The ‘Fish fades away

By now I am sure most of you have heard that Picklefish downtown on Dauphin Street has closed after 12 years of good pizza. Owner Mead Miller has been struggling with illness, and while he is not ruling out a return, it is too difficult for him to keep up.

Mead has not only been a strong supporter and incubator of the LoDa area, but ran a successful restaurant that met the desires of both families and late night drunks. I complained at times about the service, and the cleanliness, but always got past it when I received my food. Hopefully someone else can come in and pick up quickly where he left off – just like the several groups of people who have already been looking at the former Guido’s location in Oakleigh.

Chefs auction

The March of Dimes Annual Signature Chefs Auction is coming up and is planned for Sunday, Oct. 19 at the Heron Lakes Country Club. The co-chairs for this year’s event are Geri Moulton and Vaughan Morrissette.

The event is cocktail attire from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a VIP reception starting at 5:30 p.m. The event includes approximately 15 chefs preparing their signature dishes for 300 guests, with wine tasting, beer tasting, and live and silent auctions.

Joe Lewis will be performing during the silent auction. The VIP reception is new this year and includes a Signature Martini Contest: each chef submits one concoction to be voted on by the VIPs. Chef Kenny Sylvester will be the featured chef for this portion of the evening.

If you would like to get involved, need more information or to make a reservation you can call Catherine North at 438-1360 or e-mail her at CLNorth@marchofdimes.com.

I will have more information once the event gets closer.

Dawn recognition

Bama Belle’s recently received recognition from Dawn Dishwashing Liquid and was selected as one of the winners, among over 1,000 entries, that received a deep back-of-the-house cleaning along with the option of choosing from three bonus prizes – 30,000 Foodservice Reward Points, $1,000 in cash or 30 cases of Dawn (240 bottles!).

The contest was held to celebrate 30 years of Dawn serving the foodservice industry and to thank their loyal customers. The contest was for independent restaurant owners and institutional kitchen managers who use Dawn products. The winners were selected based on their answers to the question: “I use Dawn because…” and was not based on the state of their kitchens!

A panel of judges evaluated answers based on originality, creativity and relevance to the promotion. The clean team was comprised of cleaning professionals from local cleaning companies.

Quashing rumors

Rumors have swirled about several local restaurants closing, and I want to confirm that Zitsos is OPEN on the mezzanine of the old AmSouth Bank building on Royal Street in downtown Mobile. And about other rumors and allegations, if you do not like a restaurant or have a bad experience, in my opinion the best thing to do is politely tell friends and relatives that they may not wish to go there. Using work e-mail to send to God and country may not be the wisest decision and could cost you your job.

GM&O eats

I tried out the Le Rose European Café and Deli in the GM&O building off Water Street for lunch one day last week. The menu is impressive featuring crepes, salads such as French Duck with dried cranberries, candied pecans, heart of palm and feta with raspberry vinaigrette.

I tried the salmon burger mixed with herbs and spices with a dill-dijon mayonnaise dressing and served with a tangy cold German potato salad. My friend ordered the German dumplings with country ham – house-made Spaetzle served with country ham, crisp bacon, onions and melted Gruyere with a small salad.

It was a nice meal, with lots of sausage choices as well. Those worried about seating room can take comfort – they will soon, if not already, be placing more seating out in the lobby area of the building just outside their space. They are open from breakfast until just after work for those wanting to pick up and take home.

NoJa excellence

I recently had a wonderful experience at NoJa. I wanted to plan a special meal with wine flights and the staff was not only very creative with the menu, but sought out some French wines I wanted.

Recently I was talking to the sommelier at True and we spoke about how he is trying to educate and encourage diners to think outside American wines. This reminded me there are many affordable French wines and if you rely on a sommelier you cannot go wrong.

The service at NoJa was attentive without hovering and we especially enjoyed the young chef who came out to describe each course and also let us get to know him a bit (our choice – it was not pushed on us). He is a delightful young man with great ideas.

So after appetizers of curried lamb that was light on the curry and seared scallops, we entered our first course – salmon three ways. A beautiful dish, the bottom of the bowl was spread with coho salmon tartare glacage toped with field greens with pineapple and saffron vinaigrette. Pan-roasted coho was wrapped with a thick slice of Nova Scotia Smoked Salmon – truly decadent.

Our second course was petite beef Teres Major, served medium rare with spinach Chantilly, sautéed trumpet royales, sweetbreads and pickled red onions. Teres Major, it was explained to us, is the most tender cut of meat, more flavorful than even filet. It is found on the back shoulder of the cow just above the skirt steak.

I could not believe how tender it was and cooked perfect medium rare. I usually steer away from sweetbreads, but enjoyed them when I put a little taste on top of a bite of steak. The meal was finished with bananas foster flambé cooked tableside – my favorite dessert.

I am running out of room to describe the wines but suffice to say that all enjoyed them.

Condolences

I’d also like to extend Lagniappe’s condolences to the Water Table for the recent loss of Andrew Griffin, the young man who worked there. He was always so nice and upbeat and will be missed.

Cuisine on the airwaves

Last, starting this Thursday listen to 106.5 The Pirate for me each week talking about food and restaurants at 8:20 a.m.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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