Thursday, December 30, 2010. Dakota. I did the last radio show of the year from home, then I met Chuck Billeaud for dinner at Dakota. Chuck's daughters are the same ages as Jude and Mary Leigh, and went to the same grammar school. Our families have been close friends for a long time. We tried to get our gangs together during the holidays. But herding young adults is like trying to pick a piece of shell out of a beaten egg.
Today, both of our wives and all of our kids are off doing other things, but the two of us have open schedules. Representing our families, we decided to feast a deux.
Even with numerous empty tables, Dakota was busier than I've seen it lately. We had the best table in the house, in the corner, and indulged in a mutual affinity for cocktails. Chuck had a dirty martini, a drink I don't understand. I've sworn off martinis for the most part anyway. I'm convinced that they are causing me gastric distress. I don't know whether Manhattans are a lot better, but that's what I had tonight.
Chuck ordered as if it were already New Year's and he'd made a major weight loss resolution. One light course. I haven't been to Dakota in months and indulged more deeply for research purposes. Escargots first. Five of them (five?), each set atop a coin of puff pastry just a few microns thick, with what tasted like a classic French red wine bordelaise sauce, intensified with demi-glace. Beautiful, tasty enough, not destined for fame.
The best-sounding entree on the menu was the steak, but I've had entirely too much beef in the past few days. None of the fish addressed my palate--the catch of the day was mahi-mahi. The nod went to the duck by default. It was a half-bird, served on a waffle, as in chicken and waffles. I thought it was a little overcooked, but the sauce was good and ducky.
Chuck's three-way veal dish involved scallops of white meat, pan-browned and topped with crabmeat, bearnaise, another demi, and some other sauce. It was too small to be divided, so I didn't get a taste of it. Chuck seemed to be resisting enthusiasm for the dish.
That could have been because we were engaged in updating one another on our young descendants. His two girls are living a classic college life at LSU. One of them is president of her sorority this year; her younger sister is in the same Greek outfit. Chuck is from Lafayette, where LSU rules, so he is pleased by all this.
We drank a Spanish wine made predominantly of a grape called Bobal. If I've ever had that in the past, I don't remember. A closer look at the label revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Garnacha, Syrah, and perhaps one more grape were all in the blend. It was a big, black, juicy wine, certainly better with the duck than the veal.
It was also good with an array of big chocolate desserts that co-owner and Chef Kim Kringlie took it upon himself to present to us. So much for Chuck's restrained repast.
Ken Lacour, the other principal in Dakota, passed by our table, but said he'd talk further after we ate. I guess he knows that I need to speak with him about Cuvee, one of their other two restaurants. Formerly a five-star, Cuvee has dwindled to a wraith during the past year or so. More alarming is that it's been closed for the past month. The reason given by the staff is that it's taking "a winter vacation." A what?
Chuck returned from the men's room with a bit of trivia. "You know how they used to hang the front page and the sports page of the newspaper over the facility in there? It looks like they don't do that any more." I brought up the disappearance of the magnificent flowers that used to make the dining room grand. And that, if you try to get to Dakota's website, you get the nearly-blank home page of the non-functioning Cuvee, with only the tiniest link to Dakota's page. Even that page is out of date.
Here, we agreed, is a restaurant that isn't paying attention to details the way it once did.
Ken Lacour was engaged in conversation with some other customers when we were finished. Chuck had to head home, but I waited around. When I finally got face-to-face with Ken, he let nothing out of the bag. "We don't have a statement to make right now about Cuvee," he said, adding that a lot of crazy rumors are out there. The only one I'd heard was that Cuvee was currently closed, which it certainly is.
I saw I would get no more from Ken on that question, so moved on to the matter of La Maison. That's the hastily-applied new name of The Oaks (and before that Longbranch and Artesia) in Abita Springs. After much renovation and landscaping, The Oaks missed one projected opening date for a la carte service after another. It never did open, save for a few private parties. "We're working with the owners to operate it as a reception hall," Ken said. "First we need to do some landscaping and a few adjustments to the decor. It looks like Scarlett O'Hara is going to sweep in at any moment upstairs."
I can't say I was thrilled by anything I heard, saw, or ate here tonight.
Dakota. Covington: 629 N US 190. 985-892-3712.
