Unanswered Questions

By Lolis Eric Elie

One of the challenges of narrative writing is trying to determine when or whether your established characters will intersect. Of course, reality has no such constraint. In real life it is both highly unusual and quite commonplace for people from opposite sides of the track to encounter each other. But in fiction, if it happens too often, it seems as if the writer is manipulating his or her characters. From the writer's point of view, sometimes it's a matter of efficiency. If established characters never meet, new characters must be created at a pace that can leave relatively few faces with which the viewer is familiar.

For example, in Season 1, Daymo, the missing brother of LaDonna Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander) is also a friend and employee of Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens) and Jacques Jhoni (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine). Daymo's plight also connects Desautel patron Toni Bernette (Melissa Leo), LaDonna's lawyer.

In this season's finale, there's a benefit for Gigi's, LaDonna's night club. It brings together lots of our characters and musicians. You might have thought that that scene was our way of tying everything up in a neat bow; our way of putting everyone together on stage to accept their applause in a grand finale. But there are so many questions unanswered.

Will LaDonna reopen Gigi's?
Will Janette mend fences with Tim Feeny (Sam Robards)?
Will Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn) un-retire?
Will the medical treatments succeed for Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters)?

It's official now. We will have a fourth season, albeit an abbreviated one. We don't have an air date yet. But we're already busy at work writing and producing new episodes. If you want to know what's going to happen next, watch this space.

Interview With Blake Leyh

By Lolis Eric Elie

When David Simon and Eric Overmyer first started talking about a series about New Orleans, they wanted it to revolve around the city's rhythm and blues tradition. Both of them are fans of the music  and they dreamed of creating a show that would feature it. Years later, as 'Treme' started to take shape, the failure of the federal levees offered up several story lines that helped add a bit more heft to their original idea. But, as David sometimes says, if you're fast forwarding through the music performances on 'Treme' to get to the plot, you're missing the plot.

The final determination of which songs will be chosen for each episode is a job shared by the executive producers and the writers of the respective episodes. But much of the credit for the quality of the live performances and the selection of the music included in the show goes to Blake Leyh, our music supervisor. He's worked with David and Blown Deadline Productions for years so he understands the producers' musical sensibilities and high standards for authenticity in sound design.

Like so many titles in television, it's hard for outsiders to know what in the world a "music supervisor" does. I put that and other questions to Blake recently.

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Herbsaint's Shrimp and Louisiana Brown Rice Risotto

By Lolis Eric Elie

When it comes to his risotto, "It's all about that rice," says Donald Link. "It's the most unique rice I've ever cooked with."

The chef is talking about Cajun Grain rice, a jasmine rice grown in Louisiana by Kurt and Karen Unkel. It's a brown rice that includes stray bits of wild red rice that most farmers discard. Seldom is risotto made with brown rice. The slow-cooked dish is usually made with stock and short grain, white Italian arborio rice. Grated cheese is often added, which, when melted, lends a creamy texture to the dish. But Link's approach is to use acorn squash to add a note of creaminess. And, he says, the rice itself has a creamy texture. It's the rice and the seasonality of acorn squash that led to the creation of this risotto.

"It just has this super nutty flavor and I realized how creamy it was when we first made it," he says. "I noticed it lent itself to that preparation of risotto. It's kind of a classic Italian dish, the squash and rice. I'm sure it was the fall when I did it, so that's probably why I put the squash in."

In the second season of 'Treme,' Link visits chef Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens) in New York at Lucky Peach. At that point, she hadn't decided to move back to New Orleans and open Desautel's on the Avenue, so she couldn't ask for any advice in that regard. But Link would have been a good person to consult; he has two James Beard Award-winning restaurants, Herbsaint and Cochon. Soon he'll be opening a third, seafood-oriented eatery in New Orleans Arts District.

"I don't have a name yet. For some reason we just can't quite figure one out," he says. "It's on Magazine and Julia streets. We've been tossing around this idea for a seafood place for some time now. Our trip to Uruguay set it off in another direction with all the open-flame cooking they do there." Further research will take place in San Sebastian, Spain. "A lot of the restaurants there, the asadors, have these hearth-type grills," says Link. "You get different ranges of temperatures and ranges with height of the grill. Ours will be a New Orleans seafood restaurant, but a lot of the cooking will be over coals and fires in a hearth."

There's no date yet for the opening of Link's as yet unnamed restaurant. But you can get a taste of things to come with this recipe which will appear in our forthcoming book, Treme: Stories and Recipes from the Heart of New Orleans.

Cajun Grain rice is the best choice for this dish, but other kinds of brown rice can also work. Depending on the size of the shrimp you use, they may well melt into the dish and become more of a seasoning element. Folks in New Orleans tend to like shrimp cooked longer than is the national fine-dining norm. Cooking time with risotto is always a tricky thing -- the key is to keep tasting it as it approaches doneness. Once it gets close to al dente doneness, pay close attention. Trust me, the dish tastes great.