Dining aside, one of the most exciting developments on the northshore is the arrival of the restaurant Tchefuncte’s. In the New Orleans culinary world, the arrival of Tchefuncte’s is one of the most exciting developments, period.
When an adventuresome and well-heeled owner partners with an adventuresome, well-versed, and best-of-all talented chef, you get a one-of-a-kind restaurant..
New Orleans has a lot of great restaurants, and the northshore great ones are definitely in the league with their south shore counterparts. Now the north shore has its Revolution.
Chef Micahel Gottlieb has worked the A-list circuit in New Orleans, but also in his native Savannah, where his family owned a bakery for a century. Tchefuncte’s has a prominent baked goods component in the massive kitchen, turning out the evening’s bread and dessert cake right down to the mini french loaf for the evening's amuse bouche mini shrimp poor boy.
The second floor space (in the Friend’s 2.0 building on the bend of the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville) is stunning. Windows everywhere, There are three large lavishly-appointed dining rooms, one that includes an enormous bar, a few private rooms, an outdoor patio with sofas and fire pits, and counter seating to watch the action in the kitchen.
Our first visit was at the food bar, and despite gorgeous dining rooms, it was fun to watch this very-smoothly run kitchen. We got to chat with a buddy of Chef Michael, Meril’s chef Doug who meticulously crafted the tiny poor boys, slicing the two-inch loaves, spreading mayo and using a tweezer to insert string-thin shredded iceberg lettuce before dropping a single perfectly-fried shrimp. Such tedious work as “hanging out” qualifies him as a very good buddy indeed.
Next to him was a young man assembling tuna tartare, loading it into a pastry bag to pipe onto halves of a pork and shrimp eggroll. A waste of a perfectly good eggroll, in my opinion, but judging by how many of these he did all evening, mine is clearly a minority opinion. He spent the rest of his time making exquisitely beautiful salads with lettuce so green I even asked the Chef where he gets produce like this.
This is such a well-run kitchen you can engage in a conversation with the various players, including Michael. Unless he has left the kitchen to personally shave Raclette cheese on a diner’s herb-crusted chicken, or to carve prime rib tableside from the silver-domed carving board cart. Tom has not seen the likes of this level of service since the days of the lofty Louis XVI.
Chef Michael brought out a few tiny courses: the shrimp poor boy amuse, which was as good as it was adorable. As described earlier, this had all the parts, with a little kick in the mayo to make it pop. How fun those would be at a wedding reception! Next he went full gourmet, with a single thin slice of duck pastrami topped with a pile of soft shredded parmesan cheese. The third tiny dish contained a beautifully seared scallop over cauliflower mash, a tiny microgreen as garnish.
I thought the menu was confusing at first, but a closer inspection revealed its simple brilliance. The middle is traditional plates, but everything else was a la cart. Sides were shareable and priced right at $9.
After much vexing I passed on the beautiful salads and went with a crab bisque. This was lighter in color than I expected, had just the right amount of crab meat, and was filled with creamy deliciousness.
Tom’s oyster bake was a thriller on sight. It looked like it was baked in a puff pastry, but it wasn’t. There were a lot of breadcrumbs in it, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Tom was delighted with this. Kenny Lacour, (who brought fine dining to the north shore 30 years ago with Dakota) was standing behind Tom visiting with us and remarked that it looked like Oysters Mosca. This was far prettier, with less garlic and oil.
Our entrees were no less spectacular. My Tomahawk short rib was finished inside high flames where I could see it. This was a gorgeous hunk of beef, sitting in a large puddle of au jus, the bone heavily charred. It was tender with soft fat, falling apart with a gentle tug of a fork. It could have used just a bit more salt, but this complaint is so minor it is barely worth mentioning. Usually short ribs come in a portion size too small, but this was just perfect. The au gratin potatoes I ordered were also just the right size portion, divinely creamy, sliced thin enough to be Dauphinoise, and just plain delicious.
Tom stuck with his seafood theme, getting the special of the night, the rare Bluefin tuna. This was beautifully presented as three half-inch medallions of dark blue fish arrayed in a line over a scattering of black-eyed peas. Tom has always said that tuna steaks remind him of beef steaks, oddly enough in flavor as well as looks. This too was a winner.
There was a couple next to us at the food bar, celebrating an anniversary. She got an entree size of those beautiful scallops and was as wowed by them as Tom. She was even more impressed though with his Hawaiian Ribeye. I don’t get this trendy dish, but it is very popular. Maybe next time I will see what the fuss is about. These two were totally thrilled.
We knew desserts would be special because the bakery is where Chef Michael came of age in the kitchen. Although Doberge is not a Savannah thing, he compiled all the cake ideas in his head to create a gigantic Doberge slice, which was served with homemade butter crunch ice cream. There was of course the ubiquitous Creme brulee, and a strawberry souffle. Tom got his usual creme brulee, and I had the cake, because it was just so big. The ice cream was more icy than creamy, but the flavor was nice. The cake was soft and butter-flavored. The chocolate between the layers was not especially pronounced in flavor. If this sounds sort of uninteresting, it’s more because I am not a dessert person unless it’s dark chocolate. Tom was wildly enthusiastic about his Creme brulee, which was very shallow and large in circumference, beautiful sliced raspberries piled in the center.
The service here is high style, with every dish carried to the table by a separate server. There are lots of service staff on the floor to attend to your every need.The question we heard last night, and a few times before is: can the north shore support such a place as this? That’s a simplistic question, because a place this special will draw from the entire metro area, as it should. People like Tom who always lament the demise of truly fine fine dining, the mothership has landed.
