>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@cox.net. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <TAPPING INTO RELIEF EFFORTS > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >The Avenue Pub (1732 St. Charles Ave., 586-9243; www.< < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <PUTTING < < < < < < <EVERYTHING < < < < < < < < < <ON < < <THE < < < TABLE < < < < < < < < < < < < < <theavenuepub.com) hosts a beer-based benefit for Japan Saturday, April 2, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $20, which includes two beers and light food. Proceeds benefit the local NOLA Japan Quake Fund (see www.jetaanola.com). In an WHAT ongoing benefit, Meson 923 (923 S. Peters St., 523-9200; www. Cowbell meson923.com) has pledged all proceeds from sales of special sake cocktails and a new dish, a Japanese-inspired ramen soup WHERE with Berkshire pork and crawfish, to the Japanese Red Cross. 8801 Oak St., 2988689; www.cowbellVINTAGE PAIRINGS nola.com The annual French Quarter Wine Festival is underway at Le Meritage (1001 Toulouse St., 586-8000; www.lemeritageresWHEN taurant.com) in the Maison Dupuy Hotel. The festival is a Lunch and dinner series of wine dinners and seminars. Dinners continue each Tue.-Sat. Tuesday and Wednesday through May 4, and there’s a closing reception on May 13. Tickets range from $95 to $145 per event. RESERVATIONS For details visit www.frenchquarterwinefestival.com. Not accepted
am
B
HOW MUCH
Moderate
WHAT WORKS
Pasture-raised meats, many house-made touches WHAT DOESN'T
A loud dining room short on seating options
CHECK, PLEASE
A burger boutique with gourmet comfort food
More Cowbell AN ORGANIC BURGER BOUTIQUE OPENS ON OAK STREET.
Krista and Brack May opened Cowbell. PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
B Y I A N M C N U LT Y
W
ity plays out on the menu, too. Grilled chicken — sourced from pasture-raised birds — is served with tortillas, beans and avocados, and grilled fish tacos are topped with mirliton slaw. A first-rate clam chowder makes an unexpected appearance, but the menu sticks close to the comfort food script. The macaroni and cheese is inevitable but also excellent, bound with a rich, smoky, layered cheese sauce. Fries are middleweights, falling somewhere between frites and steak fries. They’re good dipped in sweet, thin, house-made ketchup and irresistible when squirted with Cowbell’s “agogo” sauce, a spiked-up mayo that tastes like a honeyed aioli. Beware that the frequently changing “adult” grilled cheese is sometimes too complex and persistently undersized. Even escorted by a mug of soup on the side, it makes an unsatisfying lunch. Meanwhile, the vegetarian burger is thoughtfully crafted with beans, sweet potato, peppers, squash and broccoli all ground together and griddled up. Like the beef burgers, this goes on a potato roll that’s buttery and soft yet burly enough to keep its form. Cowbell remains BYOB, though May hopes to have a bar in place by Jazz Fest. The kitchen has a few steaks from organically raised cattle, though they aren’t necessarily grassfed. For some diners, none of this matters. Some may dismiss the organic and grass-fed items as the trend du jour, but Cowbell caters to people who care about the difference. For those who are merely curious about it, this restaurant provides a very accessible entry point. After all, it’s just a burger.
IN
FIVE PLACES FOR INSTANT PICNIC TAKE-OUT FOOD BETWEEN THE BREAD
625 ST. CHARLES AVE., 324-5304 www.betweenthebreadnola.com
Enjoy its smoked salmon sandwiches in nearby Lafayette Square.
JOHNNY’S PO-BOYS
511 ST. LOUIS ST., 524-8129 www.johnnyspoboy.com
Haul your favorite po-boy to Woldenberg Park on the riverfront.
KJEAN’S SEAFOOD
236 N. CARROLLTON AVE., 488-7503
Break open a bag of boiled crawfish under City Park’s oaks.
TARTINE
7217 PERRIER ST., 866-4860 www.tartineneworleans.com
Get a pate sandwich and eclair and head to Audubon Park.
VINE & DINE
141 DELARONDE ST., 361-1402 www.vine-dine.com
Take a brisket hoagie to the Algiers levee for a view of the city.
Questions? Email winediva1@earthlink.net.
2008 Mazzoni Toscana Rosso
MONTALCINO, ITALY / $15-$19 RETAIL
An extraordinary Super Tuscan at an affordable price, Mazzoni is a blend of 28 percent Merlot and 72 percent Sangiovese. After fermentation, the wine spent six months in large French oak barrels and six months in oneyear-old French barriques, followed by two months bottle aging. In the glass, aromas of ripe red berries, plums, spices and earthy notes yield to a palate of bright red cherry and blackberry fruit with fine tannins, good acidity and a lingering finish. Drink it with veal, pizza, pasta and dishes with marinara sauce. Buy it at: Cork and Bottle and Acquistapace’s Covington Supermarket. Drink it at: Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar and Bistro, Harrah’s New Orleans and Ristorante del Porto. — Brenda Maitland
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > marcH 29 > 2011
e still call it comfort food, but the realm of burgers and fries, mac and cheese and apple pie can be pretty rigorous these days. As more fine-dining chefs cast themselves as comfort-food champions, the stakes — and prices — for these durable standbys have risen. But just what makes one guy’s burger worth more than a ten-spot? The answer at Cowbell is pretty clear, and the approach overall at this new Uptown eatery is refreshingly straightforward. Burgers anchor Cowbell’s brief menu, and they’re made from grass-fed and organically raised cattle. This meat costs more, and so do Cowbell’s filling though hardly belly-busting burgers, which begin at $11. Fortunately, the difference registers on the palate as well as the pocketbook. You can taste it in the meat’s texture and acidity, in the dense crumble and firmness of this lean yet distinctively flavorful beef. Onion compote is the most upmarket condiment here, but this isn’t a burger you want to dress up too much. Cowbell was opened in December by Brack May, one-time chef at the CBD’s now-defunct Cobalt, executive chef at the nonprofit teaching cafe Liberty’s Kitchen and brother to Olympic volleyball champion Misty May-Treanor. His wife Krista PendergraftMay is co-owner and manager, and she’s responsible for much of the found-object sculpture and contemporary art decorating the place. The building has the feel of a border town roadhouse down at the end of Oak Street, very close to the parish line. This hip, Southwestern sensibil-
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