EAT
FOrk + center
+drink putting everything on the table what
The Sammich
where
inside Chickie Wah Wah, 2828 Canal St., (504) 813-5259; www.thesammich.com
when
lunch Mon.-Fri., dinner Mon.-Sat.
how much inexpensive
reservations not accepted
what works
inspired po-boy renditions
By IAN MCNULTy Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@cox.net
Getting cocky
The pan-Asian restaurant Lucky Rooster (515 Baronne St., 504-5295825; www.luckyroosternola.com) opened last week in the CBD with an inexpensive menu that reads like a mix between a noodle house, a dim sum parlor and a banh mi joint combined in one modern package. General Manager Joe Briand, who also is the wine director, describes the approach as the greatest hits of casual dishes and street food from an array of Asian cuisines, including Korean-style fried chicken, ramen noodle soups, pork and shrimp dumplings and Mandarin-style chicken salad. Chef Neal Swidler gives all of these standards his own interpretation. One of the banh mi sandwiches is filled with goujajang chili-glazed pork, crispy shallot rings and green papaya slaw, and Sichuan steak au poivre and shiitake mushroom jam fills another. There’s a list of Chinese steamed page 105
what doesn’t
crowded music shows are not always conducive to dining
WinE OF THE week
check, please
creative po-boys in an unconventional setting
How the Po-Boy Festival inspired a unique sandwich shop.
At The Sammich, chef Michael Brewer serves a lobster po-boy, duck fat fries and Brussels sprouts. PHOTO By CHEryL GErBEr
By Ian McNulty
E
ach November, vendors at the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival explore new possiblities for this city’s favorite sandwich, working with offbeat ingredients and combinations to offer one-day wonders on French bread. A few festival hits materialize on menus here and there, but mostly they push the boundaries and then recede into our memories for the rest of the year. But the example set there took root in Michael Brewer’s imagination and eventually inspired this journeyman of the local restaurant scene to start The Sammich inside the Mid-City music hall Chickie Wah Wah with a po-boy menu like no other. In his small, walk-up kitchen, “dressed” still usually means tomatoes and shredded iceberg lettuce, but the overall package is often more like an entree composed on a Leidenheimer loaf instead of a plate. Brewer’s fried lobster po-boy is the best example. Big claw and tail chunks are fried just long enough to crisp the tempura batter before they’re coated with a velvety, outrageously flavorful blend of butter, peanut sauce, Sriracha and mango. Grilled chicken gets new life in another marquee po-boy, thanks to a hybrid dressing that merges kimchee and coleslaw. Spicy, vinegarysharp, but also a little sweet, the stuff oozes and drips all around the char-marked chicken to unite Korean and American barbecue flavors. The roster also includes a fried oyster po-boy with blackening seasoning and Crystal hot sauce beurre blanc, a Cuban sand-
wich imbued with falling-apart, slow- and low-cooked pork shoulder and a pair of shrimp po-boys. One features rather straightforward barbecue shrimp with the addition of avocado mayo, but the other stretches the concept of a fried shrimp po-boy to include pickled okra, which I can’t endorse. Brewer’s small plates make good bar snacks, and they’re as distinctive as the po-boys. Fries cooked in duck fat have twice the crunch of regular fries, and Brussels sprouts are roasted until the outside leaves crackle like chips. There’s a chunky smoked tuna dip and the atypical headcheese is like a loosely packed Cajun version of rillettes — spreadable, chunky and much different from the normal, gelatin-packed loaf. Chickie Wah Wah is more music venue than neighborhood bar, which in some ways amplifies the complications of serving good food in alternative settings. When there’s a big act on stage, a crowd in the room and a cover at the door, the place feels very far from a restaurant. The Sammich shows some significant upsides to the arrangement, however. At lunch, the po-boy window makes an easy stop along a stretch of Canal Street lacking eateries. And in the evening, the prospect of having Tommy Malone, Jon Cleary or Tom McDermott on stage (all of them are on the June calendar) and a lobster po-boy on the bar top sounds like a pretty good dinner date to me.
2011 August Kesseler R Riesling Kabinett Rheingau, geRmany $12-$15 Retail
riesling grapes comprise 80 percent of the south-facing hillside vineyards rising above the rhine river in rhinegau, one of Germany’s most distinguished wineproducing regions. Mild climate, warm summers and porous rocky soils create optimal growing conditions. Fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks preserves the character of the terroir in this dry riesling by August Kesseler. In the glass, it offers delicate aromas of apple, lemon rind and a hint of peach. On the palate, taste lime, touches of lemon grass and ginger, refreshing minerality and racy acidity on the clean finish. Drink it with crab cakes with roasted tomato salsa and poblano creme fraiche, tuna sashimi, fig compote, mango chutney, fruit-glazed pork chops, boiled seafood and spicy Asian- or Cajuninspired dishes. Buy it at: Martin Wine Cellar, rouses in Uptown, Terranova Brothers Superette and Bacchanal. Drink it at: Martinique Bistro, Cochon, SoBou and red Fish Grill.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > JUNE 11 > 2013
dressed to thrill
By BrENDA MAITLAND Email Brenda Maitland at winediva1@earthlink.net
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