Coffee and Crawfish
In the restaurant or at Jazz Fest, the Coffee Cottage knows pies.
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THE CRAWFISH STRUDEL AT COFFEE COTTAGE IS WUNDERBAR, DAWLIN'.
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WHAT: Coffee Cottage
CUISINE: American
WHEN: Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
WHERE: 2559 Metairie Road, 833-3513; 5860 Citrus St., Harahan, 818-0051
CARDS: Major
As the 30th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicks off at the
Fair Grounds, dozens of vendors are busy cooking up big batches of crawfish
this week. Mudbugs are being stuffed into pies, rolled into sausages, made into
breads, simmered with seasoning and folded into etouffees. They are being
fried, smothered and boiled until their eyes pop out. No doubt about it,
crawdads mean big business for festival vendors. And for Louisiana, they
translate to $48 million a year, because the state produces nearly 90 percent
of all the crawfish harvested in the nation.
John Caluda, chef-owner of the 7-year-old Coffee Cottage on
Metairie Road (and a new outlet in Harahan), returns to Jazz Fest this year
with his legendary crawfish strudel. Caluda says he has been very busy
preparing crawfish for the past two weeks in anticipation of record crowds.
"It's crazy," he says. "I've been working nonstop."
Caluda's strudel is one of the more inventive versions of the
beloved crawdad at the fest -- and certainly one of the lightest and
easiest to handle. Although there are many other robust creations
utilizing crawfish, consuming this tidy little pastry stuffed with
crawfish redolent of cheese and spices is a heck of a lot easier than
navigating a steaming plate of etouffee or hot, boiled mudbugs in the sizzling
sun.
Aside from Jazz Fest, Caluda says he also has been busy with his
new Coffee Cottage on Citrus Street in Harahan, where crawfish strudel is
currently running as a special for the next two weeks (ditto the Metairie
outlet). The menu at the new restaurant is similar to the original cafe and
includes gourmet desserts, breakfast pastries, focaccia sandwiches and pizzas,
wraps, elaborate salads, and Sugar Busters specials, in addition to the regular
lineup of gourmet coffee concoctions and an assortment of teas.
But crawfish, these days, is Caluda's main focus. "We're doing it
nonstop," he says. "We make our own phyllo dough, and it's so thin, you can see
a newspaper through it." A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, the
talented young chef is a pastry artist who was formerly with several five-star
hotels in New Orleans before opening his Coffee Cottage restaurants.
Caluda also will be serving his legendary white chocolate bread
pudding at the festival again this year, which has won raves from local fans.
Very dense and chunky, the pudding is a must-try.
Even if you don't get a chance to sample the crawfish strudel out
at the Fair Grounds, and you are having guests during the festival, you can
order a batch from Coffee Cottage, says Caluda. This also is a great little
place to pick up a large variety of homemade breakfast pastries and other
goodies for the fridge. For starters, your guests can enjoy the creamy
spinach dip appetizer, which is a delicious crowd-pleaser. It's not too rich,
flecked with green onions, and mildly spiced. Served with chips, one serving
goes a long way. I also would recommend ordering a variety of salads, including
the superb, generously apportioned Caesar salad, which you can get with chicken
strips, topped with freshly made focaccia croutons and a creamy, dressing.
Another good choice is the veggie pasta salad, which has Romaine
and rotini pasta tossed together in a very light pesto sauce. If your house
guests have large appetites, order a couple of hefty sandwiches. They come
quartered, the best of which includes the honey ham and cheese, which is piled
high with thinly sliced honey ham and dressed with cheese and all the
trimmings, plus a sweet honey-mustard dressing. (Ask for it on the side,
because it is quite rich.)
I am partial to the pizzas because they are made with Caluda's
fabulous housemade focaccia, which is embellished with everything from fresh
crawfish tails and artichoke hearts to roasted garlic and fresh veggies.
Failing that, just get an order of focaccia on the side, which costs less than
a dollar.
You should save the best for last at Coffee Cottage, which has a
pastry case that puts most others to shame. Best bets include the chocolate
raspberry truffle; a triple chocolate mousse cake fashioned with dark, medium
and white chocolate fillings as light as air; and tiramisu, which is heavily
spiked, dusted with powdered cocoa and is far better than most other versions
served at the better Italian dining havens in town. There are at least a dozen
more desserts worth sampling and ordering.
Service at both Coffee Cottage restaurants is very friendly and
attentive, Southern-style. Signature cakes and most of the breakfast pastries
are available on a same- or one-day notice.
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