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Toups' Meatery
Mid-City: 845 N Carrollton Ave. 504-252-4999. Map. Casual. AE DS MC V Website ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS My wife keeps telling me that I have to stop eating carbohydrates completely, and that I should scale up the proportions of proteins in my eating, especially in the evening. I am losing weight at a steady enough pace that I think it's probably okay for some of my food to metabolize into sugars. And I've never ignored the meat kingdom, eating enough of it to break many of the old rules. In this I have a lot of company. The meat that was once bad for us is now good, say the dietitians. [caption id="attachment_31055" align="alignnone" width="480"]
A charcuterie board, hand-made at Toups Meatery.[/caption]
This puts Chef Isaac Toups into a nice position. Some five years ago, he opened his first restaurant as chef-proprietor, with a menu intensive with meats. In this he followed the pleasures of his Cajun ancestors (he's a native of Rayne, down on the bayou where the frogs live). As well-known as Cajun chefs are for their crawfish and other seafood, Acadiana is full of great little butcher shops where their owners make sausages, smoke and cure meats of all kinds. It may be the most brilliant and unique part of Cajun cuisine--a fact that has lately transformed a lot of restaurant menus in New Orleans.
Toups Meatery was in the vanguard in all this. While quite a few of the top-end New Orleans restaurants had been making their own charcuterie for a decade or more, those dishes were confined mostly to the appetizer section. At Toups Meatery, the butcher's work is found all over the place. The chef likes variety meats (i.e. tripe) as well as he does mainstream items. In an interesting switcheroo, seafood is confined mostly to lunchtime and the appetizer section. Interestingly, the best food I've had here is in fact seafood.) Most dishes are designed to be passed around and shared. It's all very trendy.
[caption id="attachment_48882" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Toups Meatery.[/caption]
BACKSTORY
Toups's Meatery opened in early 2012, after Chef Isaac's tours of duty at Emeril's and the extinct Cuvee. His wife Amanda runs the dining room and the wine cellar. Pre-Eatery, she managed the Wine Institute of New Orleans. For their restaurant te Toupses took over the dreary old Mediterranean Restaurant, a few blocks away from City Park, making this a good restaurant neighborhood. This is clearly not a spiffy bistro making an architectural statement. The floor and odd corners are a little beat up.
None of that is less than a draw for the regular clientele, which fills the restaurant most evenings. I doesn't look like a reservations kind of place, but you are well advices to get your name on the book--particularly if you plan to dine late.
[caption id="attachment_21035" align="alignnone" width="307"]
Isaac Toups.[/caption]
BEST DISHES
Small Plates
Veal Sweetbread Poutine (Cheddar cheese curds, potatoes, green onion gravy)
Roasted Gulf Shrimp, eggplant, tomato, olives, Sherry vinaigrette
Louisiana Crab Claws, Thai chilis, tomatoes, pickled pineapple
House made pickle plates
Large Plates
BBQ Goat
Lamb Neck, black eye pea ragout, fennel
Double Cut Pork Chop, dirty rice
Gulf Seafood "Couvillion" (Gulf fish, shrimp, crab fat rice)
Venison, caramelized onion, horseradish creme fraiche
Sides
Boudin Balls
Daily Sausage
Daily Terrine
Hog Head Cheese
Sliced Cured Meat 7
Desserts
Doberge salted caramel, peanut butter, bacon
Warm bourbon cornbread pudding
Cheese board selection of three cheeses & seasonal jams 16
FOR BEST RESULTS
Even the appetizers are big here. It's a good place to dine with two to six friends, and sharing plates.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
As is usually the case when a mania peaks, you find a few overboard items and some expensive gourmet statement (with foie gras, for example).
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment
- Consistency +1
- Service+2
- Value +1
- Attitude +1
- Wine & Bar +1
- Hipness +2
- Local Color +2
- Outdoor tables, drinks only
- 25-75
- Easy, nearby parking
- Reservations accepted
