We went to dinner recently for Lindsay’s birthday at a restaurant on Esplanade that I heard great things about, but had never experienced. Considering the type of cuisine, French, I figured that we would do well to give it a shot.
There is always something about French cuisine that proves irresistible to me – my guess is the sauces. Being a man who is always certain of his sense of direction, I neglected to get directions to the restaurant, so I promptly turned onto Esplanade near the French Market not realizing that our end destination would be Faubourg St. John, which is all the way on the rear-end of Esplanade. I knew the direction there, but not the route. Needless to say, we ended up one quarter mile away from NOMA.
We walked into the restaurant straight into the small bar area in the front of the restaurant. When planning our evening, I didn’t realize that the dining area is on the porch of the house, which is wrapped in a thick, clear plastic tent. My initial reaction was something along the lines of this being less than I expected.
The porch is actually built around a tree which extends through the roof of the establishment. I thought this would be a great place for a group of friends to get together and have a raging good time. The place looks like a French Bistro, but with classic NOLA touches. Given the neighborhood and its proximity to NOMA and the actual Degas House, the decor is appropriate. One caveat – I would make reservations in advance. Onto the food…
Upon opening the standard menu, we found it filled with things like escargot, pate, les plus fromages, boudin, mussels, pommes frites, haricot verts – you get the point. We are both pretty darned excited.
There is also a menu that changes nightly. It was filled with bouillabaisse, boudin balls, duck, etc. For an appetizer, we ordered a cheese board, which includes four cheeses that vary nightly. Last night the choices were Brie de Marze, Morbier, Pont L’Eveque and Selles Sur Cher and served with red grapes and several pieces of toasted bread flavor with some sort of garlic spread. The cheeses ranged from semi-soft and smoky (Morbier) to soft and mild (Brie de Marze). I was a huge fan of the Morbier and Sur Selles Cher, which had nothing to do with Sonny or Cher. As a fan of any reputable cheese section in a grocery store, this was right up my alley.
After the cheese, we each had very different main courses. Lindsay had a flash fried softshell crab served over baby greens mixed with Bulgarian feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and red onions, all coated with a garlic and herb vinaigrette. Upon first bite, it was apparent that the salad had not been drizzled with enough vinaigrette. After adding more, the salad was great. The fried softshell crab was excellent and of pretty nice size. The different textures and flavors mixed well in the big (but not oversized) salad.
My entrée was the Mignonettes de Veau au Parmesan, which was a lightly breaded and panned veal cutlet which was more of a veal marsala cut than the cut I imagined (more like a filet mignon). I’ve never seen veal prepared in a huge juicy lump, but for some reason, that is what I was expecting. The dish included steamed broccoli which was exactly what I expected. Steamed broccoli.
Everything on the dish was surrounded by a caper-infused buerre blanc sauce which was excellent. If I chose a name to indicate exactly how rich this sauce was, it’d be Rockefeller. I’m sure normal people would tell you the sauce was in perfect proportion to the size of the dish, but I wish there would have been more. I’d be willing to substitute this sauce in place of condensed milk on a snowball. The veal was perfect tenderness and of nice proportion. Anyone who is in favor of quantity instead of quality is just dead wrong. I suspect this is why I am such a fan of French cuisine, as the richness of the foods prepared do not lend itself to quantity.
Afterwards, we had Berry Chantilly cake from Whole Foods, which is always excellent. In the words of Ferris Bueller, “if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
Overall, this is a restaurant that – while nothing really jumps out and grabs you – I would definitely recommend it to a friend. This would be a good restaurant to attend with a big group of friends. I can assure that I probably wouldn’t go there in the months of July-September or December-February unless I am missing something on how this place is cooled and/or heated.
The one thing that stood out to me was the amount of cheese in the place (and I’m not talking about taper-fades, Affliction t-shirts and souped-up Honda Civics). If you are a cheese fanatic, this is the place for you. I cannot say that the service was overly attentive, only acceptable. I think I may have heard classic rock from Foghat or .38 Special as the background music, which was different, but really awesome if you think about it.
If you are choosing French fare in our city, you should attend these restaurants in this order: Le Parvenu, La Crepe Nanou, Café Degas. I have not listed August, Galatoire’s, Broussard’s, La Provence, etc. because let’s face it – you don’t just pick up and dine out there on a whim unless your last name is Shinn, Brees or Benson.
Go here. Enjoy it!
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