Last week I went to La Petite Grocery with two friends, and we ate very different things. My two companions ordered much more gourmet food than I did. They shared a steak tartare for an app and I got mac'n'cheese. They were kind enough to offer me some, which I declined, and I offered them some mac’n’cheese, which they accepted.
Both guys were talking about dieting, admitting that the biggest impediment was their passion for eating. A common problem in New Orleans.
As the meal unfolded, we kept going down separate paths. When we sat down, we watched our waitress writing out the daily specials on a blackboard. One of us ordered a couple of these apps for his lunch. My lunch was pre-ordained. I went for the Greatest Hits Lunch prix fixe special of 3 courses for $35, featuring fan favorites through the years. I wrote about that lunch in the last newsletter.
After the steak tartare, one of the guys had a crab and okra salad as an entree, along with a carrot and kale salad. The other ordered Shrimp and Grits, which he gets often, but not nearly as often as his wife. She orders it wherever she sees it.
Since I never order steak tartare and hardly notice it on a menu, I had to take the guy’s words for it. This was an unusual preparation, in my view. I normally see it as a tableside service, with a fair amount of communication between preparer and diner, with the preparation tweaked by the diner. This came already prepared on a slice of toast. It looked really unappealing to me, sort of a spread. Normally I see this as a little crabcake-sized puck. But both of these guys enjoyed it very much, so I’ll accept their take that it was great.
My mac' n' cheese was far too al dente for me. It was large elbows with a creamy sauce, finished off under a broiler. What I understand the least about this mac’n’cheese is how long it took to get it. I assume it was not being prepared to order. I assume the pasta was cooked, so only assembly was required. It was not baked for a while as I do it, so it was mystifying to see it take so long. It was delivered well into the meal.
When it arrived, it was certainly not worth the wait. The flavor of the cheese sauce was nice. It was white cheddar, which I prefer, and the crumb on top was minimal. This wasn’t all that much more interesting to my companions as it was to me, so three of us didn’t even finish a regular-sized side.
The two salads were creative and interesting. The okra salad was grilled okra doused in a perky vinaigrette, with a pile of crabmeat on top. We all thought this was very good.
The kale and heirloom carrot salad was also quite good, though it didn’t seem that the kale had been “massaged.” It had that woodsy, chewy kale texture that I find off-putting.
The portion of Shrimp and Grits was ample, and enjoyed by its owner. There were about a half dozen good-sized grilled shrimp on top of a large amount of creamy grits in the gourmet-style: coarse ground and cooked with cream. The sauce was light and flavorful.
I had the worst pork belly in my experience. It looked great coming to the table, topped with nuts and fermented vegetables, but the pork belly itself was tough. Pork belly should be so tender as to almost fall apart. It should never have to be wrestled. This was disappointing.
.jpeg)
I had a very nice but unremarkable fried chicken sandwich with the renowned housecut fries, which were a little dark that day.
.jpeg)
The star of the table was the dessert that came as the third course of my Greatest Hits prix fixe menu. It was an Apple Frangipane tart with salted caramel and vanilla bean ice cream.
.jpeg)
I don’t usually eat dessert, but this was fantastic. The tart was flaky and dense with thinly sliced apples. I loved the accompanying ice cream, and the three of us thought the combo irresistible.
The Greatest Hits Menu is just one of the many ways restaurants brought people in during The Dog Days of Summer, to remind restaurant customers what they love about the restaurant. I left with the opposite feeling, wondering what I ever saw in the place.