On Saturday morning, I awoke bright an early in anticipation of my panel discussion. It's only the 2nd one I've done, and the prospect of 50+ people listening to me talk about multi-channel marketing was, ahem, daunting to say the least.
So, I had to eat something but was not hungry at all. A couple pieces of buttered toast, and a nice tasty cajun sausage later, off we went.
After the session, I headed back to the hotel to meet my better half, who arrived around 5pm. He hadn't eaten, so we ordered him up a fried oyster po'boy, which was really very good.
Didn't want him to fill up, though, as we had 7:30 dinner reservations at Restaurant August with SG and her hubby JG. They are the cutest, sweetest couple you've ever met - I love them both (individually and together) .
OK... so first of all, the space is just gorgeous. The building itself was built in the 1880's and has the most amazing coffered ceilings, and this romantic glow as you walk into the foyer. Enormous floor to ceiling French doors lead into the main dining room full of exposed brick, magnificent chandeliers, velvet, gold and flowers. Somehow, this overblown decor is perfect and not garish in any way.
The banquette seating was perfectly comfortable (unlike those at Michael Mina). Directly in front of SG and I was the wine cellar room, a smaller room with lots of wood and wrought iron. Also beautiful, but more intimate and not as opulent as the main room where we sat. Above that room, you could see this amazing cellar with what could only be thousands of bottles. (There was yet a third dining room even farther down the hall, but we couldn't see it from where we were).
I will start with my meal. I ordered the "BLT", touted as "Buster Crab, tomato, lettuce & lost bread". This was such a unique appetizer. It was a small soft-shell crab, deep-fried in what was a spicy but light breading, and laid atop a tower of perfect tomato (no small feat in mid-October), a bit of mache, and a disk of delicious, butter-browned bread. It was dressed very lightly, and this was my favorite of the appetizers.
For dinner, I chose the Moroccan Duck. This was perfectly rare breast medallions with a rather heavy rub, which was ever-so-slightly overpowered by anise. I love anise, so it was ok, but I couldn't taste any other spices in the rub. This was served with a small piece of seared foie gras (anyone who follows my blog knows that I am a sucker for seared f.g.) and macerated cherries. There was a small mound of delicious polenta dressed with the duck and cherry jus. This was a stunning dish, and one of my favorites on the whole trip.
SG ordered a Beet & Goat Cheese Salad and the Blackfish (parmesan-crusted with lobster mashed potatoes, according to the online menu). The taste I had of each was really wonderful. The beet salad was an explosion of color with the golden and red beets. The flavor of the fish was stronger than I expected, but not in an "oily-fish" sort of way - more "meaty". It was quite nice, though the flavor was drowned by my food.
Sadly, I have completely forgotton what JG to start - I could have sworn it was a crab dish to start, but now I'm not so sure - and he had the same moroccan duck I had.
C had the Gnocchi with Crab and Truffle to start - this was a wonderful starter. The crab was (obviously) milder than mine, and the truffle infused creme sauce was delectable. The gnocchi were very good, though a bit heavy to my palate - I like my gnocchi fluffly like clouds. He then had the Filet, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it was dressed with. But I do remember the fork-tender meat and the buttery flavor.
Before I describe dessert, let me say that August (and John Besh) have dedicated a most-creative approach to this course, and as a result, have provided the supremely talented pastry chef with her own pristine and quiet kitchen upstairs, away from the noise of the main kitchen. A genius way to handle an art form that is far different from "cuisine".
We ordered all four of the desserts on the menu, forgoing only the cheese course. Each dessert was themed (reminding me of Michael Mina), and was 3-4 diminutive little presentations on one plate. I honestly can't even describe everything, except to say that there were only three or so items amongst the 12 presented that DIDN'T knock my socks off.
- "City of New Orleans" was a bread pudding with Irish Whiskey ice cream, a pot de creme and a third item that I can't think of.
- "From the Dairy" was a goat cheese cheesecake (I hope that I am eating this when I die) with honey ice cream, a chocolate-hazelnut bombe thing, and a cappuccino (i think) panna cotta.
- "Our Chocolate Tasting" was a dark chocolate and black pepper souffle cake (oh. my. god. too...good... can't... speak), 2 little truffles, a petite little milkshake and a white chocolate tower thing that I didn't even try.
- "From our Farmers Market" was an all-fruit plate. There was a quince cake that was dense, chewy, moist goodness, a sorbet of some sort and some other thing that I can't remember.
After all that, they brought out some miniardises that were these dense little pillows of perfect bittersweet chocolate... reminded me of Callebaut chocolate. I was stuffed, so only managed to put away half of one, but my oh my, it was tasty.
Wine was a Keegan Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, '01. This wine was perfectly suited to the various entrees at the table. It started out earthy and leathery on the nose, with nice acidity. Rounded out to a very, very pleasant and true Pinot. A bit of vanilla and licorice on the finish which was very nice, and some of the earlier leatheryness blew off quite quickly.
I absolutely loved the Restaurant August. The food and decor were extremely creative, the ambiance was elegant and refined, but not stuffy, and the service was simple and unobtrusive.
After dinner, the four of us headed up to the 360 Club on top of the WTC building for nightcaps. This was a beautiful space, though that evening was not quite... ahem... our speed.
Thanks to JG and SG for the wonderful company and exquisite meal - S, this was the perfect, perfect choice. Bravo!
Restaurant August
301 Tchoupitoulas St
New Orleans
504.299.9777