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Adventures in mild disappointment.
May. 30th, 2007 10:08 amYesterday after work I snuck down to Pearl's Oyster House to grab an early dinner and relax for a bit before rehearsal, and also to give a new "gulf coast style" seafood place a try. I'm notoriously picky about inland seafood. What Mrs. Cwabs relishes as delicious shrimp tastes like it's been sitting on the back porch for a week to me, so I usually stick to catfish, but Pearl's had a pretty good feel about it, so I thought I'd give it a try.
First, a beer. The bartender wasn't quite sure what they had on tap, and mentioned an Abita "Lager," which turned out to be Abita Amber, a pretty good beer which has a certain note of cornbread and bacon fat to it. Then, a sampler plate of soups. I thought I'd get to pick the soups, but as soon as I said the sampler, the bartender dashed off to the terminal to put the order in, and a few minutes later, three demitasse cups of soup arrived, with the explanation that they were seafood gumbo, chicken and sausage gumbo, and shrimp and crawfish etoufee. The gumbos tasted like etoufee, and the etoufee tasted like gumbo, and I think I'll try the red beans and rice next time. Also, the sampler ended up being nine spoonfuls of soup--so I ordered a shrimp poboy with a side of stone-ground grits, which turned out to be excellent in all ways except one. The bread had been toasted on the inside, which gave it a deceptive crunch comparable to real french loaves, but it looked like the restaurant had bought a loaf that was designed to be finished in the oven for five minutes prior to being brought to the table. Still, with the toasting trick, a good number of shrimp, and remoulade, it was the best approximation I've had in Memphis of the real thing (second best? Popeye's during Lent).
Why mention this at all? Because I really ought to plug The Gumbo Pages recipe page, which has recipes for authentic muffalettas, roast beef debris for poboys, six or seven different gumbos, and (to tbe best of my knowledge) the actual honest-to-goodness recipe for Oysters Rockefeller, as well as a fantastic selection of desserts. If you have to have only one cookbook, buy The Joy of Cooking or The Lee Bros. Southern Cooking Something or Cookwise, because everything that you'd want to make by Emeril Lagasse or Paul Prudhomme or Susan Spicer is available for nada at this site.
First, a beer. The bartender wasn't quite sure what they had on tap, and mentioned an Abita "Lager," which turned out to be Abita Amber, a pretty good beer which has a certain note of cornbread and bacon fat to it. Then, a sampler plate of soups. I thought I'd get to pick the soups, but as soon as I said the sampler, the bartender dashed off to the terminal to put the order in, and a few minutes later, three demitasse cups of soup arrived, with the explanation that they were seafood gumbo, chicken and sausage gumbo, and shrimp and crawfish etoufee. The gumbos tasted like etoufee, and the etoufee tasted like gumbo, and I think I'll try the red beans and rice next time. Also, the sampler ended up being nine spoonfuls of soup--so I ordered a shrimp poboy with a side of stone-ground grits, which turned out to be excellent in all ways except one. The bread had been toasted on the inside, which gave it a deceptive crunch comparable to real french loaves, but it looked like the restaurant had bought a loaf that was designed to be finished in the oven for five minutes prior to being brought to the table. Still, with the toasting trick, a good number of shrimp, and remoulade, it was the best approximation I've had in Memphis of the real thing (second best? Popeye's during Lent).
Why mention this at all? Because I really ought to plug The Gumbo Pages recipe page, which has recipes for authentic muffalettas, roast beef debris for poboys, six or seven different gumbos, and (to tbe best of my knowledge) the actual honest-to-goodness recipe for Oysters Rockefeller, as well as a fantastic selection of desserts. If you have to have only one cookbook, buy The Joy of Cooking or The Lee Bros. Southern Cooking Something or Cookwise, because everything that you'd want to make by Emeril Lagasse or Paul Prudhomme or Susan Spicer is available for nada at this site.
