Leslie Karst

“Gourmet” Doesn’t Quite Say It

Before I get to today’s actual post, I want to share a photo from last Saturday night, when I was awarded a real live (okay, not live, live) Maltese falcon for my role as Toastmaster at Left Coast Crime: San Francisco Schemin’, which took place last weekend. The falcon was cast in the same mold as the one used for the movie, and the Black Bird is now my new favorite possession. And I got to enjoy the moment with several of my beloved Chicks! (Not sure where Ellen was at the time.)

The question is, how do falcons get along with Chicks? No, don’t answer that…

Right. On to the regularly-scheduled blog post.

I love food. I mean, I really, really, adore it. And when I taste something particularly delicious, I get a tingly feeling all over my body. The feeling that I’m in the midst of a truly special moment.

Do any of you Boomers (or younger folks who may have seen TV cartoon shows from the early 1960s) remember the dog Snuffles in Quick Draw McGraw? Well, I feel just like Snuffles a lot of the time when I eat. Here’s a short and delightful clip.

I guess I could be called a “gourmet.” I do, after all, quite enjoy fine French meals with cream sauces, delicious pan-fried sweetbreads, and tiny green beans sautéed in butter and Cognac. And I’m willing to try anything at least once (as long as it’s an actual dish from a local cuisine, and not merely something presented to freak out the tourist). I figure, hey, if the locals truly enjoy it, then it’s probably got something going for it, so why not give the food a try?

enjoying a delicious meal back when I still had some dark hair

That’s how I first discovered sweetbreads, as a matter of fact. I’m not a fan of most organ meats, as they have too strong a flavor for my palate. (Kidneys? No thanks. But I did try them—more than once—before deciding they weren’t for me.) But I’d never had sweetbreads, so when they appeared on the menu at a restaurant in Paris, France, many years back I decided to try them out.

And oh my, were they amazing. Like chicken nuggets, but the most tender, flavorful, delicious chicken nuggets imaginable. So when a few of us mystery authors went out for a nice meal at Arnaud’s in New Orleans last September while at the Bouchercon mystery convention and I saw sweetbreads on the menu, I ordered them.

Chicks Ellen and Marla, along with Libby Klein at Arnaud’s

Turned out I was the only one at the table who’d ever had them, so I encouraged everyone to have a taste. A few were hesitant (and I think one person may have outright refused), but all who did try admitted that they were in fact pretty darn good.

my meal of sweetbreads, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and crab bisque

Knowing of my supreme love of food, a lot of people are nervous about cooking for me, worried that if it’s not something super fancy and elegant that I’ll turn up my nose at the meal.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. I love food. All food. I love a simple meatloaf, a bowl of chili, or even a burger from the local diner just as much as I love moules à la crème Normande, quenelles, or vichyssoise.

making pasta for dinner

So am I a “gourmet”? I guess I prefer the term “foodie,” though that too now, alas, has the air of snobbery. And I may be a lot of things, but a food snob is not one of them. I love all food!

[NOTE: I’m traveling today from California (after being at Left Coast Crime) back to Hawai’i, so please forgive that my responding to comments will be sporadic.]

Readers: Do you like to try out new dishes at restaurants? Have you ever been surprised at how delicious something was that you’d been hesitant to try?

43 thoughts on ““Gourmet” Doesn’t Quite Say It”

  1. That’s a good question. I had to think about that. I’m willing to give new dishes a try as long as I recognize the ingredients. I admit that I’m more willing to try a new recipe than an unfamiliar item on a menu. I suppose it’s a control thing. When I’m cooking, I know what’s going into the dish. I wonder if that makes me a control freak??? Welcome home, Leslie! Great pictures. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. There is a restaurant in Washington DC called Moon Rabbit with a dessert called Seaweed – pandan panna cotta, coconut creme, coconut granite, chocolate streusel, seaweed. Somehow it all worked, with crunchy and creamy parts and not really a taste of seaweed but a hint of it. So creative and so good.

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    2. That sounds great! I usually find that if something sounds really weird then it’s probably really good. Because if it sounds weird and doesn’t taste great, nobody’s going to buy it. I developed this theory after eating a peanut butter and jelly hamburger, and it has not steered me wrong!

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  3. I am usually game to try new foods, but there was one that I was definitely not planning to attempt, durian. I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a work project and had to walk by a durian stand twice a day getting to the office, the smell was disgusting, much like raw sewage, but the evening of our last night dinner was at a restaurant that featured a combination of local and western foods along with a dessert bar. Now let’s be honest here, that dessert bar was pretty spectacular, featuring some beautiful French-style petit fours. Normally there was a steward there explaining all of the options, but he had walked away while I was perusing the choices. I picked up a lovely pale green pastry and headed back to the table. Just as I was leaving I heard him return and tell another woman that it was durian! Once I sat down, I looked at it for a bit, finally smelled it, nothing, so took a bite, delicious! I would do it again!

    Of course that is also the trip where the host had me eat a deep-fried egg, no coating, just a slimy, dark brown, oily hard-cooked egg. DO NOT eat these! I almost lost my lunch! Took an entire bottle of water to keep it down.

    Love your “blackbird”!

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    1. I’d love to try durian, as I’ve heard that it has an amazing, custardy, delicious flavor (notwithstanding the nauseating aroma). But it’s hard to find in the US–even in Hawai’i–because of the issues with transporting such a stinky item. Glad you got to try it!

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      1. My dad loves durian! (We actually have an extended relative with a durian orchard.) Anyway, it’s hard to find fresh durian here, though you can get it frozen or in pastries or flavored ice cream and such.

        P.S. I’m actually not a huge fan because of the lingering aroma.

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  4. I’m what I would call cautiously willing to try new things. But yes, it has to be a “real” thing, not something made up to, as you say, “freak out the tourists.”

    I do remember going to a restaurant once and they had fried calamari. I’d had it before and it was…not good. Rubbery. But this stuff was divine. Oh, and humus. I loathed it – not flavorful – until I tried a homemade one at a restaurant a former co-worker owned. So good. Surprisingly, I liked the one flavored with sardines the most – because sardines are too strong a flavor for me on their own.

    Love the Falcon, Leslie!

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  6. How did I miss that photo?! Damn! And the bird is fabulous.

    I’m pretty sure I was the one who passed on the sweetbreads. I think I fall somewhere in the middle with food. I will absolutely try interesting new mixes – th dessert with seaweed mentioned above sounds fascinating! – but I have a red line, which includes all organs. Blecch!

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    1. Yeah, not a big fan of kidneys and the like, but I do love foie gras (which tastes like meat-flavored butter) and sweetbreads, since they don’t have that nasty organ taste.

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  7. That falcon is absolutely epic! And I had forgotten about the sweetbreads at Arnaud’s! I’m glad you had us try them because it was my first time and they were delicious.

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  8. Great post, Leslie!

    As your foodie twin, you would not be surprised that I will try eating almost everything…once. And yes, I have eaten sweetbreads and liked it!

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  9. I like to think I am adventurous, but I tend to eat the same things. So I’m not a foodie in the snobby or just the enjoys food sense of the word.

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  10. I love that you received the Maltese Falcon. I have a replica one also that I bought about thirty years ago, though mine does not have the gold label, but it has the gunny sack. I love mine. I also love NOLA and many of the restaurants. We loved eating at Arnaud’s on Thanksgiving. My husband is a great cook, and I am a good cook. I love to try new recipes and try new foods. I once had snails cooked in butter and wine with cheese that were fantastic at a restaurant in Dallas, Texas. I was surprised at how good they were. But I haven’t had them since. Not on many menus. I loved raw oysters but due to those bivalves having food issues, we don’t eat raw ones anymore. We got those for the first time in NOLA in 1976 at Houlihan’s for Happy Hour at a dime an oyster. We ate three dozen. I don’t like chicken livers as they leave an aftertaste. Congrats on being awarded my favorite movie bird in my favorite city and sharing it.

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    1. First, thank you–I am so in love with the bird!

      And I love raw oysters; just had them a few nights ago in SF during Left Coast Crime, as a matter of fact. But I am careful about where I get them.

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  11. Well, I am relieved that El admitted to being the “no thank you” Chick for the NOLA sweetbreads. I was late for that dinner, but I would have been a “no” as well. When I lived briefly on exchange with a French family as a kid, I really enjoyed one dish (very similar to a tender chicken parm, with lots of cheese and a great sauce). So much that the grandmother kept pointing to her tongue. I thought she wanted me to eat more. Then she scraped her cutlet with her fork to show me the little bumps all over it. La langue. Beef tongue. I was very polite but cancelled another helping.

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    1. My husband loves Mexican Lengua tacos. Same yours above. I tasted it. Yuck. One bite was all I could stomach.

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    2. Ha! But once you ate it and enjoyed it, why not eat it again? The tongue is, after all, merely a muscle as is all the meat we regularly eat… (I actually do get it. The brain does weird things to us, that aren’t always rational, especially regarding issues of disgust. A fascinating subject.)

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  12. I’m not super adventurous, but I like food. And I enjoyed the sweetbreads! I’ve also had tongue (see Lisa’s comment above), which was delicious. I don’t tend to like organ meats, and I have drawn the line at insects; I was once very graciously served a bee dish in China and politely pushed the offering around my plate to make it seem like I’d taken bites.

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    1. Bravo for you, Jen! And I, too, have issues with the organ meats with strong flavors (kidney? no way!). But I do like roasted grasshoppers with lime and chile–deliciosa!

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  13. Oh, and I love Frog Legs which I used to eat in Progreso, Mexico at Arturo’s on the Game Dinner with Filet Mignon. It was served with tossed salad, charro bean soup, celery and carrots vegetable plate, Mexican rice, Refried beans, guacamole, chips, French fries, and onion rings. Then you got with chilled mangoes or an after-dinner drink–Kahlua. All for $2.95 back in the 1970s. You had your choice of two meats from the following: Filet, Cabrito, Stuffed Crabs, Frog Legs, Stuffed Peppers, Quail, Trout, Venison, Duck, Chicken, Scallops, and Fried Shrimp. I still crave that food. It is more now with less options.

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  14. Huge congrats on your falcon award for your work as Toastmaster, Leslie! You did great! I’m glad we got a chance to meet and chat in person at LCC. I consider myself pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new dishes, but they have to look good and smell good. If they smelled bad or looked gross, I’d have a hard time working up the courage to take a bite.

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  15. I don’t think I’m as brave as you, but I am down to try new things and have had to Google ingredients on the phone on occasion while at a restaurant. I’m no Leslie Karst or Anthony Bourdain, but I’ll give lots of things a taste.

    Congratulations on your Falcon award!

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