Quick thoughts on K-Paul and NOLA

[David M. Bueker]

Two out of the three dinners we had in New Orleans this week were at notable restaurants. K-Paul was outstanding. My fish and my wife's pork were both perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. Service was good, and pricing was fair for location and quality of food. NOLA was still good, but a step down from K-Paul. Seasonings were a bit heavy, especially the overly salty gumbo, and service relied a lot more on flair than efficiency. Pricing was virtually the same at both, so K-Paul wins out.

I've been to both and I agree with you on both counts. In addition, we went to New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina. Paul Prudhomme had hired local musicians (who were largely out of work due to the devastation) to play on rotation in front of his restaurant in order to keep them employed. Everything about him and his establishment was very impressive. I also thought NOLA was very large (3 floors as I recall) and impersonal, or maybe it just looked and felt that way due to the timing of our visit.

[Robin Garr]

I was a big fan of K-Paul's back in the day. Went several times, even contrived an excuse to get an interview with him for a newspaper profile. He was a gentle, kind and very generous man with ego well in check ... a rare thing for a big-name chef! I cooked my way through his Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen (and still have it), and gained 10 pounds in the process.

To be honest, though, that was 25 years ago. He was dangerously heavy, used a wheelchair most of the time to protect his knees, and lost his beloved wife to cancer a few years later. I hate to admit it, but when I saw your post I was surprised - but delighted - to know that he's still around and doing well.

[David M. Bueker]

NOLA was indeed large and busy, busy, busy.

K-Paul's is not small by the way. It just does not look as big as it is. (And it's not as big as NOLA.)

Dinner at K-Paul's was one of the highlights of my trip to New Orleans back in 1986. I'm glad to hear it's still in good form. Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen is one of my most treasured cookbooks.

-Paul W.

Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen is one of my most treasured cookbooks.

-Paul W.

Mine too!! I have a first edition copy. Sure it's not worth much. I lost the dustcover long ago and the pages are full of food stains. The one thing I have not made from that book that I've always said I would make is his molasses bread. Loved it when I ate at his restaurant. The entire bread basket was awesome, as I recall and both the molasses bread and the jalapeño cheese breads were in that basket and the recipes in the book. Good time!

[David M. Bueker]

The pecan muffins were the best item in the bread basket this time.

I'm a fan of K. Paul's too. It's actually more N.O, LA than NOLA (and many of the locals will tell you the same thing). Emeril made his fame and fortune, but he wasn't considered a home boy,whereas Prudhomme is thought well of in town; they're all proud of what he's done and the fact that, even with all his fame, he's a local boy and staying true to the cuisine and the city.

And the competition in that town sets the bar pretty damn high.

The crawfish etouffee at K-Paul was one of the most memorable dishes I've ever had. It's a wonderful restaurant that I've been to several times and somehow seems more relaxed than NOLA. It reflects the city's cuisine wonderfully. However, let the record show that Emeril paid the staff of all of his restaurants after Katrina out of his own pocket until he could reopen. He's a good guy and his restaurants are well worth going to.

[David M. Bueker]

It's worth noting that the menu at NOLA was very New Orleans. I had shrimp and grits, which were very good.

[Robin Garr]

I'm a fan of K. Paul's too. It's actually more N.O, LA than NOLA

To be slightly pedantic, it's really more Acadiana than it is the city's Creole, and Paul's sister for many years ran an eatery in Lafayette that locals claimed to be better than K-Paul's. She said he stole her recipes.

[Robin Garr]

shrimp and grits

Still more pedantry from Mr Pedant today: This is Low Country food from coastal South Carolina. It's gone viral all over ... it's huge in Louisville now, but a local chef borrowed it from Beaufort, SC, and brought it here in 1995, whence it has spawned a host of imitators. I'm reasonably certain that it's followed a similar (maybe older) path in N'Awlins.

shrimp and grits

Still more pedantry from Mr Pedant today: This is Low Country food from coastal South Carolina. It's gone viral all over ... it's huge in Louisville now, but a local chef borrowed it from Beaufort, SC, and brought it here in 1995, whence it has spawned a host of imitators. I'm reasonably certain that it's followed a similar (maybe older) path in N'Awlins.

Spot on with this one! Shrimp and grits is low country. But grits are a staple all over the south. In Louisiana its pairing is grits and grillades!

[Robin Garr]

... grits are a staple all over the south.

And only the south, I think. It was fascinating to grow up very close to the line. In Louisville, we knew of grits but as an ethnic dish, served as an occasional starch alternative to pasta or potatoes at dinner time. Serving it at breakfast would have seemed as weird as having spaghetti or mashed potatoes for breakfast. But as close as 30 miles south, where the country begins, it was grits all the time.

In Louisiana its pairing is grits and grillades!

Mmm, mmm!

... grits are a staple all over the south.

And only the south, I think. It was fascinating to grow up very close to the line. In Louisville, we knew of grits but as an ethnic dish, served as an occasional starch alternative to pasta or potatoes at dinner time. Serving it at breakfast would have seemed as weird as having spaghetti or mashed potatoes for breakfast. But as close as 30 miles south, where the country begins, it was grits all the time.

In Louisiana its pairing is grits and grillades!

Mmm, mmm!

Grits Boy, here. One of the things of the South that never left me, although I left the South.

1. Grits and Grillade: Like to stay at the Royal Sonesta in NO, because it's easy to crawl to when you're drunk in the Quarter, but also because they have Grits and Grillade on their breakfast menu for the next morning.


2. Once did a market visit to the Carolinas. Started in North Carolina and worked my way through South Carolina and ended up in Charleston. Made a point of ordering Shrimp and Grits whenever it was offered. BIIIIIIIIG difference from the north to the south, and the best was in Charleston.

Robin, you mention the oddity of having grits for breakfast....when living in Germany I invited a friend for a sleepover and the next morning my Mom offered to cook breakfast. She asked if Glenn, my friend, ate grits (he was half American-half English). He said "Sure!". Imagine my surprise when he got the home-cooked grits (not the quick kind) and proceeded to pour syrup all over the bowl. I'd never seen that before, but learned that's how many people eat their Cream of Wheat, so that's how he learned to eat grits. Different customs.

[Jenise]

... grits are a staple all over the south.

And only the south, I think. It was fascinating to grow up very close to the line. In Louisville, we knew of grits but as an ethnic dish, served as an occasional starch alternative to pasta or potatoes at dinner time. Serving it at breakfast would have seemed as weird as having spaghetti or mashed potatoes for breakfast. But as close as 30 miles south, where the country begins, it was grits all the time.

In Louisiana its pairing is grits and grillades!

Mmm, mmm!

Grits Boy, here. One of the things of the South that never left me, although I left the South.

1. Grits and Grillade: Like to stay at the Royal Sonesta in NO, because it's easy to crawl to when you're drunk in the Quarter, but also because they have Grits and Grillade on their breakfast menu for the next morning.


2. Once did a market visit to the Carolinas. Started in North Carolina and worked my way through South Carolina and ended up in Charleston. Made a point of ordering Shrimp and Grits whenever it was offered. BIIIIIIIIG difference from the north to the south, and the best was in Charleston.

Robin, you mention the oddity of having grits for breakfast....when living in Germany I invited a friend for a sleepover and the next morning my Mom offered to cook breakfast. She asked if Glenn, my friend, ate grits (he was half American-half English). He said "Sure!". Imagine my surprise when he got the home-cooked grits (not the quick kind) and proceeded to pour syrup all over the bowl. I'd never seen that before, but learned that's how many people eat their Cream of Wheat, so that's how he learned to eat grits. Different customs.

What's the "grillade" composed of?

What is this "grits" of which you speak? Is it anything like kasha? ::there is no icon for this kind of humor::

Jenise, the grillades part is slow-simmered beef, pork or veal in a vegetable gravy, then served over the grits.

My favorite version is thin slices of veal in a rich tomato-spice sauce ladled over the grits. Want to make it special, put it over cheese grits, although I've had a few tasty pork versions as well.

Jeff: in a grocery store I used to shop at in Louisville they had, side-by-side in the chiller, those plastic tubes-thingies of "Polenta" and "Grits". Same producer.

[Jenise]

And that would be breakfast? Or, just something for anytime, if you're lucky to find it?

Btw, the guy who makes the polenta in plastic tubes that Trader Joe's sells lives in my neighborhood. He was crushed that I'd never bought any--his whole paradigm is rooted in the belief that nobody, anywhere, of any stripe, would rather make their own.

And that would be breakfast? Or, just something for anytime, if you're lucky to find it?

Btw, the guy who makes the polenta in plastic tubes that Trader Joe's sells lives in my neighborhood. He was crushed that I'd never bought any--his whole paradigm is rooted in the belief that nobody, anywhere, of any stripe, would rather make their own.

In New Orleans you can see it at breakfast, brunches, lunch, maybe even dinner... but mostly breakfast, I think. Great for morning's after.

Breakfast/brunch mostly.