Speaker 1 0:06

Welcome to Marty's music, kitchen, the fun music and food podcast, where anything can happen. We're on the road in new Orleans, known as the big, easy homework[inaudible] and gumbo, and the birthplace of jazz. Today, we bring two shining stars from the newly opened Juul, the south restaurant and new Orleans. First, the bartender of all bartenders and co-owner Chris Hannah. He is the authority of classic cocktails and the south and his expertise helped win a 2017 James Beard award for the pest bar in America. Chef Phil Whitmarsh has created dishes in England and Australia and learned true Cajun cooking from his wife's family here in Louisiana. Well, chef Phil works away in the kitchen on bone marrow cream caviar, and Madeline's Chris will teach us all about his signature cocktail and my absolute favorite, the French 75. Why is new Orleans, a magnet for good food and good times? And what the heck is a crusta? Come with me into the special on the road podcast and let's find out

Speaker 2 1:19

[inaudible].

Speaker 1 1:20

So, hi, Chris, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 1:23

It's good to be here. I

Speaker 1 1:25

Am incredibly excited to be here at the Juul of the south restaurant. Congratulations, by the way, I love this bar. It is amazing. Was that here when you got

Speaker 3 1:36

No, this, uh, this was just a single family home and, um, when the place was bought, we decided that we would like to have a really nice bar come in and you know, the back bar started from in England. It was built in Wales for a bar in London. Yeah. And the bar in London had ties with a bar that was opening in DC. So they sailed it to DC, but that bar closed. And so the back bar was put in a warehouse and then we bought it, uh, from the warehouse and it was shipped down here. It's 1880s, uh, from England,

Speaker 1 2:06

It's gorgeous. It's like all hand-carved beautiful, dark, uh, wood. What's it made out of,

Speaker 3 2:12

We think it's cherry wood. It could be mahogany.

Speaker 1 2:15

Well, it's gorgeous. And you've got your, a sundry of drinks here because in a previous incarnation you were a bartender, right? Yeah, of course. And then how did you get started doing that?

Speaker 3 2:27

I came from the kitchen actually. I was in the kitchen for six years and then I started bar backing and I realized, uh, I liked talking to guests and being part of this, this part of the party, you know, like we're, we're the whole show was. So, and then I just, uh, from bar backing, I, I learned how to bartend and then helping guests get along with their stay. It became a thing for me. Well,

Speaker 1 2:48

First got your name out of a cocktail book that I purchased as a gift for someone that was all on, uh, new Orleans cocktails. And of course the French 75 is one of my favorite all time drinks. So I flipped to the page that had the French 75 on it. And here you were this great picture of you in this book, and I guess you were working at a time at our never a restaurant called the French 75. Right. And, um, you know, it talked about you coming into new Orleans for the jazz and, um, and you had the French 75 and like, oh my God, there's my guy. So awesome. Yeah. So you, um, started working at the front 75 and learned to bartend there, or you learn,

Speaker 3 3:32

Uh, you know, I was, I bartended, uh, for about seven years before moving to new Orleans, but I didn't really know anything about differentially five cocktail. Was it really wasn't well-known at all? I mean, none of the new Orleans drinks were, you know, like the Manhattan and the martini and Gibson, old fashion, those were all, those were all knowns. Right. And they're coming down in new Orleans. I was just kind of floored with like how many different drinks I'd never heard of that were really kind of normal and standard. Like the Ramos gin is the milk punch. Sazeracs blue, gray.

Speaker 1 4:01

I haven't heard any of the rest of them. So

Speaker 3 4:03

Yeah, I know. So neither of them knew that I, now everybody does, because there's like a whole really awesome cocktail revolution, like around 2004, five and six. Um, but I didn't know any of them. And then they taught me all of them and then we took it away, you know, uh, the French Levi was never a new Orleans drink. And until we decided to do what we do most here in new Orleans, which is hijack everything, you know, like the Florida li Mardi Gras, the Pimm's cup is really from England, but we make it so much. It's like people think it's a new Orleans cocktail, even if you're in

Speaker 1 4:32

England tell anybody. Right. Right.

Speaker 3 4:33

Right. So that's my favorite quote in new Orleans is everything we're doing is worth overdoing. So you make so many friends, too many fives and all of a sudden, I think it's in new Orleans drink, but it really is from France.

Speaker 1 4:44

I hear you're the expert on that. You want to make me one? Yeah, sure. So we've tried to make this at home to a certain degree of success. So, I mean, what can you teach us about, um, you know, making a proper French 75?

Speaker 3 4:59

Well, you usually, you would start with good spirits. Like we're going to use DUSA cognac and then a nice, you know, uh, champagne. I usually I could do brew because it offers less sweetness, you know, it's dry and just gives the,

Speaker 1 5:11

And that may be one of the reasons I like this pepper so much is because I'm not a fan of sweet champagne. So, you know, one in my corner. Whew. That's a fancy glass.

Speaker 3 5:26

Yeah. So the, uh, the champagne tulip. So I think I have everything.

Speaker 1 5:32

All right. Step one in making a decent French 75,

Speaker 3 5:36

You have a fresh squeezed lemon juice, uh, distilled an aged cognac we're using do say a XO. And then we have a, um, root champagne and then simple syrup. One-to-one sugar to water. Okay. First we're going to do a little over a quarter round. So it's about almost a half ounce of lemon juice. And then just a quarter ounce of the simple syrup, the sugar water, and the shaker tin. Yeah. And the reason why you want to have a little more lemon juice is because you want it to get this. Not that the cognac is sweet, but you want to let the, the, the flavor of that and make balanced the lemon and the sugar, instead of it just being like too sweet. Right? So then an ounce and a quarter of the cognac, and then we're going to shake this with ice.

Speaker 1 6:27

I've seen some from 70 fives that are made with Jen And some that are made with, you know, um, Jeremy, Louie, or tequila. What makes the Kodiak your favorite album?

Speaker 3 6:43

The dribbling tequila is kinda, it's kinda fun, but the, uh, the two that are mostly made are gin and cognac. The, um, majority would use Jen and we have always used cognac. Originally. It is cognac. There was a fun little story on that. I like to use a properly aged grape distiller to go along with the grapes juices in the champagnes, because it just makes sense to me, what's the story. The story is that it started in France with the Lafayette Escadrille, which was an allied fighter pilot outfit, um, of the French and American, uh, firefighters pilots, you know, and, um, the shampoo, the French 25 was a 75 millimeter cannon. And so when these allied fighter pilots would go on their raids and return safely, they would drink the champagne and the cognac that was readily available in their camp. And it would toast to the French in the pot and think the French 25 Canon for their safety and coming back, no, what happened was the, when they had breaks and they were able to go to Paris, they would go to Chatham house hotel, which is right next to Harry's New York bar. So it's on the same street. So each outfit would go to their home, their home bar first. And so their bartenders would make them these Springs, so many buyers, and they would tell them about like what they, what they like to drink. Obviously the bartenders were better. And so they prepared them better, but Harry is the bartenders were English. And so they use gin and they also were really, really scrupulous. And to, to the point where they would, they were the first ones to write. So they wrote the first book that had the French five in it. So everybody thinks it was Jim bursts, but really it's cognac. And I read their autobiographies in the Lafayette Escadrille and they all talked about the Chatham house, the channel hotel, which is it's no longer open, but the bartenders there made cocktails that are still made and famous. They were really, they were much more well-known cocktail wise, then Harry's New York bar at that time, like the rose cocktail and, uh, chrysanthemum. But anyway, those bar turn has made French 75. We have the Lafayette Escadrille to think and you're, I hope you're enjoying them.

Speaker 1 9:00

All right. Well, I'm going to taste it. Here we go. So, um, here's to a front 75 with cognac. Okay. That's the best French 75 I've ever

Speaker 3 9:10

Had.

Speaker 1 9:12

Thank you. That is amazing.

Speaker 3 9:14

You're helping me on my way to a million. I'm almost there.

Speaker 1 9:17

This is a million French 75 that you've made almost. Oh,

Speaker 3 9:20

Wow. That's okay. Yeah. I got about four more year, first

Speaker 1 9:23

75. Do you think you make

Speaker 3 9:24

It a year? Well, I used to make a little over 40,000 and we actually checked it out because it was just kind of ridiculous, you know, at that point it's like, well, how many of you made, I think what I'm more impressed and happy about is that is how this drink has taken me all over the world, because that made the French 75 in 14 different countries. And now, now I've made them in all six continents because I'm not, I'm not going to really go to Antarctica. So I'm not going to say seven. So I was just on Australia. I finished. So there we go. I'm happy. This is my swamp. This is my Swan song.

Speaker 1 9:59

Um, well, okay. First of all, I have to tell you the balance is perfect and I don't, I can describe food, but I have a hard time describing beverages, but I would assume that the creativity that it takes for a chef to make a new dish is the same kind of creativity you might use to make a new

Speaker 3 10:19

That's. Another reason why I, um, stayed with bartending is because of the culinary aspect. I really like enjoyed my time in the kitchen. And then like, when you have all these flavors to work with, that's what like comes out and then you learn how to balance a drink. That's the reason why I was saying it was a little bit more lemon juice than sugar because you let the sweetness of the cognac. It's not a cognac of sweet, but everyday, every spirit has a sweetness. And so you let that like complete the balance of the citrus in the, in the sugars. Uh, the kitchen is where I learned that there were so many flavors, so much fun, making so many different things. I had no idea. And then going to the bar and then realizing that there's like, there's so many spirits and flavors you can balance and make a cocktail and

Speaker 1 10:57

Right. I mean, I'm looking at behind you at the bar and there's all like, what are, what's the pink stuff that you made this morning? Oh

Speaker 3 11:04

Yeah. It was, um, this compari lime, watermelon, shrub, and Dolan blond for

Speaker 1 11:10

Moot that was make what kind of a drink?

Speaker 3 11:12

It's a refreshing effort. TiVo cocktail you'd have ordered dinner. And I

Speaker 1 11:16

Had that before this interview. So it was perfect.

Speaker 3 11:19

It's pretty. It was, it was a lot of fun making that. What do you call it? Uh, the bitter melody. And it's because the bitters obviously compari melody is a type of watermelon. And so drinks have stories and the stories are also kind of fun. Just like this French five is like one of my favorite stories.

Speaker 1 11:36

It's a good story. So you were in Australia, is that how you met?

Speaker 3 11:40

No. Me and, uh, bill met here in new Orleans, but me and Phil actually went to Australia. It was a really fun new Orleans trip. There were six chefs and four bartenders. And so the park Hyatt down in Melbourne wanted to have a new Orleans weekend for were locals to be able to come out and just have, you know, real new Orleans food in new Orleans drinks.

Speaker 1 12:01

Wow. Yeah, that sounds great. Well, you know, why don't we go check in with Phil? I understand he's going to cook something special for us today and let's go meet Phil on the kitchens

Speaker 4 12:12

In the glow man. Oh my darling. When the lights are fading low and the why is shadow all in softly and softly, when the trees are sobbing with a gentle unknown. Whoa, will you think of me and love me? I, you did once long ago.

Speaker 1 12:55

Hello Sheffield. How are you? I'm good. Thank you so much for letting us in this kitchen, Chris. And I understand that you're going to be cooking up something special for us today.

Speaker 5 13:05

Yeah, absolutely. We can do our, uh, bone marrow cream with a Madeline's in caviar.

Speaker 1 13:11

That sounds good. Um, the only reason I know much about the flavor of bone marrow is because, you know, of course, Thanksgiving, you know, when you're making all your leftovers, you show, you know, put all the bones in the, in the broth and cook them down so that all that stuff, the good stuff comes out. So that's the, that's my, then my only exposure to that. So how does, how do you cook something like that?

Speaker 5 13:34

Uh, so kind of the same thing we wrote their bones down, um, or the, uh, fat renders out. And then we clarify it to basically put it back on the heat temperature and a certain portion of the bone. And we questioned like a custard out of that. Um,

Speaker 1 13:49

Really

Speaker 5 13:51

Simple, um, bone marrow, eggs, cream, salt, and white pepper, and put a nice scoop on a plate with some penguin Tato. Uh, but he bread. We've cooked them by marrow as well. Uh, some chives, some hard-boiled egg yolk and toilets with caviar. The side of Madden's.

Speaker 1 14:09

That sounds really good, actually. You know what? I've never had caviar. I haven't, I don't know why just hasn't come my direction. I guess

Speaker 5 14:17

It's Cajun both in caveats. It's local. It's good stuff. It's not employed.

Speaker 1 14:22

Have you tried this dish press?

Speaker 3 14:24

Yeah. It's extremely decorative. Yes.

Speaker 1 14:28

I love it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 14:30

Uh, the savory Madeline's and you dip with the, um, what do you call the, uh, the, what do you sprinkled is like there's egg yolk graded.

Speaker 5 14:37

Yeah. Egg yolk, uh, bone marrow, breadcrumbs and chives.

Speaker 3 14:41

Huh? Yeah. It's pretty awesome. So how do you guys

Speaker 1 14:44

Come up with the dishes for the Juul, the Southwest?

Speaker 3 14:47

I don't have anything to do with the, that's a, that's a question for here,

Speaker 1 14:52

Phil. How do you come up with the dishes?

Speaker 5 14:55

I see, I see what's in season and whatever, you know, what I suppliers and producers and purveyors have. If it's a decent price, you buy it in. Um, and we kind of work it that way. Yeah. There are a few growers who send us their, their growing lists that they're coming up with in future, we have a rough idea, but we never know what the menu is until I write it.

Speaker 1 15:16

And then do you have a couple of standards that you always have on the menu?

Speaker 5 15:20

There were a few. Um, we, I said the bone marrow dish, we have, uh, oysters with, um, pigs, Trotters slept, braids, pig, feet, animals, radish, Equis, capers, very traditional English pastry. And we serve that. We still send on a seasonal concept currently. It's mama, mama life, but I asked the next week will be, Quincy's just started coming to see us.

Speaker 3 15:44

Awesome. What K guts to the moon. It's a pastry, it's a bake with raisins. And as at T soap prunes or,

Speaker 5 15:51

Yeah, it's raisins current and my baking spices, brown sugar and butter puff pastry.

Speaker 3 15:59

And then it comes with a slice of the Stilton cheese. So it's an amazing sweetened, uh, Sabrie like back and forth. If you're walking around the corner, coming in for a glass of wine, have that in a night. It's pretty, pretty awesome.

Speaker 1 16:12

That sounds fantastic. So, um, are you like, I don't know how this was going to go. Are you going to like start cooking us up our stuff or like,

Speaker 5 16:21

So you're going to get to taste the, uh, bone marrow crane truck drives hard-boiled egg. You push for a ship. What?

Speaker 1 16:30

You already have an egg goats in a little container. Yeah.

Speaker 5 16:34

I'm going to hop away from the picker and then it's that Madeline bus. Um, plus it's a standard metal and mix. So a little bit more salt

Speaker 1 16:46

Mix,

Speaker 5 16:48

Eggs, olive oil. I pay baking powder and salt and sugar. And that's it. So kind of a little, a little warm cookies.

Speaker 1 17:00

I'm not putting this in this really fancy

Speaker 5 17:04

Madeline pan. And I go for about eight minutes at 3 75.

Speaker 1 17:12

Do you ever just stand there and watch him make dishes to busier with DUI order a dish from the bar when you come in? No. When you're in there, you're like, Hey, I'm going to have this off the menu today for myself to eat.

Speaker 3 17:23

Yeah. I mean, I mean, if I'm at work. Yeah. But it's kind of like, it's kind of the same. I mean, he's not going to walk over there and in order to Ramos gin fizz. So we, uh, we, we respect that we're both working there and it's all for the people coming in, so.

Speaker 1 17:35

All right. So after that, are you going to like, is there more to do now or you have to wait for that coming up?

Speaker 5 17:41

I'll wait for that. So this is the longest part of our grant for the Madeline's.

Speaker 1 17:45

So we could go, uh, you know, chit chat more about drinks and stuff. And then why don't you just give a heads up when you pull that out of the oven? They'll come out. All right. Great. Thank you. Sherry.

Speaker 6 18:13

The Marty's music kitchen podcast is brought to you in cooperation with Oregon music news.

Speaker 1 18:19

So we're back at the guard. Chris, is this your home away from home?

Speaker 3 18:23

It is.

Speaker 1 18:24

I see. You make an orange pills.

Speaker 3 18:26

Yeah. I'm going to make you the, uh, the night tripper cocktail.

Speaker 1 18:31

Um, you know, when I read the ingredients for this, it reminds me a lot of, um, a Sazerac. I know a lot about the Sazerac. Um, we have a bartender in Portland at this great little restaurant called three doors down. Um, and his name's Matt, and he can make zebest best Sazerac in Portland pretty much. He's quite the bartender. I think you two would really get along so

Speaker 3 18:55

Better than Morgan. Tyler. Are you allowed to say that

Speaker 1 18:58

At well, I don't know. I have not had one there.

Speaker 3 19:01

I like Morgan's Oliver. I like to give him crap. Ah, yeah, he does a cloud common it's in the ACE hotel

Speaker 1 19:07

And the ACE hotel. Yeah. We're going to have to go.

Speaker 3 19:10

How about cask? Have you been in a cast

Speaker 1 19:12

Or no. Are you going to teach me all these places?

Speaker 3 19:16

[inaudible]

Speaker 1 19:17

Nope. There's so many places to eat in Portland and, uh, to get a good beverage in Portland is fantastic. Um, you just need to know where to go, you know, so clearly he was the bartender. Nowhere to go more than I do.

Speaker 3 19:31

Well, we have the community is really cool and bartending, so like teardrop and all that. Actually we have a bartender from new Orleans Alomar you've seen Palomar has a really big mural of a lady on a building to Cuban bar, Ricky Gomez. He's my friend. We went to a lot of Cuba trips together in the last seven years and he opened a Cuban bar and Portland, we opened a Cuban bar here.

Speaker 1 19:55

Do you take a lot of trips with

Speaker 3 19:57

Bartenders? We do. It's amazing. Actually.

Speaker 1 20:00

It's for fun or

Speaker 3 20:01

Education or it's always a little, a little of all three fun education and work. Yeah. So we're going to make the night tripper for

Speaker 1 20:10

You.

Speaker 3 20:12

The night tripper actually is what used to be my flash cocktail. So I would make this cocktail. Yeah. So I would make a flash cocktail to walk around with. So I'd already always have a cocktail, you know, you never know. And, um, one year Dr. John was king of crew to VU. And I was so excited because he's a hero of mine. And so when he was like coming down in this float, I would like rush to float, you know, pushing everybody out of the way. I was definitely going to get something and I'm walking with him and I'm like, throw me something, throw me something, Dr. John. And he, and he gives me a cup and this float goes by and I'm standing there in the middle of the street. And I take out my flask and I take a sip. And it's like, I mean, it's amazing. You know what I mean? I'm so excited. This is, I love Dr. John Crudo. Who's an amazing Mardi Gras parade. And, uh, then I decided, I was like, oh, well, I'm gonna go ahead and name this after Dr. John and named it the night tripper, which is one of his names, one of his nicknames. Yeah.

Speaker 1 21:08

What a great connection in between food and music. I agree if you consider alcoholic beverages food, which I do.

Speaker 3 21:16

Yeah. And I was able to tell them about it. So that's even better. So like, you know, luckily this is such a small town you're able to run into everybody. So I actually mentioned it was just, you know, when I went and took a picture with him one time, I was like, you know, I made the Remini cocktail and they call it the night tripper. And he was so excited. He told his daughter, who's a bartender in Las Vegas. And he was like, give me the recipe. I want her to make this a drink.

Speaker 1 21:37

So you now have a drink that you created in a bar somewhere in Las Vegas. True.

Speaker 3 21:44

Well, you want to try it? I do

Speaker 1 21:45

Want to try it.

Speaker 3 21:46

All right. So there's a quarter ounce of Strega, which is, uh, which is a Italian herbal decor, but it's named after the witch, which is like, you know, Dr. John voodoo, which he, you know, so I thought that was kind of cheeky, but it's, uh, it's really fun. It has some saffron and, um, cinnamon notes to it. A fan

Speaker 1 22:03

Of herbal liqour

Speaker 3 22:05

Yeah. Me as well. Yeah, you're right. That's 75. You guys liked so much. So, and then we're going to do a Verna Amaro, which is a bitter, do you just eat who core from, from Italy? And then we'll take some bourbon here. You're going to get the, uh, Elijah Craig single-barrel we bought actually our own barrel of bourbon. It's nice. It's a nice

Speaker 1 22:27

Treat. And your favorite,

Speaker 3 22:29

Right? Right now it is my favorite. You guys wanna, you guys wanna taste it let's do that. Of course. And then Peychaud bitters. Yeah. So all of this, what used to be my flask? And now we make it for people who come to guests who come to the bar.

Speaker 1 22:44

I'm thinking I need to go get a flask and come visit you this evening for a little walk around new Orleans. And how do you say it? New Orleans? No,

Speaker 3 22:53

Northern new Orleans. I liked the way a current references. I like when want people originally say new Orleans without trying where they actually say it,

Speaker 1 23:01

New Orleans. Nevermind.

Speaker 3 23:05

Nolan's is a more Gulf coast. I think. I don't think it's not really in the city.

Speaker 1 23:12

Good to know. Pass it down to totter. He'll be insanely jealous. Yeah. Did you just see, I just got elbowed out of the way, because this is the size of rock is really his drink. So it smells. I like it because it's got that orange herbal flavor that makes me, yeah. I love that.

Speaker 3 23:29

All

Speaker 1 23:29

Right. So you're pouring it over this huge, like kind of a cube.

Speaker 3 23:35

Yeah. We have these really nice ice

Speaker 1 23:36

Cube. Is that where you were taking the mallet to earlier?

Speaker 3 23:40

Um, not early, well earlier, earlier than that. Yes. But not at that one moment. I'm

Speaker 1 23:45

Looking at, uh, what you did with the lemon peel over the French 75 is the same kind of a thing that you're doing with the orange peel. Yeah.

Speaker 3 23:52

The oil's a, you're going to smell while you're tasting. It completes the cocktail kind of like the, uh, you know, just, just the same as like Sheffield, like grading the egg yolks over the, uh, bone marrow chromium about ready to have.

Speaker 1 24:05

Yeah. Well, and it's interesting to me, you know, when you say you're going to add orange juice or lemon juice to a drink, I didn't understand. I mean, I thought, you know, you'd like slice it up and or if you're going to do the peel, you know, like a traditional peel, like you're going to peel a potato, but now I'm learning that really, um, you know, you take part of the rind to get all of the, the oils from the skin. Right.

Speaker 3 24:30

And you, uh, you break them in it and they all, all the oil pops onto it just floats

Speaker 1 24:35

And it smells right now, just like this rich, deep orange flavor. And then I hope you like it. I'm going to try it, Dr. Johns Nitropress. So, um, here's a toast of Dr. John, by the way. Good memory of Dr. John. Hmm. Wow. That is delicious. What is the herbal liqour that you put in a struggle? Yeah. Hmm. That with the orange really makes this drink

Speaker 3 25:03

So good. Yeah. It was a lot of fun to make.

Speaker 1 25:06

You've been around, you know, all kinds of really good high quality alcohol. And you, you you've learned all these flavors and what to put in these different combinations, um, to make, you know, your palette saying, what is your favorite drink?

Speaker 3 25:22

Well, th that's the reason why the night tripper is my favorite drink is because that's why I like to walk around and make sure I always have, um, but similar drinks to the night shipper, maybe the winter waltz actually, because December is my favorite month in new Orleans. And then, um, winter waltz is going to be on the menu in a couple of weeks, actually.

Speaker 1 25:39

What is that? Generally speaking? It would be,

Speaker 3 25:41

It's a winterish li seasoned Sazeracs so right. Whiskey, there is a Morrow punting mess, um, uh, slightly bitter removed and then allspice DRAM. So the allspice is, it gets really good for the season cause it's cold outside and it's shaken and it's garnished with a star and he's so it's just really festive. Yeah. It's my, it's my favorite. That's my favorite drink is the winter waltz.

Speaker 1 26:05

That sounds

Speaker 3 26:06

Very similar to them.

Speaker 1 26:08

Well, my birthday is on Christmas day. So, you know, December is one of my favorite months as well, Halloween and then Christmas. And, um, yeah, those are just fun times for me. I think

Speaker 3 26:18

There are, there are cool, but uh, nothing is nothing's better than Mardi Gras, to be honest. Yeah. Mardi Gras day is the best day of the year

Speaker 1 26:26

And I have never experienced a true Mardi Gras. What's it like here?

Speaker 3 26:30

It depends on where you live because I live on Jackson avenue. I'm kind of forced to have people over to watch Zulu. And what I mean is I don't invite anybody. They just don't live there and they show up and there's no way around it. And it's okay because it's beautiful. I get my coconut, uh, I have a five gallon bloody Mary five gallon screwdriver for everybody comes in front of my house. Cause I'm, I mean, I'm on the parade route and that starts at five o'clock in the morning. No matter what time I go to bed before I have to wake up at five and get that ready. And uh, all these people just start showing up. Cause you know, we have a, we have a really nice community of restaurant workers here and they just know I lived there. So they're just arrive

Speaker 1 27:11

To your

Speaker 3 27:11

House. Well, I mean you can, I mean, I can't, I mean, I'm not, like I said, I'm not inviting anybody, they just show up and I can't do anything about it, but halfway through I leave and then I'll come, you know, to the quarter and I have a five gallon, uh, punch that I pushed to Jackson square. I mean, uh, St Anne coming down Royal and there'll be a Jackson square with this, with this punch. And it's just really, it's, that's also very well known. A lot of people just like show up and it's just easier because it's hard to get into a bar on Mardi Gras. So it's just like, you're just ladling out this, this, this cocktail, you know, no lines. It's nice to see everybody. It's uh, it's the most amazing day. I mean, everybody's in the best spirits. And then hopefully I am on my bike back to my house by 7:00 PM and then go to my backyard and light a fire and have open a bottle of wine. And that's it. So

Speaker 1 28:01

Are you a music fan?

Speaker 3 28:03

I am. Yeah. I, that's why I moved here. I moved here because of my hero, Louis Armstrong, but it's really interesting because you move here because of Louis Armstrong and you ended up staying because of James Booker and Alan Tucson. Dr. John is like, it's like, I thought I knew jazz until I moved here. And then you moved here and like, oh my God, you know, it's the same thing with drinks so that I knew how to bartend. So I moved here and I'm like, holy crap. You know what I mean? And hospitality, it's like, I thought I knew hospitality until I arrived at Arno's restaurant. And I was just like, wow, what are you can actually do for guests is just truly amazing here. So those are the three it's hospitality, jazz, and then making cocktails. Cause it's pretty much all I can do. So luckily I can make a living here being a bartender. Wow.

Speaker 1 28:43

Yeah. Well, you know, um, I've only heard one of the bands. What do you call the traveling bands that go,

Speaker 3 28:51

Uh, the second line? Is that what it's called?

Speaker 1 28:53

Brass bands. Yeah. Yeah. And they were, there were some outside, um, cafe, du Monde.

Speaker 3 28:58

Yeah. The brass bands are awesome. That's what I mean. It's like, I didn't, I had no idea until I moved to here, you know? And then I see second lines, I see about three quarters of all of them. And then there are every Sunday through either my neighborhood or they're they're downtown or uptown. And I live in central city. So the second lines are going to be through where I live or they're gonna be in Tremont right behind us, starting to walk around. And the band goes as a party. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 29:21

Well, this morning I actually sat in with a band. Um, they're like, oh my God, you're a singer. I'm like, yeah. And they, uh, I think they did when the saints go marching in and I would do, like, I did like a little scat background and then the singer and I, he would do a chorus and I D we like did, um, what's called trading, um, outside cafe Dumont. And, uh, it was super fun. Nobody there for

Speaker 3 29:41

That. We're going to be, was it

Speaker 1 29:42

Recorded? Yeah, we took a video, but it was just good.

Speaker 3 29:45

Okay, good. Cause I actually want to see that that's all.

Speaker 1 29:47

And you know, that's, that's the thing about, um, food and music and family, all those things make that connect us. They connect us in a very fundamental human way. And that's why I love doing these interviews on this podcast is because I get to talk to people like you. And when we're done, we're family, you know, we've eaten together. We've, we've had a drink, we've shared some stories and you know, that's why I like to say that Marty's music. Kitchen is this big family. Now I just keep adding family members. It's like, oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 30:22

Yeah. I'm happy to be part of this family. This has been really cool.

Speaker 1 30:24

Yeah. Do you wanna go check in the kitchen and see if he's done? Don't pause where we got it. The Madeline's are out of the oven. I fell. These look really good. What do we do next?

Speaker 5 30:51

So next we're going to clap.

Speaker 1 30:54

Slate the dish. The sounds very fancy.

Speaker 5 30:58

Madeline's bone marrow requested

Speaker 1 31:04

Bone marrow. That's the custard you were talking about. How long does it take to make bone marrow?

Speaker 5 31:10

Um, after roasting the bones, about 10 minutes, roughly. So you've roasted it, all the facts come out the bones and we clarify it around this middle pan here. Um, and then after that we're going to take seven, two cream and egg yolks and whole eggs, whisk it up and then set it like a regular custard. It comes out like that. Nice and nothing.

Speaker 1 31:34

An entire custard container. Yeah.

Speaker 5 31:38

You guys were quite a, this. Okay. So what's that this is a bone marrow. Breadcrumbs is a broken this rush up and bone marrow fat. Yeah.

Speaker 1 31:45

Smells good. And then this is going to be really rich.

Speaker 3 31:49

Yes. I was saying it was pretty, it's pretty decadent. It's.

Speaker 5 31:53

That's awesome. They got chopped chives

Speaker 1 31:58

And you know, if you're going to be decadent, let's just throw some egg yolks on that. Yeah.

Speaker 5 32:02

No, it's horrible. It's graded

Speaker 1 32:06

Just for color. What a beautiful mix. You've got the kind of a custard color. You've got the brown or the breadcrumbs. Yeah. And then the yellow, the egg yolks, the chives, the Brene.

Speaker 5 32:20

And you just put it on top of a nice big spoonful of a occasion caviar caviar from, uh, Louisiana. No, sir. Bone marrow, clustered caviar and melons. So how do

Speaker 1 32:30

We eat this

Speaker 5 32:31

With a smile on your face and the spoon in your hand?

Speaker 1 32:36

Well, okay. Chris, teach

Speaker 3 32:38

Me. I like to cut them in half just because I want to have,

Speaker 1 32:40

You know, more right. So how many of your restaurant people get to eat in the kitchen? None.

Speaker 3 32:45

That's what I'm wondering if we actually should be in here and then get some of the, some of the caviar.

Speaker 1 32:54

So I'm going to go up next and then we'll, you know, vacate the kitchen spoon and a smile. Is that the requirement? All right. So I'm going to put some of this on here. I've got the caviar, got the shot. Here we go. Smile. And then I'm gonna taste it. You know, the, the bone marrow has kind of a, like a rich saltiness to it. It was delicious. Yeah. So how'd you come up with that?

Speaker 5 33:25

I dunno. I had lots of bone marrow. I wanted to do something where they say SMAD accosted. I tell you it's been on the menu since pretty, uh, since the second menu. Um, and it's changed. I like to ask, and this is, I think this is the final. This is the final step. This is more playing around nurses

Speaker 1 33:45

And he's mixing everything up. It's not as pretty anymore. Should we take this back out to the bar? Hey Phil, thank you very much. And uh, yeah, we're going to touch base with you definitely later. This is really good. It's so good. I'm going to have one more bite. So, um, do you have to make reservations to get into eat?

Speaker 3 34:09

W we recommend reservations, but you can definitely like walk in, you know, wait a little while you did the bar. Sweet.

Speaker 1 34:16

And I hear that you have, um, the whole second story under construction. Yeah.

Speaker 3 34:20

It's going to be a nice little dining room and then about a month and a half.

Speaker 1 34:24

Oh, that's fast. It will not be in time for Christmas. Do you think? Yes.

Speaker 3 34:28

So we'll have, yeah, we have this nice little parlor room. We have a courtyard and then we'll have a little dining room upstairs.

Speaker 1 34:34

I forgot about that. When we walked in, there's this gorgeous space out. It's like this lush green, um, tree covered spot. Um, I bet you're packed.

Speaker 3 34:46

Oh, the courtyard is great. Um, and after working for almost 15 years at nose is the one thing that I never had, you know, living in a quarter, working in the quarter, uh, was it was a courtyard. So when we got this property, it was, it was definitely a bonus for us because our other place, my Lido is a little small as well, but it just feels good walking in here. You know, first thing you see is you walk down the alley and you see that, and then you walk into this, you know, you know, something like business, the kitchen's right there and music's on and everyone's enjoying drinks. It's pretty nice.

Speaker 1 35:16

Hmm. So do you have any other advice for the listeners as we, you know, move on into new Orleans? Like, what else should we see?

Speaker 3 35:27

Um, you you've seen some music. I would suggest more music, um, walking in the garden district, all the neighborhoods. I mean, find, find a place that you, that you've heard about, and it's definitely gonna be walkable once you start here and just, and just walk through the neighborhoods Meredith by water, mid city, lower garden district. I love it. You know, that's the best part. I mean, I keep forgetting that you can't really walk around with drinks, but I mean, it's just really normal here. So that's why the whole walking,

Speaker 1 35:55

Well, I'm thinking that maybe we should go purchase a flask and then come back tomorrow or, you know, at some point. And cause that seems to be the way to see the city, especially because right now, as we're talking, you're actually kind of having a cold snap. I know. Yeah. And this beverage right here is the perfect warmer.

Speaker 3 36:13

I would agree. I also have a little flask funnel in case you guys do come back with your plastics, help you out with that.

Speaker 1 36:20

Chris, I have one last question for you. What the heck is a crusta?

Speaker 3 36:26

Christa's it's funny. You should ask that question because that's one of the reasons why we named this beautiful Tavern that you're in jewel this out, uh, Santini created a drink called the Brandy crusta. But back then, there were all Crested and only the Brandy ones stuck. But what a crest is, it's a sugar rimmed glass. And what makes the sugar part of the drink is what we were talking about earlier with completing the balance of a drink is, um, this, the citrus in the, in the cocktail. So it's cognac lemon juice. Marisha Juno, uh, liqour orange Curacao and Angostura bitters. And we shake that in the shaker tin. And then we stranded into the sugar rimmed cocktail glass. And that will be your crusta. But back then, you could have a gin rum bourbon, but, uh, the Brandy one is what we're known for. And

Speaker 1 37:13

That is the Juul of the south. Is that the

Speaker 3 37:15

Juul? The south is, uh, was the bar Santini open. Joseph Santini was the bartender who created the Brandy Cresta and the Brandy Cresta is the first sugar rim cocktail in the world.

Speaker 1 37:26

Wow. So that's like your signature

Speaker 3 37:28

Drink then? Yeah, those are signature drink. And we make a lot here. Obviously. It's funny. I make a lot of Brandy cresses now and I used to make a lot of French 75 when life gives you lemons, right? Then

Speaker 1 37:40

You drink French

Speaker 3 37:41

75. You make Brandy crosses and Frankston.

Speaker 1 37:45

Well, Chris, I have loved your stories and I am so grateful that you said yes.

Speaker 3 37:53

Yeah, no, this is awesome. I'm really excited to hear you meet Morgan Morgentaler and Clyde common. And then my friend, Tommy clues that Mulas and casts. When you get back to Portland,

Speaker 1 38:05

Those guys are awesome. And we'll say hi from Chris Harris and Ricky, you

Speaker 3 38:08

Gotta see Ricky's.

Speaker 1 38:10

We

Speaker 3 38:10

Have to see, you know, his nickname is pretty Ricky. He's a pretty dude, but now we're really good friends. We started the cocktail culture here in new Orleans together and kind of miss him, but he's important. So you guys get to see him.

Speaker 1 38:20

All right. Well, you know, we will make it a point to visit all those places and, uh, bring a little love from Louisiana. Yeah,

Speaker 3 38:26

Please do. Nice meeting you guys is awesome. Thanks Chris.

Speaker 1 38:31

I'm your host, Jeff singer, Marty Mendenhall giving a special shout out to my on the road support team, recording engineer, Jason Jersey production coordinator, Terry Briggs, and my traveling photographers, bill Hinkle and Todd Wiedemann check out the new season one cookbook on Marty mendenhall.com. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time on Marty's music kitchen.