I make a couple phone calls every week to the purveyors we use in Louisiana and have gotten the same answer- very scarce right now but soon. AH soon, I can’t wait- I don’t get my official Crawfish Jones until mid February but I am ready to see some more movement now.

I don’t think that there is an official crawfish season but there are certain milestones in every year for the crawfish.

1.   The first crawfish of the season in Louisiana- This has already happened but does us no good in Atlanta as all are sold locally. Sometimes this can happen as soon as New Year, generally it is right after New Year. The price is very expensive, the supply is limited and the crawfish are really small.

2.   Plentiful Supply- This happens every year in mid February (this is when we are targeting getting the crawfish for Copeland’s in Atlanta) The price stays high but at least they are available.

3.   Good Supply and Price goes down- This is after Mardi Gras and before Easter- You will see some price spikes around the holidays (big demand at these times) but the crawfish has a good size and price is going to settle down if it is a normal season.

4.   Lowest price of the year- My favorite time, right after Mothers Day- Crawfish are large, price is good and basically unlimited supply!!

5.   It gets to hot and crawfish get hard- When summer sets it and the sun beats on the ponds and swamps all day the crawfish start to get hard and tough to eat.

I am thinking that mid February we will have Hot Boiled Crawfish on Fridays at all 3 Atlanta Copeland’s but stayed tuned and we will update you. Until then, get your propane tanks and burners ready- They are almost here!!

What is your favorite seasonal food??

How would you like to win SIX months of FREE lunch (For TWO) from any Atlanta area Copeland’s Of New Orleans Restaurant? (First Prize)

How would you like to win THREE months of FREE lunch (For TWO) from any Atlanta area Copeland’s Of New Orleans Restaurant? (Second Prize)

How would you like to win a FREE two hundred dollar ($200.00) gift certificate valid at any Atlanta area Copeland’s Of New Orleans Restaurant? (Third Prize)

Sound to good to be true? Well it’s not. This is our way of saying THANKS for connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, You Tube, etc.

What do you have to do you ask? Simple….

Shoot a video of you, your friends, your spouse, whom ever you usually bring to Copeland’s with you for great food, talking about your best experience at an Atlanta area Copeland’s of New Orleans Restaurant. You can sing a song, create a dance, or just speak from the heart. You can even shoot your video from our restaurant while dinning. (PLEASE understand that all content MUST BE rated G. Any video sent to us that we deem inappropriate will not be considered).

Now that you have a video, upload it to YOUR You Tube Channel, send us the link (the url at the top of the You Tube page) at eat@copelandsatlanta.com and we will review your video.  If your video is approved, we will share it on our Facebook account and Tweet it out to our followers.  On a side note, if you would like, please send us a friend request via You Tube. We will make sure to FRIEND you back:)))

Once we have reviewed your video we will reply to you that we have received your video and whether or not it is eligible for the contest. REMEMBER…your video must be rated G. Any video that is not deemed G will be refused.

Video will be judged on originality, content, creativity, sincerity, and how well it shows what Copeland’s means to you.  When you think of Copeland’s Restaurant’s, what do we mean to you?  Please share it with us.

Best of luck to anyone who enters and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Winners will be picked November 15th, 2010

LEGAL TERMS and CONDITIONS:

Lunch offer will start the week of announcement and stop on the week of the sixth month or third month. This promotion can not be combined with any other offer.

Winner will receive one free luncheon entree per week for the specified time frame.  Includes coffee, tea or soda with lunch.  Does not include dessert or appetizers.

Winners can order from LUNCH menu ONLY and award is valid Monday through Saturday from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Not valid on Sunday.  Dine in only.

This weekend we did something spur of the moment that was going to be a rite of passage for him, whether he realized it or not. I think for 90% of Americans eating like a modern-day New Orleanian is a special occasion, which begs the question what is a special meal for a New Orleanian??

I don’t think any region in the country has the culinary calendar that New Orleans has, from Sunday Jazz Brunches, Revillon Dinners and Crawfish Boils we adhere to the unwritten calendar better than the ancient Mayans. I decided that we would have a shrimp and soft shell crab fry on Saturday night and Matthew was going to help to me fry the seafood.

My wife’s parents live in Atlanta having moved to Duluth after Katrina in 2005 and have really helped to solidify Atlanta as home. They were going to come over but before they arrived, Matthew and I would have to do the preparation for this event – his first seafood fry!!

We peeled the 5 lbs of 21/25 Shrimp without incident.  At some point he will have to pick up his speed in this regard but he did a fine job of taking the shells off of the beautiful white gulf shrimp.

He got antsy during the peeling but stayed on task as we talked the Braves, the Saints, and his upcoming season in fall baseball. After the shrimp were peeled we had to get the flour ready along with the egg wash and start the grease.

We have an electric fryer which is wonderful to fry the shrimp in compared to the pots of oil that I learned with. There is no need to be innovative when frying shrimp and softshells- I go by the same recipe that my Grandmother and Father showed me when I was Matthew’s age, season the flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne pepper, never over power the taste of the seafood with over seasoning the flour.

As I explained in painstaking detail how to season the flour (a sprinkle of this and a dash of that) I really started to lose Matthew’s attention. I still had hope as we were getting close to the fun part, frying the shrimp and crabs.

We fried the soft shells first, and under coating of plain flour egg wash (2 eggs in a quart of milk mixed up with a wire whip – My Grandmother probably flipped in her grave that I used skim milk!) then our perfectly seasoned flour.

The fryer fit 3 soft shells that started to float after a few minutes then were ready to come out. Now it was Matthew’s turn, he was very diligent about flouring the crabs, it took a while but he did a good job. He was concerned that the flour had caked up on his hand, he quickly grabbed the towel and tried to get as much off as he could.

I held the basket as he set in each crustacean. I gave the basket over to him and he set it in the grease. This is where I lost him, a violent rumbling of grease popped a few stray drops into the air in his direction, he looked at me like I was asking him to walk across hot coals. I understood his hesitation and did the frying for the rest of the evening.

He proudly brought each batch in for his Grandparents Mother and Aunt to eat, after we were finished he sat down and enjoyed his shrimp. I think he will remember this rite of passage, at least I hope he does with as fond of memories as I have of the evening. This is the type of meal that is special to a New Orleanian, one that is centered around family and unwritten rules that are passed along from generation to generation.

It is time for you to start your own tradition at Copeland’s in Atlanta – our new menu is in full swing with the best most innovative dishes Atlanta has to offer!!

Who were you with when you cooked your first meal for your family??

I will still watch a ton of History Channel programs the next few days, try and get some facts about the Revolutionary War that I didn’t know before, but it won’t be my main thought. My main thought will be the young Men and Women who are serving our military overseas and are in harms way. My main thought will be with my nephew Bobby and the other heroes who are keeping our freedom secured right now.

I turned 18 in 1981 when the military was not needed in this country. I was happy to go register for the selective service but had no intention of joining any branch of the military. I went to the University of New Orleans, worked in restaurants and planned the rest of my life. I had no idea what it meant to lay your life on the line for your country or how anxious family members of the young men and women overseas feel every day that their loved ones are in harms way.

That all changed when my Brother Roy’s oldest son, Bobby, decided to join the Marines in 2005. Bobby was 22 or so when he decided to join The Marines. He signed up before Hurrican Katrina and went into basic training during the aftermath of the storm.

When I found out that he was going into the Marines I had my doubts. I worked with him doing catering and restaurant work long enough to know that he was very observant but questioned every decision made that affected him. This trait led to him loosing a job with Louisiana Power and Light over who should get repair service first. I didn’t think this was a good fit for him to join The United States Marine Corps!!

Bobby was the oldest person in his Basic Training Class and he prospered. He seemed to take to The Marines like a duck to water. I spoke to him a couple of times and he was transformed into a new person, into a Marine!!

Bobby has served several tours overseas and has come back fairly unscathed either physically or mentally each time. I think he may be a lifer. He loves it …he loves being a Marine, he loves our Country and he loves serving to keep us free and safe.

Bobby and his wife Katie spent a night with us in Atlanta a couple of years ago when they were on their way to New Orleans from North Carolina, I was amazed at his war stories, told not in a braggadocios manner, but in a calm matter of fact manner that indicated he would prefer not to share those experiences but did so out of respect for his uncle who was fascinated by them.

When Sunday comes around and I head for Copeland’s in Buckhead to work our Brunch, my thoughts will be with all of brave young men and women who are serving to keep us safe and free. I will go with my family to the Duluth City Fireworks on Saturday and to the Atlanta Braves game on Sunday with a great fireworks display after the game. I will look at my children and know that for now its a great show to them, but in time they’ll better understand why the fireworks are really going off.

We live in a free country but that freedom comes at a price in both physical loss and mental anguish for  the members of the military and their families. Take a moment this July 4th to think about all we have as a country, how God has truly blessed us like he has no country in the history of the planet. Then thank the next young man or young woman you see who is serving in our military. They truly make our country the “home of the brave”.

Happy July 4th!!

Saints vs. Jets, the only national TV game the Saints would play that year. As I watched the snow falling on the TV my father just shook his head that I was living and dying with every play of an 0-14 team. Truth be told, he was watching and pulling as hard as I was for the Saints to win at least one game in the horrible season, he just wouldn’t admit it.

I didn’t understand at the time how being responsible for a family, having a job (he was on the New Orleans Police Department) tempers the degree that you can feel hurt or feel joy with your sports team, but my Father was as happy as I was after that game. We loved to watch the games together. The first and only argument I can remember my parents having in front of me was about me staying up late to watch Monday Night Football. My Mom wanted me in bed for 9:00pm, My Father wanted me to stay up and watch whatever game was on that week.

The highlight of the game was the halftime show, where week after week we were vindicated in our hate of Howard Cosell as he would either not show the Saints highlights or show them with slanted commentary against the Saints. If you have no idea what I am talking about you are under 40!! (This was before ESPN, NFL Network and Direct TV NFL Package)

The argument that my Mom and Dad had over my bedtime led to the first Man to Man talk with my Father. He told me that I could stay up as late as I wanted but I had to be ready for school and couldn’t miss even if I had a 110F fever. I thought it was a fair deal, and usually went to bed after my Father and I yelled at Howard Cossell during halftime anyway!!

My Father died in 1986 and he never got to see the Saints in a playoff game much less a Super Bowl. I don’t know how he would have reacted to last season outwardly, but what I do know is that he would have enjoyed it and I would have enjoyed sharing it with him.

We went to a ton of games together, he was in charge of the Traffic Division of the NOPD and he had access to tickets on a pretty regular basis. Going to the games was magical for me, it still is to this day.

As I entered college, and my brother became family men, it was harder for the entire family to spend time together. Watching the Saints play was the one thing that we all did together, My Mom, Dad, 2 Brothers and 2 Sisters. The Saints still bond us together

My wife and kids got sucked up into the season last year due in large part to Copeland’s in Cumberland showing the games in the 120” big screen TV and several hundred other Who Dat’s going crazy. My 7 year old Daughter Grace wrote in her journal after one of the first games about the Who Dat chant, she didn’t understand it but she understood that it was done out of pure exuberance and joy!!

As the final seconds of the clock ticked off during the last Superbowl at least half of the Saints fans at Copeland’s were in tears. Its hard to control 40+ years of pent up frustration, disappointment, and at times bafflement. The Saints didn’t just lose a lot of games during those 40 years, but they found numerous ways to snatch defeat out of Victories jaws.

On that wonderful Super Bowl night it all changed as the Saints snatched victory this time. One of the biggest plays was the call to start the second half off with an onside kick. A move that was more likely to turn sour instead came up sweet thanks to the tenacious efforts of Chris Reiss, an Atlanta native. The rest is history that Saints fans will relish. Say what you want about the Saint’s first 40 years, but the second 40 will include the words Super Bowl Champions.

We are going to relive The 2009 New Orleans Saints Championship Season on Saturday June 26th at 1:00pm. We will be joined by Chris Reis from the Saints, whose parents were regulars at our Cumberland location every Sunday last year. I can’t wait to see everyone who shared last year with us, to relive the highlights and look forward to the 2010 Saints.

I wish My Dad was still alive to see us replaying Saints games, because I bet the gruff old Policeman, who was very jaded, would still have a tear in his eye every time he saw Tracy Porter get to the end zone pointing to the Who Dats loosing their minds in the stands!!

What is your favorite Saints Moment? …Who Dat!

Glen Helmstetter is a partner in Copeland’s Atlanta and a native of New Orleans where he was raised on shrimp, crawfish, and the New Orleans Saints.

The modern day martini is one part gin and one part dry vermouth, but the origins and different recipes are varied indeed. Martinez California is believed by some to be the birthplace of the martini, a miner came into the bar of Julio Richelieu in 1870 with a bag full of gold and a taste for something other than whisky. As any good bartender would do Julio mixed up a blend of gin, vermouth orange and bitters along with an olive, voila the Martinez!! If you are in New York the story is a little different, John D. Rockefeller would frequent the Knickerbocker Hotel and wanted something a little different so the bartender (looking for a tip from Mr. Rockefeller I suspect) Martini di Arma di Taggia came up with his version, London Dry Gin, dry vermouth, bitters, lemon peel and one olive. Whether or not this is the true origin of the martini one thing I feel confident of is that this wass the beginning of the 3 martini lunch!!

Where congress has killed the 3 martini lunch no one can stop the evolution of the martini and the fact that it is still the coolest drink going!! A quick look at the martini menu at Copeland’s in Atlanta shows this evolution in a major way- just a sampling of our offerings are the Cosmopolitan (my wife’s favorite), First Kiss, Lemon Head, Woo Woo, and the Orangina. We even have dessert martinis Banana Banchee, The Mochatini and The Key Lime Pie. I almost forgot, The Copeland’s Classic Martini with your choice shaken or stirred, dirty or dry, perfect or sweet!! Come in any Friday and enjoy our $5.00 Martini Menu at any Atlanta area Copeland’s along with $5.00 appetizers and great Jazz Music. (another American invention!!)

What is your favorite Martini?

Growing up in New Orleans our seasons were defined by what seafood was in season -  late fall through winter, oysters, spring time was crawfish, when the weather got real hot it was time for boiled crabs. That was the only time we ever ate outside – after we boiled seafood.

Very few restaurants in New Orleans even go through the trouble of having an outside dining area because the seasons change so quickly, your window is about a week in the spring and a week in the fall. Atlanta is a different story.

It is 7:00pm on a breezy late April evening as I type this and I am sitting in our new courtyard at our Cumberland location watching the traffic go by and enjoying my Monday staple, Red Beans and Rice (you can take the boy out of New Orleans but you can’t take New Orleans out of the boy!!) and amazed at how relaxing it is to eat outside.

I have two kids, one 7 and one 9 and they are the ones who have lead me to the land of eating outside. When we are picking a restaurant, if the weather is nice, what kind of patio tops both of their lists as to where to go eat dinner. Eating outside is different in so many ways than dining inside a restaurant. The biggest difference is that you have a level of relaxation on a patio that is hard to match in a restaurant dining room.

I look around our courtyard and I see one couple sharing a bottle of white wine, 2 young ladies sipping on large flavored martinis and a family of 5 just finishing up (very well behaved youngsters). No one is rushed, no one is anxious at all, everyone is just savoring the weather and ambiance.

I am excited by how nice our courtyard turned out at our Cumberland location and equally excited by the fact that our new Courtyard will be ready by the first week in May at our Kennesaw location. We would like to extend an invitation to all of our friends to come out and spend a little time in our courtyard, listen to the gently running fountain, enjoy a nice cold cocktail, and of course the best New Orleans food this side of Slidell!!

I guess the first thing to do is to just lay out what a roux is:

Roux
The most classic Cajun creation made by cooking flour and oil together. The popular phrase, “First you make a roux” is used to create dishes such as gumbo, fricassee stews, courtbouillion, and sauce piquant, even spaghetti sauce and other dishes

As I crossed the Louisiana state line, I rolled down my window, the air was cleansed by a ton of rain compliments of Tropical Strom Claudette. The smell of the brackish water from Lake Pontchatrain was as sweet as any I can remember.

I thought back to the times I spent with my brothers and sisters at the Jolly Green Giant- My Grandparents fishing camp on Chef Menteur Highway in the Ricolets between Lake Pontchatrain and Lake Catherine. One of my most vivid memories is my Grandma Bella yelling at me because I didn’t stir the roux for her crab stew evenly and it burned.

I tried to hide my indiscretion by adding flour to the burned mixture to no avail. Bella had the nose of a bomb sniffing dog and knew what happened long before I realized I had messed up. At 8 years of age I had to sit through a detailed lesson on why a roux is important and why people who don’t have patience to make a roux or people who don’t see the importance of a properly executed roux ought to eat hamburgers their whole life.

It was one of those moments that in hindsight shape your life, your opinion of food and your opinion of a cranky old German woman who scared the hell out of you but I couldn’t get enough of her advice and stories!!

I guess Grandma Bella’s lecture came to mind because of a conversation I had with a gentleman (from North of the Mason dixon line) the afternoon I left for New Orleans. Rev. Jerry came in for a late lunch that day. He and I got to discussing the Laboucherie sauce that we use in the Steak Laboucherie that is on our small plate menu. I was giving him the readers digest version of how it was made and when I mentioned a roux, he sat up and said what is that.

I tried to explain but he was perplexed as to why we just wouldn’t use corn starch to thicken the sauce. I wanted to give him the lecture that I received 37 years earlier but decided against it because he is older than dirt and he is from the North and deserves to eat plain hamburgers the rest of his life unless he comes into Copeland’s and orders one of our wonderful roux based sauces!

My favorite roux based recipe is the Etouffee Sauce at Copeland’s. It was developed over 25 years ago but could have been developed 125 years ago. It has all of the ingredients of the classic Cajun sauce, slow cooked with onions, garlic and bell peppers. The smell of the roux cooking is unbelievable, the only problem is that when a roux is cooking you know that you are hours away from tasting the dish. The best advice I can give when cooking a roux is to not be in a hurry and don’t be afraid to start over. It sounds easy and is once you have made a roux a few times.

This is copied directly from a great website www.realcajunrecipes.com.  A universal recipe for a roux

• ½ cup All Purpose Flour
• ½ cup of Vegetable Oil

Heat the oil and slowly incorporate the flour. Cook over a very low heat, stirring often. You will notice a wonderful nutty smell permeates the entire house. The roux will brown as it cooks, if you see specs throw it out and start again- if you used a burnt roux it will give an off taste to your dish. Brown the roux as dark as you like. As long as you stir and cook over a very low heat you can get the roux very dark without burning.

My brother Roy and his Family were up to visit on his way to see my Nephew Bobby who is about to make his 3rd trip overseas as a guest of the United States Marine Corps. Bobby lives in North Carolina which makes Atlanta about ½ way in between the two.

This is one of the best shrimp seasons for consumers (not so great for the shrimpers, but we can talk about that another day) and Roy graced us with 20lbs of beautiful white gulf shrimp that he bought at the Westwego Seafood Market on the Westbank of New Orleans.

I could spend the entire blog talking about the market but suffice it to say that you get quite an eclectic mix of characters when you have 20 or so individual seafood purveyors all in the same gravel parking lot, trying to sell their catch from the day before. I get mesmerized by the experience and have to take a walk around the whole lot before I choose who I want to buy from. Roy on the other hand has his favorites (The girls as he call them) who he uses whenever he is in need of great seafood.

We were boiling the seafood and talking about how the shrimp season is this year. It dawned on me how many dishes we use shrimp in at Copeland’s. On our current menu we use shrimp in over ?? dishes. People always ask what are Copeland’s signature dishes and I always go to the shrimp dishes.

The Shrimp Etouffee is the best Etouffee around. I think that the Shrimp and Crabcakes Alfredeaux and Shrimp and Grits are the two best dishes that Chef Chuck and Chef Geoff (Copeland’s Chef’s) have come up with in the last few years.

Shrimp has been the protein of choice for both Creole and Cajun cooks for hundreds of years. It is no wonder, shrimp harvesting started in South Louisiana in the 17th Century. It was done the old fashion way for a couple of hundred years (cast nets) until the early 20th Century and the development of the mechanized trawl net.

It’s amazing to me that the US harvests over 650 million lbs of shrimp a year and still needs to import over 200 million lbs to satisfy this country’s appetite for the tasty little creature. I have tried shrimp from all over the world and the best shrimp hands down are the Gulf White Shrimp harvested off of the coast of Louisiana. Shrimp from other parts of the world take on the flavors of the foods that the shrimp eat. I am not sure if it is the brackish water but the shrimp from south Louisiana are the best and all we use at Copeland’s in Atlanta.

Shrimp have been an integral part of the diets of everyone from the Greeks and Romans to the Chinese. If you want to know the best way to eat shrimp do it the Creole Cajun way and listen to Bubba.. Shrimp Scampi, Shirmp Gumbo, Stewed Shrimp, Stuffed Shrimp, Shrimp Dressing, Shrimp Po-Boy, Boiled Shrimp……….