French. Bistro.
Garden District: 2800 Magazine . 504-265-0421. Map.
Lunch Wednesday-Sunday. Dinner Monday-Saturday. Sunday brunch.
Dressy
AE DC DS MC V
Website
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
One of the two or three best restaurant to open in 2009, Coquette is a stylish bistro with a short, evolving menu, clever to the point of delight. It tastes good, too. Both the flavors and the premises make references to New Orleans dining traditions without being swamped by them. Menu prices are a shade lower than in comparable restaurants, with no corresponding quality discount.
WHY IT'S GOOD
The first thing you notice about the menu is how short it is. Six starters, six entrees, and that's it--no specials. But the list is reworked every day, and after a month almost everything on it will have changed. The kitchen cooks in lockstep with current ingredients and presentations. There's a downside to the evolving menu: the consistency is less than perfect. In the bar you find the unique cocktails now demanded by that culture. All of this flows easily, naturally, and pleasurably.
BACKSTORY
Chef Michael Stoltzfus and dining room orchestrator Lillian Hubbard are a couple that came together in New Orleans because of family connections after Katrina. Michael learned his craft on the eastern shore of Maryland, which has much of the same seafood we do here in New Orleans. Both put in time at Restaurant August; Lillian and some of her staff were in the dining room at nearby neighbor Commander's Palace. They so much liked dining in this building when it was Table One (one of three previous restaurants here since 2004; the others were The Living Room and Takumi) that they kept their eyes on it. When Takumi gave up, Michael and Lillian jumped in.
DINING ROOM
The building is an 1850s brick townhouse, with dining rooms on two floors. The downstairs, with its oversize bar, tall ceilings, tile floor and mirrors, has an unambiguous old New Orleans feeling. The brick-walled, windowed upstairs is actually the more pleasant place to dine, with almost too much space between and above tables. The stairs to the second floor are a bit more challenging than most, so if you have a problem with climbing, reserve a first-floor table.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
The menu changes with some frequency, but this is a good sampling of it:
Burrata crostini with roasted tomato, basil oil
Boston lettuce with candied pecans, goat cheese
Watermelon salad with Creole tomatoes and arugula
Grilled asparagus with crawfish country ham dressing
Fried shrimp with grapefruit, niçoise olives, sambal
Fresh cheese agnolotti pasta with roasted rabbit and sweet corn
Sweet corn soup with bowfin caviar
Black drum with haricots verts, capers, crabmeat, almonds
Gulf shrimp, roasted okra, sweet corn, grits
King salmon, red potato “risotto”, chorizo, saffron, heirloom tomatoes
Soft-shell crab with sweet corn, bacon, fried avocado
Colorado lamb with crowder peas
Mississippi rabbit with fava beans and baby artichokes
Prime flatiron steak, barley, oxtail ragout
Desserts change nightly
FOR BEST RESULTS
The mixologist makes extraordinarily good, original cocktails. Try the Bailout and La Reve.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The chef has not yet adjusted his palate to that of the locals in the realm of salt and spice. The menu could use maybe two more dishes in each section.
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 +2
- Consistency
- Service +1
- Value +1
- Attitude +2
- Wine and Bar +1
- Hipness +2
- Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Outdoor tables, drinks only
- Romantic
- Good view
- Good for business meetings
- Large private room
- Open Sunday lunch
- Open Monday dinner
- Open all afternoon
- Historic
- Easy, nearby parking
- Reservations honored promptly
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Finding this charming, urbane new restaurant brightened my outlook, and gave me a twinge of nostalgia. It recalled a few moments in our culinary history when crops of small, clever restaurants popped up, creating a new excitement. We haven't had many restaurants--let along crops of them--since the hurricane. Maybe Coquette will start something.
The idea of a menu written in the sand is so appealing that it's a wonder more restaurants don't use it. That does require a sophisticated clientele, but there is one Uptown. Perhaps the most telling comment I have about the chef's talents is that, even with only six entrees from which to choose, I always have trouble choosing.
And it feels like New Orleans--but the new New Orleans.
This review was updated with new information on 7/2/2010.
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