Too much of this space has been used for my heightened emotions about one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Oxlot 9 in Covington. There are three main reasons for my obsession: The first is a practical one. Because of our personal situation, we can’t travel too far from our homebase these days, and Oxlot was less than ten minutes away. The other two are personal tastes: The space really spoke to my design proclivities, and the food Jeff Hansell put out spoke to my taste buds.
I can still get that food by driving to Bay St. Louis, which we do sometimes if Tom is feeling it. But mostly I have daily passed the empty space left by Oxlot 9 when they departed coincidentally right after, but not because of, Hurricane Ida.
For a few months I was tortured by what might take its space. Would we like our new “neighborhood” restaurant? This is a big and important question if you eat out every day. When one of the cogs in the wheel goes down, there is a huge void. This void cannot be filled by the likes of The Blind Tiger, though we have tried. It certainly can but has not been filled by The Greyhound, though we keep hoping.
In our last meal at Oxlot Amy Hansell told me John Besh had come to look at the space and my heart leapt, but it was not to be. Finally word came that a deal had been signed, and the former corporate chef from The Creole Cuisine Group, Steven Marsella, was moving in. I knew nothing about him, but Tom was a fan when he was at Tommy’s through the Creole Cuisine acquisition.
Paper went up on all the windows in the Southern Hotel and we waited anxiously through the gestation period for the birth of the new place. Had I known one of my all-time favorite people, mega-contractor Don McMath was doing the job, I would have bugged him for information. The Southern was coy with its dripping of details.
In November, there was a little tease offered by the hotel. It was the night before Thanksgiving and cleverly billed as a
take-a-break-from-cooking fried seafood buffet in the patio of the hotel. Large silver chafing dishes were lined up on long tables offering fried shrimp, fried catfish, and fresh cut fries, with coleslaw and hush puppies.
All of this was exceptionally good. I loved the kick in the batter. The fries were fantastic, and that is saying something about fried food served this way. Very promising.
And then details about the space started leaking out, and Amy Hansell’s hard-edged modern vision was giving way to dainty, whimsical, even ethereal. Quelle domage!
I was almost afraid to look, but still delighted to get an invite for an early peak before the scheduled opening the following week.
The look is everything I feared, something out of a Beatrix Potter painting. Very much like Brennan’s, with lattice work and muralled walls. That is not to say those environments don’t have their appeal, but I definitely prefer modern.
The open kitchen is gone. The footprint is still there but curved banquettes separate the kitchen from the dining room, and the overall look is much smaller. This is not bad. It is definitely more intimate, cozy, and that means romantic.
Though not to my taste, it is quite a beautiful space, like a place you’d want to visit in sweet dreams. Pastel colors and flowers everywhere. Steven told us Lisa Ward did it, which surprised me. Lisa is the dynamic Covington lawyer who brought the long-abandoned old hotel back to vibrant life in 2014, designing the whole thing herself. I am nuts about that vision. I guess her style could best be described as eclectic.
The chairs are really comfortable, as is the entire room. I didn’t recognize a single face in there besides Steven. All the servers are fresh-faced, young and sweet, just like the place.
And then we tried some food. First up was a fried oyster served in the shell, napped in champagne and brie fondue and topped with caviar. This was terrific, and had that same kick to it I remembered from the November fried seafood. Steven told me he adds cayenne to the batter. It’s a little sneaky. You think you are eating basic fried seafood, and then the kick hits. Very subtle. Perfect. I love this idea.
A pasta dish followed. Tagliatelle pasta tossed in a creamy crawfish sauce topped with a large mushroom. The oyster mushroom was done as confit, cooked over two hours smothered in leeks and butter and stock. Though I am not a big fan of oyster mushrooms, I loved the taste of this dish.
The third course was pork and clams with white bean and tomato broth. As chefs are wont to do, the pork was pink in the middle, but I have to admit it was nice, and I was even moved to eat the clam. I still don’t understand the appeal of clams, but I did love the plump white beans, even with the tomatoes. This was a very nice dish if you like dishes like this. Very French-peasant.
Dessert was strawberry trifle, another thing I am not usually drawn to, but this was actually delicious. A thin layer of strawberry followed by another thin layer of cake, it was covered in a sauce that was not really that sweet, allowing for the sweetness of the fruit to make the statement. The whipped cream was light and fluffy and this was a refreshing and delicious treat.
The service staff is fresh-faced and sweet and eager to please. They are a perfect accompaniment to a place like this.
The Gloriette is the antithesis of Oxlot 9. I am happy that it is beautiful and the food is delicious. Who knows, maybe it can help me get over its predecessor and move on.
