A few years ago, Mary Ann and I enjoyed a number of evenings going to classical music events. These are often given on the North Shore, but they are much better in the home of the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Orpheum Theater. This was much easier when I did the radio show from downtown, but we’re usually broadcasting from the home studio. Had we not had to drop something to our daughter last Thursday night, we might have passed on this wonderful holiday tradition. We did though, so it was a good excuse to make the effort. Traffic was abysmal. We had to work hard for these heavenly notes tonight.
MA is particularly fond of the combination of the holiday symphony concerts followed by a visit to the lobby of the Roosevelt, ablaze in white lights since the 1930s. The exhibit has been updated to her great satisfaction, and each year a visit is a must. In other years, the program has been other things, famously the wild 610 Stompers. But tonight it's a shorter and more conventional program, featuring the masterwork of George Frideric Handel, a favorite of my wife. If you have never seen The Messiah performed at Christmas, your Christmas is incomplete.
So MA is happy about the evening's outcome and happy to have made the effort. I'm happy too, because about eight people in attendance want to talk with me for a minute each. And then we move across the street to the Roosevelt Hotel, contemplating a favorite post-concert activity from years past-dinner at Domenica. The four-course $65 menu looks interesting, featuring something the Besh restaurants have always done so well-gnocchi. This one has truffles and black oyster mushrooms with Grana Padano in the second course. The first is Louisiana Blue Crab with Grilled Artichokes and Citrus. Diver Scallops, Root Vegetables and Black Garlic are the third course, or Veal Osso Bucco with Saffron Risotto and Herbed Salad. Dessert is White Chocolate Tartufo, Blood Oranges and Buttermilk.
MA seems interested until she remembers the pizzas we’ve had here post-concert in the past. We pass. But you shouldn’t-that is a good menu. And a great tradition for the grand old hotel. It would not be Christmas without the Roosevelt. And Handel, if you ask MA.
Domenica at the Roosevelt Hotel
123 Baronne St New Orleans
504-648-6020
domenicarestaurant.com
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