Archive for the ‘Restaurant Reviews’ Category
Kingfish for gastropub style
t says: For dinner, we went to Kingfish. When we first entered, it seemed like a bar-only. I thought to myself “oops! I thought there was a restaurant here!” Fortunately, there was a hidden dining room around the side of the bar – yay food!
Overall, we were impressed with the food – g liked it more than commander’s palace – both for drinks and for food. The soup was solid, and g’s scallops were spot on! I only wish that my duck-and-ramen had actual ramen noodles and not just angel hair pasta (I guess Louisianans don’t know the difference? Sadface!). But at least there was a ton of delicious duck!
NOLA’s hidden militia
t says: We did Commander’s Palace and boy are there some stories to tell! But alas, being on an iPhone prevents me from going into much detail. Let’s just leave ourselves some reminders just in case someone asks us later what happened …
1). There are a LOT of employees there – it’s like a frickin’ army! And we think the general is the one with the mustache …
2). Lunchtime must be the “B” squad.
3). Turtle soup and tomato salad delicious. Entrees were only “ok”.
4). The 25-cent martinis were a nice idea, but were ultimately either gross or bland. As you can see from the last picture, we probably drank a nickel’s worth. And yea: the blue one is really blue.
But, we assure you the background stories are pretty funny – just ask!
The “other” Cochon
t says: I have frequently googled “cochon” in the past, looking for the address of our philadelphia byob in Queen’s Village, but always getting fooled by this “other” restaurant in Louisiana. Well now we can finally say we’ve been to both! And the food was SUPERB!
g liked her cider, and the Japanese bourbon (Nikka Taketsuru 12-year) had such complexity that it has singlehandedly changed my mind about bourbon: hey a, I’m ready for the bourbon trail … in Japan …
The ribs were OUT of control – if I could buy that sauce by the bottle, I would. If they made shampoo that smelled (and/or tasted) like the sauce, I’d buy it. Seriously – best barbecue I’ve had in a long long time. The pork cheeks were also delicious – a far more subtle dish (and they could have been a smidge more tender), but good acidity in there. And the cucumber salad, of all things, was phenomenal, recharging our palates so we could eat more and more pig!
The pulled pork mass was delicious but could have used a bit more greens or beans or something else – the meat was delicious but needed something else to complement it. As for the stewed vegetables, they were also phenomenal – wish I had me some breakfast eggs to pour them over …
This was dessert – it was billed as a “banana cream pie with chocolate graham crust” … but it was SO much more that bruleed banana cream pie in chocolate crust, as homely as it looks in the photo, is probably the best dessert I’ve had all year!
And you know what, dinner for two, including drinks and a dessert for under $100 I think is quite a nice deal!
Cafe du monde … And the faker
t says: We were almost fooled by this faker pants beignet place with a green and white awning that was NOT Cafe du Monde but was located one block away … But we found the real thing moments later. The end result: beignets are oversized funnel cake … It was good, but I’m not sure if they’re lose-my-mind-ridiculous. Guess we’ll just have to keep sampling!
Stella! Stanley!
t says: First meal in Nola. We demolished our first po’ boy and a bananas foster french toast. Guess who ordered which …
tashan … a fortress of [delicious] solitude
t says: The other day, a and I hit up Tashan for a workday lunch – a had a groupon burning a hole in his pocket and he owed me some payback for some recent wine acquisitions – so it was perfect!
September 2013, Lunch, Party of 2. While a was nice enough to secure a reservation, it turned out that we did not need it at all – we were literally the only occupied table in the joint. But that means that the kitchen could focus entirely on our food, right? Check it out:
a and I didn’t go too creative on the entrees – saag paneer, butter chicken, and that nan-wrapped kobe beef kebab roll. Now, every single item was nicely done – certainly a step up in technique from your standard Indian take-out. Take the Saag paneer for instance – it was whipped to perfection, reaching a state of matter somewhere thicker than a mousse but with a surprising “fluffiness” that I’ve never had in Saag – quite a treat! I kind of preferred Ekta’s depth of flavor in their Butter chicken to Tashan’s, but the chicken cookery, itself, was superior at Tashan. And that kebab thingee was quite delicious – a nice spicy punch in the mouth to make sure you were awake (I’m not sure if being “kobe” really added anything to the beef, as the fat-iliciousness wasn’t really appreciable). Really, I had no problems with any of the food, and by the end of the meal, I was wishing my stomach was larger so it could fit more! Be that as it may, I’m not sure if Tashan is truly giving Indian cuisine the sex appeal that its owner intends (the place’s finishes, layout, and colors remind me of a wannabe nightclub), but I liked the upscale touches on the food. I’m certain that traditionalists will continue to crucify this place for not being “authentic” … but I hope those people buckle up their seatbelts for …
… INDIAN WINE!! dun dun DUN! This is not yo’ momma’s mango lassee. This is real-deal wine from India. AND – they were offering it by the glass, so I just had to try … after ensuring it was really from Indian grapes …
Sooooo … I ordered up a glass of the stuff, being a sucker for Sauvignon Blanc, especially those with petrol/rubber. The server came over and offered me a “taste” at first, warning me that in his experience, not every patron liked the wine. After such a preview, I prepared for something that would taste like a cross between garbage and butt. However, as I swirled and swished, mulling over the flavors, I wasn’t repulsed. He suggested, “a little green, huh?”. I completely disagreed. Actually – this wine was quite good! It was very different than a NZ or CA or French Sauv Blanc – but still had that minerality and acid. There was a more plush stone fruit up front that immediately went to a floral/rubber taste and a hint of grass on the finish. Great evolution of flavor on the palate. We inquired and the server guessed it was in the neighborhood of $10-14 per bottle (if it can be found). At that price, hell yeah I’d buy some more – and I’d bring it to every wine snob’s house and make ’em taste it blind. It’s that much fun! (P.S. if you like chardonnay or Santa Margherita, you’re not going to like this wine).
So overall, this was a great showing by Tashan – and this is without their original chef. a and I were impressed. We are sad, though, that the place was just way too empty; we fear that they’re just not going to be able to stay open with this [lack of] traffic. Such a shame! On the up side, if you wanted to plan a surreptitious romantic meal with no witnesses, then this would be the place to do it. Of course, you’d probably feel like you were on one, even if you were just two friends going to lunch …
the “secret supper club”
t says: a, v, g and I are huge Aimee Olexy fanboys. We can’t help it. Be it the Table or Garden, we just love to go. And now: Talula’s Daily. We came, we saw, we ate, and we were happy …
the menu for the evening sounded reasonable – nothing too crazy-or-exciting – just a pasta dinner, right? trust me – it’s more!
the squid was served on a single plate and it was lovely – nicely done and coupled with pickled watermelon rind and those super-hot-peppers. the aioli was a little bland (we were hoping it’d be a little more herb-y), but I think that we were pleasant surprised overall with the homey-yet-better-than-an-Italian-restaurant appeal. a solid start!
this salad rocked my socks. seriously – why would I ever eat a salad with un-grilled vegetables ever again? every single component had the perfect texture (forkable, but with enough bite so you weren’t just eating mush) and that corn on the bottom was so vivid in flavor. i really think this salad ruined salads for me …
now we thought the pasta was going to be the main event … but we were wrong – the meatballs were! we were alotted so many meatballs that i cried uncle well before the food ran out. they were soft in texture, with great flavors of pig and cow, and then covered in a pasta sauce which was made with ORANGE PEEL. It was like a summer-kissed tomato sauce – very unique. Now, I can see how traditionalists might poo-poo this kind of tinkering with tomatoes, but even g, the through-and-through-South-Jersey-“my-mom-makes-the-best-gravy”-Italian liked it! So mad props to the chef on this one!
the cheese melted our faces off … like, we entered the restaurant with faces, but we left with nothing more than a few specks of blackened skin clinging on a singed skull … i can’t remember what the cheeses were (my temporal lobes were also damaged in the aforementioned face-melting incident), but they were all so delicious, with unique personalities of flavor and texture that i don’t care. Sure, there was dessert, which included a lovely home-made-lookin’ crisp and ice cream, and sure, it was also a wonderful close to the meal, typical of a meal at neighboring Talula’s Garden, but they had us at the cheese …
after dinner sneeze 