The Restaurants We Can't Live Without By Tom Fitzmorris. . . Revised May 2009 #51 MiLa Eclectic. CBD: 817 Common. 504-412-2580 . Map. Lunch Monday-Friday. Dinner Monday-Saturday. Nice Casual AE DC DS MC V www.milaneworleans.com   WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL   Even though the demand here isn't what is it in larger cities, New Orleans needs a few avant-garde restaurants. With Emeril and John Besh and the Windsor Court falling far back into comfortable cuisines, the market is wide open for MiLa's highly original creations and serving style. This is a restaurant for the head as well as the gut. That's at dinner; at lunch, MiLa serves as a spiffy lunch venue for people who work in the surrounding CBD, with much less demanding cookery and prices.   WHY IT'S GOOD   You have to speak with the chef or one of the more forthcoming servers to learn this, but almost the entire menu here is made with ingredients custom-grown and raised for MiLa by a number of local farms. A majority of that is in turn organic. If you know that, you will pay enough attention to the cooking to tell the difference. The chefs ease back a bit from standard local spice and salt levels to let the flavors shine. The presentations of everything are striking without ever waning silly.   BACKSTORY   Proprietors Slade Rushing and Allison Vines-Rushing are both chefs, and married to each other. They grew up in different rural areas around New Orleans, and met while working together at Gerard's Downtown, the short-lived bistro run by Gerard Maras in the early 2000s. After stints at Mr. B's and Brennan's, the Rushings left to work in New York City--impressively enough that Allison won a James Beard Award there. They returned to this area shortly after Hurricane Katrina to take over the former Artesia in Abita Springs. Their food at the renamed Longbranch was excellent but over the heads of the customer base. They shut it down after less than two years in favor of a deal with the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel. In 2007 they took over the former Rene Bistrot (the former home of Chef Rene Bajeux), renamed it MiLa (for the first and last letters in Mississippi and Louisiana) and opened with a promise of food with a rustic Southern quality.   DINING ROOM   Like the rest of the hotel's lobby level, MiLa is unambiguously forward in design, colorful and sharp-edged. Still, it reminds me of the Four Seasons in New York, in miniature. Small, multicolored tiles cover the columns and walls. Tall, all-encompassing windows are shaded by thin curtains. In lieu of tablecloths, placemats top the sleek wood tables. Big lamps floating near the ceiling add a soft playfulness to the otherwise geometric room. Very modern--but in a 1950s kind of way.   ESSENTIAL DISHES   Deconstructed oysters Rockefeller. Sweetbreads with black truffle grits. New Orleans-style barbecue lobster. Tian of crabmeat with tomato and chives. Sweet potato veloute with seared sea scallop and white truffle oil. Flounder with Jerusalem artichokes, corn, and green beans. Snapper meuniere with baby artichokes. Sweet tea-brined duck. Double-cut pork chop with turnips and greens. Hickory smoked rack of lamb.; warm Italian Caramel-poached apples. Rice pudding. Satsuma sorbet.   FOR BEST RESULTS   No matter what, make sure some of the truffled grits come to the table. The deconstructed oysters Rockefeller is a clever dish (all the flavor element are there, but rearranged), but will not remind you much of the original. The tasting menu is the best possible meal here, and the wine pairings are well accomplished.   OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT   They need to do something to attract larger numbers at dinner. There aren't enough cerebral gourmets in New Orleans to fill the dining room all the time.   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 +2 Service +1 Value Attitude +1 Wine and Bar +2 Hipness +3 Local Color +1   SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES    Romantic Good for business meetings Private dining room (fewer than 25) Private dining room (more than 25) Open Sunday Open Monday Open most holidays Well-known chef Vegetarian dishes Valet parking free Reservations accepted Reservations honored promptly Click here for an index to all 200 Essential Restaurant reviews. © 2009 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com