Friday, April 29, 2016.
Kenton's In The Courtyard.
Rain came and went several times today, but by the time I signed off the radio show at six, the Jazz Festival was rolling right along. And Mary Ann's plan to have dinner on the sidewalk at Kenton's looked like a bearable risk.
MA will go to almost any extreme to have dinner outdoors. And she is smitten by Kenton's, which pulls together a classy clinetele with the al fresco aspect, including the peppery traffic on that narrow part of Magazine Street at Nashville. "It's the New Orleans Uptown version of Nantucket or the Hamptons," she says. Yes, I suppose so--right down to the tearing down of the modest building that stood at that corner, and building a handsome new structure that looks as if it had been there longer than the old place or its neighbors.
Even more fun were the people who stopped by our table. First was Matt Grau, the guy who directs all the alumni stuff at Jesuit High School. He was a Blue Jay the same time I was, same class.
Then Jennifer Aschaffenburg, daughter of Albert Aschaffenburg of Pontchartrain Hotel fame. The Pontchartrain is soon to reopen, with John Besh at the helm of the food and beverage areas. The excitiement is building there.
And here's Tim Williamson--founder of the Idea Village, among other worthy projects. Tim and I worked together in building InsideNewOrleans.com--one of the first major guides to local restaurants on the web. They hired both of us and further staff with high hopes in 1998. It was not to last, but I was already writing this daily food report before INO got started, and I kept it up (with these words) after.
Kenton's--named for a high-end bourbon whiskey, a theme in the restaurant--has a menu that leans decidedly in the direction of small plates. We built a dinner of them, plus one entree-size item. Most of the four starters involve raw or nearly raw fish. That was not entirely my doing. Mary Ann says she didn't get those things (she never touches raw fish). The waiter says we ordered them, and we are certainly charged on the check.
So MA watches me eat some ceviche-style fish, a kind of savory corn custard topped with fresh water fish roe, a smoked black drum pate, and smoked oysters--a variation on the Drago's thing, but with the cooking a good deal more delicate. All of this is quite good.
The entree we split is described as pork belly. It may well have come from that part of the pig, but the fat that usually attaches itself to slices like this is largely missing. It's almost all lean. Tell you the truth, I kind of liked this, although those who like the richness of braised pork belly the way the gourmet kitchens do it might be disappointed.
MA has a small salad, and I have a scoop of sorbet for dessert. At the beginnin of the evening, I had a Manhattan, but with no special bourbon. Every time the waiter came by, two or three fellow diners were standing around in conversation with us. I never had the chance to look over the bourbon collection, and the waiter got tired of waiting (I don't blame him).
From the standpoint of its buzz, its looks, and its clientele. Kenton's is a strong contender for best new restaurant scene of the year so far. Shaya may have them topped for originality, but not in any other way. A lot of Kenton's food is a little too chic, but that won't last forever.
Kenton's. Uptown: 5757 Magazine St. 504-891-1177.
