THE BIG
EASY
“OH, YOU’VE GOT TO GO TO
THIS RESTAURANT I ATE AT
LAST NIGHT,” panted Joanne as she ran
Rockway Vineyards
Riesling
Icewine 2013 ($29.95)
By Lynn Ogryzlo
DELICIOUSLY
UNPREDICTABLE
Desserts can always be
tricky to pair with, but
the key is to keep your
wine sweeter than the
dessert. Here an Icewine
can play well, and the
characteristics of this
specific wine (ooloasn’t
enough, the colours
of both elements (that
quintessential
straw
yellow) are even pretty
sitting side by side. Put
your feet up and enjoy. Kristina Inman
to catch up to me. She rummaged around in her
purse until she found the card she saved. It was
SoBou on Chartres Street. Esquire Magazine
called SoBou (sobounola.com) the best new
restaurant in 2012 and four years later, people
are still raving about it, my friend included.
Trusting the word of a like-minded foodie, off
I went to the edge of the French Quarter in the
exciting city of New Orleans.
SoBou is warm and comfortable with a stunning, signature wall of layered clear glass bottles
in colours of muted yellow and sultry green lit
from behind with bright lighting. If it sounds
too stark for you, it’s all warmed by the charm of
exposed brick and dark wood on the other walls.
Richard our waiter distinguishes SoBou
from the smoky jazz clubs and drinking holes
all around it by saying, “in this place the customers know that Pinot Noir isn’t a daiquiri flavour”. While SoBou is a distinctively different
restaurant for New Orleans’s French Quarter, it
shows its roots on Sunday when you can find
New Orleans’s most famous burlesque dancer,
Bella Blue performing during the Eggs and
Legs Brunch.
Richard recommended I try the Charred
Lemon Geaux Fish with saffron and crawfish
risotto so that’s the way I went. The dish came
surrounded with local squash and heirloom carrots grown for them by Covey Rise Farm not
far away. They were cooked perfectly al’ dente.
The fish was seared in a lemon glaze they call
Geaux for a crispy citrusy spike on the palate.
It’s a magical opposing mix of citrusy light and
roasted savoury, a dance of elegant fish and rich
root vegetables.
There once was a time when a food trip to
New Orleans meant dinner at Mr. B’s for their
jumbo lump crab cakes, Acme Oysters for a
dozen Mississippi oysters or Café du Monde for
a plate of hot, sugary beignets.
The French quarter, rich in oysters, gumbo, pralines and beignets continues to be a culinary institution drenched in history and heat. But in
between the classics are new restaurants lead by daring chefs and inspired
culinary entrepreneurs who are creating a new and unrecognizable food
scene that ranges from sushi grade Yellow Fin tuna topped with avocado
ice cream to boudoir meat lockers.
Voted best New Restaurant in 2013 by New Orleans Magazine and
just a block away from SoBou is Doris Metropolitan (dorismetropolitan.
com/new-orleans/en/index). Walk in and be amazed at the glas sed in
meat locker with a definite romantic decor. Not a surprising sight as this
fourth restaurant in the Doris family empire began as a butcher shop in
Israel. Giant slabs of beef lay dry aging on reproduction French antique,
marble-topped tables.
At Doris they have in-house butchers and Peter, a New Orleans’s
resident dining at the next table tells me you can order a steak, have it
aged to your specifications (30, 60 or 90 days) and then come to the
restaurant and enjoy it cooked to your liking; or take it home and cook
it up yourself. All of the meat is sourced from small, artisan farms.
Walking in the hot and sticky New Orleans afternoon my appetite was
longing for something lighter than a big steak so I had the sizzling
minute steak with shoe-string fries. It was delicious even though I felt
overwhelmed by the giant wooden boards overflowing with huge hunks
of beef at every other table. To enjoy this restaurant fully requires more
training than I have time for.
On Peter’s table there was a giant wooden carving board covered with
different cuts of meat cooked medium rare and surrounded with glistening red juices. It’s called a Family-style Meat Board and you design it
yourself, selecting the various steaks, the age and desired doneness. The
kitchen cooks it up perfectly and then it’s styled. Some cuts are presliced
and fanned out across the board, while others are stacked vertically - it’s
a sexy sight for any veteran carnivore.
If the French Quarter attracts the party crowd, I’ll tell you it’s the
Warehouse District that attracts the serious foodies. In between the art
galleries, up-scale grocers and exclusive furniture stores are eateries the
locals are keeping to themselves.
On the corner of Julia and Magazine streets you’ll find Pêche (pecherestaurant.com), a restaurant dedicated to fresh fish and their unique way
of cooking it. In the back of the restaurant next to the fresh seafood
bar is an open, wood-burning oven. But don’t mistake it for a wood
burning pizza oven, this oven and its fiery embers are dedicated solely
to fish. Fresh, whole fish go into the small inferno and come out smoky
and delicious. I watched as no less than four waiters huddled around
the oven flanked with heaps of dried wood, waited for their orders to
be ready.
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