It was a typical food adventure for me, setting out for one place and eating at another. What I really wanted was to have this IG dish I saw from Brennan’s (I’m a sucker for these) but I started out too late to make it back for the show. Then I decided to stay in Metairie, but I have done that area. There is a cute place that I have been interested in trying since a caller mentioned it on the radio show. I had noticed it before as a cute place, because my eye was caught by an old antique truck that is painted a dreamy blue, which sets it apart from the other surroundings. The place is located about a block from the river in a neighborhood on Causeway Blvd.
The little place is called Batture Bites & Brew, the brew meaning coffee in this case. It’s a breakfast place, but the last time I tried to go there it was king cake season, and they were so busy with their king cakes nearly everything else there was shut down. Tom and I shared a pastry and left.
But it looked cute and I knew they served lunch, so I’ve been thinking of it now and again. It seemed a perfect day to go on this day, and I even checked to make sure they were open. (I’m learning, ever so slowly.) But when I arrived there was a note on the door, saying they were finishing catering for a private party. Still just not meant to be.
The stress began…trying to think where to head next. There wasn’t time to go into town. I had to resist the urge to go to TANA , which is ever present, mainly because I remain fascinated by Michael Gulotta, a brilliant talent whose food always surprises me. But I’ve done that too.
And that made me think about its across-the-street neighbor, Garrison Kitchen & Cocktails, a place I wrote off after one visit. The place is gorgeous, service is fine, and the food is terrible. Peculiarly terrible. Maybe terrible is too strong a word, because it is executed ambitiously and with care. It’s just bad ideas. Wild creativity for its own sake.
The shrimp toast offended me the most that first visit. While it was a clever plating, the shrimp toast was soaked with grease, so much so that the actual flavor was nearly absent. And of course there is a chicken cutlet on the menu, a benchmark of a hip 2020s restaurant. Here in New Orleans, we do paneed chicken with Italian breadcrumbs, which in my opinion is a much better use of a pounded chicken breast
Garrison has been out of mind for me since that visit, until recently when a caller reported that Garrison is great . This puzzled me. I thought there must have been some changes. A crawfish roll was mentioned in the report, and I don’t recall one of those on the menu. So I wondered aloud if there was new ownership or management there. Soon a caller from the neighborhood suggested that there were indeed changes at Garrison.
I was almost excited to see what this was about. If there really were substantive changes here, it would be thrilling. Metairie is close, and they need more good restaurants. I love the look of the place, the indoor/outdoor dining spaces, and everything else but the food.
It was a beautiful day and I wanted to sit outside. The hostess said they would seat me there, and as we walked to the table outside I asked if the restaurant had changed hands. She told me they had a new managing partner. That's what the caller from the neighborhood told me, and we both knew this person was heavily invested in the area. I assumed there would be improvement. Still do. I also asked if the original chef was still in place. When she affirmed that it was still the original chef, my enthusiasm dropped substantially. Still, with proper oversight maybe it would be better.
A quick look at the menu assured me that little had changed. It was mostly the same menu, with equally silly things added. For example, green peas from the “Snacks & Share section. After a process of elimination I ordered onion dip. It came with housecut chips and crudités. And I spotted the crawfish roll the radio show caller had mentioned and I got that through the same process of elimination.
As I mentioned earlier the chef here takes great pains to do freshcut fries, which is such an effort that few restaurants bother, so kudos to him for that and the housecut chips. That’s what I mean by ambitious execution of detail. My problem here is with basic instincts about what tastes good. A little short on that here.
The onion dip was just like one a relative would make for a pot luck, which is fine, and it was surrounded by beautiful pieces of cauliflower and bell pepper and cucumber, as well as thin slices of turnip and radish. The housecut chips were fine too. Greaseless, but more brown than golden.
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I was stunned to see that the crawfish roll was hot. And I was even more surprised to hear the reaction from callers to the radio show when I asked what they pictured when I said the words “crawfish roll.” It never occurred to me that anyone would think other than what I thought, which was a lobster roll format filled instead with crawfish, i.e., a cold sandwich in a buttery toasted white bread inverted bun.
People said they thought of a sushi roll, which I couldn’t imagine because sushi is off my radar, and I asked if it was raw crawfish. The answer to that was no, but why would I expect that crawfish would not be incorporated into everything we eat here during crawfish season?
Another caller pictured a crawfish eggroll, which abound around town this time of year. I started to wonder if anyone but me had thought of a crawfish version of a lobster roll, just like there are a plethora of shrimp remoulade rolls out there.
Regardless of the outlier image, a hot crawfish roll outside on a hot day was definitely not my idea of a good thing. I should have paid more attention to the description, (a chronic failing of mine) because it clearly mentions “melted” leeks and hollandaise on the crawfish. So even though I am to blame for my surprise, it was assumed because the hot version is sub-par to the cold seafood version, whether it is lobster, shrimp, crab, or crawfish. At least to me.
I did like the French fries, which came with a garlic aioli for sipping. They were standard old-style fries rather than shoestring or bistro. They weren't hot but they were very welcome to me. Not greasy, with skins on. I loved to see these.
Maybe it is just me. There was a steady stream of ladies who lunch coming through to be seated outside. Large groups with gifts and smaller ones just for lunch. All seemed like repeat customers, filling up the entire parking lot.
I left from the side patio door, so I didn’t see if the inside was full as well. Garrison Kitchen & Cocktails is doing just fine. Another one that doesn’t need my business, and I am okay with that, though I will miss another of the few opportunities to eat outside in Metairie.
