The Best COOLinary

When Richard Hughes returned home after an a few years at an A-list NYC restaurant, he set up shop in an unusual space in Exchange Place in The French Quarter. That was 36 years ago, and the restaurant has maintained the same high standards and excellence it’s had from the beginning.

It has been a personal favorite of Tom’s all these years, and of mine too. It’s one of the few restaurants I always said yes to when he asked for my company

Both of us also agreed that from the beginning,  The Pelican Club had the very best COOLInary. They always offered the entire menu instead of two or three choices per course. The diner crafts their own menu from everything the restaurant offers, an extraordinarily generous way to do it. Three courses for $58 plus soups for $8 each and a fantastic housemade focaccia bread service for only $5. And they validate parking across the street for people who need enticements to enter the French Quarter.

This has always been a no-brainer for us. This time though, I promised myself I would try something new. I have my favorites there, like the seafood martini and a few of the entree choices, but I saw a new entree this year I had to try.

I got the BBQ shrimp as an app, and the Crab and Crab Spaghetti Fino.that was an unusual name, then I read it was a fried softshell crab topped with jumbo lump crabmeat, and served over spaghetti. Sold! ’ve had most of the desserts and love three especially, but I settled on the Chocolate Decadence Cake.

I started with the incredible housemade focaccia. I don’t usually eat focaccia, but I love this bread. They send it out warm in a huge chunk of five slices with some warm butter.

It came out right before the BBQ shrimp, which was served with some garlic bread. The sauce was so sensational I ate the garlic bread and a few slices of the focaccia to get every drop.

I loved this dish even more because the shrimp were perfect in every way, starting with their size. These were U 12, the right size for every preparation. No Frankenstein in BBQ shrimp, please!

The Spaghetti Fino was marvelous. A large softshell crab was deliciously battered and crispy, and topped with lots of jumbo lumps of more crab.

The mound of spaghetti cooked to the sweet spot was studded with corn kernels and flanked by buttery small asparagus and equally buttery pea pods. A gremolata sauce finished it off. This was the first time I’d had this dish but definitely not the last.

The Chocolate Decadence Cake was drizzled with caramel sauce and flanked by berries and a dollop of whipped cream with a mint leaf as garnish.

It was, as expected and named, decadent with deep dark chocolate.

I loved this cake as I always do when I get it. The cake, like everything g else in this house, is remarkably consistent, just as it has been for 36 years.