We really didn’t understand New Orleans’ growing pains until my daughter and I showed up for our Christmas Eve Ghost Tour on Sunday night. Since we were the only two people on the tour, our tour guide fell into a conversational mode and gave us a run down on some of the problems that locals have experienced post-Katrina.
The main point here is that we felt that the service we experienced at NOLA was a little off the previous evening. Not that noticeable, but it was somewhat disjointed. Since we were content with the food at Commander’s Palace the next day, we forgave the missing butter for the bread and the fact that our checks were switched with another table at meal’s end. But you could tell that the wait staff seemed very confused and/or inexperienced at the latter restaurant.
Hugh knew that the service was way off kilter at both restaurants from his previous experiences at these two places. The reason behind this, our tour guide explained, is that these restaurants really didn’t reopen until just a few weeks or months ago (this fact slipped our minds). The previous wait staff at Commander’s Palace - according to our tour guide - earned about $70,000 per year. They weren’t making that kind of money after Katrina - especially since Commander’s Palace reopened just a few weeks ago. So the seasoned wait staff moved on to other cities and these restaurants now are training new staff. Hence the little glitches here and there.
But, other than our disappointment with the veal at NOLA, everything to this point is running on 10’s. Remember our deal about ordering an appetizer, entree, and dessert? At Commander’s Palace we didn’t have a choice, as each dinner came with an appetizer and dessert - for a very reasonable price as well. Here’s the rundown for Commander’s Palace Jazz Brunch:
Appetizers:
1. Hugh ordered the traditional Jazz Brunch menu, so he started out with a Commander’s Palace Bloody Mary (house-made hot sauce, horseradish, Worcestershire, and veggie juices finished tableside with frozen vodka - and they mean frozen! The bottle is encased in a huge ice bubble…and the drink was garnished with a piece of sugar cane that pierced one whole piece of okra and a sweet hot pepper). He also had Gulf Seafood Gumbo.
2. My daughter also wanted gumbo, which consisted of seafood simmered in a rich roasted crab broth with toasted garlic, hot sauce and green onions. We all agreed that this was one primo gumbo!
3. I ordered Crab & Eggs Creole: A crab boil poached egg over boudin blanc with jumbo lump crab and Creole sauce. Superb! Hugh and my daughter were jealous.
We would have enjoyed some bread with our appetizers (especially with the gumbo), but the bread didn’t make a showing until the entree. By then we were so absorbed in our different choices that we didn’t realize that we were missing butter until the last minute…ah, what the heck. Who needs it?
Entrees:
1. Truffled Breast of Tanglewood Chicken: Sherry braised mushrooms, celeriac-potato pavé, buttered cabbage and roasted chicken jus lié.
2. Avery Island Eggs: Pulled chicken, tasso and roasted mushroom hash cakes with poached eggs, potatoes, grilled green onions, and Tabasco hollandaise.
3. Eggs Jeanette: “Our Improved Eggs Benedict” Garlic and black pepper braised pork layered with poached eggs, oyster mushrooms, leeks, sage buttermilk biscuit and tasso hollandaise.
Since I had already had shrimp at NOLA, oysters on the half shell for lunch the previous day, and duck at K-Pauls, I opted for #1 and it was heavenly. The best part of my dish was hidden beneath the tender chicken - all the potato, cabbage, and sauce that seemed to grow tastier with each bite. I was very satisfied with my meal.
My daughter had #2, and she almost licked the plate. She’s becoming quite a connoisseur with Creole sauces, and she was happy with the Commander’s Palace version. Hugh had #3 with his traditional Jazz Brunch. The sauce is what made this “Eggs Benedict” different. I thought it was rich, but my chicken was so light that his dish was quite a contrast in comparison. Hugh didn’t complain, for sure.
We couldn’t decide which dish was best, because they all had such unique flavors that we declared them all winners.
Dessert:
Hugh had a Bread Pudding Soufflé, the “Queen of Creole Desserts.” This dessert was fun, because the meringue-like topping that covered the bread pudding was just looked cute and fluffy - we wanted to poke our forks in it. More like a ‘Jester of Desserts,’ because it made us all laugh at its strange haughtiness. But the meringue was a wonderful topping for the bread pudding, which was a lovely moist and nutty-tasting mixture.
I had a craving for plain ol’ Crème Brûlée after I tasted my daughter’s coffee version at NOLA the previous evening. I was so stuffed that I merely scraped the crust off the top and savored that taste as it melted in my mouth. My daughter went for the Chocolate Mousse Ice Cream. Her dessert was presented beautifully with swizzles of chocolate cookie rooted in the ice cream, which was nestled in broken pieces of a nut-encrusted chocolate sugar cone.
We all agreed that Hugh’s dessert was the most fun, that my daughter’s dessert was the most beautiful, and that my dessert was the most traditional. All desserts were made for royalty. Perfect.
To top it all off, we were served coffee with our dessert. I swear I’ve never seen coffee that looked like syrup when it poured from container to cup - but this obviously was the exception. What nice, rich, dark brew! Awesome!
Commander’s Palace has two floors - the bottom floor seems larger and much more hectic than the top floor where we were seated. We were placed two tables away from a large window that offered views of rain dripping from tree tops (it poured down rain during our entire two-hour brunch). If we had wandered to the window to look down, we would have seen a lovely old above-ground cemetery. But, we wanted to remain joyful about living and eating, especially with that cuppa brew that woke us from our food stupor, so we didn’t bother to get up and look down.
We were entertained highly by two different jazz bands that roamed throughout both floors and through the various rooms of this restaurant during the jazz brunch. The mood was casual, but the dress this morning mainly was coat and tie - the result, we were certain, of family groups who wanted to celebrate the holidays with brunch after attending Christmas Eve morning mass at local Catholic churches.
Outside of the somewhat spotty service, which is highly forgiveable given the circumstances and that will undoubtedly improve within a few weeks, we give Commander’s Palace a 10 out of 10.
Posted by beanybabe at 12:34 AM PST
