Gautreau’s has fascinated me since my first visit.. There is no place like it. Tucked away deep in a quiet Uptown neighborhood, it is so secluded that there is no sign in front. You have to check the mat on the ground in front of the door to see that you have arrived.
I always figured it to be over my head culinarily, so poor Tom did not go as often as he would have. Thankfully, a close friend and groomsman in our wedding is a doctor and serious gourmet and oenophile, and he was a regular dining partner for Tom. I stayed in the North Shore eating mac’n’cheese with the kids.
The few times I did go to Gautreau’s with Tom, the scene dazzled me. It is a wine house full of wine drinkers, and many of them were actually wine salespeople. They milled about the dining room with their own bottles, pouring wine for friends and reciprocating. I was always mesmerized by this scene, never feeling part of it. No one made me feel that way, but I don’t drink wine, so I can’t participate anyway. It was still a scene to enjoy.
The food was really a bit out of my league, but either I have grown considerably since then (I certainly hope so), or Gautreau's has mainstreamed a lot since those early days. I think they are every bit as exceptional today as back then, but for some reason I now feel equipped to be there.
Chef/owner Rob Mistry has been the chef since COVID, and he and Katie bought the restaurant from its long-time owner, Patrick Singley. Before Rob, there was a steady succession of excellent chefs beginning with John Harris and ending with Sue Zemanick. These chefs, like Zemanick, got regular national nods from the likes of Food & Wine and other food publications.
Rob Mistry has Indian heritage, and his food is lightly infused with that culinary culture. This nuance has made the food here even more interesting than it was. It was always sublime, but these flavors make it more exciting.
I’ve been wanting to return to Gautreau’s since I had Rob Mistry and Katie on The Food Show to talk about their new late Happy Hour at Avegno, the new place next door. Since I still haven’t made it there for that, I had to go for COOLinary.
There were several appealing choices for both courses, and Chef Rob brought over the Blue Crab Toast from the appetizer menu. It came with sambar and a cucumber broth. The cucumber broth was light and refreshing, and the sambar was heavier and earthier. The crab toast was a delicious toasty square that was buttery, oozing cheesy goodness through plentiful crabby bits. This was outstanding and irresistible.
The first course of the COOLinary menu that I chose was the Chilled Corn & Summer Truffles Soup. It was an enormous portion of soup, enough for a whole meal. It was clearly luscious and beautiful, with a thick and velvety texture. I had no intention of eating all this, but it was hard to stop. It had a subdued corn flavor, and the mushroom flavor was more than a side note. This was as lovely to taste as to see. There was a small pile of shaved black truffle in the corner of the bowl, and a line of charred chopped leeks. The soup was drizzled with Texas Olive Oil. Yum.
I was unfamiliar with the fish that I chose for an entree. A cousin of Amberjack, it was a flaky white fish with a dense body, sauced with a thick sauce that had lots of pepper. I don’t usually see an au Poivre sauce with fish. Very good. The large nest of shoestring potatoes that accompanied this fish was perfect. Crispy and thin, these too were hard to stop eating.
This COOLinary did not include a third course, and no one mentioned that the dessert you would choose from the menu given to you as though it is included would add nearly $20 to your bill. It is Gautreau’s, and the food is polished perfection, but it is also at that level at The Pelican Club and Commander’s, and they’re not doing it that way. So the Gautreau’s 3-course COOLinary is more like $73 dollars, depending on the dessert you choose.
I was a bit miffed at this sleight-of-hand style. On the menu and in the COOLinary listing, the price is $48 without a wine pairing and $56 with a wine pairing. This is under the heading of “Third Course.”
Usually you are asked if you want to see a dessert menu, but this time it was presented without a word as though it is part of the COOLinary. I was confused by this, and it didn’t matter much to me because it was more content, but to a person going to have the Gautreau’s experience at COOLinary prices, it does matter. No one is going to say, “Is this part of the deal?” because they don’t want to look cheap. But my bill was $73, far more than the bill I would have received had I not paid $16 for my delicious dessert.
This falls into the category of a server not announcing that a tip has been added, or not telling you if the fries you ordered will also come with your sandwich, or any number of omissions that add to a check. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
There were no literal bad tastes in this meal, and the dessert I chose was a Black Sesame Ice Cream Sandwich. I was intrigued by this, and it was no less fantastic than the previous two courses. Plated as two halves of a thin rectangle, the cookie sandwich was dense dark chocolate with a soft crumb, with the ice cream inside more icy than creamy. I loved this unusual dessert. The sesame flavor was noticeable, different, and delicious.
My advice to anyone who reads this: have the COOLinary at Gautreau’s, take advantage of the “Third Course” wine pairing (this is Gautreau’s, after all), and have one of their expensive and superb desserts.
I repeat…it is Gautreau’s, after all. They don’t even have a sign on the place. That kind of cool doesn’t come cheap.