As one might expect in a culinary capital like New Orleans, there are schools aplenty in or nearby to train the next crop of hospitality professionals. Each of them is slightly different from the others, but the most interesting, to me at least, is the newest one.
NOCHI, The New Orleans Culinary Hospitality Institute, offers shorter programs for professional aspirants as well as recreational learners.
Each graduating class of professionals demonstrates their newly-acquired skills right before graduation with a pop-up restaurant, where all students work both the front and back of the house. (Not at the same time, of course.)
The pop-up for the current class is Indian-themed and is called Sai. We were among the very first customers on the very first day and were seated at a two-top by a window with great views of the street below and the kitchen preparing our food. The space is lively, bright, and pretty large. The seating surrounds the open kitchen where students work together to execute all the dishes on a surprisingly large menu.
There were six appetizers and six entrees on this menu, and all were appealing and priced right.
The amuse-bouche was a little cup of what seemed like bean paste in a bite-sized crispy fried lentil flour bread. It had bits of cilantro as garnish. Pretty and perfect to set the tone for this meal.
We started with charbroiled oysters, which are probably not seen in India anywhere, but this is New Orleans, so there they were. It was a most interesting preparation. There were four oysters on a plate of smallish rock salt.
All were orange in color, but two were flavored with Kashmiri chili butter and two with saffron garlic butter. These were some of the best charbroiled oysters we’ve had. The unusual ingredients only added to their allure. Shoots of fried onion exploded from each, making for the most unusual presentation as well.
I had the seared paneer in sort of a Creole sauce which included wilted spinach. This was served in a ramekin on a plate that included a schmear of mint sauce. The cubes of cheese were crusted on the edges just so. The texture of the cheese was dense like tofu, and there wasn’t a lot of flavor to it, but all the elements together made for an interesting dish. I asked for some paratha (bread) to eat with this, but it never made it to the table until long after the dish was gone.
I also ordered some samosas made of potatoes and peas, but we never saw these either.
Two entrees came to the table, but one of them was not what we ordered. The shrimp with curry and coconut rice was beautiful, as was the chicken dish. We didn’t order the chicken dish, so both went back.
Entrees came a second time, this time with the Gulf Fish Tom ordered, and my Curry Shrimp with Coconut Rice. The sauce with the shrimp dish looked a lot like the sauce that came with the paneer, which was not a problem because it was a tasty sauce.
What was most interesting about the rice was its color and texture. Fluffy and sticky but almost blinding white, I couldn’t taste coconut in it. That was not a bad thing, because the sauce had enough flavor to carry the dish. And any dish with lotus root discs is immediately elevated to exotic.
Tom’s Kerala Gulf Fish was a smallish slab of fish that came with the same rice and a really great slaw of carrot and mirliton. The ginger sauce on the fish did not make a strong statement, but the slaw was a terrific addition to the other textures and flavors present.
Throughout all of these dishes were smatterings of mint and cilantro, two perky flavors that really refresh the palate, add excitement, and are not something much seen in these parts.
This was the second one of these pop-ups we have been to at NOCHI. I did not know what to expect at the first one and was blown away by everything. I set the bar that high for this one and was disappointed. The food was as polished as the last one, but the kitchen and service not as good. The first experience was a delightful surprise, but this one is exactly what a diner should expect from students performing for the first time.
If you go expecting snafus and have the time for them (we didn’t because the show time is fixed) this is a great dining experience to have. It is fun, exotic, and full of solicitous fresh-faced, and promising young people. Highly recommended.
The added bonus is you get to participate in the trajectory of the next generation of hospitality workers you will meet somewhere in the future. And they need your support.
Make reservations quickly because Sai will pop up only seven more times: Mon 2/6, Tues 2/7, Wed 2/8, and Friday 2/10, as well as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the following week. 11:30 -2 Reservations on the NOCHI website.
