New Orleans — Music and food are inseparable at Bayou Bar, a dark and intimate venue along the streetcar line on St. Charles Ave. It's where bassist Peter Harris leads a jazz combo most nights of the week, while chef Brian Landry serves up a seasonal menu of delicious food to those lucky enough to nab a table.
"Every night, there are the best musicians in the city playing in this room," Landry says. "There's really almost no separation between the bandstand and the room, so it almost feels like they're actually playing in your living room while you have dinner."
The Pontchartrain Hotel, which houses Bayou Bar, is a venue with a storied history. Notable guests include Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra and Tennessee Williams, around the time he was writing A Streetcar Named Desire. "The Doors broke up in front of the Pontchartrain Hotel," says Landry. It's also where, in 1966, the then-NFL commissioner announced that the city would be getting its own professional football team, the New Orleans Saints. "This room is special," Landry says.
The space fills up at night and not just for dinner. It's standing room only by the bar, as locals and tourists crowd in to listen to Peter Harris' jazz band. But back in 2016, when chef Landry took over the food at the hotel, which also includes the restaurant Jack Rose and the rooftop bar Hot Tin, there was no music program at all. "There was a gentleman who played piano here a couple nights a week," Landry says, noting there weren't many people coming in. That's when he approached Harris to become Bayou Bar's music director.
"I didn't start playing bass until I was 16, but once I started playing, I knew that's all I wanted to do," says Harris. "Once you step into that world of upright bass — jazz — there's so much depth to it."
Landry and Harris grew up together in New Orleans. They've been friends since fifth grade. "The easiest way to describe it is: it's almost like a scene from 'Dead Poets Society,'" laughs Landry. The childhood friends now have a new cookbook together, Rhythm & Roux: The Simmer and Swing of New Orleans. And, as the title suggests, it's an homage to both of their passions.
"Growing up in this layered heritage has provided both of us with an endlessly rich source of inspiration," writes Landry in the introduction. "As a chef, I have been inspired by the culinary traditions that blend European techniques with bold Creole and Cajun flavors. Peter [Harris] has drawn his artistry from the deep roots of the city's musical innovation, improvisation, and rhythm."
Brian Landry says his goal with Rhythm & Roux, and his food in general, is to honor all those culinary influences: many of the recipes in the cookbook can be found on the menus at his restaurants.
"I like to do a lot of dishes that have a Spanish origin to them," explains Landry, as he grills pompano in the kitchen at the Pontchartrain Hotel. It's a mild white fish found in the Gulf.
He'll serve it with a broken romesco sauce made of nuts, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, bread and olive oil. Romesco is a classic Catalan sauce, Landry explains, with almonds and hazelnuts. "I think everyone is really familiar with all of the French standards of Creole cooking... but this is a great way to show all of the different contributing factors."
In addition to Pompano Broken Romesco, Rhythm and Roux features:
Crab au Gratin Croquetas — "Like the French Quarter, as much Spanish as it is French, these blue crab croquetas live at a similar crossroads."
Turkey Necks — "Some of the most soulful dishes in the Southern repertoire are born from a deep respect for humble ingredients."
Black-Eyed Pea Rice Salad — "Black-eyed peas have a long, global history tied to agriculture, slavery, and cultural survival that connects West Africa to the American South."
Braised Oxtails — "Oxtail has long been a cornerstone of Caribbean home cooking."
There are also cocktails, such as the Duck Fat Sazerac — "Often hailed as America's first cocktail, it was born in mid-19th-century New Orleans" — and desserts like Bourbon Bundt Cake — "The perfect Southern cake."
Interspersed with the recipes are stories and musings from some of the musicians who have played at Bayou Bar over the years, including drummer Herlin "The Groovemaster" Riley, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater.
When it comes to assembling a cast of musicians to play with, Harris says it's not so different from cooking. "Different musicians go together the way certain ingredients of dishes go together," he says. "Toasted almonds and hazelnuts are great on that fish," he explains, referring back to Landry's grilled pompano, but you wouldn't put them in, say, a gumbo.
And gumbo, by the way, is a great example of a classic New Orleans dish made up of many different cultural influences.
"You can almost see the individual influences on Creole cooking through the lens of gumbo," Landry says. "The seafood comes from the Spanish influence. If there's sausage in it, that actually came from Germany... Red beans and rice is another one that really comes from Haitian traditions of cooking beans with some sort of pork product, long and slow over the course of an entire day."
The gumbo recipe in Rhythm & Roux is for Duck & Andouille Gumbo — "No modern Creole cookbook would be complete without a gumbo. It's the soul of the region simmered into a single pot."
Landry and Harris don't shy away from the fact that they are cooking food and playing music that has been heavily influenced by Black Americans. "I mean, we are two white guys," says Landry, "and we can openly talk about it with the cooks in the kitchen. We can have that conversation with the musicians who play here. I think it's when you ignore where it came from that it becomes a problem."
From those conversations with musicians also came one of the inspirations for Rhythm & Roux. "As I spent more time around the musicians at Bayou Bar, the same conversation kept coming back," writes Landry in the cookbook, "High-level drink, high-level food, and high-level musicianship don't often happen in the same room. When they do, something changes. The experience deepens."
The first set begins around 7:30 pm. On this night, the band is Firm Roots featuring Peter Harris on bass, Herlin Riley playing the drums, saxophonist Derek Douget and Dwight Fitch Jr. on piano. Even when they're not scheduled to perform, sometimes musicians come to hang out at Bayou Bar and hear their friends play. Singer Christien Bold was there for dinner, and ended up joining the band to sing "Nevermore" by Harold Battiste.
The sense of camaraderie that's been fostered at Bayou Bar comes through during the break between sets when the band steps into a side room and gathers around a table joking, laughing and eating. "They have a meal together and they talk," says Landry. "Sometimes about nothing, sometimes about politics, sometimes about music."
They order off the menu: Harris has the pompano, Riley orders beet salad, the crab meat pasta and the short ribs. He says it all comes together at Bayou Bar "to make a beautiful dish." And it's the same with the music. "A lot of times it's improvisation," says Riley. "You kind of know what works and what doesn't work... but when it works, it's magic... When the musical chemistry comes together, we have magic on the bandstand."
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Pompano Broken Romesco
Romesco is a classic Catalan sauce that originated with fishermen along Spain's northeastern coast... Here, the sauce is handled differently — served warm as a broken vinaigrette rather than a smooth emulsion, allowing the individual components to remain distinct. The naturally high oil content of pompano makes it an ideal match, balancing the richness without feeling heavy.
Serves 6
Broken Romesco
1 cup blanched hazelnuts
1 cup Marcona almonds
3 tablespoons shallots, finely minced
1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon chili flakes
½ cup sherry vinegar
1 cup piquillo peppers, chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons Italian parsley, torn
Pompano
6 fresh pompano fillets, 8 to 10 ounces, skin-on kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ cups homemade croutons
Make the romesco: Heat oven to 400°F. Combine hazelnuts and almonds on a baking sheet and toast gently in the oven for 6 to 8 minutes. Allow to cool, and coarsely chop. In a 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, sweat the shallots, garlic, and chili flakes for 2 to 3 minutes or until aromatic. Deglaze the pan with sherry vinegar. Add piquillo peppers, salt, and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Slowly add the olive oil. Bring to a gentle simmer. Add tomatoes and torn parsley. Check seasoning. Remove the warm vinaigrette from the heat. Toss the toasted nuts into the pan. Stir to evenly coat.
Grill the pompano: Heat grill to 500°F. Clean and oil the cooking grates. Heat for an additional 5 minutes. Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper, place fillets on the grill, flesh side down, diagonal to the grate. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Using a thin spatula, lift the fish and turn 45°, creating a cross-hatch grill mark. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes until the flesh side is well marked and releases easily from the grill. Flip fillets to skin side and continue to cook 3 to 5 minutes longer until the fish is just barely cooked through. Transfer to a platter.
To serve: Toss the croutons with the broken romesco. Spoon romesco over the fish. Serve.
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