More Crepe Nanou for Charlie's Birthday

I went out to eat again at this fabulous restaurant that I cannot afford, but fuck it.  I have been in-bed sick for the past week and I needed a treat.

And what better way to treat yourself out than with delicious food?

Charlie is my best friend's other best friend.  There is no such thing as a one and only best friend in my book.  The more the merrier.  Especially when they share.  I love her humor and her attitude and her point-blank way of saying things that can be jarring for some, but to those close to her, it is straight-up love.

Hooray!  She's 23.  It kind of makes me feel old at 25 going on 26 but the candor of the company seems ageless.  We've got a tiny-framed, sharp witted, nurse-to-be in one corner carrying herself like a siamese without the pretension and another nurse, soft but not soft spoken in the other regaling us with stories about her Turkish husband.  I feel at home because it seems as if age was of no consequence and we laughed and swore and talked about how delicious the food was the whole time.

The last time I had a cheese and pate plate was at a frou frou fancy restaurant in Portsmouth N.H. for an Easter dinner experience with my family.  It was pathetic.  It looked like it should have been served to doll's at a tea party; each portion was so incredibly small, barely enough for one person let alone four.  (Also, the funniest part was when the calamari appetizer came out and it was a whopping three pieces.  My family laughs to this day about that ridiculous dining experience.  We laughed then, but much louder now.)

The platter came out with three generous wedges of various pates, three cheese selections, hard salami, mini pickles, kalamata olives, and a boiled egg with mustard, walnuts, and some fruit and veggies for garnish.  It's probably the most generous cheese plate I've ever received in a restaurant.  We were presented with practically a loaf of bread and went at it!  Now this is a fucking cheese and pate plate.  I don't have to remind you of why I moved to New Orleans in the first place.  Now, I wish I could tell you more about the pate - because each was distinctive in it's own right but I am by no means a connoisseur.  I wish I was.  I love pate.  I have no qualms with how it comes to be on my plate as much as the veal i had a week or so ago - it's delicious and that's enough for me.  I will say this- they were of varying textures, which was a great experience: super smooth to slightly grainy to grainy.  I might be wrong, but I could have sworn one was rabbit.  I've had rabbit pate before and I love rabbit like crazy, but I wouldn't quote me on it.  All were delicious and we raved (except for Charlie...those damn qualms.)  The cheeses were great, too.  The blue cheese so smooth on the palate, almost no edge at all, and the chevre so rich and heavy.  (I forget the other, please forgive me!)  You're just going to have to try this plate our yourself.  It's worth the $25, especially when split.

Then I get a salad special of the night despite my lingering desire all day for the French Onion Soup.  Endives.  Oh!  I love them!  It was a perfect palate-clearer for the next course.  It was a very beautiful display of greens, endives, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, and blue cheese crumbles with a walnut vinaigrette.  I usually hate salads, but if it has got gorgonzola or blue cheese I almost always order it.  When I make salad at home, I usually go for spinach, cranberries, walnuts and gorgonzola with a raspberry or blueberry vinaigrette.  But the walnut dressing, made with walnut oil?  Totally bringing that to my table.

Dinner was split between me and the birthday girl.  Mussels and French Fries.  This time I really discovered the cream sauce that the mussels were cooked in.  Butter, cream, white wine- I just took a wedge of bread and dipped it right inside. (For more info on this dish, read Mardi Gras: Beads, Breakfast, and Cheesecake.)

And, of course, it's a birthday.  How can we go without dessert?  Someone mysteriously tipped our waiter about the birthday and he comes out with a candle-bedecked crepe a la mode and presents it to Charlie.  Chocolate and strawberries (in season!) with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with more chocolate!  At the table we also had a Creme Caramel.  Kind of like flan, but a flan floating in a bath of caramel sauce?!  Crazy delicious.  I'm going to have to learn how to make that.  I think someone needs to buy me ramekins for my birthday. (Hint, hint.)

If I wasn't still sick I would have gone out for a night on the town, but I need to be not sick at some point.  It's ridiculous, really.  But Charlie's birthday couldn't have come at a better time and she couldn't have picked a better restaurant or better company to share.