food: Ellie’s White Chocolate Butter Bars
I have to admit that I am incredibly hooked on Top Chef. Maybe it is because I’m a foodie, maybe it is because Bravo actually does make some decent reality shows sometimes. Anyone who watches the show becomes familiar with its repeated dialogue: “amuse bouche“, “trio of dishes”, “flavor profiles”, and my favorite “this isn’t Top Cook, this is Top Chef.” And while the judges insist that being a Top Chef (not a Top Cook) means things like leadership, design, conceptualization, perfect execution, and knowing good well what to serve and what not to, I think Dale (who has my vote for Viewer’s Favorite) has the right attitude when it comes to cooking. It is about heart, it is about putting your soul into what you cook, and it is about not forgetting to be a good person.
So, I want to nominate Tom Wolfe of Peristyle and Wolfe’s of New Orleans as my personal “Top Chef” of they year.
Let me back it up for a second… Five years ago, my husband and I took a trip to New Orleans. To save a bit of money, we stayed a little outside the city limits. I didn’t mind so much as I knew there were some good restaurants in the area. One of those restaurants was Wolfe’s of New Orleans.
Our dinner at Wolfe’s could be said to be one a ground-breaking moment for my husband and I, although I did not realize it until later. This was our first real vacation together. This was the first truly nice restaurant we had gone out to together. This was the first time we shared good wine over a fancy meal. And it is because of this that I so vividly remember ever moment. I remember my potato encrusted lobster tail, the way the crispy potato perfectly complimented the soft buttery lobster without overpowering it. I remember a light going off in my head that cooking is something more, a combination of flavor, texture, smell, and visuals all combining into a unique experience.
But most of all, I remember Ellie’s White Chocolate Butter Bars. A seemingly simple sounding desert made from an old family recipe, these bars were so very moist and delicate, yet rich in combination with homemade vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis. The sweet with the tangy, the rich with the tart, the soft and warm with the smooth and cool. Flavor combinations at their best.
It was completely random that one day I decided to e-mail Tom Wolfe and just mention how much I loved and still remembered my meal there, even though it was 5 years later. So appreciative was Tom for the praise that in a series of e-mails he offered to send me a couple butter bars in the mail at no extra charge.
They came and were every bit as amazing as I remembered. I surprised my husband on our anniversary by bringing them out and making him guess what they were. Turns out he had not forgotten our experience at Wolfe’s either.
Tom Wolfe, you are my Top Chef, for not only making good food but for being an incredible person who made this anniversary particularly special by reminding us what it means to “cook with heart”.
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September 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
That’s really sweet. I love it went talented successful people who have made an impact in our lives are actually somewhat humble and downright good people. It makes the world seem like a much nicer place.