02/22/12

Changing of the Guard

There was a time when the restaurant in the International House Hotel at 221 Camp Street was going to feature Korean food, complete with in-table grills. The local chef who was being considered for the venture was enthusiastic about it, but the hotel ultimately went in a different direction, instead opening a Spanish-influenced restaurant, Rambla, in the space adjacent to the hotel's lobby in 2008. The restaurant is operated by Ken LaCour and Kim Kringlie, who are also partners in the Northshore restaurant the Dakota, and formerly ran Cuvée a few blocks away.

Rambla has gone through a number of changes recently, including the departure of chef Philip Lopez, who opened his own restaurant, Root, late last year. Though Lopez was taking Rambla in a promising...

Posted at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2

02/15/12

It's Life

Sebastien Baudin is from Annecy, a small town in southeast France near the border with Switzerland and Italy. Baudin's family operated a restaurant there, and he grew up in the kitchen. He told me that as soon as he was tall enough to reach the stove, he was put to work. Eventually he burned out on restaurant life, and as a young man he took five years off to pursue other interests.

 But when he came to New Orleans nine years ago, he fell back into the life, working in several restaurants. After Katrina he returned to France for five months, but he'd developed a love for New Orleans, and told me that he couldn't wait to get back.

He and his wife wanted a place of their own, and when the space at 4206 Magazine St. became available, they took...

Posted at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

02/09/12

Robust Food in the Bywater

Maurepas bills itself as “a purveyor of robust food.” I like the turn of phrase, if only because coming up with a shorthand way to describe restaurants like the newly-opened Bywater joint can be a challenge. “New American” is a term used a lot, often with “Southern influences” added for more detail. “Robust,” however, is a new one, and apt for chef Michael Doyle's cooking.

Doyle oversaw the renovation of the space housing the restaurant himself, and he did a fantastic job. There are large windows looking onto Burgundy and Louisa streets, and the main dining room features high ceilings and a long bar along the wall which faces Louisa. The bar turns out some excellent specialty...

Posted at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

02/02/12

A Redemption Story

I was a fan of the Bistro at Maison de Ville. I first visited the restaurant when I was in law school. My father took me to the intimate restaurant while I was in town on a break. I had a great meal, and it was my first experience with the restaurant's then-maitre d' Patrick Van Hoorebeek, who has since become a friend. Over time I added the Bistro to the list of restaurants I patronized regularly, and I was extremely disappointed when I learned it would close. I had also become a fan of chef Greg Picolo, who ran the tiny kitchen at the Bistro for more than a decade.

I spoke to chef Picolo when the Bistro's fate was still up in the air, and he was unsure what he'd be doing if it closed. For several months after the fact, he was without a restaurant to...

Posted at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0