Fried Shrimp on Toast

At 17, I visited a New Orleans friend and received an education in good food. Her mother was a terrific native gourmand and gourmet. In her tiny, old fashioned kitchen, she made delicious meals, which, years later as her neighbor, I frequently shared. Whenever she tried something new, she'd call and ask me to dinner, saying, "John will eat anything and not know if it's good."

During that visit, Mrs Little took my friend and me to dinner one evening without her husband and ten-year-old daughter. We went to her favorite restaurant, and it instantly became one of my all-time favorite restaurants: Casamento's.

photo found online at http://z.about.com/d/neworleans/1/0/1/-/-/-/casamentos1.jpg

If you don't know Casamento's, look at its website (http://www.casamentosrestaurant.com/main/main.html) or watch a video I happened to see the other day when channel-flipping (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/chefs/channel/0,1000011,FOOD_32077_8957,00.html). All you need to know is that it's tiny, tiled, no frills, delicious, and closed all summer.

That evening, I watched in wonder and admiration as Mrs Little consumed oyster stew, a dozen oysters on the half shell, and fried oysters, announcing each one as the ultimate in the preparation of the slimy delicacy. I love the fried soft-shell crab on toast and the fried shrimp po-boy.

Just writing about Casamento's makes my mouth water and my whole body miss the sticky humidity of an evening on Magazine near Louisiana and my heart miss Mrs Little and my friend, both of whom are gone but live still in my memory.