St. Charles Avenue Magazine Food Column, June, 2003
By Michael Depp

As a balm against a turbulent world and stressful month of work, I've been reading Peter Mayle's frothy little essays on Provence. This has had the effect of both reviving my sense of francophilia and making me extremely hungry. For the former, a steady diet of Django Reinhardt ("Djangology" plays as I write) and Eric Rohmer films usually does the trick (Summertime and Chloe in the Afternoon sound good about now). For the latter, there are two new French cafes in town to explore, not to mention a dense concentration of local French eateries which seem to me could use a little support these days.

Of course, any discussion of French culture and cuisine is also occasioned by the city's bicentennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. At the New Orleans Museum of Art they're trotting out artifacts of the most glorious real estate transaction in history. Meanwhile, just a hop down the unfinished streetcar line, Chateaubriand is celebrating with a three-course lunch honoring Jefferson's America and Napoleon's France.

Chateaubriand seems to be best known as a steakhouse with French inflections - the restaurant's signature dish, for instance, is a center cut of beef tenderloin named for its namesake Romanticist author. But chef/owner Gerard Crozier and chef de cuisine Patrick Perie, both native Frenchmen, have stacked the menu with plenty for the Francophile diner including a pitch-perfect French onion soup with a gorgeous helmet of melted Swiss cheese. Also not to miss are smoldering escargots Bourguignonne and a fluffy crème brulee that's a standout among the many in town, not to mention profiteroles in chocolate sauce that are perfect for early summer.

In the CBD, Chef Rene Bajeux has his own reasons to celebrate. His Rene Bistrot was recently named one of America's 50 best hotel restaurants by Food & Wine magazine on the heels of similar accolades last year from Esquire. F&W heaped praise on his steak frites, roasted duck and Thon Rossini, which features tuna grilled with foie gras, truffle sauce and spinach. Now that summer is upon us, his own pick is the restaurant's Vendredi night special - a roasted lobster Provencale that he favors with Alsatian Trimbach Reserve 2000.

Summer also means the arrival of the latest Muscadet vintages; an occasion that lacks the bombast of November's Beaujolais Nouveau arrival but nonetheless has some muted, season-appropriate fanfare of its own. At Ciro's Cote Sud, owners Ollivier and Sophie Guiot are planning a three-day Muscadet prix fixe event culminating in le Solstice d'Ete on June 21. The three course meal will include an endive salad with Belon oysters; monkfish in a Muscadet leek reduction; and strawberry Chantilly. The restaurant will spotlight its two mainstay Muscadet vintages - G. Bossard and Chateau de la Ragotiere throughout the month.

Ciro's, it should also be noted, is going mainly by its Cote Sud distinction these days, bringing its French dishes to the fore and foresaking much of its Italian past. The lasagne and the pizza are the only holdovers from the past (diners would mutiny if either were to go, the Guiots concede), and selections like escargots, coq au vin and moules marinees (or with curry, Provencale or bleu cheese) are now the norm.

The city's largest Muscadet fete will again be hosted by the French-American Chamber of Commerce on June 27 in the Grand Ballroom of the Chateau Sonesta Hotel. Between 15 and 18 restaurants will contribute Muscadet-paired dishes to the dinner (there will be six or seven vintages available that night) and a round trip for two from Houston to Parish will be raffled. Tickets information is available at 561-0070.

As to the two new French cafes I mentioned earlier, La Nouvelle is a cozy new addition to Magazine Street Uptown with a small array of sandwiches and pastries. I like it best simply to bring a stack of work, order a coffee and while away an hour or two with Charles Trenet wafting through the speakers, a quiet alternative to the coffeehouse and, surprisingly, more inexpensive.

The other is the latest offspring of La Boulangerie, the bakery that set the standard for local breadmaking with the most fragrant, delicious, tear-inducing loaves I have known in these parts (though it should be noted that they seem to have shrunk slightly with the bakery's success, their prices remaining buoyant). The new La Boulangerie café is on St. Charles Avenue in the CBD and features the sandwiches, mini pizzas and drinks that have started to appear at the two bakeries in addition to coffees. The Rizzo brothers are building an empire, it would seem, and with their bacon and apple loaves, garlic and herb baguettes and olive fougasse bread, it seems to be taking hold.

Whatever your politics, perhaps it's now time to embrasse and make up (the President has with Monsieur Chirac). Dust off that old copy of Albert Camus' Resistance, Rebellion and Death, grab a little table by the window and a light, crisp Muscadet. A votre sante, tout la monde.

Felicitations!

A last note of congratulations to two local food figures that have been duly recognized for their fine work. Chef Robert Iacovone, who assumed the reins of Cuvee back in March from Bingo Starr, will be cooking his first meal for the James Beard Foundation on July 21. His menu will feature Gulf triple tail with succotash of limas, silver queen corn and Louisiana blue crab meat with blue crab veloute and smoked duck breast with herbed gnocchi, golden chantrelles and crisp Serrano ham. On a recent visit to Cuvee I can confirm that Iacovone has really made it his own kitchen, adding some formidable heft to one of the city's most impressive cellars.

Also, my friend Sara Roahen will be among those anthologized in the next Best American Food Writing collection for "Drinking My Inheritance," an excellent essay that originally appeared in Tin House. Sara is best known locally as Gambit Weekly's food critic, though she's also a contributor to Wine & Spirits and has cheerfully allowed herself to be bullied into writing for our mutual neighborhood newsletter as well. It will, I'm certain, be the beginning of a prolific career worth following.