from the New Orleans restaurants of Chef John Besh. His is now a household name, what with the honors and awards, appearances on Today and participation on Top Chef. But when you come right down to it, John is a hometown boy from Slidell, Louisiana – I’ve known him since I don’t know when. A top chef, for sure, but also an energetic entrepreneur who has made it his mission to revive the culinary heritage of his city -- my hometown -- many aspects of which he has seen slipping away over the decades or just getting lost behind the big ‘gumbo’ of tourist attractions.

Just as John’s most recent restaurant, Lüke, represents his dream of bringing back the New Orleans institution of the Franco-German brasserie, his next venture, Domenica, is a tribute to the Italian immigrant tradition whose food is so much a part of the great melting pot of New Orleans cuisine.

Domenica is set to open in New Orleans’ historic downtown Roosevelt Hotel late this summer with Chef Alon Shaya in partnership and in the kitchen. I sat down with John to get the details of how it all came about. He showed me a book he’d used as a reference called Italians in New Orleans by Joseph Maselli and Dominic Candeloro (Arcadia Publishing 2004.) We looked through the old black-and-white pictures together and marveled at all the Italian institutions and establishments that have helped define New Orleans.

JB: Look at all these grocery storefronts – every single one is an Italian shop. The biggest wave of immigrants came from Sicily in the 1880s, and they set up doing what they knew, much as the Germans came over as bakers and brewers. Central Grocery is where the muffuletta originated – where would this town be without it?

SR: I prefer the ones at Napoleon House. They’re warmed up.

JB: Well, you’re entitled. But even with a name like Napoleon, it’s Italian, too.

SR: Speaking of names, Domenica means “Sunday” in Italian, right? What’s the significance?

JB: We want to give people the relaxed sense of occasion that defines traditional Italian Sunday suppers, where the dishes have been lovingly prepared over the course of hours and even days – using techniques and rituals that are centuries-old, and made it here to the New World as precious wisdom. The whole family is involved, that’s a given, and the meal may well include neighbors and the larger community. That’s why at Domenica we’ll have a number of long central refectory tables for communal eating, as well as private tables.

SR: Sounds fun -- a good way to meet people. Back to the muffuletta – will you have one on the menu?

JB: We’ll certainly be equipped to: Alon has been curing his own highly specialized Italian pork products for months now, in the smoke house out at La Provence. He spent a good part of last year in Italy learning the art of making salume – and before that at the University of Iowa, learning the science.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for details of Domenica’s menu, interior, roots in the New Orleans community, and adventures of Alon in Italy. This is also where we’ll be chatting about John’s other restaurants: August, Besh Steak, La Provence, and Lüke. Ciao for now!

Boss Man at 34

Who hasn’t dreamt of being his own boss? The freedom to build his own sky’s-the-limit success?

For David Guas, who left his native New Orleans over ten years ago to be opening pastry chef for the new DC Coast restaurant, and stayed on to lead the pastry kitchens of its three subsequent sister restaurants, the dream got much more personal after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his childhood home.

“We were opening a new restaurant that week – there was no question of going down to help my parents; they came up, instead, with just the clothes on their backs, which is a story for another time. But it was a real struggle for me, not being able to help out physically. An urge to do something started to resonate, a real need to fill the void that had been my home, and reconnect with my birthright, so to speak.”

When Guas left his corporate domain two years later to start his consulting business, he named it damgoodsweet, a loving nod to a historically irreverent town. In New Orleans and across southern Louisiana when something is really good, it is “damn good!” So to be G-rated for his under-age fans and their parents, the name was gently adjusted to damgoodsweet.

Then came his first cookbook – of the same name, subtitled Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth New Orleans Style (Taunton Press, Fall 2009). The great buzz of anticipation surrounding the project seemed to magnify the work involved. “We were on a pretty tight deadline, and I just dove headlong back into the food I’d grown up with. I was constantly on the phone with my parents, my sister, my Aunt Boo – the world’s best cook (another story for another time) – and the memories were all just tugging at my heartstrings. I wanted a place of my own to bring it all back to life, where my life is now. I love DC." Guas' boys are almost 5 and 7 and thriving in school. It wasn’t about deciding not to move back; it had become a matter of sharing ‘back home’ with his here-and-now.

Blah Blah Blah

Here in the cheerful offices of simoneink, there’s an awful lot of news and information about the hospitality industry flying around, much of which makes its way into press releases, news letters, or carefully targeted direct pitches. And then there’s the rest. Mostly tidbits, some of it may be of interest to some of you, some not at all – which is why I don’t clog my communication with it.

From here on, however, just so it’s documented and available, all those tidbits are going into my new blog: Blah Blah Blah. It’ll be a place for all the chatter and picayune details that don’t make it into releases, or subjects that may be on the fringes of the industry.

Half of Blah Blah Blah will be called Etc., a column covering the hospitality industry in general. The other half will be called Chicken Scratch, dedicated to specific trends and dishes.

So check in every now and then to catch the thoughts and experiences of this red-headed gal on the move as I travel around the country from South to North and East to West keeping up with my oh-so-select clients – and keeping ahead of everything else!

Keep in mind, there will also be a fun mix of personal anecdotes from the trials and tribulations of being a working mom and traveling parent.