An Ode to New Orleans...

with classic recipes. Also, a vintage LA hotel: great then, better now.

I’ve been thinking about fish, and how, in the eighties when we discovered Cajun cuisine, we nearly ate up all the Redfish in our rush to blacken them. That made me think of the late, great Paul Prudhomme - and how much fun I had the first time I went to New Orleans.

Paul had called to say, “Come out to Lafayette and judge a hot food contest.” Having fallen madly in love with spicy Louisiana food, I was completely thrilled. This was my chance to burn my throat and visit one of America’s great food cities.

Paul picked me up at the airport and drove me and the other judges to Lafayette in a van equipped with a bar: many dirty martinis were consumed. Which was a good thing because we arrived in Lafayette to discover that the contest had nothing to do with spicy food. It was hot food as in classic French haute cuisine: expecting jambalaya we got gigots d’agneaux and galettes des rois.

But then there was New Orleans. I suspect that city is a love or hate proposition. Me? Love at first bite.

My last meal in Los Angeles was at The Barish in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I chose it because I was dining with Eleanor Roosevelt’s great-granddaughter, and it seemed appropriate. But the meal was truly spectacular. It started with these grilled sweetbreads with salsa verde: savory clouds.

The Barish pretends to be a steak house - and the steak is terrific - but it serves the most original vegetable dishes. Consider, for example, this charred cabbage with bone marrow.

Or these creamed mustard greens.

And this very regal and over the top blue cheese salad with bacon, hazelnuts and gorgonzola.

And while I don’t have pictures, (it's not much to look at), don’t miss the duck breast. Duck as you’ve always dreamed it could be.

My friend Bruce’s fantastic collection of old menus includes at least a dozen from the Hollywood Roosevelt. Here’s one from 1947.