Mondo

Susan Spicer is an icon of the New Orleans cooking renaissance. Her new restaurant, Mondo, opened recently in the recovering Lakeview area.

This restaurant is best described as casual dining with an eclectic variety of food. The fried eggplant appetizer was perfection--well fried and almost smooth as butter inside. I had the most unique po-boy ever--fried shrimp with an asian flavor. The slaw of the dressing was crisp and the flavors melded together beautifully. The burgers of my dining companions were well cooked but a little heavily seasoned with salt--nothing bad until you add in salted fries and a salted margarita and then it was a bit of overkill. I had a bite of the chicken salad and it was very delicious. I ended the meal with the double chocolate cake and loved the hint of cinnamon.

The waitstaff were attentive and quick with refills. Best of all, they let us linger over our meal well after most of the rest of the place had emptied out.

I'm looking forward to trying her new cookbook:

Butch Cookbook Now Available as an eBook!

I'm pleased to report that L-Book has now put the Butch Cookbook on sale for the low, low price of $7.00 as an ebook in lots of formats! I've got three recipes in this book as do several of my friends. It is a funny, touching and informative book with some darn fine chow inside.

Follow this link to L-Book's online store!

Dig my author photo:

The Butch Cookbook Update

From Sue Hardesty:

Our cookbook goes to the movies. Appearing in The Perfect Family motion picture, the butch cook book has a cameo scene when the mother (Kathleen Turner) picks up the butch cook book and looks at her pregnant lesbian daughter (Emily Deschanel) for an explanation. The movie is due out this winter. Don’t miss it!

The cookbook is also in a contest. The Huffington Post is running a great contest posted by Rebecca Marx who writes Village Voice’s “Fork In The Road” food blog. We think one of these is way better than the rest -- the butch cook book. Join in the fun and see if you agree. Vote by clicking on the Huffington Post website: Cookbooks You Didn't Know Existed.

1. The slide of the butch cook book should appear (cookbook #4). Vote number 10 (amazing) above the butch cook book slide on the right side of the screen.
2. If you would like to send your top five favorites to your friends, click on Choose Your Top Five Slides.
3. When this screen opens, drag your choices to the open frames.
4. When you have selected your five favorites, click on share.

Please remind all your friends who wish to purchase the butch cook book, the website is www.thebutchcookbook.com Also the butch cook book is on L-Book in Paperback, Audio mp3 and five eBook formats. Or contact us at 541-265-4516



P.S. Free with every purchase of the butch cook book: "The Femme Cook Booklet" has more great recipes from a baker's dozen of your favorite writers and femme partners of butches who appear in the butch cook book. Enjoy great chili from Katherine Forrest, or easy-to-make bread from Ann Bannon. Or fun drinks described by Ellen Hart and Karin Kallmaker. All in all, a great continuation of the butch cook book.

The Butch Cookbook

While this blog is primarily going to be for restaurant reviews, I will also talk about cookbooks and cooking. Today, I'm going to pimp a cookbook that I'm a contributor to: The Butch Cook Book. Containing lesbian lore and humor, this book shows that there is more to butch cooking than burning stuff on the grill or opening a box of mac and cheese.

There are three of my recipes in the book--Chile Con Carne, Mustard Chicken and Quadruple Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Don't just take my biased word that this is a fabulous addition to your bookshelves--the book has even been reviewed. Check out what they have to say:

Butch: Its What for Dinner by Dana Rudolph

Beyond Beer Can Chicken by Malinda Lo

Cochon Restaurant

One of my favorite restaurants in the city (and by that, I mean one of the ones I've gone to more than twice) is Cochon. I love fire and the open kitchen with fire pit is incredibly attractive but, it is the food that keeps me coming back. The rabbit dumplings were so good, I burned my mouth in my haste to gobble it down. All of the pork dishes are sublime and even the fish was well done.

When the Saints are playing at home, they offer fried chicken for lunch. A wet coating is used that is crisp but just a bit too dense. The chicken itself is juicy and flavorful.

Their sides are pure Southern comfort from the mac and cheese, the creamy grits, the stuffed twice baked potato.

Be sure to go around the corner to the Butcher for high grade cuts of meat and artisan sausages and salamis. Place your special order for rabbit, etc on Wednesday and get it on Friday. One of these days, I will have to try their lunch menu as the sandwiches looked delicious the last time I stopped by.


Oh, and Chef Donald Link's book Real Cajun is a delightful read. While several of the recipes are a little too involved for most chefs, the love of food comes through. He doesn't just have pork recipes, although bacon plays a big part in many of them. There are plenty of finds for those who love the simple fare the Cajun's are known for.