A foodie's dream come true -- eating at the kitchen table!
I can now cross off two items on my bucket list: seeing the changing of the leaves in New England (which I'll post later in Conversations) and eating at the kitchen table at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. My dear friend (and massage therapist) and I celebrated our 50th birthdays this month with our spouses by having an absolute feast.
Commander's Palace is in the Garden District of New Orleans. Emile Commander opened it in 1880 in a Victorian building. The Creoles lived in the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) and the "Americans" lived in the Garden District.
In the 1920s, riverboat captains and "sporting gentlemen" met beautiful ladies in the private dining rooms upstairs. In 1974, some of the Brennans (of Breakfast at Brennan's fame) bought Commander's, and it remains one of New Orlean's premier restaurants.
Having made reservations over six months ago, the four of us arrived at 7:00 p.m. to be seated at our private table in the kitchen. View from our table:
The table on the left of the picture is the service table for us. There is only one kitchen table. Our waiter served only our table, and we had our private sous chef (who's wife is from my hometown). The meal was eight courses paired with a different wine for each course!
Course I -- Amuse Bouche
Pate of Waskly Wabbit (as our sous chef Ben called it). This was a small sampling of rabbit pate on a cracker. This was just a sublime appetite-whetting taste of things to come!
Course II -- Pancake and "Eggs"
This was two caviars, Atchafalaya Basin (Louisiana) bowfin roe and Tennessee paddlefish roe with crushed corn Johnny cakes, chive creme fraiche and pressed quail egg.
Even my friend's wife, who did not look forward to eating caviar, scarffed it all down!
Course III -- Creole Turtle Soup au Sherry and Petit Duck Salad
Turtle Soup is a classic Creole dish. The turtle has dark, medium, and light meats which compare to beef, foul, and fish. It is a very, very rich soup, especially with the superb sherry added and which served as our wine for this course! The soup was also spiked with cane syrup vinaigrette.
The wonton soup spoon had a succulent morsel of duck with deep fried sweet potato threads. This was probably my favorite course.
Course IV -- Foie Gras "du Monde"
This was DH's favorite. A huge piece of melt-in-your-mouth pan-seared foie gras on a Louisiana fig beignet (doughnut) served with a cafe au lait and chicory (cappuccino) with whipped cream.
Intermezzo -- Le Coup de Milieu
Instead of the usual sherbet or sorbet, our palates were cleansed with an Hibiscus Tea Martini -- chilled hibiscus tea with mint and liquor.
Meanwhile, our sous chef, Ben, was busy preparing the next course.
Course V -- Seared Striped Bass on Lump Crabmeat with Fennel and Fried Oysters
This luscious fish was topped with a section of Louisiana tangelo. The skins of the tangelos had previously been ground and dried and were used as the crust in which the bass had been dredged. And Louisiana lump crabmeat -- do I need to say more? The Louisiana oysters were very lightly battered and fried. I don't do oysters, but DH moaned in ecstacy enjoying mine!
This was served with green onion popcorn rice and tomato butter sauce.
This was paired with a smooth Meursault.
Meanwhile, Ben was busy preparing the main course.
Our waiter, Frank, and the maitre de, Robin, kept us smiling.
Course VI -- Tabasco-Rubbed Muscovy Duck Breast with Sweet Potato Crisps and Wild Mushrooms
This tender and tasty duck was paired with boulangere potatoes, wild mushrooms with porcini oil, and a Worchestershire demi glace. What a peak to the crescendo of gourmet delights!
Course VII -- Chef's Selection of Artisinal Cheese
This course was paired with a wonderful Dow's Tawny Port.
Somehow, we didn't get a picture of what was DH's second-favorite course. A huge chilled granite slab was presented that had on it eight cheeses with assorted accruements. But the picture would not have been adequate for the tastes of the cheeses. We started at the left side with a mild cheese, then progressed to the right past an unbelievably great bleu cheese to one even sharper.
Paired with the tawny Port, this was an amazing tasting experience!
Up until this point in our experience, when each course came, four waiters presented each of our plates at the same time. How impressive is that? But for the fireworks, we got dessert!
Course VIII -- The Dessert "Bomb"
One at a time, the four of us were presented with eight full-sized desserts!
1 - Warm Pecan Pie and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Melted Chocolate, Candied Pecans, and Salted Caramel Sauce.
2 - Homemade Creole Cream Cheesecake, Honey Graham Cracker Crust, Chocolate Lattice and Sticky Caramel Sauce.
Commander's, as we learned on our tour after dinner, makes their own cream cheese, and in fact, anything that they could make!
3 - Creole Bread Pudding Souffle with Warm Whiskey Cream.
This was DH's favorite dessert.
4 - Lemon Meringue Sorbetto with Candied Orange, Cinnamon, and Mint Marmalade
5 - Swiss Dark, White, and Milk Chocolates with "Salted" Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream and Roasted Pecans
6 - French Creme Brulee with Scorched Local Sugarcane and a Dixie Crystal "Fleur de Lis"
This awsome creme brulee was done on a plate and was very thin and crunchy. This was my favorite of the desserts -- I've never had such a crisp, thin creme brulee before, but it's now a favorite of mine.
7 - Deep Dish Apple Pie with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Each dessert was explained in detail by Ben, our sous chef.
After the "bomb", we enjoyed espresso.
After 10:00 p.m., and almost teary-eyed, DH and I thought our experience was over.
But we were wrong! We then were taken on a tour of the entire restaurant -- the kitchen where we had had such a wonderful experience, seeing the huge vats where they were making stocks, the refrigerators where they made the cream cheese, the freezers, all of their dining rooms.
Finally we left Commander's Palace and took a cab back to our B&B a mile away, Maison Perrier, built in 1892.
We began our evening, though, taking the St. Charles streetcar to get to Commander's.
And this concluded our celebration of our 50th birthdays. And who couldn't laugh at the art across the street -- Happy Hallowe'en!
As we say in Louisiana, laisser le bon temps rouler! We had the best time, and thanks to DH for helping me with this post.
Here is a link that might be useful: Commander's Palace
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