Decadence and Elegance

Decadence and Elegance-these two words are customarily used to characterize New Orleans. Opposing as they are, they provide a balance to the ambiance with in the heart of the CrescentCity. After 10 great years of representing one of the most culturally rich boutique hotels in New Orleans that provided a look into the rituals and heritage of Louisiana and strong underlying current of decadence, International House will no longer be a client of simoneink, LLC. It was a wonderful journey and I sincerely loved every moment I could share with friends and family this unique experience. Please see one of the final and valued inclusions I was able to provide for owner, Sean Cummings of International House, and in turn, the city of New Orleans. New York Times / National Geographic Traveler

I am taking this opportunity to start where I began with my career 21 years ago in New Orleans, by representing a hotel with a genuine touch of elegance. I am delighted to announce that I will be representing The Soniat House, in the residential area of the French Quarter, beginning September 1, 2009. The hotel was developed 20 years ago by combining three historic Creole cottages and decorating them with period antiques. Glorious details – spiral staircase, balconies and patios are original to the 1830s establishment. Courtyards are lush with sweet olive, magnolia, and ginger. Your experience is as if you are a resident with all the necessary amenities of a small luxury hotel. Thank you for your continued support and looking forward to welcoming you to New Orleans by visiting The Soniat House once again or for the first time. And dining at one of chef John Besh’s restaurants anchored in the business district or near his hometown, will truly complete your next trip to the City that care did not forget… these past three years!

Bergamo or Bust!

So with all the buzz about John Besh’s newest venture in reviving New Orleans’ culinary heritage, you may be wondering “what possible claim can a hometown boy from Slidell, Louisiana have on la cucina rustica??” And that’s a fair question. His classical culinary education, his German roots, and his intensive training in Bavaria and Provence – not to mention his own fond memories of the old Franco-German brasseries that used to anchor many New Orleans’ neighborhoods – gave him all the authority necessary to create Lüke, his most recent revival of a local staple. But Italian? I asked him point-blank.

JB: “I’ve always loved Italian food. But what’s important to me is not that it’s my personal heritage, but that it belongs to the city and needs to be celebrated as such. I want to raise the profile of Italian food here. There’s so much our Italian immigrants have brought to New Orleans – remember, the French Quarter was also rightly known as ‘Little Italy’ – and there ought to be a restaurant that reflects that contribution, that culture.”

SR: Got it. But how exactly did you become an instant expert in all things Italian?

JB: I didn’t -- I created one! His name is Alon. No, but seriously, Alon Shaya has worked with me for years – he was Chef de Cuisine at Besh Steak – and we’ve been kicking this idea around for about as long as we’ve known each other. Italian food has always been his first love. His family emigrated here from Israel when he was little, and the first restaurants he worked in as a kid in Philadelphia were Italian. His dream has always been to get back to that cuisine. And look at a map – Israel is just across the Mediterranean from Italy, right? Maybe it’s not such a stretch. When the moment was right, I finally said to him, “Alon, if we’re going to do this, you’re going to go to Italy and learn it. Learn it all. Immerse yourself in the culture, the whole culture of food that exists there beyond the world of Michelin stars.” And then I gave him a plane ticket, pocket money, and the name of a friend of a friend with a restaurant in a little town outside Bergamo. He was a great sport, considering he didn’t speak Italian and the chef he teamed up with didn’t actually allow him to touch the food. Turns out you can learn an awful lot just washing dishes for three months. And peeling shrimp.

Yikes! Stay tuned for the adventures of Alon in Italy, or, how he went from peeling shrimp to mastering rustic Italian cuisine…

Pressed is Best

David Guas may be a pastry chef par excellence, but the new Bayou Bakery, sister property to Liberty Tavern in Clarendon, will be featuring savories that give the sweets a run for their money.

Being a native of New Orleans of Cuban descent, he has cleverly – and deliciously – combined two sandwiches of his culinary heritage, the classic hot-pressed Cubano and the popular Po’Boy, to create a flavorful, hot-pressed French bread sandwich. With crusty baguettes Guas is making in-house as a foundation, and his own bread & butter pickles as the perfect piquant optional accompaniment, you’ll want to enjoy every last morsel of these satisfying sandwiches -- even as they commandeer your ‘room for dessert.’

Starting out, Guas has developed four distinct varieties. The “French-u-letta” is his spin on the beloved New Orleans Muffuletta, originated at Central Grocery over 100 years ago: ham, salami, and provolone, with the all-important house-made olive dressing (and a good kick of garlic) hot-pressed in that authentic New Orleans French bread. “Veg Head” is a true vegetarian feast of grilled Portobello mushrooms, asparagus, red onions, and smoked gouda. The “Spicy Pilgrim” doffs its tall black hat to pre-Colonial history with plenty of house-blackened turkey. And “My Miami” features roasted pork loin, thinly sliced French style ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, and yellow mustard.

Hand-crafted-to-order and hot-off-the-press, these sandwiches redefine the lunchtime favorite. Though there is that golden rule at Bayou Bakery — you don’t skip dessert!

Pucker Up

Most of us will have to wait ‘til later this summer to experience John Besh’s celebration of rustic Italian cooking, when Domenica opens in New Orleans’ Roosevelt Hotel.

But those lucky listeners who caught the raucous live radio broadcast on Friday, July 10 with culinary personality, Kevin Jenkins, one of the Atlanta-based duo team also known as “Chef and the Fat Man,” got a delectable sneak preview. And things got even livelier with the special guest appearance of Danny DeVito, lending the enterprise his own particular style of Italian American heritage.

Broadcasting from the Carousel Piano Bar at the legendary Hotel Monteleone, the guys had a high time creating Torta Fritta stuffed with Mortadella and Ricotta Cavatelli with Local San Marzano Tomatoes and a last minute diversion from John Besh celebrating one of his favorite dishes- Shrimp and Grits for the listening public and a spirited audience – including DeVito’s wife, actress Rhea Perlman, who was devotedly snapping away with her camera…

…with good reason! DeVito was in town promoting his new brand of limoncello at New Orleans’ annual Tales of the Cocktails event. During the demo at the Carousel Piano Bar, the diminutive entrepreneur was occasionally engulfed in clouds of liquid nitrogen as he assisted Domenica’s Executive Chef/Partner Alon Shaya in creating Danny DeVito’s Limoncello Sorbetto.

“Oh, are my hands cold!” he quipped with biting restraint. “Just let us know when you can’t feel them anymore,” was Shaya’s sympathetic response, adding “Don’t anyone try this at home!”

DeVito was to only be present for a 15 minutes to meet and great, but ended up staying for the duration of the show [ a full hour]. So who really “Tuned In” to what New Orleans is all about—The Limoncello Man and his ever so funny wife and camera maven who let those good times roll!

A little touch of ‘Sanford & Son’ in David Guas

When David Guas saw a certain coffee table at Restoration Hardware, he knew its industrial chic surface would be the perfect spot for his customers to rest their big ol’ cereal-bowl shaped ceramic coffee cups. Then he saw the price tag. Conscious of the demands on his budget as the opening of Bayou Bakery looms in the coming weeks, and never one to dwell on disappointment, he moved right along tackling the rest of the items on his mile-long to-do list …. Not long after, combing through a giant salvage yard out in the Virginia countryside he’d targeted for possible vintage accessories to lend down-home character to the bakery’s interior, something caught his eye: it was an old, low, factory cart on four big heavy-duty casters – just the same base as that fancy table he’d seen. The proprietor said it was a feed scale cart. He’d let it go for $10. Guas popped the rotten wood top off and got it home to his workshop in a pickup truck. Fixed up with a lot of elbow grease, steel wool, and a nice new top fashioned from some massive old beams that came out of the bakery’s ceiling to make space for the new mezzanine level, its industrial chic surface… will become the perfect spot for gathering.

Ingenuity, creativity, craftsmanship and afterschool TV breaks as a child seems to pay off!

Honoring the Legacy of Italian Groceries, Delis, and Hard Working Home Cooks in New Orleans

Continued...

Central Grocery, home of the beloved Muffuletta, opened in the French Quarter in 1906 and is still going strong today – a cheerful old-fashioned shop piled high with imported goods, its deli counter more often than not crowded with salivating patrons anticipating their piled-high sandwiches. Sal Lupo, its founder, invented the sandwich back in the day, topping Italian cold cuts and cheeses on a crusty bun with his highly seasoned olive salad.

Generations of New Orleanians have made Brocato’s their go-to place for sweets. It was one of the city’s first sit-down ice cream parlors, and though it’s no longer on Ursuline Street in the ‘Quarter’ where it was also established in 1905 (good year for historic Italian food icons!) – the family has since moved it mid-city – the confectionary emporium run by Angelo Brocato’s descendants still serves the best ice cream, candy, cookies, and pastries in town: just ask any nostalgic native.

Progresso, of canned soup and fine Italian products fame, was established in –you guessed it! – 1905, in – you guessed it! – New Orleans – by Vincent Taormina. His whole family was soon involved in importing foods from their native Sicily to their adopted country for all to enjoy.

Mother’s Restaurant, another New Orleans institution, was not established between 1905-1906, but rather in 1938 – oh well, no matter: locals and tourists alike flock to Poydras Street for Chef Jerry Amato’s comfort food. He and his brother, who co-own the restaurant, are descendants of Sicilian immigrants.

2009: Chef John Besh opens Domenica, a restaurant that celebrates the deep and delicious Italian heritage of New Orleans, in particular its home cooking, imported delicacies and lovingly cured pork products. Artisanal house-made pastas and pizzas and cheeses, heaping platters of slow-braised meats, succulent seafood, piquant antipasti and homey Italian dolci -- the makings of memorable meals to share with a crowd or savor to yourself. Mangia!

The Coffee: Grounds for Perfection

Though they’ve gutted the interior and re-written the menu, the partners of the new Bayou Bakery are maintaining the property’s tradition of barista-quality coffee, which dovetails perfectly with its Louisiana concept and roots –Mid May saw the team diving into the project full "steam" ahead. The more Guas learned about what they were taking over – a place owned by a formidable barista serving really good coffee – the more the concept evolved into a place whose coffee program would be as important as its food. Not what they first intended – but an even more exciting challenge. It’s a natural fit. It’s true that Guas may be biased – he believes Louisiana is better at everything when it comes to food. But Louisiana does boast a deep coffee history. New Orleans is a big coffee town. There’s a reason the Café du Monde is world-famous – and it only serves coffee and beignets. Guas’ father is from Cuba, another place where they take their coffee very seriously. He used to go to Miami as a kid to visit relatives, and still remembers the old men sidled up to bars doing shots of espresso with sweet steamed milk - cortaditos. At a time when most of the rest of the country was drinking freeze-dried coffee, his parents and their fellow New Orleanians were buying whole bean coffee, Community or 8 O’Clock, and grinding it at the A&P. And his father and grandfather brewed it on an open flame on the stove.