| Suis Generis |                  |
Bywater/Downtown: 3219 Burgundy St. 504-309-7850. Map.
Breakfast
Casual.
DS MC V
Website
PREVIEW
A few minor preliminaries:
1) The restaurant is across the street from Maurepas, at this writing the most-discussed restaurant in the Marigny-Bywater area. The wait there is usually so long that Suis Generis no doubt benefits from the overflow.
b) It's also is next door to the legendary Bud Rip's bar, one of the last remaining old (as in post World War II) neighborhood bars. It may be the place your uncle or your grandfather went for a beer, in the years before everybody you know moved from the Ninth Ward (as this neighborhood was known before the word "Bywater" was first heard) to Metairie.
III) The first word of the name is intentionally spelled incorrectly. The Latin phrase "sui generis" means "one of a kind." That is entirely accurate, at least as a description of the premises.
The partners Adrienne Bell and Ernest Foundas were looking into opening a restaurant here in 2005, but the hurricane put that on hold. When they opened early in 2012, they found themselves with a hot property. No New Orleans neighborhood is as receptive to hip new casual restaurants as Bywater, whose restaurant population has grown more in the past five years than in the previous fifty.
That being the case, Suis Generis presents itself as highly creative and quirky. The dining room has a Surrealist aspect. It also has elements of a kindergarten. The copy on the menu and the website endeavors to pull you into the story, like a movie.
And indeed there's a story behind almost everything. Strip the menus of its florid descriptions, and you find a menu that's interesting but not especially offbeat. On the other hand, the kitchen doesn't bind itself with many rules. On Thursday nights, for example, a full Mexican menu is offered. One can be kept informed of the unusual by means of the restaurant's e-mail bulletins.
Although Saturday and Sunday are the only days they serve at midday, those two brunches seem to be the most popular of the restaurant's offerings. Like the rest of the menu, it sound more innovative than it actually is, but the freshness of the ingredients is good enough to make the place worthwhile.
So is the fact that they stay open late--till one in the morning Thursday through Saturday. It's not my great-uncle's Ninth Ward anymore.
INTERESTING MENU ITEMS
Dinner (menu changes daily)
Starters
Filipino fried spring rolls, chicken, cabbage, carrots, peppers and red onion
Guadeloupe blackeye pea and shrimp fritters
Caesar salad
Gazpacho, with corn and optional crabmeat
French onion soup
Entrees
Ravioli with gorgonzola, walnuts, cabbage
Cambodian-style ground beef and cilantro soup, grilled shrimp, rice cake, pepper, onion and tomato skewer
Grilled ribeye steak, gorgonzola mac and cheese
Half chicken baked with thyme and lime, wheatberries, sun dried tomatoes, olives, capers, red peppers
Vegetarian Asian stir fry (ginger, garlic, gobo root rice; asparagus, cabbages, shiitake mushrooms, chive blossoms, Chinese eggplant
Desserts
Southern cheesecake with fresh berries
Lemon and greek yogurt pound cake, cream cheese streusel
New Orleans Ice Cream Co flavors of the day, berries
Vanilla bean creme caramel
Brunch Breakfast burritos with chorizo, cilantro mashed potatoes, salsa, avocado, Honduran cheese, or with scrambled eggs
Eggs Bahia (over easy eggs, wilted spinach, sausage, grilled corn tortilla, Brazillian black beans, cheese, salsa
Omelettes to order (many fillings available)
Shakshuka (Israeli-style poached-shirred eggs with tomatoes, garlic, peppers, onion, feta, toasted pita)
Pancake of the moment, fresh fruit, walnut maple syrup
Thursday Night Mexican Menu
Starters
Taquitos
Guacamole azteca
Pico de gallo
Tomatillo salsa
Queso blanco
Ensalada
Ceviche
Entrees
Tacos, soft tortillas, Mexican slaw, with chicken, pork carnitas, beef carne asada, fish, or sweet potato
Burrito, black beans, cheese, tomatillo salsa, choice of meats as for tacos above or grilled vegetables
Quesadillas, with choice of many toppings
This is an unrated preview. A full review will appear when the restaurant has been open long enough to get into its groove.
