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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
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'The food’s great,
the mood’s friendly
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Danny and Julie
Evans’ new res
taurant on Carroll
Street, Leta’s on
the Square, just opened
last week, but that’s hard
to believe once you’ve
been there a while, though,
because it feels like a place
that’s been open for years
- a little bit like that place
“where everybody knows
your name.”
Evans, who says he’s
always wanted to have a
restaurant of his own, has
thought of just about every
thing, with the aim of giving
his customers good choices:
some fun foods, some
upscale classics and some
HI Hi
t
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Danny Evans, who takes a hands-on approach to the
food at Leta’s, is shown here cooking up a pot of his
award winning chili.
1i Praise of Pecans
June Jackson, a native of Louisiana, has
written In Praise of Pecans, Recipes and
Recollections, a cookbook celebrating the
pecan, which is the only tree nut native to our
country, and a major Middle Georgia crop soon
to be shaken and harvested.
Her compendium of more than 100 recipes
includes the use of pecans in all categories of
cooking.
Joumal/Chariotte Perkins
Maria Murphy, manager.
house specialties. It's a
place you could take your in
laws from Buckhead, but it’s
also a place where you can
just get a basket of chicken
wings and a cold beer and
have a long talk with old
This hardcover book makes for good reading
even for the non-cook, as Jackson’s history sec
tion brings us from the pecan’s first documented
appearance about 8,000 years ago, through the
Native Americans’ use of the nut. Jackson has
found delicious ways to improve our diets with
the daily incorporation of nutritious “doses" of
pecans - and their oil. The book is illustrated
with color photographs by Watt Casey.
You can meet the author, buy the book and
have it signed at Lane Packing Saturday from
11 a.m.-1 p.m. or at Perry Book Store, on
Carroll Street, Saturday from 2-4 p.m.
Jackson will also be one of the spotlighted
writers at the Colleen Nunn and Four Friends
luncheon hosted at the Museum of Aviation on
Thursday at 11:30 a.m., at the museum: Colleen
Nunn and Four Friends luncheon.
Recipe ol the Week
Uptown Sweet Potato
This is one of June Jackson’s recipes: simple,
delicious and really good for you.
1 medium sweet potato or yam
1/2 teaspoon pecan oil or olive oil
JP I
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friends.
You’ll know you’re in
downtown Perry when you
see the Courthouse Classic
Pizza on the lunch menu,
and the Salmon on Carroll,
and Downtown Ribeye on
the dinner menu. You’ll know
you’re in Danny Evans’
place when you see “Foy’s
Filet” listed with Leta’s Surf
and Turf. (Foy is his father’s
name and his son’s name.
The restaurant was named
after his late mother.)
Leta’s has a highly pol
ished, well-stocked bar that
will probably prove to be
a Perry landmark for mak
ing friends, arguing about
politics or sports, or talking
about the good old days.
What about the food?
It’s seriously good, but
then Danny Evans is serious
about good food. He loves to
cook, he likes seeing people
enjoying their food, and he’s
got good cooks in his kitch
en, with a variety of culinary
styles.
“One thing I wanted," he
says, “is a place where a
group of people can come
and everybody can have the
kind of food they want.”
That was as important to
him for the midday working
crowd as for the going-out
to-dinner crowd at night, so
Leta’s undergoes a little
personality change between
lunch and dinner. If you go
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the
tables have Corona beer six
packs filled with ketchup,
mustard, Tabasco and more.
You can get hamburgers,
sandwiches of all kinds,
pizza or a choice of hot dogs
served “your way.”
That mean's anything
from plain old mustard and
ketchup, to a kraut dog or a
slaw dog. Or you can take it
to the limit with the Scramble
Dog, which, according to
the menu, is “our all beef
hot dog, served open faced,
covered with Danny’s award
winning chili. Topped with
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Joumal/Chariotte Perkins
Geri Greenan is staying busy behind the bar at Leta’s, Perry’s newest restaurant.
Cheddar cheese, chopped
onion and oyster crackers.”
Danny's Award Winning
Chili is good all by itself. You
can get a bowl of that, or
you can get Leta’s French
Onion Soup, which has a
knockout beef broth with
onions, bread crumbs and
Provolone. You can have
a regular salad or Jimmy’s
Famous Salad, which is a
direct descendant of the
popular Angelo’s salad, cre
ated by Jimmy Swiger, who
is hard at work in the kitchen
of Leta’s now, turning out a
wild, but successful lunch
combination of All-American
Diner and Classic Italian.
You want an Angus Burger
or a Reuben, you’ve got
it. You want stuffed mush
rooms followed by Eggplant
Parmigiana, you’ve got that,
too. Lunches are in the $5 to
$lO range.
At dinner, the six packs
of condiments have been
whisked away.
See LETA ’S, page 2B
Sr .
potato and pierce skin with a fork or sharp knife.
Place on a basking pan or piece of oil bake for
50 minutes (longer for a larger potato) or until
tender. Test for doneness by piercing skin at
the widest spot for softness. Make a slash mark
with knife tip and open as for a baked potato..
Mash ends toward middle to loosen flesh. Top
with butter, cinnamon and pecans. Serve hot.
A blue ribbon winner
Congratulations to Casey Hitch of Kathleen,
who won first place in the Eagle Brand Great
Baking Bonanaza at the Georgia National Fair.
Here's her winning recipe. There’ll be more fair
winners to come.
.4 '* «
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons
pecan pieces,
toasted
Preheat oven
to 350 degrees.
Wash sweet potato
and dry wit paper
towel. Rub oil over
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007 ♦
4 More on t/ie menu ”
Creamy Fruit Parfait
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed
Milk
12 ounces cool whip (divided 8 and 4)
6 ounce frozen juice concentrate, berry sun
splash, thawed
1 1/2 cups blueberries
2 cups Amaretti cookies, crushed
2 cups strawberries, chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a bowl, whisk together condensed milk, 8
ounces cool whip, and thawed juice. Spoon a
thick layer into the bottom of 8 tall clear glasses.
Add a thin layer of the
cookies and top with the
blueberries. Add another
layer of cream. Then a
layer of strawberries. Add
the last layer of the cream
mixture.
Mix cool whip with
vanilla extract, then
spoon on top of glasses
and garnish with a few
cookie crumbs and a cou
ple of pieces of fruit. Chill.
1B
Jimmy
Swiger,
well
known
local
chef, is
hard at
work
in the
kitchen
of Leta’s
on the
Square.
Journal/
Charlotte
Perkins
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