New Orleans "first time around"

During my first landing in New Orleans before Arneau's I did a brief stint at "La Savior" in Metairie where I worked under the crazed master chef Gerard Thabuis. Thus the man was a master of his craft and went away with 2 results.

• How to open champagne with a French sabor

• The recipe pineapple Au poivre (see below recipe) Enjoy

Pineapple Au Poivre

Combining pineapple, peppercorns, and ice cream will probably sound as strange to you as it did to me when the late Chef Gerard Thabuis proposed it for dessert. After a stint as chef at Brennan's, he opened his own restaurant, La Savoie, in Metairie. This was his signature dessert: slices of pineapple seared in butter, flamed in spirits, with a thickening, sweet sauce riddled with green peppercorns. Surprisingly, the dish it most resembled in flavor was bananas Foster, but it was a long way from that. Use the kind of green peppercorns packed in brine or vinegar--not the dried kind, which never soften up. (Many supermarkets put these on the shelf next to the capers, which they strongly resemble in appearance.)