May 15, 2007

• Herbsaint

  
  
  New Orleans, LA

  
  St. Charles street-side dining..

  First off, Congratulations to Chef Donald Link of Herbsaint and Couchon for winning the grand daddy of Culinary awards, the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the South! Not too shabby.. now lets hope the restaurant lives up to expectations! lol

  
  Time to order!

  
  Butter & Bread.. =)

  
  Shrimp, Grit cakes, and Tasso Cream Sauce!

  
  Duck and Andouille Gumbo

  I loved the Shrimp and Green Chile Grits Cakes with Tasso Cream Sauce!  Shrimp, Grits and Tasso? Can you go wrong? The creaminess.. the savoriness.. Oh yes the combination was immaculate. If you like that sorta thing. lol

  As for the Duck and Andouille gumbo.. I was thoroughly disappointed. Is it the great expectations? The great Chef Donald Link.. Best Chef of the South?? I just expected a little bit more from the gumbo, okay.. I expected A LOT more! In a city where Gumbo is KING and every restaurant has it on the menu.. if you, Sir Donald Link, want to do a gumbo.. you don’t need to have the best one in town, just make it decent. I do not like to be negative when doing a food review, it just hit a sour note.. The good news is that the rest of the meal more than made up for it!
  

  
  Duck Confit and Dirty Rice

  
  Bluefin Tuna

  
  inside the Bluefin

  First is the Muscovy Duck Confit with Dirty Rice and a Citrus Gastrique.. I believe this is one of the best duck confits I’ve tasted in the city! The meat is soft and moist as it should be, skin is perfectly crisp, and the duck flavor is not attacking your palate, rather it’s subtle flavors slowly tap into your taste buds. The way all ducks should be!

  The Bluefin Tuna can be summed up best in two words, fresh and fresh! It was like we were dining on a yacht and the chef caught it, seared it, and put it on our plate! The tuna was very delicate..And with such a great ingredient, the key is not messing it up and they executed pefectly. It was served with tangy tomato vinaigrette, mashed yukon gold potatoes and grilled asparagus. Everything fell right into place!

  Dessert Time? Yes!

  
  Banana Brown Butter Tart

  
  Apple White Chocolate Beignets

  The desserts were both delicious. The Banana Brown Butter Tart was uber-rich! And the Beignets were not like Cafe Du Monde’s.. these were stuffed with apples and sat in some kind of star anise flavored sauce? Very interesting and definitely worth a try! The tables are very comfortable and the waitstaff is on key. The restaurant is very busy.. get reservations!

  Overall Rating:   1/2 (out of 7 )

  Future Entries:
  Master Pastry Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer – Dessert Demonstration
  

  My new Blogring:
  Xagat-Rated
  
  Feel free to join! =)
  

  • 9:32 am
  • 10 Comments