Nathan’s is one of the best restaurants that has ever been in Slidell. Tucked away in a marina not far from the S-curve on Hwy 11, Nathan’s has a window to the bayou on the second floor. It’s fun to look into the party barges going by as you are having dinner. It’s a lovely place, with a smallish, comfortable dining room and very friendly service. The food is straight Louisiana, and upscale for Slidell. It’s the kind of food that is everywhere in New Orleans, but not so much in east St. Tammany.
We haven’t been to Nathan’s in years, and our pick-up driver had business in Slidell today so she stopped there to pick up dinner for us. The menu online for take-out was scaled back for the restaurant, but it was certainly adequate and very appealing. It was not hard to find things we wanted, though the entrees seemed to be similar- pasta was always involved.
We ordered a wedge salad which had Roquefort dressing, and also a shrimp remoulade. There was a decision to be made between smoked oysters for Tom or bacon-wrapped scallops. Scallops. And we got lasagna for the main course.
My first thought when the take-out containers were opened was that it seemed a poor value. The wedge salad was small, and the remoulade was deconstructed, with the sauce in separate containers. This was a good thing because the remoulade was odd, and I was glad it was not tossed. It was a red remoulade and very coarse. Not really creamy at all. The shrimp were adequate in number and boiled just fine. There was coarse chopped egg on a chunk of Romaine. This would be much better in the restaurant, tossed, but I’d still prefer another remoulade.
The bacon-tossed scallops were the hit of the evening. These were small, but neither were they expensive. Tom was well satisfied with his portion and the preparation which looked like a Meuniere sauce with asparagus. It was served with a red pepper aioli.
The lasagna was a little dry, very meaty, and tasty enough. What bothered me about it was the value. It was $22. I never get lasagna, so maybe I’m behind the times. But is lasagna now in the plus $20 camp? It was a portion that took up a styrofoam take-out box, but that’s because it had spread out. This seemed not commensurate with the price.
Most all of this was underwhelming, which is not how we remember this restaurant. I hope when all the “phases” have run out, the food will return to its previous goodness, and everything will be back to normal again at Nathan’s.
And everywhere else.
