New Orleans!

Earlier this week, I was in New Orleans on business. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned Herbsaint before. J and I went there for an anniversary dinner, and it has remained in my head as the best meal I've ever had. I know that things are never what you expected, so I was trying to keep my perspective. Our dinner that night was:
- Pappardelle with fresh porcinis (divine)
- Gumbo for me and a salad for J (mine was okay)
- Duck confit for me and hanger steam for J (this is where his love affair with hanger steak began)
- Cheese plate for me and chocolate ravioli for him
- Rocks and Gravel Pinor Noir

So with that memory firmly in my head, I planned my trip to New Orleans. I quick peek at herbsaint.com told me that not only did Donald Link win Best Chef: South this year, but he had a new restaurant, Cochon, that was nominated for Best New Restaurant. Obviously, I knew where I would be eating in New Orleans.

I arrived in New Orleans Sunday night. Since my event starts with a reception the night before the first session, I headed off to dinner at The Red Fish Grill. The menu was relatively set, but was chosen in advance by one of our foodie team members.

We started off with a selection of appetizers:
- Coconut shrimp: these were okay but I've never been impressed by coconut shrimp.
- Barbequed oysters with blue cheese: cooked well and pretty good. The oysters were actually lightly fried.
- Stone crab claws topped with tomato concasse, sitting in butter: these were pretty damn tasty, but the taste of butter was very very strong.

I chose the gumbo with alligator sausage for my soup. It was pretty good. The alligator sausage just tasted like regular sausage, nothing special about it. The gumbo had good depth.

My entree was gulf red fish topped with seafood (mainly crab) on roasted potatoes. There was way too much butter in this dish. I think I only ate about half of it before I tired of the taste.

I finished off the meal with bread pudding. I like a light bread pudding. This one was a bit heavy for me and the topping was way too sweet so I nibbled on it for a long time and enjoyed my decaf cappucino instead.

	Monday night, the whole team headed out to Herbsaint for dinner. My dining companions were nice enough to indulge my picture-taking frenzy. Here is an image of the menu from that night. I had a nice glass of cava to start. Not too carbonated but very light. It was quite delicious.
	I started off with the gumbo. I don't remember exactly what kind of gumbo it was, but it didn't stand out in my mind as being something spectacular. Everyone else thought it was very good, but I thought that there was no real depth behind the gumbo so it fell flat. I believe they use water for the base. I prefer my base of shrimp and crab stock.
	My boss got the fried legs. Here they are. I tried one. It was pretty good. They were lightly fried in batter (maybe flour) and then lightly coated with a sauce.
	I don't recall hearing anyone order the antipasto plate, but it showed up on the table. I also wasn't around to hear what was what. By the time it reached my end of the table, I was able to try a nibble of the pate looking thing and one of the small saucisson.
	For my entree, I couldn't resist ordering the duck confit again to see how it measured up. Beyond that, we often make pork belly and hanger steak at home and those were the other things that interested me on the menu. The duck confit came with dirty rice and a citrus gastrique. It was very good. Not mind-blowingly amazing as it was the first time I had it, but very good. The confit was noticably more crispy than the time that I made it at home. The citrus gastrique provided a nice contrast to both the dirty rice and the confit.
	Here is a close up image of the confit plate.
	For dessert, I ordered the peach galette which came with homemade whipped cream. I have ordered galettes before and they were unable to balance the fruit with too much dough but I'm very happy to say that my peach galette was wonderful.
	My co-worker sitting next to me ordered the cream cheese panna cotta. It was incredibly light and very tasty. I think I should order this the next time I go to Herbsaint.
	My co-worker on my other side got this coconut cream pie. The crust was light and flaky and so was the filling.

Instead of eating the hotel lunch the next day, my foodie co-worker headed out to Central Grocery to pick up muffulettas. He brought back four to us and also a jar of olive salad for each of us.

	Day two dinner: three of us including my foodie co-worker headed out to Cochon to check it out. The restaurant has a relaxed feel, far more informal from Herbsaint but just as inviting. There was a nice woodsy smoke smell in the air that reminds you of good barbeque.
	We moved straight down the menu as we ordered which is really how I prefer to enjoy restaurants. The first of the small plates we received was this fried alligator with chili garlic aioli. The alligator was meaty but still tender. It reminded me of a thick swordfish or tuna. A little bit spicy but not too much. This was a good dish.
	The fried chicken livers with pepper jelly toast were awesome. The tasty of chicken liver was light and not overbearing. The pepper jelly was light and sweet; a nice contrast. This was definitely my favorite small plate.
	The grilled shrimp wtih chow-chow was pretty good also. The chow-chow was far too spicy for me, but the flavor was good.
	Our last small plate was the wood-fired oyster roast. This was certainly not what I expected when I ordered it. However, it was pretty decent.
	For the boucherie course, we started with the fried boudin with pickled peppers. The boudin was basically shredded pork rolled into balls and fried. While it was good, they were very rich and I found that I could only finish about half of it.
	Here's a visual on the inside of the boudin.
	The boucherie plate was a real disappointment. The pork rillettes was very fatty but without any real flavor. There is also housemade tasso ham, slim jims (which were good) and proscuitto bacon. The bacon actually had salt on it. What a mean thing to do to proscuitto.
	The last of the boucherie course were these ribs. By the time we got to these, I was already feeling rather full and really felt like I needed to slow down. I did nibble a small piece off. The sauce was good but not seemingly that tender. However, my foodie friend who is a rib master ate one and said they were pretty good.
	For the salad course, I chose the shaved zucchini and squash with pecan vinaigrette and goat cheese. This was a rather interesting dish. Separately, all the pieces of this were very good. The olive oil was excellent. This is a dish that really kept me examining it as I ate the whole thing. Normally you a dish and it's only the first few bites that capture you. This one kept my attention the entire time trying to decide if I liked it. After it was gone, I decided: I liked it.
	The foodie next to me got the black-eyed pie and pork gumbo. He ruled it not as good as Herbsaint's and that's from the guy who ordered gumbo for dessert.
	When we got to ordering the main course, I was torn. I came to the restaurant, hell, to New Orleans, with the plan of ordering the cochon. After all, what is the restaurant named? When I asked our waitress which she would choose between the smoked ham hocks and the cochon, she said the ham hocks! She described the cochon and the ham hocks and said that the hocks had more flavor. I was floored! We asked what her favorite dish on the menu was and she said the catfish courtbouillon! I was really thrown for a loop. Both my dinner companions ordered the ham hocks. I sat there, indecisive for a few minutes. Finally, I decided: I came to Cochon to order the cochon and cochon I was ordering! When the main courses finally arrived, we all did the requisite taste test. My friend decreed that the cochon was better and the ham hocks came on a measly poor amount of grits. And you know? I didn't remember until I tried the smoked ham hock that I don't like smoked things. Good thing I didn't order it. Sorry this picture is so blurry.
	So here is my cochon. It, like the boudin, was very good but a lot of the same ole taste. It came on turnips and cabbage which were excellent, but I'm sad to say that there wasn't very much of them just a small spoonful. Cracklins are weird. I could do without those.
	Here is a closeup of the cochon. We were far too full for dessert so we finished our wine and went home. All in all, Cochon was okay, but not worth the hype. I was disappointed.