Taking over several buildings in the eight hundred block of Rue Bienville in the French Quarter, Count (an honorary title) Arnaud Cazenave in 1918 began to build a monument to the sensual pleasure of fine dining. The menu was and remains extensive; with nine oyster appetizers, fifty-one seafood entrees, and forty vegetables (among them potatoes prepared sixteen ways), it defined French-Creole cuisine for decades. The kitchen is still the largest of any freestanding restaurant in New Orleans. Dining rooms throughout the complex range from the "lovers' lookout" on the mezzanine to small chambers for intimate, private dining. True to the nineteenth-century design, the restaurant today has a serpentine network of passageways through the various buildings. Throughout this cookbook are fascinating stories and scintillating recipes from the 1918 founding through today, as well as photographs, cartoons, drawings, and other Arnaud's memorabilia.
Kit Wohl is an award-winning writer, photographer, and artist. A lifelong food and wine enthusiast, she met James Beard and Robert Lawrence Balzer in 1979, encounters that helped set her on a culinary path. Since 2005, she has authored eight cookbooks that celebrate cuisine and her native New Orleans. Wohl has worked with chefs, restaurants, and hotels across the United States as CEO and creative director of Wohl & Company.
Katrina convinced her to do what she loves. More books are on the back burner. What they are, well, that could be a mystery.
Coming March 7 and may be pre-ordered now on Amazon is The James Beard Foundation's Best of the Best: A 25th Anniversary Celebration of America's Outstanding Chefs, by Kit Wohl, Foreword by Martha Stewart. What an adventure.
Also coming this spring is fifth in her Classic series, New Orleans Classic Brunches with a special French Quarter Festival edition (It's in April, plan a trip!) She created the concept, marketing strategy, designed, authored and photographed the Classic cookbook series, each 96-pages with 50 recipes. "New Orleans Classic Desserts," 2007 led to Classic Appetizers, and Classic Seafood quickly following in 2008. Classic Gumbos & Soups, 2009 was named Gourmet magazine's Cookbook of the Month. The concept and design has been exported to 12 other cities.She is especially proud of author Erin Hicks Miller's work, Houston Classics, and author Grace Bauer's beloved Los Angeles.
"A close friend and I visited a publisher in New York City to toss around ideas, perhaps 20 years ago. Small luscious books, beautifully photographed were the conclusion. Life got in the way.
The late Archie A. Casbarian, to whom New Orleans Classic Brunches is dedicated, asked that I write my first book, the Arnaud's Restaurant Cookbook, celebrating his grande dame of French Quarter restaurants. A friend, gentleman and restaurateur, he had no idea what furies he'd released. In retrospect, he did know me well. The success of Arnaud's book with Katrina's push sent me back to the Classic series concept, and Pelican Publishing embraced the notion. Friends, both authors and photographers, freely passed along their knowledge and encouragement.
The Sunsari family then invited me to write and photograph The P&J Oyster Cookbook, awarded Cookbook of the Year. Who could ever have enough of these succulent bi-values?
Another nascent idea created the new James Beard Foundation's Best of the Best: A 25th Anniversary Celebration of America's Outstanding Chefs. It was lucky number seven.
Now, number eight-New Orleans Classic Brunches, with a special French Quarter Festival edition.
Chef Leah Chase says, at 89, "And I still cook." Leah, I'm still writing. Archie, thank you for watching over me.
