Saturday, September 15, 2012.
New Chefs At N'Tini's.
Utterly routine Saturday. Miscellaneous Web work in the morning, a two-hour radio show on WWL at noon, and two late afternoon hours of what I would call landscaping if it were not so primitive. (Greatest accomplishment: adding two feet of debris to the burn pile, which I hope to actually ignite some day soon.)
The pace didn't pick up until dinnertime, when Mary Ann felt she owed me a real meal and accorded me more leeway than the I'll-just-watch-you-eat offer of yesterday.
The lure of the food at N'Tini's--the leading St. Bernard-to-St. Tammany restaurant migration--was foremost on my mind. But I wanted to check out a rumor that Chef Peter Kusiw is now in the kitchen at N'Tini's. That is now confirmed, along with the closing of Chef Pete's Mandeville bistro Juniper. Too bad about the latter. But I think the move to N'Tini's will be a boon. While there's no question that N'Tini's is a hit, I always thought it needed a surer sense of taste. Chef Pete will bring that.
N'Tini's actually has two new chefs, the other one of which I haven't met. They replaced Ryan Toussaint, who was killed in a tragic highway accident a few months ago. He was only in his twenties, and showed himself to be a comer.
N'Tini's menu already has changed a bit, but there are more additions and alterations in the immediate future. Aside from the new hands, tonight the restaurant had organized a trip to the LSU football game, and the staff was tight. Owner Mark Benfatti was filling a gap in the pantry. I had a lot of fun according him the not-very-PC term for the person who assembles the cold dishes: "the salad girl." But Mark is always looking for a laugh, and he took this one instead of taking offense.
Our regular waitress Helen was on the job. She has the skill and personality like the servers in the great places like Galatoire's and Clancy's--excited about the food, but quick to steer you away from something she's not crazy about.
The new kitchen staff impressed me right off the bat with Chef Pete's turtle soup. I always thought it was one of the best, with a tomato component right at the thin line that separates boldly delicious from too much tomato. I gobbled that right on down while MA worked on a generous amuse-bouche of fried eggplant cubes with three sauces, all of which looked like remoulade variations. (That game with remoulade sauce is becoming a hip touch. R'Evolution is even doing it.)
I saw that the menu offered a "New Orleans cut" sirloin strip. That's the name of the concept I am trying to popularize in local restaurants, in which a sirloin strip is cut extra thick then in two pieces about the size of a filet mignon. That way, it would grill better. I guess the new chefs didn't get my memo on that, and what arrived was a standard New York strip. It was accurately grilled with tic-tac-toe marks of char, but I think it needed a little something beyond the thin-cut onion rings on top. (Why any restaurant in these parts hesitates to serve steaks sizzling in butter is beyond me.)
Mary Ann had a problem with her fish entree. Or, really, the restaurant did. This was not redfish. It was too big and too meaty. As meaty as my steak, and that's not right. The absence of blood lines told me it wasn't just from an extra-big specimen. I think the fish merchant slipped up on this order (to give him the benefit of the doubt). Mary Ann was ironically happy about not liking the fish, because it meant she would not have to eat everything, and would stay on her precious diet. And the cat Twinnery would enjoy a major treat in the coming days.
We finished up with a wonderfully rich, moist tres leches cake, and a long conversation with Mark Benfatti. Here's a guy who's locked in on the tastes of his customers. That's why N'Tini's is always busy, even on this LSU game night.
N'Tini's. Mandeville: 2891 US 190. 985-626-5566.
