Although the summer just past was extraordinarily difficult for New Orleans restaurants, it appears that the restaurant count will surpass 1,500 for the first time in history. (The day before Katrina, the count was 809.) The new openings and reopenings have been difficult for your humble scribe to keep up with. But the job was made a little easier by there being several concentrations of major new restaurant. Notable among these was the premises of the Ace Hotel on Carondelet between Lafayette and Girod. The name alone tells us that the hotel is pitching its services to a younger clientele than typical, just as does the growth of residential apartments, and developments like the cluster of businesses near the new Rouse's in the neighborhood.
The first time I attempted to dine at Josephine Estelle, the place was so jammed with people that I had the sensation of the windows bulging outward. (I wound up going to another Ace property, Seaworthy--which was equally busy but much smaller.) The second through the fourth dinners at Josephine Eestelle, using reservations, we were able to find not only a table but a good vantage point for watching what was being consumed at other tables.
The restaurant's name are those of daughters of the Ace's owner. Chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman came from Memphis, where they set the food standards for a range of restaurants in the Italian and barbecue categories.
Three restaurants are in or immediately adjacent to the Ace Hotel. The most impressive of them is Josephine Estelle, which occupies the former main showroom of Barnett's furniture store, which is where everybody bought their home furnishings before both business and customers fled to the suburbs in the 1960s. The high ceiling is held up but Corinthian columns in a space that looks as if it could be a meeting hall for a very large, blue-blood Carnival club. It may be the most spacious restaurant in town this side of Antoine's and Arnaud's. The decor isn't matched by the tables and their seating, which mostly involve semi-booths in parallel flanks.
If you dislike crowds, make an early reservation. In the calculation of average entree price, I have included the cost of two appetizers, which is an entree for many diners.
| Attitude | 0 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 2 |
| Hipness | 3 |
| Local Color | 2 |
| Service | 1 |
| Value | 1 |
| Wine | 0 |
