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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

starstarstarstarstar
Among the best locally.

starstarstarstar
Excellent and ambitious.

starstarstar
Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

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Dakota

Contemporary Creole.
Covington: 629 N. US 190 . 985-892-3712. Map.
Lunch Monday-Friday. Dinner Monday-Saturday.
Dressy
AE DC MC V
Website

WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL
Dakota is the only restaurant on the North Shore that has consistently kept its food, service, surroundings, and wine lists firmly in the five-star category since it opened. This is more challenging than it is on the South Shore, particularly in the service department--there being no real community of career waiters in that area. The clientele that supports restaurants like this--and keeps them on their toes--is also in short supply. But Ken Lacour and Chef Kim Kringlie keep their restaurant as fine as almost any in the city.

WHY IT'S GOOD
The style of the menu is unmistakably Creole, and refrains entirely from testing the limits of their customers' adventuresomeness. (The place wouldn't have survived otherwise.) But even within those confines Chef Kim finds new ideas, many of which make one think, "Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?" (The cider-brined pork chop and the crabmeat and Brie soup come to mind.) Ken Lacour has an intensive training program for his dining room staff; many North Shore restaurateurs began their careers working at Dakota. Lacour is also a knowledgeable oenophile, and keeps a distinguished wine cellar.

BACKSTORY
After working together at Juban's in Baton Rouge, Ken Lacour (local guy) and Kim Kringlie (from one of the Dakotas) partnered to open this restaurant in 1990. They took over what was originally (and still looks like) the restaurant of the Best Western motel next door, after Chef Pat Gallagher built out then shut down his Winner's Circle restaurant there. The timing was perfect: the migration of upper-middle-class people to the North Shore had reached boom proportions, and there were few restaurants for their high-end dining. Dakota has the distinction of being the first white-tablecloth restaurant in the New Orleans area to reopen following Hurricane Katrina.

DINING ROOM
The two main dining rooms are spacious in every dimension. That and the superlative floral arrangements throughout the restaurant give the place a sense of richness, even in the face of a hard, too-modern renovation a few years ago. The servers and front door staff could hardly be more accommodating or intelligent.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Shrimp and grits.
Crabmeat and Brie soup.
Char-grilled oysters with parmesan cheese and truffle oil.
Wild mushroom ravioli withh foie gras glace.
Lamb nachos with blue cheese.
Foie gras du jour.
Roquefort salad with apples and cashews.
Rare-seared ahi tuna salad with wasabi aioli.
Bacon-wrapped quail and chèvre salad.
Caesar salad with oysters.
Seared black sea bass with shellfish and pea risotto.
Stuffed soft-shell crab with Creolaise sauce.
Sea scallops and crabmeat with flageolets and chorizo.
Filet mignon with roasted garlic fondue.
Grilled trio of veal with three sauces.
Cider-brined double-cut pork chop.
Rabbit with wild mushrooms, spaetzle, and mustard sauce.
Bread pudding.
Valrhona chocolate torte.
Cheese selection.

FOR BEST RESULTS
Although weekday crowds rarely create a full house, the restaurant does so much private-dining business that it's always a good idea to make reservations. Lunch is a bargain. They recently instituted a very good bar menu with a tapas-like quality; it's a romantic,. quiet venue for a light supper.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The wine list can be frightening if you wander too deep into it. About two-third of the list consists of very expensive bottles on it. The management has brought the more modestly-priced wines to the front of the book, which made it a little easier to take. For some reason, Dakota is more stringent about its house rules than seems necessary.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 9/25/2009.