Allegro

Restaurant Review

Anecdotes & Analysis

Allegro is the restaurant of the Energy Center, a first-class office building near the Superdome. We don't go for office-building restaurants much here in New Orleans, but this one is worth an exception. The Deco style of the dining room is unexpectedly impressive. The central bar (which takes up way too much space, but never mind) is surmounted by neon-streamlined columns that rise to an improbably high ceiling. Chef Ron Wilemon--formerly of Christian's and a few other places--is the proprietor. His cooking is ambitious for a lunch-only place. He must serve salads and sandwiches and inexpensive daily specials to serve the building, but he doesn't stop there. A good example of his cooking is eggplant St. Charles. It's a pair of panneed eggplant rounds made into a sort of sandwich, with crabmeat in the center. It's set atop a light tomato sauce and then draped with hollandaise. Terrific. They also do a great shrimp remoulade and uniformly terrific soup specials (including a roasted garlic soup as good as anybody's). The salads are first-class, assembled from a spring mix and slathered with homemade dressings. The best is topped with fresh tuna, grilled with an Asian-style glaze to a tender rare state, slathered with a take on the kind of peanut sauce you find in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. My best luck in the entree category here has always come from ordering the daily fish specials. The chef's range is wide with these. I've had everything from a classic meuniere-style pan-sauteed fish to some elaborately sauced and garnished uniquenesses. None of the fish has wanted for freshness or quality, and the stuff is cut from the good parts of the fish. While Allegro was open for dinner, Chef Ron made some great chops--lamb and pork. They now appear at lunch sporadically, and are always welcome. The pork chop grilled to a crust over hickory and abetted with demi-glace flavored with cranberry. They always have a filet mignon on the menu, and prepare it differently daily. A few dishes here sound homely, but don't turn out that way. The roulade of chicken is rolled up with spinach, garlic and parmesan cheese, and around the whole thing is a light sauce made from red bell pepper. The whole (double) roasted chicken breast with rosemary and garlic is also good, with garlic-scented mashed potatoes on ther side. During its earlier days, Allegro was predominantly a pasta house, and much in that category remains. Some of it will remind you of the kicky stuff they do at Semolina. "The Greek Toss," for instance, is made with grilled shrimp, eggplant, feta cheese, and olives. Offbeat and good. The version of classic pasta carbonara with crawfish is also nice. They make all the desserts in house, and with originality, too. The service staff is more concerned about getting the food onto the table quickly than with polish, but that's entirely appropriate. Other things happen here besides lunch. There's a lively after-work crowd at the bar, and the chef puts out some appealing nibbles for them. After the demise of the Wednesday night three-for-ones at the old Que Sera, that scene was established here. And before all the Saints home games, Allegro puts on a brunch buffet that's something of a free-for-all. The food at this is not representative of what they do on an a la carte basis. There is validated parking for the restaurant around the S. Rampart Street side in the Energy Center garage.

Why It's Essential

Small free buffet at bar

Backstory

Allegro is the restaurant of the Energy Center, a first-class office building near the Superdome. We don't go for office-building restaurants much here in New Orleans, but this one is worth an exception. The Deco style of the dining room is unexpectedly impressive. The central bar (which takes up way too much space, but never mind) is surmounted by neon-streamlined columns that rise to an improbably high ceiling. Chef Ron Wilemon--formerly of Christian's and a few other places--is the proprietor. His cooking is ambitious for a lunch-only place. He must serve salads and sandwiches and inexpensive daily specials to serve the building, but he doesn't stop there. A good example of his cooking is eggplant St. Charles. It's a pair of panneed eggplant rounds made into a sort of sandwich, with crabmeat in the center. It's set atop a light tomato sauce and then draped with hollandaise. Terrific. They also do a great shrimp remoulade and uniformly terrific soup specials (including a roasted garlic soup as good as anybody's). The salads are first-class, assembled from a spring mix and slathered with homemade dressings. The best is topped with fresh tuna, grilled with an Asian-style glaze to a tender rare state, slathered with a take on the kind of peanut sauce you find in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. My best luck in the entree category here has always come from ordering the daily fish specials. The chef's range is wide with these. I've had everything from a classic meuniere-style pan-sauteed fish to some elaborately sauced and garnished uniquenesses. None of the fish has wanted for freshness or quality, and the stuff is cut from the good parts of the fish. While Allegro was open for dinner, Chef Ron made some great chops--lamb and pork. They now appear at lunch sporadically, and are always welcome. The pork chop grilled to a crust over hickory and abetted with demi-glace flavored with cranberry. They always have a filet mignon on the menu, and prepare it differently daily. A few dishes here sound homely, but don't turn out that way. The roulade of chicken is rolled up with spinach, garlic and parmesan cheese, and around the whole thing is a light sauce made from red bell pepper. The whole (double) roasted chicken breast with rosemary and garlic is also good, with garlic-scented mashed potatoes on ther side. During its earlier days, Allegro was predominantly a pasta house, and much in that category remains. Some of it will remind you of the kicky stuff they do at Semolina. "The Greek Toss," for instance, is made with grilled shrimp, eggplant, feta cheese, and olives. Offbeat and good. The version of classic pasta carbonara with crawfish is also nice. They make all the desserts in house, and with originality, too. The service staff is more concerned about getting the food onto the table quickly than with polish, but that's entirely appropriate. Other things happen here besides lunch. There's a lively after-work crowd at the bar, and the chef puts out some appealing nibbles for them. After the demise of the Wednesday night three-for-ones at the old Que Sera, that scene was established here. And before all the Saints home games, Allegro puts on a brunch buffet that's something of a free-for-all. The food at this is not representative of what they do on an a la carte basis. There is validated parking for the restaurant around the S. Rampart Street side in the Energy Center garage.