Another Birthday At Antoine's

ML and I were already planning to honor Tom on his birthday by having dinner at Antoine’s. It was always his favorite, so there was no need to even think about where a special occasion featuring Tom were to be. Before my arrival in his life, he went there for lunch every Friday, just for fun. We celebrated his last two milestone birthdays there, and celebrated him after his funeral at his beloved Antoine's.

Close friends know this, and two of them contacted me a week before his birthday to see if we wanted to join them to celebrate Tom on what would have been his 75th. I mentioned that we already had plans to go to Antoine’s, and we made it a group.

They made the reservation and the entire place was already booked, so we wound up not in the Annex. I do like that front room anyway, and we had a table for six by the front door. I was happy about that after already walking six blocks in the Quarter to even get in the front door. (The other four of our party were smart enough to Uber.) They were there half an hour before we arrived. They had already had some Soufflé Potatoes sent out by Rick Blount.

We brought the last of the six bottles of Dom Pérignon from the Andy Warhol collection that we’ve been working our way through for years. Tom was not a fan of DP but I’ve learned the hard way to drink, drink, drink it before it goes bad. I brought lots of bottles to Tom's 70th (also at Antoine's) only to see them oxidized. I am determined to not let that happen to the remainder of our collection. We sipped on this champagne while perusing the menu.The first thing we noticed about the menu was how different it was from the last time we saw a menu here. It was much abbreviated, and there were things  on it we didn't remember, and things we remembered that weren't on it.

I called to say we'd be late and told them to go ahead. We missed the Oysters Rockefeller (which would have been wasted on us anyway) an order of Pommes Soufflé, and Oysters Foch. The Oysters Foch was a Tom favorite, and the version this evening was the prettiest I have seen of this dish. All got rave reviews.The rest of the order was taken after we toasted Tom. I ordered two apps: the Crabmeat Ravigote and Crawfish and Artichoke dip. One of us got Onion Soup. For entrees, two at the table were honoring Tom with an order of Pompano, but one added crabmeat, something Tom was loathe to do. 

One of us got something completely different, and perplexing to the rest of us. Grillades de Fruits de Mer? A conversation ensued about what the true meaning of Grillades was. Technically we agreed it means grilled meat, but it can also mean just grilled, as the restaurant had determined. This wasn't even grilled seafood, including the pan-seared crabcake. A bit of poetic license was taken here. It was ordered anyway. 

The two apps were my entree and ML got the Gulf Fish Amandine. I read Gulf Fish Amandine as Trout Amandine, because that is the mental picture I have from a lifetime of eating the dish. I also need to remember that "Gulf Fish" is most likely to be redfish, which I do not like, or the newer omnipresent menu item: Drum, which I do like. 

The appetizers came to the table first. They included two orders of Crabmeat Ravigote, an onion soup, and an Artichoke Casserole with Crawfish. We also ordered fries and creamed spinach. ML figured if they were cutting potatoes for Pommes Soufflé, housecut fries would be coming. She was still trying to get over the crispy Brussels sprouts on this new menu. 

The Crabmeat Ravigote was a mound of giant jumbo lumps of crabmeat in a thicker-than-usual Ravigote sauce. It was a very generous portion of crabmeat. I prefer a looser sauce and more capers, but what is not to love about a huge pile of our local delicacy? The Artichoke and Crawfish casserole was tasty, with its subtle artichoke flavor and sauce studded with crawfish tails. I mopped up all of this with the warm bread so traditional at these Grande Dames. The Pompano was beautiful and delicious, pan-seared just so. The crabmeat on one order was also generous, with lots of capers in the butter sauce.Our Gulf Fish Amandine was not Trout, but Redfish, which I immediately knew by its girth. That is why I prefer Drum. Thin fish for me, s'il vous plait. It was served over a very nice rice pilaf, which Antoine's has been doing for some time. The fish was a generous portion and enough for two.

The Fruits de Mer, which generated some conversation when it was ordered, seemed a misnomer. All items on this plate appeared pan-seared rather than grilled. None of these considerations mattered a whit to the person who ordered it. She was quite pleased.

We loved the creamed spinach side we ordered, butthe French fries were pretty ordinary. Bistro-style thin, these were still underwhelming.The thrill of the evening was the Baked Alaska, a small version of the famous dessert just the right size for six. It was emblazoned with Happy Birthday Tom, and ML and I were happy to accept on his behalf. After we blew out the candles, generous portions of this famous and wonderful signature dessert were enjoyed by all at the table.It was a glorious evening channeling Tom. He was there in spirit, enjoying every minute at his favorite restaurant, just as we did. Happy 75th to Tom.