The Joys of August

By Eric W. Johnson

Grand. Splendid. Sublime. Superb. All these words are synonyms for “august,” and all describe the food at Restaurant August in New Orleans. One of four area restaurants under the helm of remarkable Executive Chef John Besh, Restaurant August is a short walk from the Mississippi River, in the heart of the Central Business District. Once you enter into the spacious and understated dining room, you can forget about the last few really good meals you’ve had, because Chef Besh’s dishes will transport you to gastronomic heaven.

The cuisine is described as contemporary French, but I would label it contemporary innovative. After sipping two special cocktails (a Louisiana berry mojito, redolent with the flavors of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and mint, and a white chocolate raspberry martini, made with white chocolate Godiva liqueur, Stoli vanilla vodka, and Chambord, as lush and rich as it sounds), my companion and I started our dining adventure with an amuse-bouche of pan-fried goat cheese morels over tomato marmalade with red pepper sherbet. It was an auspicious beginning.

Local products feature heavily in the imaginative dishes, and Chef Besh is a master at mixing flavors so that they tumble over one another in unexpectedly delightful combinations. A good example of this was the heirloom beet salad; baby mustard greens tossed in cane vinegar vied with beets marinated in rice wine vinegar and sugar, cherry wood smoked bacon, boiled quail eggs, and black-eyed pea croutons, all over a bed of crab meat navigout. I looked forward to each next bite to see what the dominant flavor might be. My companion selected the organic greens with Point Reyes blue cheese and pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette, cleverly topped with pumpkin seed brittle.

We decided to try one warm and one cold appetizer. The warm oyster appetizer offered local P&J Oysters Three-ways, one crispy fried with a cornmeal crust and a Louisiana caviar “ranch dressing,” one pepper-seared with country ham and white truffle spoon bread, and the third baked in a horseradish Béchamel sauce with a parmesan crust. The cold foie gras was also a triad of tastes: the first seared with strawberries, the second smoked, breaded and fried with sour cherry tapenade, and the third wrapped in baumkuchen with champagne gelée. Again, one spectacular taste followed another, with flavors blending beautifully and continually exciting our palates.

Could the chef continue to maintain this high level with the entrees, we wondered. He could, and he did. The Peking duck breast, coated in star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, sugar, and black pepper was seared to perfection and accompanied by duck foie gras, Anson Mills grits, and sautéed local greens with a cherry duck reduction and native strawberry preserves. The Kobe beef short rib had been cooked sous-vide at 141 degrees for 36 hours, and was served over sunchoke puree with clarified oxtail jus and asparagus tips. Throughout the meal we had tasted each other’s dishes and rolled our eyes in sublime appreciation of the art continuing to pour forth from the kitchen. Our waiter jokingly informed us that they almost had to let the dishwashers go because diners were licking their plates clean. We came close to doing that ourselves.

The usual dessert debate followed, with a unanimous vote in favor of indulging. My companion, who is a chocolate addict, ordered the chocolate tarte over stewed berries, which was accompanied by a small glass of warm gluhwein, spicy and delicious. I dove into a very tempting Père Roux banana rum cake, consisting of layered Genoise with bananas Foster filling and Créole cream cheese, covered with shaved white chocolate, local berries, and fresh mint. Both of us declared each dessert a perfect conclusion to a very satisfying meal.

One more surprise awaited us. Bartender extraordinaire Michelle Ruchto presented us with a strawberry cheesecake martini, in which a mixture of Stoli vanilla vodka, amaretto, pineapple and cranberry juices, and simple syrup duplicated perfectly the flavor of cheesecake. Rich as it was, it could have easily substituted for any dessert.

At the meal’s end, we asked to go into the kitchen and meet the incredibly talented chefs and staff who had concocted this wonderful dining experience. We gave them a well-deserved round of applause, and also thanked the wait staff who had served these culinary masterpieces in such a professional yet friendly manner.

The numerous awards and honors that Chef John Besh has received, including “Top 10 Best New Chefs in America” (1998) and Conde Nast Traveler’s “50 Hot Tables in the World,” are certainly well-deserved. In one short evening, Restaurant August rose to the top of my personal list of favorite restaurants. And you can be sure that I’ll be returning often to see what other surprises Chef Besh has in store.

Restaurant August is located at 301 Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dinner is served seven nights a week from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m., and lunch is served on Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Reservations are recommended; call (504) 299-9777 or make them online at http://restaurantaugust.com/august.htm . A sample dinner menu may be found on the website.