Forget the unpronounceable name. Forget the wait. Get yourself to Uglesich's before it's too late. The owner is thinking of closing.
By DOUG SIMPSON, Associated Press
Published November 10, 2004
NEW ORLEANS - When Uglesich's opened in 1924, it served the basics: fried egg sandwiches, po' boys and roast beef.
The place still looks like a dingy neighborhood joint, but it lures food lovers from all over the country into a rundown New Orleans neighborhood for plates of fried shrimp and oysters, rich sauteed seafood and oysters on the half shell.
The restaurant with the confounding name (it's pronounced OOH-gul-sitch-es) is so popular and so small that few locals bother trying to get a table anymore.
Nearly all the restaurant's recipes are now in a book, Uglesich's Restaurant Cookbook (Pelican $24.95). The only ones missing are sauces that owners Anthony and Gail Uglesich are thinking about bottling and selling.
"We emphasize that we're not professionally trained chefs, and it's really a mom-and-pop operation. There's not many of those left," Anthony Uglesich said.
Uglesich, 65, said the book is coming out just as his restaurant career is coming to an end. He expects to close Uglesich's sometime next year.
"I'm the type of person, I'm there every day," he said. "When I walk in the door I'm the first one in, then the last one out. "It's rough. My knees are not what they used to be."
The couple bought the restaurant from Anthony's father, a Yugoslav immigrant, in 1966. They've run it ever since - lunch only, weekdays only - in a dilapidated building with an open kitchen, oyster bar and just 10 tables.
Uglesich's has its share of celebrity admirers, including Martha Stewart and fellow New Orleans restaurateur Emeril Lagasse. Once the place started showing up in tour guide books, the locals stopped coming. Tourists now make up about 80 percent of the clientele, the book says.
Most entrees center on fresh Louisiana seafood, and many are Creole and Cajun classics, such as shrimp remoulade, crawfish etouffee, dirty rice and jambalaya.
Gail Uglesich experiments in her kitchen at home - Anthony is the taste-tester - and some of her creations veer far from standard Louisiana cooking. Shrimp cake patties come with a chipotle mayonnaise; fried crawfish balls are served with a Vietnamese dipping sauce made up of fish sauce, chilies and lime juice.
One of Uglesich's most popular dishes is Paul's Fantasy, a spicy combination of sauteed shrimp and catfish. Named for a longtime customer, it's served with spicy new potatoes on the side.
Paul's Fantasy
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 to 2 medium trout filets or 4 to 5 small catfish filets
Egg Beater
Plain fine bread crumbs
6 to 8 medium raw shrimp, deveined and butterflied
Shallots, chopped
Parsley, finely chopped
1 slice lemon
Grilled seasoning (recipe below)
Melt 3 tablespoons butter or margarine in skillet, set over medium heat
Dip catfish or trout in egg substitute, then lightly bread fish with bread crumbs.
In the heated skillet, cook fish on each side for 3 to 5 minutes.
In a separate skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter/margarine and set on medium heat. Place shrimp in skillet, sprinkle grilled seasoning on top. Cook on one side, turn shrimp over and sprinkle on more grilled seasoning. Cook until shrimp turn pink.
Place fish on plate, top with shrimp, sprinkle with shallots and parsely.
Place lemon on side of plate, prepare seasoned new potatoes and add to plate.
Grilled seasoning
24 teaspoons salt
10 teaspoons cayenne pepper
12 1/2 teaspoons thyme
12 1/2 teaspoons oregano
12 teaspoons sweet paprika
12 teaspoons onion powder
12 teaspoons garlic powder
10 3/4 teaspoons black pepper
10 3/4 teaspoons white pepper
Pour ingredients into airtight jar, shake until well-blended.
Seasoned New Potatoes
1 to 2 potatoes, depending on size
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
Wash potatoes and boil in a pot of water, cook until fork tender.
On medium heat, melt butter/margarine in skillet.
Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes, coat with butter/margarine. Sprinkle grilled seasoning on potatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
