Eric Cook is a local celebrity chef that we consider a friend of The Food Show. He is a favorite guest. We first had him on to talk about his new restaurant deep in the French Quarter called St. John. I liked everything he said about St. John, but mostly I liked what he said about preserving the strong culinary culture for which this city is celebrated.
Two years later he announced the closing of that location of St. John, and plans to move to the Warehouse District. About a month ago he did just that and we couldn’t wait to get in to try it. We drove up to what used to be the location of Le Chat Noir. We only made it to that theater once before it closed. One of my all-time favorite restaurants, Marcello’s, moved in and did a complete and very interesting renovation of the space, creating a warm back dining room with an open kitchen that reminded me of a hearth.
The place has been several things since the closure of Marcello’s just before COVID. And it was empty for a long time. I knew Eric‘s wife would do something interesting with it. It’s definitely edgy, but I would expect nothing less. A most interesting piece of art covers one wall featuring a map of the city and wooden spoons. You’ll just have to see it.
The back room is dark, with the light glowing from the kitchen. And the food coming out of that kitchen is as delicious as I expected.
St.John’s has a Happy Hour daily from 3-6 pm. The usual drink offers, but the menu is extensive, creative, and priced to sell. We went for dinner but arrived during Happy Hour and got one of the bar bites. Eric has a clever take on bruschetta, offering muffuletta toppings. A slice of ham, cheese, and salami covered a slice of ciabatta, and all of this was topped with his olive salad and sesame seeds. The cheese was melted into a doily-like crust on the bottom.
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We also got a Sicilian salad consisting of Romaine lettuce, olive salad, tomato, slices of purple onion, and large savings of Parmesan cheese. I don’t know why I found this salad so hard to eat, but I did. Large pieces of lettuce in a salad annoy me, though this one was deceptive. It didn’t seem like it would be hard to eat, but it was. The olive salad in both dishes was borderline inedible. Much too spicy for me. The lettuce was crisp and fresh, the tomatoes were red and juicy, and the vinaigrette was nice but the giardiniera was just too spicy. For my taste, at least.
We also got some Crabmeat Remick, a dish I get whenever I see it because it’s rare to see it and it is a local classic. Crabmeat Remick isn’t a favorite preparation of crabmeat for me, but this was divine. It was loaded with crabmeat, had just the right amount of bechamel, and the crumbled bacon was thick, smoky, and plentiful. Spectacular, and spectacularly rich. The accompanying crostini were not outstanding, but they definitely worked. Loved this.
The daube was just fabulous. A thick slab of beef was perched atop luscious mashed potatoes with a rich demi sauce dripping into the potatoes. I am not usually a fan of mashed potatoes but these were incredible. The beef was not braised into debris, but it was tender and just right for this meat-and-potatoes combo. Memorable.
I look forward to returning to St. John to have more of the food of Eric Cook, who celebrates our food as it should be celebrated. He does it with love, passion, gratitude and respect. And for that we are grateful.
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