Dinner—Or, Proof that New Orleanians will Spend Every Minute of Lunch Planning Their Dinner (Pontchartrain Pete)

Last night, we had dinner at Irene's Cuisine. The original plan was dinner at Mr. B's Bistro, which is one of my favorite places in the city. Mr. B's just recently reopened. Although IT did not flood the French Quarter, many buildings suffered rain damage. Mr. B's suffered doubly. Rain poured in the building, which is bad enough. What's worse, it's also one of the few buildings around here with a basement, where the restrooms and offices were located. The water gathered in the basement and had no place to go.

I kind of had my heart and stomach set on going to Mr. B's. I checked the menu on the internet. I had it all planned out. Gumbo Ya-Ya. Hickory grilled fish. Or barbecued shrimp. Bread pudding for desert.

But, change of plans. Mom called. "It's too far to walk to Mr. B's. We're going to Stella!." I'm thinking, Stella!—what Stella!? I wanna go to Mr. B's. Whaaaahaaahaaah. I check the internet. I find Tom's review. He likes it. He thinks someone should pop out of the kitchen and scream STELLA!!! every now and then. I find the menu.

It looks adventurous. It looks expensive. It looks like:

Sake and Miso Glazed Japanese Mero Seabass with Udon Noodles, Roasted Local Green Garlic, Buna Shimeji Mushrooms and Lobster, Crab and Shark's Fin Broth

is not the same as a nice piece of grilled fish. And it looks like:

Avocado Shake with Espresso Granita and Jalapeño

is not the same as bread pudding.

I called Mom back. They were running around town and I said, "Maybe you want to look at the menu when you get back." She said, "I'm sure they'll have something you'll eat, like a steak or something." I said, "Yeah, they've got '"Steak and Eggs"—Seared Prime Beef Tenderloin and Sunny Side Up Goose Egg with Breakfast Potatoes and "Texas Toast" with Foie Gras Butter.' And it's expensive. Just take a look if you get a chance."

So she calls back, not having a chance to look at Stella!'s menu. "It didn't sound like you liked Stella!. We're going to Irene's." Irene's sounded good, but I still wanted to go to Mr. B's.

When I got to the apartment later on, I said, "I still want to go to Mr. B's. I had it all planned out. Gumbo Ya-Ya, bread pudding..."

I found the Stella! menu on the web. She perused it and decided, "I don't know if there's much on there I'd like, either. Maybe some other time. And I wanted some Gumbo Ya-Ya, too. We'll go to Mr. B's next time," saying this last part in a motherly fashion as she pinched my cheeks.

I'd never been to Irene's, but had heard a lot of great things about it. So even though my envie for Mr. B's would remain unfullfilled, I still had a great dinner to look forward too.

Irene's was open pretty soon after the storm. That's very comforting, as it has always been more of a place for the locals than the "others." This may be explained in part by Irene's location, which is deeper into the Quarter than conventioneers would casually tread. The menu is simple and Italian/Creole. Which means that alongside the cannelloni and rosemary chicken you'll find dishes featuring softshell crabs and fish meuniere.

Pete's sister got the cannelloni, Mom the pompano meuniere/almondine, and Pete and his dad both ordered an off-menu special, the crab cakes.

Now, I'm not going to go back into the stuffed crabs versus crab cakes discussion. These were no "East Coast" crab cakes, although our waiter did describe them as "Twin Towers" of crabmeat. Which indeed they were. They stood a good 3 inches tall, covered in a roasted red pepper puree and perched atop corn maquechoux and mirliton fritters. I don't know what kept the crab cakes together duing the pan-searing process, because they were basically big piles of lump crabmeat, well-seasoned, with no visible means of bindage (is that a word?). No breadcrumbs, no mayo, no bechamel.

Desert—creme brulee for Pete's Mom, strawberry cheesecake for the sister; I had wanted bread pudding, they had it, I got it. Dad had a little bite of everyone else's. The bread pudding came with Banana's Foster sauce and ice cream. Really good. A really good meal all around. Mr. B's—we're coming, just not this week. Stella!, you'll have your turn, someday when adventure is the name of the game.