Home FOOD & DINING Tasting Notes: June 2013

Tasting Notes: June 2013

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Ever since the building that houses La Petite Theatre was purchased, folks have been anxiously awaiting the latest Dickie Brennan’s restaurant, Tableau. tastingnotesJune2013At long last, the restaurant has thrown open its doors with Chef Ben Thibodeaux at the helm, offering French Creole dishes “with a unique twist.” Located on the St. Peter Street corner of Jackson Square, Tableau is now open daily, serving everything from Eggs Sardou to Creole Courtbouillon. A few dishes of note: try the Fried Eggplant Batons dusted with Creole powdered sugar or Tournedos Rossini Moderne topped with seared foie gras and marchands de vin.

Over in the Warehouse District on Convention Center Boulevard, Grand Isle Restaurant has hired a new mixologist. Eric Dahm, who recently moved to New Orleans from San Francisco, will be offering a whole new menu of craft cocktails at the popular seafood restaurant. A good time to taste Dahm’s talent might be the Tales of the Cocktail spirited dinner on July 18, when Chef Mark Falgoust will pair some incredible Cajun & Creole dishes with an array of cocktails created with the help of Bayou Rum and Sean Thibodeaux, Republic National Distributing Company’s award-winning mixologist.

Felipe’s Taqueria recently opened their new tiki concept bar/restaurant upstairs from their French Quarter location. Dubbed Tiki Tolteca, the bar offers traditional tiki food and cocktails incorporating Felipe’s fresh Latin American flavors and creativity. General bar manager Nathan Dalton is excited to present classic tiki drinks, but is also looking to branch out a little. “There are great tiki drinks that call for gin and bourbon, but they are few and far between. Felipe’s is pushing that envelope. We are moving into the territory of mezcal, pisco, tequila, aguardiente, cachaça and more.”

Basin Seafood & Spirits recently opened on Magazine Street in the building that once housed Rocky’s Gourmet Pizza. This new seafood restaurant is the second incarnation of Chef Edgar Caro and Thomas Peters of Baru Bistro & Tapas. With access to a lot of fresh, local seafood through Peters’ family fishing charter, Basin will be offering plenty of dishes with crawfish, shrimp, oysters … you name it. With locals already raving about Baru, we should expect only the best from Basin Seafood & Spirits.

OpenTable, the world’s leading provider of online restaurant reservations, recently announced its 2013 Diner’s Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in the United States. Our fair city managed to grab two slots on that list, with Cafe Atchafalaya on Louisiana Avenue and The Crystal Room at Le Pavillon Hotel on Poydras. Can we say that we’re surprised there weren’t more?