EAT DRINK
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FORK + center BY IAN MCNULTY Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@cox.net
putting everything on the table what
Martinique Bistro
where
5908 Magazine St., (504) 891-8495; www.martiniquebistro.com
when
lunch Fri., dinner Tue.-Sun., brunch Sat. and Sun.
how much expensive
reservations recommended
what works
brunch in the courtyard, duck, steak and pork dishes
Sushi meets spring roll
Once found just at Vietnamese restaurants, rice paper spring rolls have turned up at all kinds of eateries — and even the occasional convenience store counter. More recently, Jazmine Cafe (614 South Carrollton Ave., 504-866-9301) created a Vietnamese-Japanese hybrid. Jazmine Cafe has been a fairly standard Vietnamese restaurant, serving pho, banh mi and a few more elaborate entree specialties. This summer, the restaurant added what looks like a sushi bar in the corner of its dining room, but this new addition isn’t producing California rolls. Rather, it’s the workstation for a new menu that melds spring rolls and sushi rolls, combining raw and cooked fish and other unconventional spring roll ingredients into rice paper wrappers. The rainbow spring roll is layered with slices of raw salmon, tuna and yellowtail and filled with crabstick, but is bound by crisp lettuce and the familiar texture of fresh rice paper. Slices of avocado and PAGE 31
what doesn’t
first courses are lackluster compared with entrees
check, please
A Creole bistro with Lowcountry touches, primed for fall
Chef Eric Labouchere prepares a menu of fall flavors at Martinique.
Lowcountry and Creole flavors of the season captivate at Martinique Bistro.
PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
By Ian McNulty
W
e expect seasonal foods at restaurants with a certain level of ambition, and Martinique Bistro fits that bill. At this time of year, the entire operation at this Uptown restaurant seems married to the season. A lush patio constitutes probably two-thirds of the restaurant’s dining space, and with fall weather Martinique is in full bloom. Its outdoor dining room has never looked better. It is surrounded by ivy-hung walls and capped by a high canopy, and large parties cluster around tables in the cinematically pitched outdoor light. Service is casual, and the scene feels like a party. A new outdoor bar makes it easy to drop in for a few drinks or dishes. The restaurant’s name refers to the island birthplace of its original chef, who opened Martinique in 1994 and cooked in a French Caribbean style. New owners took over in 2003, however, and island flavors have been phased out. Chef Eric Labouchere has been at the helm for the last few years and while his menu is still cross-cultural, it is French bistro fare infused with contemporary Creole elements. Some best bets are pork tenderloin stacked over pancakes of black-eyed peas and blue cheese, and flatiron steak, aromatic from smoked peppercorns and grill char, dressed with chimichurri. The pan-roasted Gulf fish gets “muddy waters” sauce (a tribute to the former Uglesich’s Restaurant), which is essentially a meuniere enhanced with jalapenos and anchovies. There’s always a vegetarian entree, and a dense, perfectly textured “steak” of tofu under a canopy of greens and goat cheese did
BY BRENDA MAITLAND Email Brenda Maitland at winediva1@earthlink.net
2007 Obra Prima Malbec Reserva MENDOZA, ARGENTINA $20 RETAIL
not make us miss beef. Unfortunately, first courses rarely make such a strong impression. Escargot, mussels and soups are all passable, but neither preparation nor presentation really dazzles. Gnocchi with crawfish tails and tasso had promise but looked like ingredients had been hastily flung at the plate. Salads are flawlessly fresh and more reliable, and one standout appetizer is duck confit sealed with a spice-laden crust that audibly cracks. Paired with French toast, duck confit also makes a star turn at brunch, and brunch itself is a Martinique forte. Labouchere’s dishes are especially beautiful, especially poached eggs with drum, fat chunks of lobster, chanterelles, hollandaise and edible flowers. This dish sounded too busy, but in fact its components came together as a rich, sweet, creamy, earthy, highly satisfying whole. A newer undercurrent comes from South Carolina’s Lowcountry, where Labouchere worked for a stretch. It turns up in dishes like sauteed shrimp with shaved okra and roasted corn, and the “benne brittle,” a Lowcountry sesame seed candy the chef fuses to roasted duck breast. One dish that conveys seasonality more from its flavors and mood than actual ingredients: roasted duck breast with a deepdark cure on the duck skin and a mouth-coating demi-glace sharpened by cognac seeping into grits. It conjures the feel of fall in the South as surely as the rustling breeze on Martinique’s charming patio.
Mendoza’s Cassone family produced this wine with 100 percent Malbec grapes from 90-year-old pre-phylloxera vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo, 3,000 feet above sea level. Following fermentation, prolonged maceration of the grape skins imbued the wine with a deep violet hue and intense flavors. Unfiltered, the wine aged 12 months in new French oak barrels before bottling. The full-bodied wine has an even balance of fruit, tannins and acidity. Blackberry fruit dominates a bouquet also offering spice, leather, toasty oak and coffee notes. On the palate, taste currants, cassis, mocha, earthy undertones, a savory herbal character, pepper and ripe tannins. Decant an hour before serving. Drink it with rare steak, rack of lamb, osso buco, roasted game and aged cheeses. Buy it at: Keife & Co. Drink it at: Palace Cafe, La Boca, Dick and Jenny’s and Mr. John’s Steakhouse.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > october 16 > 2012
Good Season
WINE OF THE week
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