People send me lists all the time of restaurants in New Orleans rated by usually someone from out of town. They do this to annoy me, and it is often a successful endeavor, but then they became a source of amusement, and now, interest. I have concluded that generally, Eater.com places are not for me, but occasionally I do have to see what all the fuss is about.
Such was the case recently when I decided to look into St. Claire, the new place from the ladies behind the Mosquito Supper Club. The place has been around several years, and she has a book out, so they’ve beaten the odds. The buzz about St.Claire was predictable , and there was no litany of rules or a tasting menu there, so I decided to investigate.
Unlike the usual Eater stars, this place actually looked interesting from the outside. So interesting I had to research the surroundings.
It’s the main house in a large tract of land on the levee in Algiers, part of a government immigration facility at the turn of the 20th century. It’s called Camp Algiers and there were several other buildings on the property. There were doctor’s houses and a hospital and a facility for German immigrants, because the place was busy during the 1917 Spanish flu era. One of the owners is also a real estate agent who saw it on the MLS listings in December. Six months later they were finishing a beautiful renovation which included a wraparound porch that is gorgeous.
The property is ideal for a wedding venue, with a beautiful back patio and arbor. Inside the footprint was left exactly intact in the style of a plantation house, rooms on either side of a wide hall. A hostess stand is in the front as you walk in, and a beautiful small bar is to the left.
A kitchen is behind that bar, and to the right is the single dining room. The porch wraps around beginning in the rear of this room. There may be 40-45 seats in this dining room, with more tables outside on the back porch. This will be delightful in cooler weather.
The menu is not arrayed the old way with appetizers, entrees, etc., nor is it styled in the new way, with bites and shareables. It’s simple, with two large lists of everything they do. I ordered a Biscuit Board, because I am ever in search of terrific biscuits. And the gumbo seemed a must. For an entree I got a crab cake, another regular on my table wherever I am.
The biscuits came as an order of 3, with butter in one tiny ramekin and blackberry compote in the other. I asked my usual question: cut or drop biscuits? And I was met with the usual answer. The server had no idea what I was talking about and said they would ask in the kitchen. All my questions were answered when they arrived. These were fluffy rather than flaky, somewhat crumbly too, even though I was told they were cut biscuits. And they were not white. What?
If I have made the conscious choice to eat carbs, well aware that I shouldn’t, let’s make it count, huh? A biscuit that is dense but flaky, made with white flour and toasted just so, then slathered with butter (much healthier than the biscuit) is the proper way to spend carbs. This was very far away from that. They were made with whole wheat flour, and absolutely not worth eating. After a few bites I decided that not only was I not going to eat them, at $12 I would ask for something else. I traded them for the baguette also on the menu. It came with apricot jam.
In the meantime the gumbo arrived. This was served with rice in the bowl and potato salad on a separate plate, along with pickled okra. This was a very dark roux, and the soup was covered with shards of scallions.
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The consistency of the soup was thinner than I prefer, but this was otherwise the perfect blend of smoke and spice. Gigantic chunks of beautifully tender braised duck filled out the bowl nicely, along with great andouille. This was delicious, and got better with every bite.
I also loved the potato salad, which is something I never look for. But I almost asked for more of this. It was creamy with a dull yellowish color and also a good spice level. Wonderful. The pickled okra were crunchy and perky with a sweeter than I expected pickling vinaigrette.
My entree crab cake was smallish, especially for $37. It was pan seared with a thick breadcrumb coating top and bottom, and a hard crunch. Inside I was surprised to see little in the way of lump crabmeat. There was plenty of crab, but it seemed to be in shreds with a lot of herbs. Maybe they worked it too hard? Also, there wasn’t a lot of delicate crab flavor. Definitely not one of the best, but I think it might have been among the most expensive of these I have had.
Alongside the crab cake was a little base of cultured butter with a garden of small red radish quarters and the leaves of the celery stalk heart. I would have much preferred a remoulade sauce with this. And jumbo lump crabmeat falling out for that price. Maybe it was worked too hard?.jpg)
Sitting in the dining room I was considerably older than the other patrons, all of whom were blissfully happy with the contents of their plates and the prices that accompanied them. Perhaps they have not had the $32 crabcake at Mr. B’s with the big jumbo lumps of crab tumbling out whenever the fork touches it, or even the casual Boulevard’s version at $28.50, which is larger and comes with a side.
Since I have experienced these other things, I will leave St. Claire to these far more appreciative diners. It was a most interesting outing in a place I knew little about, and I’m glad to have experienced it. But I’ll leave the return visits to others.
