New Orleans Eats Forums at NOLAEats.com

If you've read the "other" board you know the details. But if not....I'm going there tomorrow for the coolinary dinner. Gonna get the seafood martini and 5 oz. filet with shrimp/crab cake. So far I've seen nothing but good recs. I shall let Y'all know.

EAC

And thanks for the invite here.....

I've heard good things too. Please report back! I'd love another restaurant to look forward to.

That's going to be fun! I can't wait to hear all about it. I've been to several "coolinary" places in the past.

I'm intrigued... what's a "seafood martini"?

judib wrote:
I'm intrigued... what's a "seafood martini"?

Well if I made it it would be one boiled shrimp and a huge Gin martini, with a nice olive. But theirs is a martini glass with various seafood items. I hope this link works: http://www.pelicanclub.com/photogallery/pages/01.html

Good picture, it worked ok.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't see any clear liquid in the glass. So if you want it, I guess you order a glass of gin or vodka, neat, on the side?

We went there last night (Saturday 12 July 2008) for 7:00 p.m. reservations. It was our first time there. Arrived right at 7 and was met by hostess and seated immediately. There is seating in the bar area and main dining room. We were put in the main dining room along the wall. The wall has a long "church pew" type bench.

Our waiter Shawn met us immediately for drink order and shortly after that delivered bread and butter to our table. The bread was good but seemed a little "wet." It was very dense and could have used some more time in the oven, IMHO.

We were there for the Coolinary menu and that's what we decided to have.

For appetizer we both had:

Seafood Martini - Maine lobster, jumbo lump crabmeat, gulf shrimp with spicy slaw and 8-herb ravigote sauce.

It came with one nice piece of lobster, one jumbo shrimp and about a tablespoon of crabmeat. The spicy slaw and sauce were very good. The shrimp was not very seasoned. I was expecting to taste a little crab boil or something but dipped in the sauce it was still good. Maybe that's how it was supposed to be eaten. Overall I enjoyed this dish, especially sine it was nice and cool and we were in the heat all day. And this brings up another point. The temperature in the restaurant was very nice and comfortable cool. This is not always the case during the Summer months in New Orleans.


Entrees:

Hers:
Paneed Gulf Fish with jumbo lump crabmeat and jalapeno hollandaise
Served with brabant potatoes

This dish was the star of the night. A beautiful, large fillet of speckled trout perfectly cooked. And the amount of crabmeat on top was surprising. I'd say it was at least 1/3 cup. The dish also came with haricoverts and one large asparagus spear. Everything on the plate was good to very good except the fish which was excellent. If we go back I will get this dish.

His:

5 oz "certified black angus" fillet with shrimp and crab cake, topped with bearnaise sauce. Served with Yukon gold potatoes and baby green beans

The steak was very good, tender and cooked exactly medium. The shrimp/crab cake was blah. I couldn't detect either shrimp or crab, mostly filling and green onions. The potatoes were good. The veggies were again haricoverts, an asparagus spear, roasted corn and a baby carrot. Excellent veggies, nice and crisp with just the right amount of butter and salt (i.e. not swimming in butter). The potatoes were good but could have been a little hotter.

Portion size on both dishes was large. You will not leave hungry.

Dessert:

Hers:

White Chocolate Bread Pudding - It came with some berries and a homemade cream on the side. A huge piece too big for one. It was good but nothing great about it.

His:

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee - This was the smallest dish of the night, but it was all I could eat. A nice crispy top with delicious cream underneath. It was served at room temperature.

We shared a bottle of Sparkling White Wine which went well with everything.

The service was excellent. Shawn was our server and I would recommend him.

Overall: I feel like we had a very good meal for $30 per person. I will go back.

That sounds like an amazing deal. Glad yall had fun. I was in the quarter early Saturday morning and it was so clean and almost smelled good.lol I hope yall had a wonderful evening. I need to get out and try some Coolinary menus before they are all over.

That does sound like a good deal. I have had that seafood martini thing on previous visits and as much as I like seafood, that dish really just doesn't work for me.

I am glad to hear they weren't cheap with the crabmeat. If I have one minor complaint about Rio Mar, they can be a little stingy when they have a dish topped with crabmeat.