Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Commander's Palace - New Orleans - 7/14/10



This is the way the trip ends. Not with a bang...but with a whimper. The fact that I couldn't figure out my camera to get a decent picture was an omen. I think I needed to up the shutter speed, but my camera isn't quite as straightforward as that.

When we arrived, neither one of us was terribly hungry. I mean, I had an appetite, but you know...if we didn't have reservations I would've put off eating for at least an hour or two. This was our downfall.



Bread service was absurdly decadent. That's garlic bread.

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Soup trio. We got some gumbo, we got some turtle soup, and we got some of the soup of the day. Soup of the day was shrimp and okra and was both of our favorite. Gumbo was second. Turtle soup did not work for either of us - they finished it at the table with sherry and it just didn't work for either of our palates. We had the staff do wine pairings and we had the strangest rose with this - we were both convinced it was some sort of Riesling but it was apparently just a very very very light German Pinot Noir rose. Good stuff.

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Frog legs. Sadly not on the online menu so I have no more details. I did, however, realize that the way to eat frog legs is simple - stick your fork in the leg, cut in perpendicular, and pull away. Boom - the meat comes with and the bone stays put. These were awesome by the way.

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Wild Burgundy Escargot - Basil fed Burgundy snails flambéed with Hennessy cognac, house made bacon, shiitake mushrooms, red wine demi glace and melted St. Andre cheese. Excellent.

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Black Angus Filet Mignon - Char-grilled filet of Harris Ranch beef with French potato purée, smoked mushrooms, grilled onions and garlic-red wine jus. This was absurd. The kind of thing that you try when you're just not that hungry and feel tears welling up in your eyes. It's so damn good but it's just not the right time.

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Veal Chop Tchoupitoulas - 14 oz. chop of milk fed veal over goat cheese stone ground grits with buttered spring asparagus, fire roasted tomatoes and Commander’s classic green peppercorn demi glace. Ditto on this one. Though I will say while this does look big, there's a bone and a lot of fat. Absurdly good.

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I'm sure the friendly staff thought we were little more than a couple of schnooks. All we could talk about was how when we get home, we're going to buy several pounds of fruit and eat nothing but berries and watermelon to detox for five days or so.

The funny thing is we seriously considered the tasting menu. Can you imagine? The middle of the second course we would've had to throw in the towel. Personally, I feel guilty and I apologize to the masters. This place deserved my all and we failed. Next time....


The wine list was large with plenty of options available by the glass. I'm a big fan of the way this place was set up - you could buy full glasses or half glasses (the half were still fairly generous pours) if you want wine pairings. There were at least 25 wines by the glass ranging from five bucks to about forty.

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