Spotted a sign on lower Decatur yesterday that says Maximo's will be re-opening soon!
That may not mean much to many of you, but for Kevin, Corinna, Renee and me, it means a great deal.
Maximo's was our favorite New Orleans restaurant for many years -- incredible atmosphere...musicians everywhere. Once spotted the amazing drummer Elvin Jones, who drummed with, among others, John Coltrane, seated at a table with one or two Marsalis brothers. Kermit was always there, along with various Iguanas -- everybody was there.
But the best parts of it were: Jane, our favorite waitress (and eventual guardian of 822 Governor Nicholls); the wine list (huge and wonderful); and the incredible Italian food (especially the daily ravioli specials!). Not to mention the decor featuring tons of black and white jazz greats photographed by the famous Herman Leonard.
I must be boring everybody out of their minds, but it was a truly magical place and we spent so many nights just laughing and laughing there.
And it's coming back. Let's hope with all the magic intact!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Apologies to Everyone!
Been way too infrequent in my postings! Will try to make up for lost ground!
Today is Saturday, two days after Thanksgiving and I am posting from New Orleans -- where the big topic of conversation is, in this order: the weather, LSU losing to Arkansas, the weather, what's wrong with da Saints, the weather, the Bayou Classic, and, the weather.
Reason is that the temperature the last few days has been in the 40's and 50's. It's been blustery and overcast and the locals and everybody's been just a little off.
Nonetheless, the quarter looks great! Shoppers filled up the streets on Black Friday and seem to be out in force (although a little light because of the weather).
We've had a great time here -- a real old-fashioned family vacation. We piled into the car on Tuesday and drove the nearly 16 hours from Oak Park to New Orleans...great fun, everyone got along great! Arrived late Tuesday. Spent Wednesday around the Quarter, ate oysters at Desire (which we always do on day one!) and then went to see the Hornets play the Pacers at the Arena, followed, of course, by beignets at Cafe du Monde. Really good time...the Arena is quite nice and seeing Jon Cleary play outside before the show reminded me how cool this place really is.
That and pre-Thanksgiving shopping next to Jason Marsalis at the Winn-Dixie on Tchapatoulis!
Cooked out traditional turducken for Thanksgiving along with all the trimmings. Renee brought us all to tears by offering an individualized toast to each of us, listing what qualities we all had for which she was thankful. She spent the afternoon writing all of it down and it was a truly memorable moment.
Friday was shopping day and movie night. All of it an effort to make sure the kids feel like this is as much their home as Oak Park. Think they truly feel it.
Have not seen any music, although it is all around us...Hot 8, Soul Rebels, Kermit, Rebirth -- they are all over the place. Lee and Katja in town, as is Kimberle. Hoping to see them all today or tomorrow, perhaps around the Saints game.
Ketchum Finance Team is coming to town Monday night for three days of meetings, highlighted by working at a middle school in Broadmoor on Tuesday. Looking forward to that.
Also, never posted but Claire(my 14 year-old) and I made it down just before Halloween for VoodooFest. Good time. Mostly Claire's bands (Plain White-Ts, Gym Class Heroes, Cute is What We Aim For). But she agreed to watch Troy play, too! the band was smokin'! Did their rock n' roll show. james on sax was particularly hot, although Linda Eatherton and I would probably disagree over what kind of hot he was!
All in all the city looks good, feels good and is ready for everybody's return visits.
Much more to come!
Today is Saturday, two days after Thanksgiving and I am posting from New Orleans -- where the big topic of conversation is, in this order: the weather, LSU losing to Arkansas, the weather, what's wrong with da Saints, the weather, the Bayou Classic, and, the weather.
Reason is that the temperature the last few days has been in the 40's and 50's. It's been blustery and overcast and the locals and everybody's been just a little off.
Nonetheless, the quarter looks great! Shoppers filled up the streets on Black Friday and seem to be out in force (although a little light because of the weather).
We've had a great time here -- a real old-fashioned family vacation. We piled into the car on Tuesday and drove the nearly 16 hours from Oak Park to New Orleans...great fun, everyone got along great! Arrived late Tuesday. Spent Wednesday around the Quarter, ate oysters at Desire (which we always do on day one!) and then went to see the Hornets play the Pacers at the Arena, followed, of course, by beignets at Cafe du Monde. Really good time...the Arena is quite nice and seeing Jon Cleary play outside before the show reminded me how cool this place really is.
That and pre-Thanksgiving shopping next to Jason Marsalis at the Winn-Dixie on Tchapatoulis!
Cooked out traditional turducken for Thanksgiving along with all the trimmings. Renee brought us all to tears by offering an individualized toast to each of us, listing what qualities we all had for which she was thankful. She spent the afternoon writing all of it down and it was a truly memorable moment.
Friday was shopping day and movie night. All of it an effort to make sure the kids feel like this is as much their home as Oak Park. Think they truly feel it.
Have not seen any music, although it is all around us...Hot 8, Soul Rebels, Kermit, Rebirth -- they are all over the place. Lee and Katja in town, as is Kimberle. Hoping to see them all today or tomorrow, perhaps around the Saints game.
Ketchum Finance Team is coming to town Monday night for three days of meetings, highlighted by working at a middle school in Broadmoor on Tuesday. Looking forward to that.
Also, never posted but Claire(my 14 year-old) and I made it down just before Halloween for VoodooFest. Good time. Mostly Claire's bands (Plain White-Ts, Gym Class Heroes, Cute is What We Aim For). But she agreed to watch Troy play, too! the band was smokin'! Did their rock n' roll show. james on sax was particularly hot, although Linda Eatherton and I would probably disagree over what kind of hot he was!
All in all the city looks good, feels good and is ready for everybody's return visits.
Much more to come!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
17 years and counting...
on behalf of elise and myself let me say that we could not be happier for you both. that is a true blessing and i say that because the only two things i ever have had for 17 consecutive years are my son and my baseball glove.
on behalf of myself let me also add how impressed i was with the obvious thought and care and time peter took to get especially dressed up for renee on this most special and auspicious of occasions. if i am not mistaken the dead giveaway to the formal dress code was the johnny cash black jeans reserved instead of the usual blue jeans. nicely done!
but for real, your celebration sounded like a truly memorable way to spend such a special occasion and you have all of our best wishes now and for the future.
the newer, cleaner quarter may take some getting used to - i am holding out hope that the clean-up initiative did not affect clover grill TOO much; that would really ruin the effect.
on behalf of myself let me also add how impressed i was with the obvious thought and care and time peter took to get especially dressed up for renee on this most special and auspicious of occasions. if i am not mistaken the dead giveaway to the formal dress code was the johnny cash black jeans reserved instead of the usual blue jeans. nicely done!
but for real, your celebration sounded like a truly memorable way to spend such a special occasion and you have all of our best wishes now and for the future.
the newer, cleaner quarter may take some getting used to - i am holding out hope that the clean-up initiative did not affect clover grill TOO much; that would really ruin the effect.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Anniversary Weekend in Louisiana
Renee and I just returned from Louisiana where we spent our 17th wedding anniversary.
We started in NOLA on Thursday night, where we had a very special meal at Gallatoire's. Our waiter, and sommelier, Mark (shown with us below) was a big fan of Paso Robles wine. When he found out that Kevin and I had been bottling there five days earlier, he rolled out the red carpet. Amazing meal, and all the wine stewards, treated us like celebrities. We promised bottles of Bin 504 for everybody!
After another day in NOLA, we headed out Saturday morning to Lafayette for Festivals Acadien, the best Cajun festival in the world. Each year a band called Les Traiteurs, made up of some of the best Cajun musicians around, play a charity gig there. Their picture is below. Some of you might recognize the guitarist. He's Sonny Landreth, clearly one of the best guitarists you'll ever hear. He opened up Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival this year...and is probably best known as the guitarist on John Hiatt's classic albums, including "Slow Turning (thanks Bluesgirl!)." Amazing slide guitarist...just draw-dropping. Well worth checking out his solo albums.
Another favorite, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, played Saturday night at a club called the Blue Moon Saloon, a great place to hear live music. Steve, who is a great friend of ours, and one of the best accordion players around, can be seen below smooching with Renee. The band smoked Saturday night! Just rocked the house.
That car shown below was our rental for the weekend, shown here piled high with treasures we bought on our annual pilgrimage to a shop in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, which you can see in the background. That's usually our final stop on the way back to New Orleans, right after brunch at Cafe des Amis, one of our top ten restaurants. You'd know why if you ever had the andouille cheese grits!
By the way, the quarter looked great! So clean it practically sparkled...you can get the idea from the picture below of the great balcony on Dauphine.
Needless to say, we left very reluctantly on Monday morning!
We started in NOLA on Thursday night, where we had a very special meal at Gallatoire's. Our waiter, and sommelier, Mark (shown with us below) was a big fan of Paso Robles wine. When he found out that Kevin and I had been bottling there five days earlier, he rolled out the red carpet. Amazing meal, and all the wine stewards, treated us like celebrities. We promised bottles of Bin 504 for everybody!
After another day in NOLA, we headed out Saturday morning to Lafayette for Festivals Acadien, the best Cajun festival in the world. Each year a band called Les Traiteurs, made up of some of the best Cajun musicians around, play a charity gig there. Their picture is below. Some of you might recognize the guitarist. He's Sonny Landreth, clearly one of the best guitarists you'll ever hear. He opened up Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival this year...and is probably best known as the guitarist on John Hiatt's classic albums, including "Slow Turning (thanks Bluesgirl!)." Amazing slide guitarist...just draw-dropping. Well worth checking out his solo albums.
Another favorite, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, played Saturday night at a club called the Blue Moon Saloon, a great place to hear live music. Steve, who is a great friend of ours, and one of the best accordion players around, can be seen below smooching with Renee. The band smoked Saturday night! Just rocked the house.
That car shown below was our rental for the weekend, shown here piled high with treasures we bought on our annual pilgrimage to a shop in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, which you can see in the background. That's usually our final stop on the way back to New Orleans, right after brunch at Cafe des Amis, one of our top ten restaurants. You'd know why if you ever had the andouille cheese grits!
By the way, the quarter looked great! So clean it practically sparkled...you can get the idea from the picture below of the great balcony on Dauphine.
Needless to say, we left very reluctantly on Monday morning!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bedroom Aging?
Perhaps a few words of explanation might be in order. Kevin (aka Deano) and I just returned from a wonderful weekend in wine country -- Paso Robles, California -- where we bottled our first vintage. We call it Bin 504. Some of you might remember we picked half a ton of grapes in Paso two years ago. Since then it's been aging in in a friend of ours barrel room in Paso. On Saturday we blended and bottled the wine. We experiemented like mad scientists, but eventually agreed on a 90% cabernet, 5% malbec, 5% merlot blend.
One of the things we learned this weekend was about "bottle shock" -- all wine tends to go into a bit of shock after it is bottled. It will be about four months more before that bottle shock ends and the wine is able to be fully enjoyed.
(Although the shock of being in Kevin's bedroom may mean the wine will take longer to recover. At least we all know the temperature in that room will never get too warm, if you know what I mean.)
So get ready, everybody, a bottle of Bin 504 is in your future -- and will soon be on sale in New Orleans. Although we have absolutely no objectivity, in our humble opinion, Bin 504 is more than drinkable. It's a real in-you-face cabernet blend.
More to come!
One of the things we learned this weekend was about "bottle shock" -- all wine tends to go into a bit of shock after it is bottled. It will be about four months more before that bottle shock ends and the wine is able to be fully enjoyed.
(Although the shock of being in Kevin's bedroom may mean the wine will take longer to recover. At least we all know the temperature in that room will never get too warm, if you know what I mean.)
So get ready, everybody, a bottle of Bin 504 is in your future -- and will soon be on sale in New Orleans. Although we have absolutely no objectivity, in our humble opinion, Bin 504 is more than drinkable. It's a real in-you-face cabernet blend.
More to come!
Monday, October 8, 2007
First Vintage of Bin 504 has been bottled
Barrel aging is important, as is bottle aging, but not many know of the most crucial stage of the aging process...bedroom aging. This stage is very important for expanding the versatility of our wine. In the coming weeks, not only will these 26 cases hold the day's mail, the kid's homework, and both clean and dirty laundry, but they will also endure countless profanity-laden outbursts from me as I stub my toe on them attempting to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Talk about your bottle shock.More pictures and stories to follow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
