Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published November 16, 2007 Chefs Slade, Allison Rushing In Kitchen MiLa Opens In Former Rene Bistrot Last week, the Rushings--two young chefs, married to each other, with local roots and New York connections--took over the restaurant in the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel and opened it as MiLa. That's a contraction of Mississippi and Louisiana, and tells us something about the food they're going to cook. From these parts, for starters, but with an original spin. Slade Rushing and Allison Vines-Rushing (to get the names exactly right) drew some attention when they took over the former Artesia restaurant in Abita Springs, renamed it Longbranch, and proved (not for the first time) that highly sophisticated cooking is a hard sell in the piney woods. The food was good, but the place never attracted enough of a clientele. Their new endeavor is in the space where Rene Bajeux opened his French bistro some years ago. He came and went a few times after the storm, and finally left to become chef and partner with John Besh in La Provence. (Since that's across the lake, the balance of the universe after the Rushings moved to the South Shore remained true.) The Rushings say that they'll emphasize locally-grown foodstuffs and both Southern and Creole cooking. (Which are two different things, and therefore candidates for fusion.) At Longbranch, their menus evolved rather more quickly than do those of most bistros, largely because they depended so much on what they got from the farmers. However, one dish was always there: the oddity they called deconstructed oysters Rockefeller. Not a bad dish, but don't think oysters Rockefeller when you order it. As you will be able to at MiLa. It made the cut on the new restaurant's menu. The dining room, I see, features artwork by my old buddy Dawn Dedeaux. The tiled yellow and blue columns seem to have remained from Rene Bistro, which I thought had a fine contemporary look. They're serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. The only hole in that schedule is the common lack of lunch on Saturday. They also have a Sunday brunch. MiLa. 817 Common. 412-2580. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com