It’s a weekend of big family events and the expats are in town. It behooved us to show them some good places. At the top of the list on a beautiful day like today had to be Chemin à la Mer, a place I love but don't go nearly often enough because it is a hassle. Besides the valet parking, it’s a far piece for Tom to walk. The payoff is that it is a gorgeous restaurant with sweeping vistas of the Mississippi from a perfect 5th-floor balcony. Balmy breezes add to the allure.
The menu is spartan but adequate, and everything on it is delicious. It’s Donald Link, after all.
There were five of us today, and we started with the Crawfish Gratin, which was buttery and gritty with a breadcrumb topping, intensely flavored with crawfish and poblano peppers, and mildly creamy with Gruyère cheese. This was spicy and luscious, despite the crostini being unworthy of this dish. They were too thick and not crunchy, with no real flavor of their own.
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There were two burgers on the table. The burger was part of a special lunch menu. We usually order from this menu because it's more casual than the all-day menu. Lunch to us is a salad or sandwich rather than a big entree.
These were fancy burgers befitting the Four Seasons. Comté cheese and grilled onions were the featured elements.
Here was another surprisingly uniform burger. Perfect patties seem pre-formed and this always puzzles me, especially at places like this. That did not diminish the overall goodness. It was a good burger with its nice bun sporting a favorite feature of mine: a light slick of grease from burger juices or butter or some other delicious fat source like melted cheese. I’m a basic cheddar girl on burgers, preferably not melted, but I do love Comté even though it just disappears. I got this burger with Cajun-dusted housemade kettle chips. This was a satisfying lunch for a lazy afternoon.
There was Dijon mustard on the burger but it also got lost. Grilled onions were delicious, and I don't usually like those on a burger. And the chips were crispy and thick. Not the best housemade chips I've had but definitely good enough, although the spice flavor was mild as well.
Tom had what amounted to fish and chips though that’s not how it sounded on the menu. This came with actual chips and coleslaw. There were two pieces of Tempura-battered fish with a chunky remoulade sauce and the most interesting rendition of coleslaw I have ever encountered.
The fish was very good with the remoulade sauce. We especially liked the sauce. The coleslaw was more of a chopped vegetable salad, including radishes and cucumber as well as slices of celery and purple onion. There were none of the usual components of coleslaw here: no cabbage or carrots, and no noticeable dressing. I thought this was a very interesting salad, and I enjoyed it on nutrient principle. Somehow we missed the absence of chips on the plate
There was also a wedge salad on the table that got rave reviews. It was different in that it had a spicy remoulade dressing with Bleu Cheese. There were thick smoky lardons and torn leaves of fresh herbs like dill as well as long scallion pieces and crunchy croutons. This was the most interesting wedge I've maybe ever seen.
One of us got a bowl of gumbo which was rated by our family gumbo expert to be very good but not as good as his. I have had this before and I liked it very much. There was enough seafood in it, and it was served with Louisiana rice. Thick but not too thick, and glistening from fat, this hit the spot for our gumbo expert.
The West Indies Crab Salad with Sauce Chien was smallish, with a light vinaigrette that made almost no statement. There was an adequate amount of crabmeat here. Since the vinaigrette citrus component here is lime, we expected a more pronounced flavor. It wasn’t bad (how could it be?) but it was unremarkable.
With prices what they are in restaurants I think a lot about value. And even though some of these dishes would be expensive someplace else, they aren't here. Eating on the balcony of the Four Seasons at Chemin à la Mer is not a meal, it is an experience, and one as extremely pleasurable as it is delicious. It’s a fave.
