We have continued our eating rampage for the remainder of the special menu season. Our next stop was Boulevard American Bistro. I have had a love/hate relationship with Boulevard, but I have come around to settle in at like.
Maybe it was my annoyance when they started that they were so much like the place they replaced, which can never be replaced. Only Houston’s can be Houston’s I have called Boulevard a wannabe Houston’s since it began, but I have had to admit that they do have some pretty great things there. I love the crab cake, which can hold its own with the big guys. It’s not as good, but it’s not as expensive either. The burger is not Houston;s, but it works, and the coleslaw is the best around.
But here was a special menu, and it included a crab cake as an option. We went with three of us and got two of the Metairie COOLinary Foodie Fest offers. We got the fried oyster app for Tom and the spin dip for me, and for entrees we got the crab cake and the ribs, and our desserts were the brownie a la mode and the Key lime pie. Producer of the Food Show Patty raved about the Key lime pie, relating a conversation she had with the waiter who explained the lengths they go to make it special.
The oysters came on a bed of the great coleslaw, and there were three. They were little and not especially greaseless, but not greasy either. No matter, Tom loved these.
Our spin dip was a nice surprise. It was a tiny portion, but enough to remind me to get some for real next time. It came with the salsa and sour cream, and I wonder how much of that is thrown away. But that is the way Houston’s did it, so there it is. We loved the Parmesan taste that was pronounced. It was creamy too. One of the better ones out there, we thought.
The crab cake was definitely smaller than the regular portion, and that was okay too. I have gushed incessantly about this crabcake, which is pan seared like the big guys and loaded with crabmeat. No, jumbo lumps don’t fall out, but there is plenty of crabmeat here, with less breading. Very nice.
We chose coleslaw as the side with this. I finally asked why this had that extra something, and the mystery ingredient is a dash of cinnamon. The coleslaw is shredded in long strips and is exactly the creaminess I love. This side is never not on the table when we visit.
The ribs were a disappointment, but that is on us. I forgot to ask that it be dry. We are not barbecue sauce fans, and there was a lot of sauce on this very generous portion of ribs. It was a full half rack of baby back ribs, something not seen too often anymore. I will get this again without the sauce, if for no other reason than I like baby back ribs. They were tender, just like…Houston’s.
We have had the apple cobbler here before, and even though I never eat cobbler this is a terrific version of it. A small cast iron dish houses a pile of crumbly cobbler with a great apple taste. Ice cream cuts down on the sweetness and it is very good.
The Brownie a la Mode that we did order was maybe the best version of this anywhere. These kinds of desserts are not what we usually see because this is not a “fancy” restaurant, so we don;t usually get them. But I was glad to have this, and we loved it. Chopped walnuts on top were generous, and the brownie itself was one of the best I have had in a long time.
The Key Lime pie was indeed good, though it is not my thing. Very tart and citrusy, it also was very creamy with a nice crust. I would imagine Key Lime pie lovers come here just for that.
This menu was $40, and I thought it was a great deal. We are definitely warming to Boulevard.
A considerable step up from Boulevard, we had our next lunch at Cafe Normandie in The Higgins Hotel. I love this place, and it pains me to see so few locals enjoying the efforts of the chef, who is in fact from Normandie. The decor here is more casual than the food, perhaps because it is a hotel restaurant) but it is still very nice.
I started with onion soup, a dish I rarely get because I don’t think any of them measures up to one I had over 20 years ago in of all place, the Carnival Conquest. This set the standard of excellence with me for its dense and dark broth. Tom replicated it with a broth from oxtails, and I just can’t be satisfied with anything that isn’t a dark broth.
Because it is a limited menu, I was forced to go out on a limb and get it. I was in good hands, though, because this chef should certainly be able to do a credible onion soup. And indeed he did. It was not a dark broth, but it was very good, and got better with each bite. Buried under a blanket of Gruyere cheese melted on a crostini. There were a lot of large onion pieces in this, and I kinda liked that.
Tom’s salad was especially good. It had so much to it: watermelon that thankfully wasn’t pressed, spiced pecans, feta cheese tossed in a Balsamic vinaigrette dressing, then topped with fried oysters. One of the best salads we’ve had placed before us recently. Tom was crazy about this.
His entree was fish and chips, and it too was a cut above, and more authentic that what we usually see. It was a pile of crispy fish fried the local way, but the”chips” were unlike anything I’ve seen here. They were a hybrid of chips and fries. Very interesting. I have had fish and chips in the part of the world from which they hail, and the chips run the gamut from basic fries to steak fries. These were long like french fries but flat like chips, and very crispy. Wonderful.
My pan-seared pork chop was disappointing, but I got it from a lack of other choices. It was pretty, with a nice crust that separated on cutting it. I’m not a big fan of pork that isn’t Boston Butt, because all the other versions seem dry to me. What interested me most about this dish was the Charcuterie Sauce. Hmmm. It was dark a demi-rich, and the presence of chopped cornichons was different. I love this sauce, even though the pork chop was just a pork chop. The coarse creamy grits that came beside were very good, and the collard greens were fantastic. I could have made a meal of just these.
There were three courses here for the $28 lunch price, and that was fine. For dessert Tom had bith bread oudding withbutter pecan ice cream and Creme Brulee. The richness of the meal was already satisfying and filling.
Our next and last stop for a special menu was at Dakota in Covington. It was the last week of the Covington version of COOLinary, called Taste of Tammany. Dakota is a stunning restaurant with commensurate prices, so we jumped on the opportunity to have a deal here. Only one of us got the special menu, because, like the regular menu, it’s hard to find something I want to eat.
There were two entree choices, and one we get every time we come. We settled on a charcuterie board to start, and tuna tartare for Tom’s entree. I got the watermelon cucumber salad for a first course, and the filet mignon for an entree. Tom loved this salad, which was dressed with Balsamic vinegar and had tiny slices of radish, watermelon cubes and tiny cucumber chunks, feta cheese, and of course pieces of lettuce so large it needs to be cut to eat it politely.
The entree was a little baby steak. Still beautiful, though. It was wrapped in bacon, set atop pomme puree, or mashed potatoes, and napped heavily with Bearnaise sauce with lots of mushroom slices coated in butter. Even as small as it was, the richness of this dish was satisfying.
The dessert I got was Chocolate Sheba because there was no dessert for Tom, so I took the chocolate offering. Tom loved it enough that I gave most of it to him. It was dense chocolate with a drizzle of caramel sauce, a dollop of whipped cream with a tiny mint leaf poking out, and a half strawberry as garnish.
This was lovely, and even more delicious. Kenny Lacour came out to say hello as we were leaving, and he mentioned that there were only two days left to enjoy this.
And enjoy it we did, along with all the other meals this special menu season. We went to places and got things we might not have otherwise. And isn’t that the purpose of it all?
