Dickie Brennan has been running restaurants for a very long time, and I have not been a fan of his food for most of that time. But Dickie Brennan Co. is riding high, adding interesting new properties to their restaurant portfolio, and I am intrigued. So intrigued that I have been wanting to do a round-up of all his eclectic places.
As soon as I heard about his “Summer of Softshells,” celebrating this local delicacy through July, it behooved us to try them all. I have as yet only done four of the seven, but it is enough to declare this fun exercise very worthwhile.
We started at the Commissary, the little place true to its name that piqued my interest in the whole group. The Commissary is exactly that, providing first-class ingredients to the operation. It was here one day that I discovered that next-Gen Geordie Brower (Dickie’s nephew) was for a finance guy awfully skilled as an andouille maker. His smoked link was the best I’ve ever had. I love their $15 Friday Fish Fry (not only for Lent ya’ll,) and their terrific fresh-cut French fries.
The Commissary BLT sandwich was inhalable. It was served on a nice brioche bun with tomato, lettuce and bacon that was not notable in itself, but great as part of the collective sandwich. The softshell crab was medium-sized with a thin and crispy batter that had a nice flavor to it, not spicy but tasty. An herbed mayo tied it all together deliciously. This sandwich was served alongside more great housecut potato chips. This was a very nice plate of food at $26.
We next headed to another favorite Dickie Brennan addition to the restaurant collection. I have loved the Audubon Clubhouse since I attended a wedding there in 2012. It is a charming venue for anything, with a porch that spills out onto the Audubon golf course. Inside has always been a casual but still handsome environment.
Back then the food was pretty ordinary, but the place still made me want to go. Now that Dickie has added it to the group, the food has improved dramatically. A recent renovation has elevated it even more in terms of atmosphere. The pro shop has been replaced by a nice bar. This is a good place for anyone nearby to add to their restaurant orbit. It’s in ours as a destination from the Northshore.
The softshell special here is still casual but slightly upscale. It is also a fried softshell of medium size, with the same light batter accompanied by a delicious salad. The salad was an interesting mix of greens, corn, and fennel, with a dressing that is an opaque vinaigrette. This too was delicious, but a bit higher at $39.
I was surprised at how expensive (at $44) the softshell special from Pascal’s Manale was. Also fried with the same type of batter, this one was served over linguine pasta with shrimp in Bordelaise sauce. The sauce for the pasta was not thick enough to make any statement, and the whole thing needed a bit of salt. There was an acceptable amount of sauteed shrimp in this. It doesn’t sound like we liked it but we did. What’s not to love when all these ingredients come together?
Our next stop was at The Palace Cafe, a place we rarely go because of its location. But every time we go I am struck by how handsome a place this restaurant is, and how after all these years it is hardly the worse for wear. Hordes of tourists cross the threshold every day, but it still looks like the day it opened. And the signature crabmeat cheesecake is to me one of the single most sensational bites in the city.
I wasn’t crazy about their entry into the Summer of Softshells. It was a Tabasco-infused Panko-crusted softshell over corn macquechoux, heavily drizzled in a remoulade sauce. This sounds much better than it was. Again, there is no such thing as a bad or uninteresting softshell crab preparation, but this was not a favorite.
What I think might have been a favorite, had we had it, was the entry from Bourbon House. Unfortunately, the difficulty in picking it up and ordering it for pick up made it impossible to get it after the Palace Cafe visit. It is a softshell with some Commissary andouille served with jambalaya.
We will return for this dish at some point in the month, likely on a visit to Tableau, easily our favorite of the group. And that is saying something. The Dickie Brennan & Co. group of restaurants is an eclectic mix of first-class restaurants, each with the Brennan imprimatur of terrific service. The food is great, but what I like most is their spirit. And that spirit is the unmistakable spirit of New Orleans.
