Delmonico is the best restaurant directly on a Mardi Gras parade route--even though it's closed on Fat Tuesday and Monday. The rest of the year, it's my kind of restaurant. Its menu is dominated by classic French-Creole dishes updated with current ingredients and kitchen techniques. They play the same game with the dining rooms, enclosed in a century-old building that nevertheless has a decidedly contemporary feel. If you happen to find yourself at Delmonico in the week before Mardi Gras, you will enjoy a half a great dinner, go outside to watch the parade, then come back in for dessert and after-dinner libations. Great fun.
If your taste runs to the more traditional side of Chef Emeril Lagasse's culinary provinces, you may prefer Delmonico to Emeril's flagship restaurant. While the menus are different, the general style is the same. So are the customers: When full, Emeril's directs its overflow to Delmonico. The food at Del's (the house nickname for the place) has a non-ironic retro quality that fits right into the restaurant. Delmonico's has had its highs and lows, and always seems to be in a state of flux. More than a few locals call it their favorite of Emeril's three New Orleans establishments.
Delmonico turned 100 the year before Emeril Lagasse bought it in 1998. Founder Anthony Commander--whose brother founded the restaurant of the same name--came to New Orleans after working in Delmonico in New York City. There never was a connection between that restaurant and this, but the name was synonymous with grand dining in the 1800s, and Commander borrowed it. For most of its pre-Emeril history, Delmonico was managed by the La Franca family. Their restaurant was in the same category with Galatoire's and Arnaud's, but because it was well away from the French Quarter, it was less formal and expensive. People who remember dining in the old Delmonico knew it as an old-fashioned, excellent Creole restaurant run by the hospitable Angie Brown and Rose Dietrich, whose father made the restaurant what it was. When Emeril bought it, he performed a deep and expensive renovation, much of which had to be done all over again after Katrina, for as much money.
The front dining room's lofty ceilings create rich spaces, and its windows allow diners to keep track of the streetcars. On the other side of a large open door are more tables, the bar, and a piano--sometimes with a pianist. The Cornstalk Room is the most atmospheric room in the house, one section of it skylit. (You pass through the kitchen to get to it.) The service staff is a bit less formal and skillful than before the storm, but that's true all over these days. On this other hand, Delmonico remains literally a white-tablecloth restaurant. Ron Jones plays a very fine piano and sings in a bluesy way in the bar on weekends.
Avoid busy times in the city (holidays, big conventions, etc.). Emeril's sends its overflow here, and that sometimes overwhelms the place. Arrive early to have a great cocktail in the very appealing bar. A very solid menu plan is to build your own tasting menu out of the large appetizer department.
| Attitude | 3 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 3 |
| Hipness | 1 |
| Local Color | 2 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 0 |
| Wine | 3 |
