Holding a good thought for New Orleans at Bite Your Tongue

If there was a day to eat Creole, it was Wednesday: Katrina anniversary and Hurricane Isaac Day. I have a lot of friends and a lot of good memories in New Orleans.

But really, Bite Your Tongue? What kind of business plan is "Let's move from a place that's difficult to find to a place that's impossible to find?" Apparently it's a good business plan, because it's working.

If you don't know the story of Lucius and Martine Johnson, here's the short version: New Orleans folk who cook really good Creole food. Evacuated during Hurricane Katrina, came to North Carolina. Opened Bite Your Tongue, a tiny food business in the oddest location ever, in the lobby of a medical office building on Randolph Road, using what used to be a snack bar to serve up etoufee and jambalaya and the like.

That's where I joined them. I loved meeting friends over there for lunch: "In the lobby. No, seriously, there's a restaurant there. No, I'm not kidding."

It must have worked, because about a month ago, they opened a lovely new restaurant, with tables and everything. I had the address, 222 Bland St. No problem, I know Bland Street. I go to Greek Isles all the time.

Except . . . well, Lucius and Martine, you've topped yourselves in difficult to find. I drove around, I parked and walked around. I finally called and begged: Where are you?

OK, here is where it is: Not on a street. It's actually right in front of the Bland Street stop on the LYNX line. If you can find the Bland Street LYNX parking lot from South Tryon, that sort of helps. Or if you go to Greek Isles and keep walking on the broad sidewalk until you see umbrella tables, that helps too. Or skip all that, get on Lynx uptown and take it to Bland. That's really the easiest.

Still, once you find it, it's sweet. Good, not-too-spicy jambalaya, great warm cheese biscuits, terrific Strango, a very sweet strawberry/mango tea/lemonade they make themselves. They serve brunch, they serve breakfast. If you commute on LYNX, you can pick up sides and the terrific white chocolate bread pudding to go.

If you find it, say hello to Lucius and Martine. If you find it . . .

One Great . . . tomato sauce

The tomato season is winding down, but it's not over yet. Around here, we usually have tomatoes well into September.

My friends at the Washington Post held a contest recently for readers' best recipes using tomatoes. (Man, I hate those guys - such good stories.)

One of the finalist recipes was this handy little thing called Tomato Butter, sent in by Nan Fuhrman of Seneca, Md. She uses it as a cracker spread, but I bet you could a bunch of uses, including a sandwich spread.

Tomato Butter

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
2 pounds dark, pulpy tomatoes, stem ends sliced off and seeds squeezed out
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the onion is soft, stirring a few times, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, paprika, brown sugar and salt. Cook, uncovered, until mixture thickens to the consistency of jam, stirring often and using a wooden spoon to break up large pieces of tomato, about 30 minutes.

Transfer to a blender. Remove center from blender jar and cover with a towel to contain splashes. Puree until smooth. Strain if desired, then stir in liquid smoke and blend again on low speed. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Keeps about a week, covered.

Makes about 1 cup.

Cookbook giveaway winner: Who won "Leon"?

Sorry, Robw222: You suggested that I give away my copy of the new book "Leon: Naturally Fast Food," from the London healthy-focused restaurant chain. But you weren't the lucky winner.

The copy of the book goes to Vickie Holland of Bessemer City. Thanks, Vickie! (And RobW, of course. I'm always happy to accomodate readers.)

And in other giveaway news: I haven't gotten any entries for the kit "Chili Cook-Off In a Box." I'll withdraw it for the moment and wait until it's cooler, the DNC is over and we have time to think about things like chili cookoffs. So stay tuned, chiliheads.

RIP for the owner of a New York classic

Robert Treboux, owner of the New York "time capsule" Le Veau D'Or, died Wednesday at age 87. If you haven't hit your download limit from the New York Times this month, here's William Grimes' obit: Treboux.

Or you could read this column that I wrote last September, about a quiet night when dinner at Le Veau d'Or was just what I needed:

A CLASSIC FRENCH BISTRO BIT THE CHILL

I got out of the taxi feeling older.

New York was suffering under a blanket of humidity. The sky was as gray as my outlook. A health issue had chipped at my energy.

Age isn't the only thing that can make you feel old. Too much trendiness, too much shallowness, too much racing toward a finish line that keeps moving. In my mood, the idea of the latest hot restaurant left me cold.

I wanted classic. Timeless. So I took a cab to 129 E. 60th St., to Le Veau d'Or.

James Villas, a Charlotte native and New York food writer, has been after me for years to visit Le Veau, his favorite French restaurant. In 2006, he wrote a story about it for Saveur that ended up in that year's edition of "Best Food Writing." Last May, the restaurant was given an America's Classic award by the James Beard Foundation.

This seemed the night to put aside my list of the latest New York places and trek to the tiny bistro where Oleg Cassini met Grace Kelly, where Truman Capote and Orson Wells bent elbows.

Although the owner, Robert Treboux, wasn't manning the door - he's in his late 80s - his daughter Catherine was in charge. We chatted briefly about our friend Jim, and she brought me a glass of sparkling wine while I settled in a red banquette.

The wood paneling, the watercolors, the black and white pictures of Paris - all classic and well-chosen, as tautly maintained as a facelifted chin. A little shabby too, with acoustic-tile ceiling and droopy orchids.

The table d'hote menu covered the classics, from celeri remoulade to coq au vin.

A white-haired waiter in tuxedo cruised the tables, lower lip pushed out like a fish. He frowned when I asked to add an extra course to the three-course lineup. But chilled vichyssoise was irresistible.

It arrived along with a thick slice of pate, and then delicately browned sole meuniere. For dessert, the mousse was dense and flecked with chocolate bits.

As I ate, I watched the pageantry of service. When someone ordered baby poisson, a cart with a cutting board was rolled up. The copper pot with the chicken was presented for approval. Then the waiter carved it, arranged it and presented it like a prize.

Eater.com calls Le Veau d'Or "the most tightly sealed time capsule in New York, " and Treboux joked about maintaining a museum. But she didn't seem displeased.

In the front window, there was a tall stack of books. All mention Le Veau: Danielle Steele, Liz Smith, Barbara Taylor Bradford. Even Tony Bourdain and "Eloise in Paris."

In the wee hours, a friend texted a report from the latest hot restaurant. I'll admit I felt a twinge. For a moment.

Then I went back to sleep with no regrets. The race could start again tomorrow.

Down the hatch: The Hatch chiles are at Harris Teeter

Chile heads -- and you know who you are -- get excited for the brief season in late summer when Hatch chiles from the Hatch Valley in New Mexico show up in stores.

If you look quick at the Morrocroft Harris Teeter on Saturday, you can get Hatches and get them roasted on site. The peppers will be available at all the Harris Teeter stores for $1.29 a pound "while supplies last" (no guess on how long that will be). The roaster moves around to different stores. It will be at the Morrocroft store Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (although they stop earlier if they run out of peppers).

Roasted peppers are $1.49 a pound, unless you buy case (25 pounds). Case price is $1.29 a pound -- they throw in the roasting for free.

So, what do people do with Hatch chiles? They're popular in dishes like chiles rellenos and green chile stews. Roasted chiles also do well frozen, so you can buy a bunch and use them through the winter.

Friends from the Southwest always get nostalgic about the smell of fresh chiles being roasted in the fall. It is one of those evocatic aromas.

PHOTO: Washington Post.

Giveaway: Do you host a local chili cookoff?

Someday, the Democratic National Convention will be over, hurricane season will settle down, and it will be chili cookoff season again.

And imagine this: I just got something called "Chili Cook-Off in a Box," a sort of book/kit by Gina Hyams. It includes a cookoff handbook, judge badges, numbered pot IDs, judging scorecards and prize ribbons.

A group that holds a chili cookoff deserves this. So: I'll give it away. Email your contact information and details on your chili cookoff (time, place and what it raises money for, if anything) to me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com. Make sure you put "chili kit" in the subject line of your email.

Deadline: 9 a.m. Friday.

Cookbook Giveaway: Leon

When I posted a recipe Tuesday from the book "Leon: Naturally Fast Food," Helpful Commenter RobW222 asked why I wasn't giving away a copy of the book.

Well, gee, RobW. Maybe because I like the book and it came all the way from London. But OK, OK, because I stop at nothing to delight readers of The Charlotte Observer, I'll give away my copy. I've already paged through it, and I need to make room on my desk for the latest America's Test Kitchen book. I get several of those every day.

So: Giving away a copy of "Leon: Naturally Fast Food," by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent." Email your contact information with "Leon" in the subject line to me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com. Deadline: 9 a.m. Friday.

Good luck, RobW222.