Josephine Estelle
600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
CBD
Anecdotes & Analysis
Although the summer just past was extraordinarily difficult for New Orleans restaurants, it appears that the restaurant count will surpass 1,500 for the first time in history. (The day before Katrina, the count was 809.) The new openings and reopenings have been difficult for your humble scribe to keep up with. But the job was made a little easier by there being several concentrations of major new restaurant. Notable among these was the premises of the Ace Hotel on Carondelet between Lafayette and Girod. The name alone tells us that the hotel is pitching its services to a younger clientele than typical, just as does the growth of residential apartments, and developments like the cluster of businesses near the new Rouse's in the neighborhood.
Backstory
The restaurant's name are those of daughters of the Ace's owner. Chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman came from Memphis, where they set the food standards for a range of restaurants in the Italian and barbecue categories.
Dining Room
Three restaurants are in or immediately adjacent to the Ace Hotel. The most impressive of them is Josephine Estelle, which occupies the former main showroom of Barnett's furniture store, which is where everybody bought their home furnishings before both business and customers fled to the suburbs in the 1960s. The high ceiling is held up but Corinthian columns in a space that looks as if it could be a meeting hall for a very large, blue-blood Carnival club. It may be the most spacious restaurant in town this side of Antoine's and Arnaud's. The decor isn't matched by the tables and their seating, which mostly involve semi-booths in parallel flanks.
Why It's Essential
The first time I attempted to dine at Josephine Estelle, the place was so jammed with people that I had the sensation of the windows bulging outward. (I wound up going to another Ace property, Seaworthy--which was equally busy but much smaller.) The second through the fourth dinners at Josephine Eestelle, using reservations, we were able to find not only a table but a good vantage point for watching what was being consumed at other tables.
Why It's Good
Which is mostly Italian, and surprising to most first-time diners. The menu completely drops the New Orleans-Sicilian palate, replacing those familiar dishes with the kind of fare that will be familiar to anyone who's visited Rome in recent times. The prime example of this is cacio di pepe, a bowl of short tubes of pasta (canestri) whose white sauce comes being tossed in a wheel of Pecorino Romano cheese and a lot of black pepper. Doesn't sound like much, does it? But it's wildly popular in Rome, where I ate enough of the stuff that I can say with some authority that Josephine Estelle's version is identical to the real thing. Most of the remaining menu fits that description. Like all other with-it restaurants, its chefs divided the offerings into offbeat categories. First, Share Plates|To Begin. Then Pasta | To Nourish, followed by Mains | To Finish. Hold on--isn't Dessert how you finish? We'll think about that after we puzzle through Sides | To Enhance. We wait for Sweet | To Add Dessert to appear, but it's a secret. Actually, you can assemble all this any way you want. The pastas are flawless, even those heavy with protein (duck legs and short ribs) and the dishes included for those who must have red sauce and meatballs in any Italian dinner. Other classics in the Roman tradition--notably the hog-jowl-rich pasta amatriciana--are as true to reality as the acini. But much of the menu is Contemporary American. Here are two fish crudos, tuna and snapper, but good, if disappearing in a couple of bites. The fish of the day on all my visits was sheepshead, but that's a big plus to me. The only real failure I've found is the New York sirloin strip. Usually I can spot a dish made strictly for the unimaginative (it will use ribeye or filet for this purpose, not the more expensive and harder-to-grill strip). But my instinct broke down in the presnce of this very chewy steak.
Most Interesting Dishes
Tuna or snapper crudo (raw, with marinades) Sformato (crabmeat, corn crema, basil, serrano Chicken liver pate Meatballs with guanciale, tomato sauce, parmesan Cacio di pepe Bucatini pasta Amatriciana Gemeli (duck leg confit, arugula pesto, almonds, ricotta salata) Sheepshead (a Gulf fish), corn, pancetta, mushrooms Duck breast, butternut squash, farro grain) Green field peas, butter beans, tomato Beets, crème fraîche, citrus, serrano pepper French Fries, calabrian aioli (spicy)
Deficiencies
The rows of tables make them feel too close to one another. Standard four-tops would be better.
For Best Results
If you dislike crowds, make an early reservation. In the calculation of average entree price, I have included the cost of two appetizers, which is an entree for many diners.
Bonus Ratings
2
Environment
3
Hipness
2
Local Color
1
Service
1
Value