le Meritage...the report

[Double M]

The Chef is Michael Farrell who had many successes in other states, most notably Colorado and on Nantucket. Says Farrell, “It is the realization of a dream for my family to have this opportunity. I married a girl from New Orleans and we have long sought the opportunity to move back and raise our family here. I am proud to now call myself a New Orleanian.” I like that attitude .

The restaurant is located in the Maison Dupuy on Toulouse Street. It is a beautiful place and the food is a bargain and quite delicious. He offers you the option of having a small plate or a large plate of each item. I went with 3 smalls. First, I had the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake...no filler, just big lumps of juicy delicious crabmeat. Next I had the Arugula, Apple and Toasted pine nut salad with goat cheese and grapefruit vinaigrette. Cool and satisfying. My entree plate was a Grilled Quail...wish I had gotten the large plate on this one. The quail was cooked to perfection.

One of the summer specials was a list of 20 bottles of wine for $20 each. That helped to keep the price down. We had an '06 Ferrari Carano, Russian River Valley Chardonnay and then an '05 Simi, Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Both quite tasty.

With a generous tip, for four of us, the bill was just over $200.00. A bargain!Double M

[buzd]

Thanks for the report. I was at a restaurant in Memphis recently (Flight) which did the small/large plate thing, and I think it worked really well. I like the idea. I will try this place.