Dining Report, Part I: Cooter Brown's and Coquette

[wish I never left]

Friday Dinner: Cooter Brown’s

The less said about how my Friday went, the better. Things didn’t really turn around until after my fifteenth hand at the Caribbean Stud table well past midnight, and even then I only made back a little over half of what I’d lost. Not long after that, we heard back from our friend, with whom we usually go out to eat in New Orleans, and he suggested that, given the hour (about 1:30 or so Saturday morning), our best bet was to meet him at Cooter’s. We did, and despite the fact that there was no soap in the men’s room and that the place was just generally filthier than I ever remember it, I had a pretty decent roast beef po-boy. My wife liked her muffuletta and our friend enjoyed whatever po-boy he ordered.

Lesson’s learned from Friday: 1) Don’t work for the company I work for. 2) Don’t take Harrah’s up on their free room offer if they’re going to put you in the Marriott (Normally, I have had great experiences with Marriott operated hotels, but here I had no idea the rooms had gotten so shabby – never mind that they put us in a room with twin full (not queen) beds instead of the king we were expecting). At least there was a nice view... 3) Cooter’s still makes some pretty good food for after a long night of drinking, just make sure that you in fact have had a long night of drinking before you go there. Otherwise, there’s an excellent chance you’ll notice some things that maybe you would rather not see prior to eating there.

Saturday Lunch: Coquette

We initially had no idea where we were going to get lunch and, while brainstorming, my wife suggested Coquette based on the excellent meal we had there on our last visit. Noone could think of a reason not to go there eve if it would be for the second straight trip and besides we were eager to see more of the downstairs. After a slightly more lengthy than necessary discussion with the person taking reservations, we were off to uptown to see if they could recreate the magic of our first meal there.

My wife started with the ‘Jackson’ cocktail in honor of her maiden name while I had another Coquette Collins. This version of the Collins was much more heavily cucumber flavored than I remember from the last one and I didn’t like it as much for that very reason. Our friend had a glass of Cava sparkling wine and said that it was good.

For the entire meal, we essentially ordered for the table. To start, we put in orders for the fried shrimp (the standout dish from our last meal) just to see if it was as wonderful as that first time. In addition, we ordered the fired P&J oysters and a fig dish. All three dishes were very good. The shrimp weren’t quite as spectacular as we remember them, but chalk that up to memory’s gloss rather than any fault of the dish. While there was also nothing wrong with the oysters, the fig course was the standout dish this time around. As I write this, I can still taste mingling flavors of the blue cheese and the figs.

For entrees, we ordered the softshell crab over pork belly, redfish with risotto, and scallops. To drink, we ordered a bottle of a dry, Alsatian Riesling. Is it too easy just to say that everything was delicious and be done with it? I suppose it is, so here goes: The softshell crab arrived perfectly cooked, looking almost regal upon the plate. I’ve never had porkbelly with softshell crab before but the combo worked perfectly. The redfish dish was comprised of two filets lain crosswise over an earthy risotto. Taken separately, the redfish and the risotto were wonderful. Combined, the two elements created a wonderfully buttery and earthy forkful of food. I remember the scallops being very good as well, but they literally weren’t as memorable as the other dishes so I can’t relate any further details other than that we really did enjoy them along with everything else.

Finally, for dessert, we ordered the chocolate beignets, a lemon curd over blueberries, and a much touted carrot cake. The beignets, as I’ve reported before, were wonderful. It is probably a good thing that we were splitting them three ways as eating a whole plate of these things just might be too much of a good thing. The lemon curd over blueberries left me a bit cold – literally. Its temperature suggested that it had just come from an icebox. Everyone else liked it, so it must have been that first bite that put me off. The carrot cake lived up to its billing and was my favorite of the three desserts. Anyone who loves, or even likes, carrot cake should try this if it’s available.

[EatinAintCheatin]

Thanks for the great report.

I have not been to coquette and your review puts it on my list.

[Backstrap]

You should have known better about Cooter's. One time I was there it had one of those towels that rotated in the restroom. It was broken and part of it laid in the urinal. Not to pleasant a sight.

However, it does have a nice beer selection and a good pastrami.

[bam bam]

If you were to take my ten best stories, seven of them involve
Cooter Brown's in some way.