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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:

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Among the best locally.

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Excellent and ambitious.

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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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La Boca

Steak. Latin American.
Warehouse District: 857 Fulton. 504-525-8205. Map.
Dinner Monday-Saturday.
Casual.
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The people of Argentina are even more enthusiastic about eating steak than Americans are. This grill recreates the style of the Argentine steakhouse, with unusual cuts of excellent beef, grilled with excitement, served with the unique chimichurri sauces. Thursdays through Saturdays, La Boca is open until midnight--a rare, welcome resource.

WHY IT'S GOOD
The concept is simple. Beef of good, fresh quality, a very hot grill, fresh-cut fries and grilled asparagus, and the distinctive South American sauce for beef, chimichurri. (It's a slurry of chopped herbs in olive oil, a sort of Hispanic pesto.) Some of the steaks are from seldom-seen cuts, and those are the most interesting. Side dishes are unusual; this is the first place I've ever encountered grilled sweetbreads, for example.

BACKSTORY
This is the carnivorous brother of RioMar, the terrific Spanish-style seafood cafe of Chef Adolfo Garcia and Nick Bazan. Adolfo had at least one superlative steak in all his past restaurants; Nick is himself from Argentina, and knows all about the Argentine steakhouse culture. The restaurant opened in 2006, taking over the space formerly that of Taqueria Corona. The dining room is managed by Orestes Rodriguez, one of the best service guys in town. (He was the long-time maitre d' at La Riviera.)

DINING ROOM
Not many changes were made in this old Warehouse District space when Chef Adolfo took over. But they weren't needed. It already looked like a steakhouse from the Pampas, with a lot of old, unpainted wooden surfaces, a concrete floor, and a generally rustic feeling.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Empanadas criollas (meat pies) or de pollo (chicken pies)
Morcillas (blood sausage)
Grilled chorizo
Grilled Argentine cheese
Bruschetta with grilled black drumfish
Grilled veal sweetbreads
Gaucho plate (chorizo, beef skewers, sweetbreads, and empanadas)
Noqui (potato pasta dumplings with pancetta and peas)
Hearts of palm salad
Skirt steak
Bistro tenderloin (chuck filet)
Flank steak
New York strip
Hanger steak
Cowboy ribeye (bone-in)
Bife de lomo (beef tenderloin)
T-bone steak
French fries
Grilled asparagus
Dulce de leche crepes
Flourless chocolate cake
Coconut-amaretto ice cream cake

FOR BEST RESULTS
Make a reservation. The restaurant is small and usually busy. Try a cut of beef you've never had before. Get the "gaucho plate" as an appetizer for the table.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Parking is a little sketchy, although they have a deal for $6 at the Embassy Suites, two blocks away.

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 6/10/2010.

A list of over 350 full, current reviews is here.