When we moved to the north shore over thirty years ago, The Dakota Restaurant was the only upscale gourmet establishment over here. So much has changed since then, except Dakota, and I tired of it. We rarely went in the last ten or so years, until I burned out on everything else as our orbit shrunk, and one day we returned.
It was fabulous, as it has always been. And the place didn’t look any the worse for wear. We started to go back with more regularity than in the previous ten years, but hardly with any real regularity. Each time was terrific.
And then the rumors started that they were moving. Closing. Moving. Closing. I think they enjoyed being on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and the whole thing got more and more mysterious. Finally, I got annoyed. I just couldn’t understand how these two long-term business partners who were at retirement age would start all over again. Surely they were taking us all for a ride.
A few months ago the rumors started to zero in on a building on Boston St. downtown that seemed too small and too dull for it to be there until it became apparent that it was indeed there. Another building that was rumored to be the place was also being renovated. What would that be? It turned out to be the same building, and the restaurant wraps around behind another building in the front.
Finally, we got to see the new Dakota in all its glory and more important, to ask both guys why they did it. The answer was obvious when I arrived. The new Dakota is simply stunning in every way. It’s quite large and meanders in an L shape. You enter in the back where the driveway does not lead to parking as one suspects, but just a drop-off for the entrance.
The main dining room is itself an L-shape, flanked by a large bar and private rooms. A small wine cellar is visible behind glass in the main dining room. In several ways, the new place resembles the old one. The same colors. artwork, planter boxes and arrangements, and some tables and chairs are from the original Dakota. These are seamlessly incorporated into the new glamour version.
The staff consists of new faces, but also a lot of Northshore industry people we have seen at various places. I’m sure it was easy to woo personnel here. Who wouldn’t want to come?
We hadn’t seen our waiter before, but he was also a sommelier, and his talents were wasted on us. There was certainly enough staff to keep things moving along.
The menu, incredibly, hasn’t changed even with the move. One of the reasons I left the old Dakota was that the menu never changed, and here it was again, with a few additions that are trendy now, like cornbread as an app and a Basque Cheesecake for dessert.
We started with the cornbread, which our daughter likes to get anywhere. It had Steen’s Cane syrup on it. The texture of it was nice, and it wasn’t too sweet. It came in a cast iron skillet with butter, though we thought it was quite buttery already. ML likened it to a dense pancake, and I think that is an apt description.
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Even though the lamb nachos had never tempted me before, process of elimination forced us to get them this night. The menu was a little gourmet for us, though it is certainly something to please Tom. No mussels or foie gras or beet-cured salmon for the Marys. ML got the $17 cup of duck andouille gumbo and we all split the lamb nachos.
The gumbo was very good but not sensational, and the lamb nachos were coincidentally a little greasy. We had talked about the lack of greasy foods these days on The Food Show because it was National Greasy Foods Day in the Almanac just that day. The lamb nachos consisted of housemade sweet potato chips with a lamb ragu and Bleu Cheese crumbles on top. It was the first day of regular full service, something that would have horrified Tom in the old days of the show. He would never go to a restaurant on the first night of service. We have long ago suspended the 6-month rule. It did seem that this was a first-night glitch that would be smoothed out in no time.
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The dish was fine but not extraordinary. We liked the lamb ragu very well, didn’t notice the Bleu cheese, and thought the sweet potato chips were just right except not drained enough.
Our daughter seemed to enjoy her Bleu salad, which she got mainly because she couldn’t find anything else on the menu she wanted.
There wasn’t a lot that excited me either, but I did see a salmon dish that interested me until I noticed duck confit with collard greens. Done.
Tom’s scallops were smallish, but seared very nicely and plated around a big pile of cauliflower gratin, with large shavings of Parmesan on top. The gratin was the most delicious thing we had on the table all night. And of course he loved his scallops.
This may surprise people who listen to the Food Show, but I love duck. It has to be on the bone, though. A crispy Asian duck is a wonderful thing, but I think I prefer a skillful duck confit. This was an adequately skillful duck confit, perhaps another indicator of a brand-new restaurant. This is perhaps the best example of what Tom always said about even relocated restaurants doing the same menu…they can misstep in the beginning.
This leg quarter was plumper than most, though smaller than others in circumference. The skin was not as crispy as I like, but the meat was still tender inside. It had a nice flavor, which was masked a bit by the cherry glaze that settled underneath the pile. I always get collard greens when I see them, mainly for health reasons. They are troublesome to eat, especially if the spines are too present. This was a fine plate of food, but I probably wouldn’t get it again, unless, like this night, I couldn’t find anything else.
We had Kim Kringle, the Dakots chef, on the show the next day to talk about it all. He mentioned to my relief that there would be menu expansions coming.
Since I saw that they had a Basque cheesecake, I definitely wanted to try that. Basque cheesecake is a trendy menu item these days, cropping up on menus all over in places of this caliber. A Basque cheesecake’s defining characteristic is that it has no crust, but the edges of the cheesecake are baked so hard that the cheesecake itself forms a most pleasing “crust.”
Mary Leigh was shocked that I allowed the waiter to leave the table without my ordering the chocolate pots de crème, one of my favorite things anywhere. I didn’t even hear him say it! We got him back right away and we added that to the dessert order.
These desserts were by far the most spectacular things that came to the table. Gorgeous in presentation and impossibly rich, they thrilled us. And we are not even dessert eaters. Tom did not get his bread pudding, but we will do that next time. I wanted to write about the Basque cheesecake for this piece, and he loves cheesecake too.
A few bites of either of these for the table would do. I didn’t want to finish either of them because they were that decadent. The Basque cheesecake contained chevre and was so creamy one bite could satisfy any need to conclude a meal. This was just superb.
The pots de crème was not served as it usually is, in a cup, as sort of a tall linear mass. This came in a shallow ramekin with a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry, as well as a stick of chocolate.
The chocolate itself was intense on the cacao scale, so much so a bite or two of this did it for me as well. Tom used to always joke that the Marys liked chocolate which made our eyes cross. This was the first time ever I had that sensation. Again, a bite or two of this and I was done. Good thing the other Mary was there to help.
It is rare for desserts to make such an impression on me. The tiramisu at Tchefuncte’s recently stopped me in my tracks, and now these, which were totally on par with that.
I can’t wait for Dakota to add lunch to its meal offerings. That was the place where I could get excellent versions of the things in my wheelhouse, like the burger and fries. We ordered some fries this night just to see if they were the same as I remember, and they were. Crispy, thin, greaseless, with a nice aioli as accompaniment.
It’s been a long wait, and it was definitely worth it. We are excited to once again eat Kim Kringle’s delicious food in Kenny Lacour’s glamorous surroundings. A wonderful development for downtown Covington.
