[CH] April Fools' Day post, Is it for real?
Charles Demas (demas@sunspot.tiac.net)
Thu, 1 Apr 1999 18:23:37 -0500 (EST)
Rose,
Saw this article for a restaurant in New Orleans, and I was wondering if
it was for real or an April Fools' Day joke. You live there, so perhaps
you can tell me. It sounds far too good to be true, but strange things
happen.
Chuck Demas
Needham, Mass.
Here's that post:
| Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants
| Subject: FLASH! NEW New Orleans Restaurant
| Message-ID: <MPG.116d6c3e7879a7f29896a0@news.msy.bellsouth.net>
| Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 17:45:40 GMT
|
| This is from the New Orleans Menuletter, a free newsletter published by
| Tom Fitzmorris, a local restaurant critic and radio personality. Enjoy...
|
|
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| T H E N E W O R L E A N S M E N U L E T T E R
| Volume Four, Number Thirty-Eight
| EXTRA!
| Thursday, April 1, 1999
| By Tom Fitzmorris
| Host of "Dining Around," 4 till 7 every afternoon on
| WSMB, Talk Radio 1350 AM
| Editorial and subscription address: menu@csi.com
| Back editions and more at http://www.nomenu.com
| Circulation: 3807
| Share the taste of New Orleans with friends! Forward the MenuLetter
| to them and recommend that they ask for their own free subscriptions!
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| RESTAURANT REVIEW
| The Best Restaurant In Town Just Opened--In A Bank
| By Tom Fitzmorris
|
| PGI Bank and Bistro
| Ratings: 99, 2$
| 601 Perdido (corner Camp), CBD
| Reservations essential: 524-0348.
| Lunch Wed.-Fri. Dinner Wed.-Sun.
| Cash only.
|
| The questions I get asked the most are, "What's the best restaurant
| in town?" and "What's new?" I can now answer both questions with
| the same restaurant: the PGI Bank and Bistro, which opened a couple
| of weeks ago in the magnificent lobby that used to be the main office
| of the old International American Bank of Commerce Bank. Since
| three mergers ago those classic Art Deco headquarters have
| languished, waiting to serve again.
| And serve it does. It's a real bank--the PGI stands for Progressive
| Guarantee Inc. But already its investors and ad people are calling it
| the Piggy Bank.
| And it's also a real bistro. No modern banking operation needs the
| kind of space that these grand old main offices once sprawled over.
| So when the PGI guys took over they were originally going to just
| wall it over and lease most of it.
| What happened is strange. Melvin LeMuth, PGI's president, tells
| of a long board of directors lunch at the Rib Room during the bank's
| planning stage. They had quite a few of those washbucket martinis,
| and somebody jokingly suggested that they serve food in the lobby.
| After the laughter died down, LeMuth said, "Why not? We're trying
| everything else in the banking business!"
| So, when the PGI Bank opened its doors, there was a full-fledged
| restaurant right in the middle of the place. The setting was perfect: the
| marble floors, expensive wood tables and chairs, and lighting were
| classic bank fixtures, but they also were the stuff from which very
| grand restaurants are built.
| All interesting enough. We move into the realm of amazing when
| the food starts coming out. It's a set table d'hote menu, changing
| monthly, with six courses being the standard for the rather amazing
| price of $17.50--which, the waiter is quick to point out, is also the
| interest rate the bank pays on big CDs.
| Here's what they had for dinner when I went a couple of days ago.
| (Incidentally, both the restaurant and the bank tellers stay open till
| midnight here.)
| You start with the crab cakes: solid jumbo lump meat, with a
| spectacular taste. You get three of them, each the size of a hamburger
| bun, along with a perfect remoulade sauce and a magnificent
| tarragon-flavored tartar sauce. This is served with a glass of Ferrari-
| Carano Chardonnay, a big buttery job that's great with the crabmeat.
| Then comes the soup. The best in the house is what they call a
| potage of bouillabaisse. Chef Jahn Jaspreel says that he uses smaller,
| better fish and shellfish for this, and it's lighter than the classic
| bouillabaisse. The soup is served in a large tureen with a flame
| underneath: take all you want. That comes with a glass of fino sherry:
| a nice touch.
| The fish course this month is a whole pompano, simply roasted and
| then stuffed with truffles, finished with a stripe of hollandaise over
| which is scatted beluga caviar. This is without question the best fish I
| ever ate, and I made such a thorough job of devouring it the waiter
| came over and said, "Well, sir, if you thought that was as good as it
| looks like you did, would you care for another one?" It turns out that
| seconds, and even thirds, are available at no extra charge here. Hard
| to believe, but then a restaurant in a bank is too.
| Chef Jahn says he likes to serve the salad between the fish and the
| meat course. I never heard of that before, but what a salad this was:
| arugula and bibb, my two favorite lettuces, topped with a dressing
| into which sharp cheeses, pepper, and 75-year-old balsamic vinegar
| play against one another. I've never had better.
| They had a choice of entrees. The first was a whole rack of
| American lamb, paired up with a whole backstrap (the tenderloin) of
| venison, each roasted after being treated to its own particular
| marinade for three days. The other option was a two-and-a-third-inch
| thick filet mignon, roasted to a magnificent crust, incomparably juicy,
| served next to my favorite eating bird: roast squab, stuffed with foie
| gras. I couldn't make up my mind.
| And then the waiter made an outrageous suggestion: "Why not just
| get them both? I won't tell anybody." I said I couldn't let him do that
| unless it was something he'd do for any customer, not just restaurant
| critics. His reply: "Restaurant critic? You're a restaurant critic? No,
| that's just our house policy. In fact, if you just have enough room for
| the lamb, I'll just pack up all the other stuff and you can take it home
| for later. Or we can save it for your next visit. That option is included
| in the $17.50 price."
| Did I mention that the wine was Chateau Montelena 1993, and that
| it came with the meal?
| I had no room for dessert, but they gave me a rain check--literally a
| check, since this was a bank, for the $1.75 nominal cost of the dessert
| course. But I did have a swallow of the dessert wine, the lovely Dolce
| >from Far Niente.
| The PGI Bank and Bistro is not without its problems. I didn't really
| like the idea of ordering your meal by making out what looks like a
| deposit slip--although it did remind me of the way you order sushi.
| Also, I thought the color of the waiters' ties didn't really go with
| their
| tuxedos. And they really shouldn't have covered over the old
| paneling with mahogany, even if it is more expensive. I think
| restorations ought to be true to the old look.
| One more apparent inconvenience: they only accept cash here. This
| turns out to be a gimmick by which, when they cash your check at the
| teller's window, they can ask you to open an account. Fortunately,
| they'll cash checks on any bank, with a limit of $200 over the price of
| the dinner.
| The Piggy Bank and Bistro is just getting started. But I don't think
| I'm guessing wrong when I say this will be the most talked-about
| restaurant in town. Until, of course, the Hibernia or the Whitney get
| the idea.
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
demas@tiac.net | \___/ | http://www.tiac.net/users/demas