>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@cox.net. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <CORKS AT THE TRACK > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots (1751 Gentilly Blvd., 9481285; www.fairgroundsracecourse.com) resumes its Tastings at < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <PUTTING < < < < < < <EVERYTHING < < < < < < < < < <ON < < <THE < < < TABLE < < < < < < < < < < < < < <the Track series this Wednesday, June 23, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Held in conjunction with Dorignac’s Food Center (710 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, 834-8216; www.dorignacs.com), the WHAT event includes 25 wines from Oregon and Washington. Tickets Satsuma Cafe cost $25 and are available in advance at Dorignac’s or at the door. WHERE
am
B
3218 Dauphine St., 304-5962 WHEN
Breakfast, lunch and early dinner daily HOW MUCH
Inexpensive
RESERVATIONS
Not accepted
WHAT WORKS
Local produce powers juice, breakfast, salads and sandwiches. WHAT DOESN'T
The kitchen is illequipped to handle a rush.
CHECK, PLEASE
A former coffee shop fully embracing the farm-to-table ideal.
Seasonal Affective Order SUMMER IS ON THE MENU AT A FRESH CAFE AND JUICE BAR.
Cassi and Peter Dymond designed Satsuma Cafe’s menu to feature fresh local produce. PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
BAKING ON MAPLE
Most Frenchmen wouldn’t recognize the French bread we use for po-boys in New Orleans as their own, though they should have no trouble identifying with the classic baguettes from a new Uptown bakery. Maple Street Patisserie (7638 Maple St., 247-7912) was opened recently by Ziggy Cichowski, former pastry chef at the Windsor Court Hotel, and Patricia Ann Donahue. It offers an impressive range of breads, cakes and pastries. Don’t miss the croissants or the baba au rhum cakes.
five 5 IN
FIVE PLACES FOR RAW FISH BEYOND THE SUSHI BAR
MESÓN 923
923 S. PETERS ST., 523-9200 www.meson923.com
There’s a section of crudo, including hamachi with blood orange and radish.
GW FINS
808 BIENVILLE ST., 581-3467 www.gwfins.com
Raw yellowfin tuna is served in pristine slices and as tartare.
LILETTE
3637 MAGAZINE ST., 895-1636 www.liletterestaurant.com
The dinner menu’s raw fish appetizer plate changes daily.
BY IAN MCNULTY
Y
from chickens pecking away in the same area code. Shiitakes might turn up in the daily quiche, and the same blueberries sold at the Crescent City Farmers Market might plump up the morning’s pancakes. Arugula works its way into the “green breakfast sandwich,” along with eggs, avocado and cheese. Lumps of crabmeat and planks of bacon take grilled cheese to new heights. Satsuma still looks a lot like Coffea, with its mismatched tables, side patio and exposed brick walls mounting paintings and assorted artsy bric-a-brac. But also like Coffea, there is no proper kitchen. Cooking is done on a butane-fired camping stove, a small convection oven and a toaster. A party of four all ordering egg dishes at once can jam the works, and service often bogs down at prime meal times. But I’ve always been impressed by how neat the end product turns out. A crown of micro-greens and toasted seeds might top a salad of crackling-crisp lettuces, and that’s just the automatic side item for a turkey sandwich. Until a few weeks ago, kale starred in many of these dishes, and you can count me among those looking forward to the potent green’s expected return in fall. But in the meantime, we have the glory that is the Creole tomato. It’s cut thick for one salad with crunchy ribbons of fennel and Vidalia onion and another with local spinach, boiled egg and blue cheese vinaigrette. It’s also blended into a cool but spicy gazpacho with jalapeno and lime. At Satsuma Cafe, the seasonal goods always seem ready for their close ups.
LEONARDO TRATTORIA
709 ST. CHARLES AVE., 558-8986 www.leonardonola.com
Raw, thinly sliced swordfish comes with capers, olive oil and lemon.
BARU TAPAS & BISTRO
3700 MAGAZINE ST., 895-2225
Tuna tartare is laced with coconut oil and served with chips.
Questions? Email winediva1@earthlink.net.
2008 Mohua Pinot Noir CENTRAL OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND /
$21-$22 RETAIL From the world’s southernmost grape growing region, located on New Zealand’s south island, this stylish Central Otago Pinot Noir draws comparisons to wines from Burgundy and west coast U.S. viticultural areas. In the glass, the medium-bodied, velvety wine exhibits some complexity with aromas of red cherry, some earth and attractive spice nuances leading into flavors of dried berries, plum, ripe cranberry and raspberry with fine tannin and acid structures. You can drink it now, but it will improve over the next several years. Enjoy it with tuna, salmon, lamb, veal, pork, grilled chicken and a variety of cheeses. Buy it at: Martin Wine Cellar and Cellars of River Ridge. Drink it: La Thai Uptown. — Brenda Maitland
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > JUNE 22 > 2010
ou know regulars really treasure a restaurant when they protest a menu change. In the case of Satsuma Cafe, that change was to stop using kale early in June when local farmers growing the burly, vitamin-packed green switched to summer crops. Customers expressed anguish when informed of the change at the cafe’s counter, and a few shared their disappointment in notes on Satsuma’s Facebook page. “No!!!!!!!” was the common thread. Such are the pitfalls of tying a menu to the food local farmers grow and which local seasons allow. Fine-dining chefs know this well. But few casual, inexpensive restaurants are as intimately in sync with local supply as Satsuma Cafe. Cassi and Peter Dymond opened Satsuma Cafe last year, taking their cue from restaurants they’d visited in other cities — everyday places where the farm-to-table aesthetic was in full bloom. This takes considerable effort. They were thrilled to find the former Coffea space available just two blocks from their Bywater home. And although they walk to work, they must log many miles sourcing their menu from a constellation of local suppliers, most of which don’t deliver. They soon had to sell their Corolla and buy a cargo van to accommodate the fresh hauls they collect around the area for their menu. Satsuma Cafe is essentially a coffee shop with a menu of breakfast plates, salads, sandwiches and juices, all revved up by vividly fresh, locally grown produce. Earthy, springy-textured, locally foraged chanterelles are added to scrambled eggs, which are collected
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