A home health nurse, Beth Bayer has long had a side hustle making colorful custom aprons in cotton prints featuring from sports or holiday themes, political figures, botanical or culinary prints, sexy pinups, you name it. On March 10 she fell ill with every symptom of Covid 19. She was too weak to leave her Broadmoor area home to get tested it would not have mattered anyway. Tests were not yet available.
“I was really sick for a long time,” said Bayer. ” But scariest of all was I lost an entire week of my life. There is an entire week that I do not remember at all.”
The illness left her with lung damage and a fear of “getting out there.” So she gathered up her fancy fabrics and started making pleated two-layer masks with metal bands that fit over the bridge of the nose and provide a close fit. She provides them to health care workers, police, firefighters, and other first responders free of charge. She charges others a very reasonable $10 each (11 for $100). I bought several and went with bright butterflies on a black background, a light-hued botanical print, and another really loud one featuring shirtless pinup men doing garden work. Check her out here, or text 504.931.6319.
For the past 10 days since they reopened the vast majority of takeout around my house has come from Juan’s Flying Burrito (juansflyingburrito.com) on Magazine. I love Juan’s fresh, inventive Creole Taqueria approach but, while my husband could eat a Flying Burrito on a spinach tortilla every single day, I have found myself craving something with a bit more polish.
My daughter, Cecilia, will be home this weekend from Baton Rouge where she is stuck in her lease until the middle of May when she will move into a new place in the Carrollton area then start work on her doctorate at Tulane in the fall. Superwoman, she is also becoming a skilled cook. For weeks she has asked if I have a source for sashimi grade fish with which she can experiment. Do I ever have a surprise for her: None other than Executive Chef Michael Nelson of GW Fins (808 Bienville St., gwfins.com) is coming to her rescue. On Tuesday of this week, Fins began offering a large selection of fresh seafood as well as many of the restaurant’s signature sides, sauces and desserts—all ready to take home to prepare restaurant quality dishes. In addition, Fins also resumed curbside pickup with an exciting new 3-course Fins Feast Menu starting at $39 per person. They are also selling GW Fins’ signature biscuit mix.
Nelson took care to ensure that all of his offerings feature a majority of local ingredients, in order to sustain area farmers, purveyors and businesses during these challenging times. The majority of the fish Fins will be selling will be spear fished by local fishermen, making this the absolute freshest fish anyone can get—unless they want to catch and clean it themselves—not something I see my daughter doing. GW Fins will be open Tuesday- Saturday. Guests are asked to call 504-581-3467 to place their orders beginning at 11a.m. and schedule a time to pickup between 4:30-7:30 p.m. Note: Items notate with (WC) are “wild card” and will change frequently.
Fresh Seafood, Sauces, Sides and More –
Packaged To Take Home
Seafood
Sheepshead 2, 7oz. filets $14
Sea Scallops U-10 6 each $18
16/20 Gulf Shrimp $14/lb.
Soft Shell Crab 2 each $18 (WC)
Sides (All 1 pint)
Mashed Sweet Potatoes $8
Dirty Rice $8
Collard Greens $8
Shrimp Creole $12
Soups/Salad (All 1 pint)
Seafood Gumbo $12
Lobster Bisque $12
Local Arugula and Strawberries, Feta, Balsamic Vinaigrette $8
Desserts (All1 pint)
Salty Malty Ice Cream Sundae
Banana Pudding
$7 each
Glazes (All 1 cup)
Korean Glaze
Pineapple Basil
Jalapeno Mango
$6 each
Butter Sauces (All 1 cup)
Barbeque Butter
Pesto
Sundried Tomato
Porcini
Meyer Lemon and Capers
$6 each
GW Fins Signature Biscuit Mix
$5
The Three-course menu currently on offer:
Appetizers
(select one)
Lobster Dumplings, White Fish Mousseline, Tomatoes, Lobster Butter
Barbeque Shrimp, Deglazed with Abita Amber, Goat Cheese Grits
Crispy Pork Belly, Compressed Pineapple, Ginger Slaw (WC)
Entrees
(select one)
Parmesan Crusted Sheepshead, Jumbo Lump Crab, Asparagus
Wood Grilled Scallops, Mushroom Risotto, Porcini Butter
Fried Soft Shell Crab Spoonbread, Crawfish Maque Choux (WC)
Scalibut, Royal Red Risotto, Pea Shoot Butter (+ $4)
Desserts
(select one)
Samoa, Coconut Sorbet, Chocolate Shell, Coconut Shortbread
Chocolate Bombe, Raspberry Coulis
Tiramisu, Espresso Amaretto Cake, Dutch Cocoa Powder (WC)
$39
(plus tax and gratuity)
Featured Wines
Chandon Brut Classic Napa Valley, CA
Loosen Dr L. Riesling 2018, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany
Diatom Bar-M Chardonnay 2018, Santa Barbara, CA
Storypoint Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, Sonoma, CA
Montes Malbec 2017, Colchagua Valley Argentina
$30 Each
See the website for the full wine list.
The Fresh Market in the Garden District (3338 St. Charles Ave.) is now selling pints of GW Fins insanely popular, utterly divine Salty Malty ice cream.
Jazz Festing in Place (wwoz.org, 90.7 FM, today through Sunday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.) or just have an envie for some good crawfish? Chefs Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski will be boiling Billy Link’s primo crawfish again this weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., at La Boulangerie (4600 Magazine St., toasttab.com/la-boulangerie ) in honor of the second weekend of Jazz Fest. La Boulangerie will also be selling crawfish bread, strawberry lemonade—spiked and unspiked—and WWOZ will be playing on the radio for a little taste of the fairgrounds. Crawfish are available in 3 lb. ($17), 6 lb. ($34), 9 lb. ($51), and 12 lb. ($68) orders. Add on a 2-piece corn and 2 potatoes for $5. Orders can be placed now for Saturday or Sunday pick-up. Go gettcha some.
