Maurepas Foods

Bywater & Downtown: 3200 Burgundy St. 504-267-0072. Map.
Very Casual.
AE DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
Bywater is so hip that almost any eatery opening there gets enhanced attention, even if it's just a pizza or sandwich joint. Maurepas is more ambitious in its cookery than most of its neighbors, and that has brought it more acclaim--notably in an article in the New York Times.

WHAT'S GOOD
"Purveyors Of Robust Cuisine," declares the front window. The main selling point at Maurepas is a familiar one these days. They're making the local farmer's markets to forage for locally-grown vegetables, meats, dairy, and seafood. What came in today is listed on the specials board. This doesn't keep exotics entirely off the menu, as the presence of mussels reveals.

BACKSTORY
As 2012 opened, Chef Michael Doyle emerged from the Uptown gourmet bistro milieu (notably Gautreau's and Dante's Kitchen) to open Maurepas. He picked the right spot: Bywater, which is so hip that almost any eatery that opens there gets enhanced attention, even if it's just a pizza or sandwich joint.

DINING ROOM
The entrance is beveled into the corner of a former grocery store on the corner of Louisa and Burgundy--two blocks river side of the holy site of the extinct Restaurant Mandich. The ceilings are high, the spaces wide, the lines free of filigree or any interior signs of the building's age (well over a century). The chairs look like office furniture. The style is aggressively casual, t-shirts and shorts dominating the couture of both servers and customers.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters
Soba noodles, fried tofu, soybeans, black vinegar, andouille broth
Fettuccine, market vegetables, wild mushrooms
Citrus salad, roasted beets, sheep cheese, greens
Wedge of bibb lettuce, giardinera, salami
Sweet potato croquettes, peanuts, shiitake mushrooms
Cauliflower caponata, aged balsamic vinegar
Crowder pea and bacon stew
Root vegetable gratin
Market greens with fresh ham hock
Oysters on the half shell, mustard greens vinaigrette
Housemade pickles
Daily cheese assortment
Entrees
Chicken leg, greens, poached egg, grits
Pork and bacon terrine, pickled pears
Pimenton sausage sandwich, sauteed squid, romesco, mustard greens
Terranova's gree onion sausage, arancini
Goat tacos, pickled green tomatoes, harissa
Fish and chips, lyonnaise potatoes
Grilled shrimp, Israeli couscous, sorrel
Mussels, brown ale and Stilton broth
Grilled fish of the day, grits
Duck sliders

FOR BEST RESULTS
Plan of having a cocktail before dinner. They're good, and you'll need the slacktime to get a table.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
I never feel that there's enough on the menu here. Those goat tacos are not as good as they sound, even though they're a signature dish.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

Dining Environment +1

Consistency +1

Service+1

Value

Attitude

Wine & Bar

Hipness

Local Color

 

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

• No reservations

ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Bywater is so hip that almost any eatery opening there gets enhanced attention, even if it's just a pizza or sandwich joint. Maurepas is more ambitious in its cookery than most of its neighbors, and that has brought it more acclaim--notably in an article in the New York Times. ;
;
"Purveyors Of Robust Cuisine," declares the front window. The main selling point at Maurepas is a familiar one these days. They're making the local farmer's markets to forage for locally-grown vegetables, meats, dairy, and seafood. What came in today is listed on the specials board. This doesn't keep exotics entirely off the menu, as the presence of mussels reveals.

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