EAT DRINK
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FORK + center BY IAN MCNULTY Dining@gambitweekly.com
putting everything on the table
Off the hook
A fishing captain and a South American chef shake up a classic New Orleans seafood house. By Ian McNulty
GAMBIT > BESTOFNEWORLEANS.COM > AUGUST 27 > 2013
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ong before Americans started watching extreme food shows and chef competitions on TV, Louisianans pursued the culinary sport known as camp cooking. It starts with a piece of Louisiana fauna just taken from the wild, and preparation involves a mix of family tradition and improvisation with whatever is at hand, plus a dash of bravado. Camp cooking is more about bragging rights than delicacy or strict adherence to a recipe. A restaurant version of camp cooking, imbued with a distinct Latin edge, is the specialty of Basin Seafood & Spirits, a casual, unprepossessing restaurant that opened last spring. The regular menu reads like those at many local seafood houses, with char-broiled oysters and barbecue shrimp leading the way. Under the surface, however, there’s a more contemporary take on the potential of Louisiana seafood. Mahi mahi is cut into large, bouncy chunks for ceviche strung with pickled onions and avocado, crab cakes are stuffed with poached quail eggs and a thick tuna steak was ruby-red inside and dusky-red outside from a kimchi coating. The approach is a merging of methods from Basin’s co-owners, Edgar Caro, a native of Colombia and chef/owner of Baru Bistro & Tapas, and Thomas Peters, a New Orleans native whose family operates a fishing charter business in Venice. There is a nightly whole fish special, and I loved the redfish. Heaped with chunky red pepper-garlic sauce, like a Latin Sambal Oelek, its crackly skin was scored and stuffed with lemon and cebollitas and grilled corn finished the platter. Ordering the whole fish is no guarantee of greatness, however, as we experienced another evening with fried snapper that was bent like a boomerang around maque choux but also badly overcooked and bland. There’s fried seafood (a platter at dinner, po-boys at lunch), though those options don’t merit a special trip on their own, and fish and chips takes too much liberty with the concept, disappointingly replacing “chips” with roasted potatoes. Basin Seafood is small, but by the fall it plans to add seating in a rear patio with its own bar and a view into the seafood boiling room. The restaurant serves interesting cocktails (the Yucatan firecracker combines tequila, grapefruit syrup and pickled jalapenos) and has a short but good wine list. If a nonseafood dish catches your fancy here, don’t ignore it. I’m glad I tried the pork chop special. Medium-thick, glistening and served on the bone, it was done one better with a topping of spicy and sweet tomato marmalade that stewed so long, the thin, red tomato skins tasted candied. Dishes that sound conventional often have novel twists, like a steakhouse wedge salad enhanced with shrimp remoulade, its mild, creamy sauce given punch from chunks of blue cheese. By comparison, seafood gumbo with roux the color of hazelnuts is straight-up Louisiana traditional, and gloriously so.
Ivy taking root on Magazine
As Gautreau’s (1728 Soniat St., 504899-7397; www.gautreausrestaurant.com) has collected culinary accolades over the years, it also has attracted the interest of many would-be partners. Proprietor Patrick Singley says he’s fielded proposals to start new restaurant projects from the Gulf Coast to Oxford, Miss. “We’ve gotten maybe 50 offers over the years to open new projects,” he says. “We were just always looking for that right fit of the area, the building and the project.” The right answer materialized less than a mile away from Gautreau’s. Singley and his wife Rebecca plan to open a restaurant called Ivy this fall at 5015 Magazine St., the address of the former Vizard’s Restaurant. Singley says the concept they’re developing is comparable to Bouligny Tavern (3641 Magazine St., 504-8911810; www.boulignytavern.com), chef PAGE 99
WINE OF THE week BY BRENDA MAITLAND Email Brenda Maitland at winediva1@earthlink.net
2010 Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rose COASTAL REGION, SOUTH AFRICA $11 RETAIL
Whole fish preparations are a nightly special at Basin Seafood & Spirits. PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
what
Basin Seafood & Spirits
reservations not accepted
what works where
3222 Magazine St. (504) 302-7391; www. basinseafoodnola.com
when
lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner daily, brunch Sat.-Sun.
how much moderate
ceviche and crudo, whole redfish, gumbo
what doesn’t lunch is too reliant on po-boys
check please
an offbeat but wellgrounded take on Louisiana seafood
Along the southwestern tip of South Africa, the subtropical climate created by the convergence of the Atlantic and Indian oceans influences coastal vineyards with long, sun-drenched summers and cool breezy evenings. Located east of Cape Town in the Stellenbosch area, Mulderbosch produces an array of inexpensive wines. For this rose made from 100 percent cabernet sauvignon, grapes were pressed lightly to attain its reddish-salmon tinge. Following fermentation, the wine rested on its lees and underwent light fining and filtering before bottling. In the glass, it offers aromas of pink grapefruit, blood orange, cranberry and a touch of spice. On the palate, taste red berries, watermelon, herb, white pepper and citrusy notes on the flinty finish. Serve slightly chilled with roasted chicken, salads, tuna steaks, poached salmon, quiche, shrimp remoulade, tempura-fried vegetables and Asian dishes. Buy it at: Dorignac’s. Drink it at: Mondo and 5 Fifty 5.