From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published December 15, 2006 Dakota 6$ Covington: 629 N. US 190 985-892-3712 Lunch Thurs.-Fri. Dinner Mon.-Sat. AE DC MC V On September 7, 2005--nine days after the hurricane--Dakota reopened for business, the first gourmet restaurant to do so anywhere in the metropolitan area. And it opened not to serve sandwiches or red beans, but the advanced contemporary Creole food it always had. It had the advantage of being on the North Shore. But it was also very lucky. I live there, and when I came home on September 9, it was an impossible jumble of downed trees, fallen power lines, and other problems foretelling a long road ahead. But Dakota had power and water and gas, and owners Ken Lacour and Chef Kim Kringlie got right back to work. Contrary to the widespread idea in those days that nobody would be interested in five-star food and service for a long time, the place filled up with a waiting list every hour it was open. The universal shortage of employees exacerbated that, but they toughed it out. Dakota now is, if anything, even more impressive than it was before the storm. Long been among the top-rated restaurants in the entire New Orleans area, it's certainly my idea of the best restaurant anywhere on the North Shore. In some competitions in the dining arena, it's the only game in town. Wine, for one. Ken Lacour is a knowledgeable and devoted grape nut, making trips to the major winegrowing regions of the world several times a year, on the lookout for the new and interesting. His wine list is one of the best around, the perfect book to peruse if your curiosity about wine moves you to try something new every time you open a bottle. The wine list is, in fact, a little scary. Outside of the world's most exclusive restaurants, I've never seen such a predominance of wines priced in three figures. The effect is so pronounced that I frequently hear from people who were outraged by the small percentage of under-$100 bottles. But that's just an illusion; as many bottles here are in the same price category you'd find in any other first-class restaurant. It's just that there are so many high-end wines that they overwhelm the everyday wines. A much less strident statement is made by Kim Kringlie's menu. He's the guy from North Dakota, but he's been in Louisiana long enough to know the flavor. Although Kringlie's menu has a cachet of hipness, for the most part its flavors are familiar, almost to the point of being traditional. (The partners' other restaurant--Cuvee, in the CBD--has a much more avant-garde style.) The best dinner here is the attractively-priced ($65) tasting menu of six courses. It's mostly specials, but they understand the appeal of their signature dishes, and are flexible. The first such is crabmeat and Brie soup, a super-rich cream soup that's so thick that sometimes I get the idea that the bowl could be turned upside down without the soup falling out. I'd say, in fact, that it's too thick. But there's nothing amiss with the flavor, which tastes exactly as it sounds. A couple of years ago Dakota began serving its version of The Dish That Drago's Wrought: oysters grilled on their shells, sent out with a sizzling, buttery sauce. The wrinkle is the addition of truffle oil and fresh herbs, which lends a marvelous flavor. Indeed, I think I could sit here eating these things all night, and forget about ordering anything other than some great unknown Spanish wine Ken found. The wild mushroom ravioli also capture one's attention. We don't see this very good idea often enough, perhaps because the textures of pasta and mushrooms are so similar. But it works, very well, and the sauce--which has some foie gras melted into it--completes an excellent appetizer. A little more country-style (after all, Dakota is in the country, isn't it) are the shrimp and grits (a required dish for all restaurants now) with pancetta. The grits are the best part, with a nice, toothsome texture. And the lamb nachos, which have been around awhile here. There's blue cheese in there. They make good salads, the best of which is a nest of greens with two shafts of rare seared tuna rising out of them, as sharp as knives, with a shocking day-glo red interior. (How does he get that color?) That makes a fine lunch (they expand it a bit) as well as an excellent first course at dinner. The signature entree may be off the menu when you read this; soft-shell crabs are entering the nadir of their season. But you still might be able to get Dakota's version in which the body is stuffed so well that it looks like a ball with legs and claws. It emerges with hollandaise blended with a bit of Creole mustard, and that's just nothing but good. But I never get that any more, good as it is. The chef simply creates dishes at a faster pace than I visit the restaurant, and I never catch up with him. I love what they do with scallops, pairing it with crabmeat and flageolet beans with chorizo, thereby invoking the magic of seafood and beans together. The black sea bass with a risotto of shrimp and crabmeat and peas is also terrific, and other fish specials are reliable. My most recent meal featured a great rabbit dish with spaetzle (pasta dumplings), wild mushrooms, and a mustard sauce, with a coddled egg down there to add richness. Great dish, with a magnificent aroma and the tenderness that is rabbit. I haven't had them lately, but whatever they're doing with pork or duck has always been money in the bank. This cider-brined double pork chop is in my mind for the next visit. Among the side dishes is an oddity you ought to try: truffled macaroni and cheese. This is a trendy dish sweeping gourmet restaurants around the country, and we'll be sick of it in about two years, but it's all right to eat it now. I find the desserts here just okay, but since I'm usually here with my wife, and she doesn't eat dessert, it's just as well. Among the most impressive accomplishments of Dakota is that it has managed to maintain a first-class service staff. That is very difficult on the North Shore, but Ken Lacour pulls it off through a great training program. Among the most irritating aspects of Dakota is its unusually long list of rules, and the severity of their enforcement. No cellphones or smoking? Fine. But the corkage policy is incomprehensible. But those are fine points, and fine points are what continue to make Dakota a consistent source of pleasure. Click here to return to today's edition. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.