Our next stop on the tour d' Gumbo took us to one of the most famous restaurants in America; Arnauds's on Bourbon Street. Ah, Arnaud's, creole cuisine, dixieland jazz, waiters in monkey suits, surely this must be the place, right? Not really.
The gumbo arrived in quickly enough, but upon first glance I thought that I had been served the wrong dish as that the roux was very light, almost translucent. Large hunks of chicken and andouille sausage confirmed to me that this must gumbo, and it was. Now to this point, the gumbo's that I had tried were from casual (i.e. not well known) restaurants, maybe, just maybe, the roux was supposed to be this color. Honestly, I could not tell the difference in taste so color must not make a difference. Delicious, but cold. And that seemed to be the theme of the night at the world famous Arnaud's Restaurant, cold food, that should have been served hot, and I mean everything was cold. The Snapper Mitchell with fresh tomatoes, basil, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and Calamata olives...delicious, cold. The asparagus with hollandaise, wonderful, cold. The Chicken Pontalba which is sautéed chicken breast with Marchand de Vin and Béarnaise Sauces served with Brabant potatoes, magnificent, cold. Send it all back damnit.
While the food at Arnaud's was darned good (the warm replacements that is) it really is not worth the cost, which was considerable. And that my friends, is why this Gumbo is rated #3.
Arnauld's Restaurant
813 Rue Bienville
New Orleans, La 70112
Tel. (504) 523-5433
http://www.arnaudsrestaurant.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment