When you spend much of a month in the American southeast, and a good deal of that time in New Orleans, you can bet pretty heavily on two things:
1) The candidates for the TOTM will be many; and
2) None of them will be beer.
Which is not to say that I enjoyed no good beers during my travels. The Pilsner from the Crescent City Brewhouse in New Orleans, for example, continues to impress every time I try it, and the Jazz Guy Ale from Rogue Ales of Newport, Oregon, which I enjoyed at Jacques-Imo's Restaurant uptown, was pretty fine, too. But nothing rocked my work like the meal I enjoyed my last night in the Big Easy.
The setting, a music club called the Funky Butt on the edge of the French Quarter, was hardly one which would prepare you for gastronomic glories. But the band was sizzling — I raise my pint mug here to the Funkin' Horns, the greatest unsigned band in New Orleans — and the bar's vibe was simply too good to leave. So I ordered Barbecue Shrimp, a local dish that has nothing to do with slow cooking or charcoal grilling, but everything to do with butter and spice and shrimp cooked with the heads attached. It was delicious, and brought back memories of the recipe the aforementioned Crescent City gave me for my second book, A taste for Beer.
If you've got a copy of that book, grab yourself a couple of pounds of unshelled shrimp and give it a try. Hint: It will taste even better with some smoking sounds on the stereo.
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