Monday, April 12. Camellia Café Gets Better. Mary Ann was interested in lunch, and in the place where I wanted to eat, yet. The Camellia Café is one of three restaurants in a small chain on the thin edge of the local dining galaxy. Its locations are in Slidell, Chalmette, and Abita Springs. They're all designed by Luis Colmenares, a terrific artist in many media whose other work includes the Red Fish Grill and Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse. The design of the Abita Springs location takes one aback, because from the outside it looks like just another business on the semi-industrial LA 59. Inside, the place is clever and bright.
My first meal here was encouragingly delicious. The second was good, but not as. Then everything slid, and the fifth meal--hosted by a waitress who had no sense of service or food--made me swear off the place for awhile. I hated to do that, because it's the closest major restaurant to the Cool Water Ranch, and they have a menu of my favorite food. That's New Orleans food, of course.
I'm glad I came in today for another look. The competence of the staff is much improved, and so is the food. The waiter had answers to all my questions--and the right answers, at that. For example: could I have a dozen oysters, half of them Rockefeller and the other half grilled? Sure, he said. He painstakingly outlined for Mary Ann the differences among the seafood box, the seafood platter, and the "riverbend" seafood platter. (It was something about stuffed crab versus soft-shell, and whether or not you got fries with that.)
The repast didn't get off to a good start. Turtle soup came with whichever seafood platter it was that we ordered for the entree. The recipe needs to be ditched and rebuilt from the ground up. I left most of it behind.
But after that matters picked up. The oysters were large and handsomely arranged in their shells on the platter. The Rockefellers wouldn't be in the top half of my citywide list, ranging far from the classic flavor. But good enough. Nothing at all wrong with the Drago's ripoff.
We split the seafood platter, which was generally good. The only question mark appeared over the fried catfish, whose lack of heat, crispness, and firmness made me think it might have come from under a heat lamp. But the other elements were fresh out of the fryer, seasoned well enough and served generously.
Every time I come here I forget that this is the only restaurant currently serving bread pudding in my mother's style: topped with a layer of meringue, and then browned. It also had a sauce, as well as a legend in red syrup around the edge of the plate. This was bread pudding for four, but I managed to make up for at least one other person. This is good stuff.
Meanwhile, the service continued to be snappy. The environment is artsy enough that Mary Leigh might even like it. And they do have a wedge salad. And a hamburger. An alternate to the over-visited Acme would be nice to have.
Camellia Cafe. Abita Springs: 69455 LA 59 985-809-6313. Neighborhood Café.
