Well, when the cross country travel plans formalized, we drug out the article and thought maybe we would try it when we came to the Big Easy. As plans firmed, the idea of getting a lunch someplace out of the city in a special place gained traction. Finally when we settled on the plans of Bayona and Commander’s Palace for dinners, we decided to include Christiano’s in the mix for a lunch. A chance to try something out of the ordinary. It proved to be a wise choice.
After our Bayona experience which good but somewhat below expectations, we awoke the next morning and got ourselves together (no small task), and jumped into the Momster and headed south into bayou country.
Houma (pronounced Home-a) is south and east of New Orleans, and the ride down produced a lot of interesting shots of “local” stuff .
After a bit of thrashing we finally found the restaurant on a side street on the same corner as the NAPA auto parts store
With some trepidation we went inside, they knew of our reservation, and we were about the first table to be seated (we had a 11:30 slot). The restaurant is in a renovated house with lots of little rooms and crannies, art on the walls, a pretty calming place. The menu was left at the table along with a wine list, and we were asked if we wanted still or sparking water. Since I was a bit recovering from the Bayona experience, I opted for sparking so two lovely clear blue bottles were brought to the table, along with a plate of lemon and lime wedges, looking extremely fresh cut. One side of the menu was the “winter” menu, and the other was the classic side. All Italian, the usual categories of Antipasta, zuppa/insalata, pasta and secondi plate. The “seasonal” side had fewer dishes, but kind of like Bayona, the more adventurous would find some interesting dishes there. While the “traditional” side had classics like Osso Buco and Vitella Marsala, the Inverno side offered things like an antipasto of Shaved duck prosciutto, house grated horseradish, organic baby arugula, and a secondi of Bourbon glazed duck breast, Madagascar vanilla risotto, arugula; and Skin on wild striped bass, porcini duxelle butter, and arugula risotto. We were also supplied the wine list and it was impressive indeed. Here in the lower portion of the bayous, you could get a Silver Oak, or maybe an Opus One, a selection of Turley wines, French and Italian. Prices were commensurate with the bottles, but not exhorbitant. To start with as we considered both the menu and wines, I had a glass of Vouvray, and MFO tried a Gewurtztraminer. Oh, our server merely asked about service with no personal information included. Some nice bread was brought, and the quiet lunch started to feel good. That leisurely lunch thing. The choice of antipasti was difficult. We passed up the Fried Green Tomato ~ Fried green tomato with lump crabmeat remoulade; and the Chef Mason’s Chargrilled Oysters ~ Chargrilled Louisiana oysters with roasted red bell pepper garlic butter in favor of splitting the Piatto di Charcuterie, a Selection of Italian meats and cheeses. For our mains I wanted to try the Pappardelle con Gamberi: Pappardelle pasta, gulf shrimp, fresh basil, pine nuts and garlic in butter sauce; and MFO went for Pollo Piccata: Sautéed chicken breast with white wine, lemon, butter & capers. I was a bit surprised that a Veal version wasn’t on the menu. Everything we had came from the classic menu. We were also told that that menu served for supper as well. Exhausted from this effort we decided that maybe a bottle of the Vouvray would be appropriate and it was brought to the table. I noted that it was at a perfectt “cellar” temperature instead of the all too common “refrigerator” temperature.
MFO asked if the Southern Living issue had made a good “bump” in their business and she said it had. About this time the Charcuterie arrived via another server. It was served on two cold slabs of marble, the lower one had 6 meats and the upper smaller one had four cheeses. The server described each of the ten items with a little about them, beef, pork, chorizo, speck, etc. Each cheese was explained as to milk, a cow’s milk gorgonzola, a bloomy rind sheep milk, etc. You know sometimes when you order these kinds of things at odd times (this was a Tuesday afternoon, the week after Mardi Gras) you get meat with a dried edge, or a shriveled cheese. Each of these were extremely fresh, just cut, still moist, the cheeses with no “hard parts”. Delightful stuff. In spite of ourselves we finished the ample servings (aided by the Vouvray). As we were finishing we were each given a single serving of one of Chef’s Oysters (it was explained that they do this for all “first time” diners). Plump local oysters (all of our seafood is five minutes away) with that roasted red bell pepper garlic butter, covering a just set very smoky oyster. A great dish. Somewhere in here a gentleman appeared at the table who turned out to be the general manager. We had great conversations on running a restaurant in an “out of the way” place, and that in fact they had done it for 12 years. He stopped by a couple more times to check on things.
The mains eventually arrived. I have to admit that I had hoped for a good dish, but was served an outstanding one. I would have to have a “taste off” with similar offerings from Tony’s..My pappardelle was long ribbons of a fresh pasta about an inch wide, with several shrimp swimming in a garlicky broth with the basil and pine nuts. Each shrimp wasn’t the “giant” kind, rather maybe index finger size, but I could believe the 5 minute theory. Great tasting shrimp. MFO’s chicken was light, moist with a great picatta sauce.
Food and wine both gone, we opted for a Tarte Tatin (okay, the French have some things right) and coffee. What a great meal. I don’t often subscribe to “destination dining”, but this would qualify. If you’re ever in the area, go there. This lunch will go down in the memory banks, right up there with the Tapenade experience.
After that, the long drive back to the city provided some more interesting shots.
The results of the evening’s meal at Commander’s Palace in next edition. For which you can be sure we were
DFD
1 comment:
perhaps unexpectedly to some, louisiana, and especially new orleans, has some outstanding italian cuisine. within price categories, many of the restaurants are on par with, say, new york counterparts.
yum.
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