Next Time You're In Donner, LA...

...think "Fried Chicken". Chester's Place might not look like much from the outside, and in keeping with consistency doesn't look like much on the inside. However, after my first visit to this roadside institution, I believe consistency has been their recipe for success. When you first step into this family run chicken shack, you get the feeling they have been open forever, which according to all the people at my table they have been. Since day one their simple menu has consisted of fried chicken, fried gizzards and onion rings. Over time they have expanded the menu to include frog's legs and also shrimp, but that is basically it. Keep it simple and do it really well. Works for me. You can order the fried chicken three different ways: Regular, Spicy or Frank's way (no batter). I went with spicy and although the chicken pieces tend to be small, I was delighted to see that when my paper plate of crispy fried goodness arrived, it was the whole chicken. Thigh, leg, breast, wing, neck, backbone. Finger licking good. In fact the motto of the restaurant printed on all of the waiters T-shirts reads "If the Colonel had this recipe, he would have been a General." Clever, and I would do this restaurant a disservice if I did not mention that the onion rings were probably some of the best I have ever had. Red onions, thinly sliced. Sweet, crisp, home run. In case you're curious, Donner is located about 20 minutes outside of Houma and although you may not find yourself there very often, it's worthy of a Sunday drive. By the way, they are only open on the weekends.

My Plot To Farm

Actually, I now have four plots. Four plots of what and where you may ask? What I am referring to is urban farmland, ripe and ready to harvest the fruits and vegetables of all four seasons. Land that is fertile, waiting to be tilled, seeded and irrigated. Where I am talking about is well...believe it or not, right down the street. I spent two hours this past Saturday helping neighborhood gardeners clear out our community garden, which expectedly had become mostly overgrown with weeds and vines due to neglect during the dog days of summer. Certainly, no one is to blame here because I know I can not spend any length of time outside when the temperature is pushing 100 degrees with 80% humidity, to maintain a volunteer garden. But on this day of weed clearing and unearthing the kinds of things (creatures) one only finds when they get their hands dirty, I discovered an opportunity to grow. No pun intended, but you can see what I'm getting at here. As someone who loves to cook and eat - and I could go as far as to say a foodie except I feel like that word makes me sound like a yuppie - I think the next step in food appreciation is to grow it myself. Sure I could have started small with one plot and planted a couple of tomato plants or grew a few varities of fresh herbs. But after spending two hours with these four little, adjacent parcels of land (that happen to get great morning sunlight) I felt that it was only natural and fair that they all be part of my latest food endeavor. Growing food is a labor of love. A love for the land, a respect for the food and the labor of your dedication to the dirt. The land is now mostly cleared and next the soil needs to be tilled. Of course, there will be more to come...

Sutherlin Hospitality

Ok, first things first. Missy, you have to post the recipe for those cheese biscuits. Was there bacon in there too? They were ridiculously good. Secondly, these monthly eat togethers are becoming really interesting. Besides the good idea of scheduling a date each month to spend more time together, the chance to go from house to house is giving all of us an opportunity to learn and see a different side of who we are, mostly because we are in our own element doing our own thing. We get to do hospitality our way. Creating a menu if we like or just cooking a bunch of different food. It puts us on the spot to be ourselves, as opposed to meeting at one person's house on a regular basis and knowing what to expect. I'm excited that this is beginning to take on a life of its own and I'm looking forward to what we come up with as time goes on. Nice job Missy and Bradford (and Wrigley) and I'm looking forward to October.

Come Hungry!

Menue: Shrimp and Grits with Cheese Biscuits

This Saturday

This saturday has been moved to 11:00 a.m.

317 Henry Clay

Can't wait to see everyone!

Feeling Crabby

Ok, so as you may have noticed by now, I like to share my food experiences with you. While I would like every food experience to be fascinating, delicious and educating, sometimes they just turn out to be bad...real bad. It's not that I don't expect these things to occur, it just so happens that the unenjoyable food event that took place this weekend turned out to be a two day event. After such an event, all I can muster is to say "What were they thinking?"
DAY ONE: Let me give you a little background info so you can fully appreciate this story. Lauren's dad Malcolm and his wife Sue fly in Friday evening to witness two close friends of theirs renew wedding vows after 20 years of marriage. Nice event and even local, so Lauren, Viv and I are also invited. The event is small and is being held at St. Mary Magdalen church, with the reception to take place in the rectory. This should have been the first sign of questionable things to come. We arrive, people are great and the food laid out has been provided by a local caterer. Now, as I mentioned this was a small event, so food expectations were low to begin with. Well, on the food table are a variety of aluminum foil serving containers with different hot dishes that all amazingly were the same color. Pecan crusted catfish, gumbo, crawfish etouffee and some sort of beef dish. Sounds ok right? Well, I couldn't tell which dish was which because they were all the same shade of brown, and what I did taste had very little flavor. Ok, so maybe you're thinking at this point I may be a bit of a food snob, but it wasn't until later events that I developed my disappointment. The fact that I was at a wedding in New Orleans and the food was very unappetizing was forgiveable because over the course of the evening we were also invited to a party for the happy couple that was taking place on Saturday at a beautiful home on Lake Catherine. There was talk of boiling seafood and softshell crab, out on the lake...ok, now we're talking.
DAY TWO: We arrive at lake house just after 2pm. We are greeted very nicely and as we are taking a tour of the house and climbing the grand staircase, we can't help but notice on the kitchen counter all the same food that was so universally avoided the night before, on display yet once again, in the same ugly, aluminum containers, yes a day later. It's one thing to serve bad food at a nice celebration once, but it borders on terrible idea to do it again the next day, to the same people no less. But needless to say we remained hopeful. There was big talk of boiled crabs and I even noticed the pot resting over the propane fire when I walked in. So I go to observe, just so I can feel better about the whole situation. The crabs go in, the seasoning goes in. Some onions, some celery. Uh oh, no potatoes, corn, sausage, artichokes or lemon. I chalk it up to the fact that not everybody has seafood boils the same way. Boy, was that ever an understatement. The crabs boil for a while then our host turns the gas off to let them sit for a bit to absorb the seasoning. Our mouths are watering and we are ready to get our hands dirty and crack some claws. So we wait patiently, and we wait, and we wait. Then its as if our host has disappeared altogether. Oh wait, there he is! Way down at the end of his pier, working on his boat so he can take his guest out for a ride on the lake. Working on your boat!?!?!? Good crabs have died and are now absorbing an inordinate amount of seasoning and you think now is a good time to work on your boat. At this point we have been at the lake house for three hours, have had no desire to eat any leftover brown food and are staring at a pot of now luke warm seasoning water, containing bright orange crabs that I am guessing are pretty much way overcooked and probably taste like a salt lick. We decide at that point that we need to go, and by go I mean go to Bucktown to get some boiled seafood. This crab tease has gone on for too long and once we have eaten our boiled crabs at Deanie's I'm going to call the food police or the Louisiana Entertaining Commission or maybe the mayor to report your poor hosting habits, because if there is one thing you can't do in New Orleans is throw a party and not give your guests something good to eat.