page 27
interview The Galatoire’s 33 name is a reference to an address the building used in the past as part of a now-obsolete street numbering system, says Melvin Rodrigue, the restaurant’s president. In addition to the bar and steakhouse, the building holds private dining rooms on its upper floors. With tile floors, a pressed-tin ceiling and marble-topped tables, the bar has a classic look but an altogether different design from Galatoire’s iconic dining room. There also are TVs to show sports and a grand piano where Jep Epstein performs from 9 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, the bar offers a half-price ($4) special on classic cocktails. This raft of changes for the old-line restaurant feels timely and optimistic, and maybe even brave. Galatoire’s has long felt like an Old World oasis amid the lowest common denominator of T-shirt shops, daiquiri bars and scoop-and-serve tourist trap restaurants that have held sway on much of Bourbon Street. But the city’s most famous street once had more dining and entertainment options that weren’t so cartoonish, and at least from early visits, it seems that Galatoire’s 33 Bar & Steak is reclaiming a little turf for class acts. The bar is open daily from 11 a.m. and the steakhouse serves dinner nightly and lunch on Friday. The steakhouse accepts reservations.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > aPRiL 16 > 2013
New Kingfish in town
28
The name Kingfish (337 Chartres St., 504-598-5005; www.kingfishneworleans. com) leaves little doubt that the fare at this new French Quarter restaurant has a Louisiana focus, and indeed the menu is full of local seafood, andouille and cochon de lait. Yet none of the dishes are standards. The crawfish salad is crossed with hoppin’ John, barbecue shrimp is ladled over a crunchy sweet potato waffle shaped like a pirogue, and pompano is cooked and served on a solid block of Himalayan salt. Gumbo is made with smoked rabbit, French sorrel sausage and served with “dirty” basmati rice. The approach at Kingfish is less startling when you learn that the kitchen is led by Greg Sonnier, a veteran New Orleans chef with a reputation for robust and creative reinterpretations of Louisiana flavors. An early protege of chef Paul Prudhomme, Sonnier and his wife Mary ran the Esplanade Avenue restaurant Gabrielle for 13 years before Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures. Kingfish was opened last week by Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, a company that runs a string of bars and restaurants around the French Quarter. This is easily the company’s most ambitious project. The building, previously used as a pizza parlor, has been renovated, and exposed brickwork and dark colors give it a vintage look. Sonnier works from a glassed-in kitchen and the large bar is overseen by Chris McMillian, a leader in the city’s classic cocktail revival. There’s a piano in the bar with live music Thursday
MONcEF sbaa p r o p r i e to r , ja m i l a’ s m ed i t er r a n e a n tunisian cuisine
g
uests at Jamila’s Mediterranean Tunisian Cuisine (7808 Maple St., 504866-4366) often get a booming welcome from Moncef Sbaa, who also is quick with a splash of aromatic orange flower water for their hands as they depart. In between, he helps ferry couscous, tagines, merguez and savory brik pies from the kitchen run by his wife Jamila. They both grew up around food production in their native Tunisia — Jamila on a family farm, Moncef near his family’s camelpowered olive oil press. They opened Jamila’s in 1994 and have run a food booth at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since 1997. Jamila’s merguez is now carried at Langenstein’s grocery stores (www.langensteins.com). What is the essence of Tunisian food? Sbaa: I grew up in an Italian-French-Jewish-Arab neighborhood. We always had a mix around us, and that’s what the food is like too. It’s about olive oil, garlic, mint, rosemary; it’s fresh lamb and fish and how you season it. The idea is always to put different ingredients together but not to lose their flavors when you do. Did you ever worry about how New Orleans would respond to traditional dishes? S: We wrote the menu many times before we opened. People ask me today, “Why don’t you have hummus on the menu?” Well, 20 places around me have hummus. It’s good to create your own space. You see a lot of restaurants opening now with the same menus. But I always thought the more specialized, the more particular your food was to your restaurant, the better. You always seem to be having a blast at work. What’s the secret? S: We love this place. We believed in it, we dreamed it, we got our reputation and we want to keep that. I think hospitality is making sure everyone is happy, even the toddler who wants his bread right away. I even give the babies menus. The parents say, “But he can’t read.” But if everyone has a menu, I want him to have one too. You have to have pleasure in what you do, not be so worried about how many tables you turn. That way everyone goes home happy — the customers, the staff, you. And that way everyone comes back. — IAN MCNULTY
through Saturday evenings. Kingfish marks a return of sorts for Sonnier. For the past few years, the chef has been trying to reopen Gabrielle in an Uptown neighborhood, and that effort ultimately foundered in the face of determined opposition from some neighbors and difficulties with City Hall’s zoning and permitting apparatus. Sonnier says his plans for Gabrielle are off, the building he purchased for it is for sale and he’s excited to get back into a restaurant kitchen full time. Kingfish serves dinner daily and will add lunch soon. Sonnier says the restaurant also will open a take-out shop called Kingfish Counter with a separate entrance on Chartres Street to serve sandwiches, snacks and butcher shop items.
crawfish boil benefit
Hot crawfish and cold beer work wonders together. For the past few years, Bugs & Brew for Drew has shown what the duo can do for community causes too. The upcoming edition Saturday
should underscore the point. Like many New Orleans events, this combination crawfish cook-off and beer festival started among friends and has grown quickly. In its fourth year, the event moves from Jesuit High School to River City Plaza, the riverfront festival grounds at Mardi Gras World (1380 Port of New Orleans Place). More than 50 teams will boil crawfish, and the Louisiana Craft Brewers Guild will run a beer garden featuring seven local brewers: Abita, Bayou Teche, Chafunkta, Covington, NOLA, Parish and Tin Roof. Local funk bands perform throughout the day. Bugs & Brew for Drew is a benefit for the Drew Rodrigue Foundation, named for a late football coach. It benefits cancer-fighting organizations and youth sports. Admission is free, and tickets are available on site for food and drinks, or attendees can purchase a Cajun Pass ($60) which includes food and drinks all day. The event is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit www.bugsandbrew.com for details.
FIVE in FIVE dIshEs that pay trIbutE tO NOLa grEats Brigtsen’s Restaurant 723 dante st., (504) 861-7610 www.brigtsens.com Baked oysters with crab and shrimp is from LeRuth’s.
Mondo 900 Harrison ave., (504) 224-2633 www.mondoneworleans.com Trout with “muddy waters” sauce was created at Uglesich’s.
Restaurant R’evolution 777 Bienville st., (504) 553-2277 www.revolutionnola.com Weekday lunch specials recreate dishes from Maylie’s to Kolb’s.
Serendipity 3700 orleans ave., (504) 407-0818 www.serendipitynola.com A dessert salutes down-but-notout Hubig’s Pies.
Upperline Restaurant 1413 upperline st., (504) 891-9822 www.upperline.com Garlicky oysters bordelaise is a nod to Restaurant Mandich.
OFF
the
menu
Trends, notes, quirks and quotes from the world of food. “Promoting the development and expansion of nightlife hubs should be a key economic development priority for cities. Or, rather, preventing neighborhood busybodies from stifling them ought to be. That means making decisions about liquor-licensing rules at a higher level, with consideration of the full citywide effects in terms of tax revenue and job creation. … Cities need to treat it as a more serious matter than a simple question of neighborhood opinion.” — Matthew Yglesias, from a piece in Slate on NIMBY (not in my backyard) reactions to new bars and restaurants.