Not A Valentine's Duo

In looking up fun things for this newsletter (the last one) I noticed a fun Mardi Gras opportunity at Miss River, the Alon Shaya restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. It was a great deal: a prix fixe four courses for $43, and it included some house favorites. The deal required at least two participants per table, and it was served family style.

It started with a welcome cocktail called a Festive Spritz that included champagne and mottled mint, with just a little bit of lemon and lime and St. Germain liqueur. It contained some Aperol too. It was quite refreshing.

The first course of soup and salad was so good I really could have stopped there. The salad is sort of a house signature and we have had it here before. It’s iceberg lettuce, a light vinaigrette dressing and giardiniera vegetables. The entire thing is heavily dusted with Parmesan cheese. The vegetables this time were much smaller than the last time we had this. It was more of an olive salad. Delicious.

But I think the favorite thing at the table for us both was the Shrimp Bisque with Cognac. It was divided into two smaller portions in the kitchen. This soup was so luscious I could have made it a meal with some crusty bread. I asked about bread and was told the bread service was sweet potato brioche. That wasn’t what I had in mind. To me, a soup like this needs dense bread with a crusty exterior, like a crusty European rustic bread or sourdough. I passed on the bread.

The soup was stove hot, creamy, incredibly intense, dark, and really spicy. There were a few chunks of large shrimp that had been cut into pieces. This had a sludgy mouthfeel that I loved. I wanted more of this. It may be the most delicious soup in recent memory.

The next course made me want to revisit the conversation I had with the waiter about bread. Two raw oysters appeared from the kitchen alongside a dish that consisted of two large shrimp in garlic and butter. It was accompanied by two pieces of toasted French bread

I didn’t eat any of the oyster dish because I eat only cooked oysters. These small oysters were not local, but my companion approved them anyway. They came with a sauce of garlic, herbs and butter.

The shrimp were terrific, and I wish I could have had a whole order of these. But it was a large shrimp. The bread was toasted just so, and this was a delicious dish. I like garlic butter shrimp as well as BBQ shrimp.

The third and main course featured the famous house signature fried chicken. Two pieces, a breast and thigh, came on a board with two halves of a beautiful avocado sliced thin lengthwise. There were two biscuits on this board as well, and a side dish with two tiny Tabasco bottles and accompaniments of maple butter and honey.

The other part of this course was a dish of jambalaya served in their nice skillet ,but it was cooked in a clay pot. The unusual cookware added nothing to the dish. We found it pretty unremarkable, except for the texture of the rice, which was exceptional.

We added red beans and rice and some of the French fries which I saw delivered to another table. I asked if they were housecut, and ordered them after the waiter’s affirmation. He was enthusiastic about Emily’s red beans and rice. Alon is sharing the limelight with his wife, whose profile on social media has risen dramatically. She has won some awards for her red beans.

I was disappointed in both these add-ons. My friend thought the taste of the red beans was “unusual,” and the fries did not look housecut close-up. I just assumed they were because Alon was doing great fries at Shaya. These fries at Miss River seemed breaded, which I thought was strange.  Otherwise they were a fine sort-of bistro fries.

The red beans were also fine but I’ve had much better. The presentation was pretty. They were creamy with good bean definition. There was a lot of meat and more of the great rice, but otherwise, meh.

The fried chicken came as a breast and leg. The crust on this is nutty and extra crunchy. The meat inside is cooked tender to that sweet spot. Perfect.

I thought adding avocado to this board was unnecessary, but I was glad to have it, though it was utterly bare. When the board was delivered, one of the biscuits rolled onto the table. My companion had to ask for a replacement.

The biscuits were tall and square and sturdy, from the cut biscuit universe. They weren’t toasted but should have been. These were good biscuits. I would love to have had a toasted biscuit for that superb shrimp bisque. When I asked the waiter about bread and he told me about the sweet potato brioche, I asked if there was anything else in the kitchen. He told me no and then delivered two courses which had a great bread for mopping up a dense soup. 

The last course was a delightful surprise. Two beignets came perched on a goblet, with copious powdered sugar. I never eat beignets so these didn’t tempt me. But I do try everything that is placed before me (raw seafood and reptiles excluded) so I took a little piece. These beignets were sensational! The best that have ever crossed my path. My companion, who loves beignets, was twice as thrilled and affirmed my statement enthusiastically.  I would go back just for these beignets. (And that shrimp bisque.) The beignets were served with a vanilla cream for dipping, and that pushed this ensemble past a "10."

The service was pretty terrible, the kitchen was slow, but I would still recommend this. Maybe the signature Shaya treats at the end, like these Bananas Foster pralines and his Italian chocolate wafers atone for the service annoyance, but we didn't need it. They were great, though.

Good stuff, and a deal at $43 pp. Just be prepared to wait a while. Especially if you don't do cocktails.