Eclectic.
French Quarter: 430 Dauphine. 504-525-4455. Map.
Lunch Wednesday-Saturday. Dinner Monday-Saturday.
Dressy
AE DC DS MC V
Website
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The understated, low-key, highly personal restaurant of Susan Spicer, Bayona is the restaurant for you if you think deeply about what you eat. The style of the kitchen is beyond category: Susan and her chefs (who are allowed to express themselves fully) take cues from every known cuisine. It may be too subtle for some people. Bayona was slipping a little before the hurricane, but came back from it better than ever. The menu pricing has always been one of the outstanding values on the gourmet side of the dining scene.
WHY IT'S GOOD
The ingredients are carefully sourced, with an emphasis on locally-produced, wild-caught, artisanal, and organic foodstuffs. The menu lets you know all that; it was one of the first to abandon dish names in favor of descriptive ones. All of this is prevented from becoming mere posturing by Susan's unerring, well-educated taste.
BACKSTORY
Susan Spicer came to restaurant cooking in the late 1970s, working at Louis XVI with the brilliant French chef Daniel Bonnot. That association led to her fronting her first restaurant, Savoir-Faire, in the early days of the New Orleans gourmet bistro revolution in 1983. She traveled a bit, cooking in France for awhile, and returned to New Orleans in 1986 to head the kitchen at the new Bistro at the Maison de Ville. In 1990, she partnered with Regina Keever to open Bayona, in an old French Quarter building that formerly housed several restaurants--Maison Pierre most memorable among them. The building's wall sported one of the many tile signs around the French Quarter telling of the city's Spanish past. It notes that the Spanish name for Dauphine Street was Calle de Bayona--hence the name of the restaurant.
DINING ROOM
The restaurant has a decidedly Mediterranean look. The entrance through the carriageway is charming. The main dining room has low ceilings, brick arches, and many windows, most of which are shuttered on the outside but allow light to filter in. Flowers are used profusely enough to create opulence. The small "lizard room" (game: sit in there and figure out why it's called that) is a bit quieter than the sometimes noisy main room. The upstairs dining room is claustrophobic and to be avoided. In nice weather, they serve in a small courtyard. The entire restaurant is compact, with not quite enough space anywhere.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
The restaurant has two complete menus. One changes daily and unpredictably. The other offers these signature dishes. Both menus are appealing.
Grilled shrimp with coriander.
Eggplant caviar and tapenade.
Sweetbreads any style.
Roasted garlic soup.
Quail salad with pears.
Salmon with choucroute and Gewurztraminer.
Pork, lamb, or veal chops.
Duck breast with pepper jelly.
Pistachio pots de creme.
Apricot and almond beignets.
FOR BEST RESULTS
When full, the noise level can be very high. It's a good idea to avoid the weekends and when many visitors are in town.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The menu descriptions never have done justice to the food, which is always better than it sounds. The service staff can get a shade too full of praise of the chef and her food--even though the praise is deserved.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment +1
- Consistency +3
- Service +2
- Value +2
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar +2
- Hipness +2
- Local Color +3
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Courtyard or deck dining
- Romantic
- Good for business meetings
- Medium private room
- Open Monday dinner
- Open some holidays
- Historic
- Free valet parking
- Reservations accepted
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Susan Spicer is rare among chefs of her caliber. She's affected neither by her celebrity nor the winds of culinary fashion. Her career has been charted by her own curiosities. There doesn't seem to be even a hint of commercialism or voguishness about it.
I asked her once if she ever got tired of serving grilled shrimp with black bean cakes, cream of garlic soup, salmon with choucroute, or sweetbreads. (Those dishes have been in her repertoire since before Bayona.) "Never," was her answer. "I keep them because I love the way they taste."
Chef Spicer's sense of taste is so sure that she doesn't try to sell you on it. Just believe. What comes out of the kitchen will be either a neglected classic or a deft innovation. Bayona is a lovely restaurant. Its main room feels generous and comfortable. The other, smaller rooms are intimate but in a cool way. When the weather is decent, you can dine outside.
Least appealing part of the restaurant: upstairs, which some might find claustrophobic. Service is uncomplicated but pays attention to the important details. On a first visit, get the chef’s favorites mentioned above. They all capture Bayona's understated, elegant style. The most talked-about entree is sweetbreads, cleaned so thoroughly that they fall apart into smaller morsels than you're used to seeing. That doesn't impact the flavor--oozy with butter and lemon, perked up a bit with capers. There's also a richer version with mushrooms, cream and mustard. Either is better as an appetizer.
Once you've done the standards, you'll find the best dinners here come from the list of specials. Seafood specials often involve offbeat species, and the kitchen always seems to know what to do with them. The dessert list is as understated as the rest of the menu. This is not a bananas Foster kind of place, but what sweets you do get will be pleasant enough. Bayona's wine list has always been one of the most eclectic and interesting around. You'll find many wine's you've only read about in magazines here, and all of them will find a willing partner in at least one of the specialties being served.
This review was updated with new information on 12/31/2009.
A list of all 300 full, current reviews is here.