Roosevelt Hotel: a mix of New Orleans history and luxury

The Roosevelt Hotel

123 Baronne Street (drive-up entrance on the other side, at University Place, it changes from O’Keefe at Canal)

New Orleans, Louisiana 70112

504-648-1200

http://www.therooseveltneworleans.com/

By Jane Feehan

Walk into the newly renovated Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans and you’ll think you’ve entered the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. Shimmering chandeliers, golden columns and dramatically tiled floors frame this entrance into its opulent past.

Opened in the 1890s as the Grunewald Hotel, the name was changed to the Roosevelt thirty years later in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt who stayed there an evening or two. The hotel’s storied past comes to us primarily in the context of Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long’s escapades. The Roosevelt served as his home away from home and unofficial headquarters while he visited New Orleans in the 1930s. This is, as history has it, where Long reigned over his court, doling out and receiving political favors.

The hotel operated as the Fairmont when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Hilton Corporation bought the property a few years after the storm; it is now part of the Waldorf Astoria Collection.

The rooms, beautifully appointed in furnishings with colors that may remind one of its past, are comfortable and quiet. The bathrooms are not large but completely updated and modernized. Roosevelt's décor does not stray far from its history –a welcome ambience in this world of stainless steel and glass.

Filled with visitors and local business types at cocktail hour, the Sazerac Bar is a warm, lively place to visit before dining at any number of places within walking distance. John Besh's Domenica, inside the Roosevelt, offers a terrific lunch or dinner experience.

Excellent service is provided by an efficient, accessible staff. A billing issue was settled within an hour of my query by an employee who gave me her email address to resolve it – something rarely seen at other hotels. The French Quarter is a walk away. Visit the Roosevelt Hotel and experience New Orleans history. Hilton Rewards Points. Parking - $38 per day. © 2010 All rights reserved. New Orleans, Louisiana.

Tags: New Orleans restaurants, dining reviews New Orleans

Palmettos Bayou Bar & Grill - Rustic elegance in Slidell

Palmettos Bayou Bar & Grill

1901 Bayou Lane

Slidell, LA 70458

985-643-0050

Open – Wednesday-Sunday

Lunch 11:30-2:30

Bar: 4 p.m.

Dinner – 5 p.m.

Sunday Brunch: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Deck Party 3-6 p.m.

www.palmettosonthebayou.com

By Jane Feehan

When you walk into Palmettos in this New Orleans suburb you may have a difficult time deciding where to sit; the outside deck, visible from the interior entrance, is as inviting as the main dining room.  In any case, stroll onto the deck, over to the dock on the bayou and throughout this eatery to soak in the ambiance. Rustic elegance comes to mind in describing this tree-enshrined jewel on the water.

On the deck under the tent one Saturday afternoon, I dined on seafood gumbo ($5), Seared Duck Breast with a wild berry reduction ($17) and the requisite Louisiana dessert, bread pudding. I brought crab cakes ($9)with a salsa of horseradish cream home for dinner.

The cup of gumbo, generously loaded with oysters, shrimp and crawfish, was enough for an entire meal. But I plowed on through with the duck, which, though on the tough side, came with a wonderful berry sauce, perfectly cooked asparagus and a tasty scoop of rice. I could barely look at the bread pudding, but a few forkfuls proved delicious. Oh yes – about those crab cakes  - excellent.

There is plenty to choose from - salads, sandwiches and other fare - at different price points.

Palmettos provides jazz on Friday nights inside and music outdoors on Sunday. With two decks and a party room, it’s a great venue for special occasions such as weddings and anniversaries. Service: excellent. © Jane Feehan All rights reserved. Slidell, Louisiana

Tags: restaurants in Slidell, Slidell dining

Five Things Clueless Restaurants and Servers Do

Another segment in the Clueless series ...

Witnessed on the dining circuit (in New Orleans or along the Mississippi Gulf Coast): proprietors, servers or bartenders who:

• Sit at the table with customers. Need a friend?
• Lower the lights to the point the menu and partner across the table are not visible. Hiding something?
• Leave unanswered requests for reservations on answering machines or voice mail. Why say your call will be returned when you have no intention of doing so?
• Talk on a cell phone with one’s back to a bar patron nearly the entire time a patron is there – except to bring a drink or the bill. Some sit at the bar rather than a table to have conversation with the bartender. Interested in tips-big ones?
• Speak - chirp - to an adult as if he or she were a child in daycare.  Don't do it - no matter how old the customer.                                                                      © 2010 Jane Feehan All rights reserved. (New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast)

Chef Scott's Restaurant and Sushi Bar - Ocean Springs, MS

Chef Scott’s Restaurant and Sushi Bar

1314 Government St.

Ocean Springs, MS

228-872-3544

It’s not fancy, there’s no Web site, nor Facebook page, it’s not easily visible along the main drive through Ocean Springs but Chef Scott’s serves fabulous food. If you don’t like sushi, you will after a meal here.

I dined on #2 Relationship roll (about $13) – a crawfish tempura roll with cream cheese and asparagus. Instead of seaweed paper, a yellow soy paper was used to roll the ingredients – excellent flavor, super fresh and perhaps the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. They were out of crab and asparagus soup, a popular starter. Next time …

Specialties include rolls with salmon, cream cheese, scallions and avocado, or shrimp tempura and cucumber with siracha spicy sauce. The list goes on and on but the choices are definitely creative and appetizing.

Lunch bento boxes ($11 average) come in a selection of sushi, shrimp or crawfish tempura, chicken, steak, scallops and wok vegetables. Dinners ($16-25) are served with miso soup or salad and eight to 24 pieces of sushi.

Two diners there told me they didn’t like sushi until they ate at Chef Scott’s ... I found out why. Service: Good. No alcohol but Chef Scott’s welcomes yours. Take out available. Casual - and busy.   © Jane Feehan. All rights reserved 2010.

The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint - Ocean Springs, Mississippi

 http://www.sunherald.com/2012/02/12/3747617/fire-destroys-original-the-shed.html

The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint

7501 Hwy 57

Ocean Springs, MS 39565

228-875-9590

Open seven days

Sunday – Thursday: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 11:a.m. – 10 p.m.

http://www.theshedbbq.com/ordereze/default.aspx

The Shed …it’s down home Mississippi funky and the chow isn’t bad. If it’s just barbeque you seek without the experience – or fun – thrown in, you’re in the wrong place.

I hesitate to use the words eatery or restaurant to describe The Shed, though that’s what it is. It more resembles a ramshackle country junkyard.  The trash (someone’s treasure) - decorated yard, with its rough, extra long wooden tables and attached benches provide most of the seating, though indoor dining is available. At the center of this tumbledown dining area presides a dilapidated stage, where live music – Mississippi blues – plays most nights.

The Shed’s owners, the Orrison family (great marketers by the way, they've been on Regis and Kelly as well as Diners, Drive-ins and Dives), are known for
barbecued baby back ribs ($23), pulled pork, sausage, chicken and, of course, their BBQ sauce. The sauce was good but I prefer it less sweet, more savory. Sauce, however, is such a personal thing. We chose a chicken platter with two sides – cole slaw, and beans (about $9) - and a sampler with pulled pork and chicken (about $13). The meat: tender, juicy and delicious.  Baked beans: good enough to wish the serving were larger. Mac (macaroni salad) was a good choice, the cole slaw less so.  

It’s counter ordering here. We waited in line about 20 minutes but the food was delivered within seconds of sitting.  It was a semi-cool, beautiful, lazy Sunday afternoon on this visit. I can’t imagine eating outside in the throes of summer in the heat with bugs that must gather at the nearby river, but that’s all part of the experience – a worthwhile one at that. © Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.

For restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi, visit www.eatingoxford.com

Confusion - Gulfport, Mississippi

Confusion
162 Tegarden Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39507
228-604-4617
http://www.seekclarity.com/
Lunch: M-F 11:30 a.-m - 2 p.m.
Dinner Tuesday-Saturday: 5:30-9:30
Closed Sunday

By Jane Feehan

Located not far off the beach in Gulfport, Confusion clearly earns kudos for its ambiance and food. It’s reminiscent of New Orleans with large posters of Louis Armstrong, Congo Square and abstract art scattered throughout a colorful room with walls painted in orchid, rusty red or aqua. Confusion is urbane, casual and unique.

The menu is predominantly seafood with a hint of Louisiana – Barbequed Shrimp and Grits, Speckled Trout en Papillote, and several blackened fish entrees. Steak and pasta dishes are also available but the menu is limited – a wise move in a small establishment.

We started off with Ginger Shrimp ($9) – six large shrimp lightly battered in bread crumbs and served with a ginger sauce; it was a tasty start. From there it was a seafood linguine and a blackened mahi mahi – both about $21. The generous portion of pasta came with bits of wilted spinach, fresh pureed and flavorful tomatoes, and plenty of shrimp topped off with a dollop of warm goat cheese. The mahi mahi, perfectly blackened, was served atop sweet potato fries and with an accompaniment of properly wilted spinach. I would have preferred a more creative potato choice, but the meal was enjoyable.

The dessert list included crème broulee, a flourless chocolate cake, or bread pudding. We chose the crème broulee. The caramelized glaze was done to perfection with a few blueberries added for color but the rest of the dish, the custard, was a bit too cool, nearly cold.

Proprietors Martin and Erin Burn offer a full bar and plenty of vodka choices for martini lovers as well as an interesting array of wines. Service – good. Confusion  - warm, friendly and one-of- a-kind - is now on my list of Gulf Coast favorites. and  © Jane Feehan All rights reserved.

The Chimneys - Gulfport, Mississippi

The Chimneys Restaurant
1640 Beach Blvd.
Gulfport, MS
228-863-7604
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Dinner (5:30-9)Tuesday through Thursday
Fri and Saturday - 5:30 until 10 with jazz until...
Sunday 11:30-2 p and 5:30-9
Closed Mondays
http://www.chimneysrestaurant.com/

By Jane Feehan

The doors to The Chimneys Restaurant re-opened for business in January after a Hurricane Katrina- imposed hiatus. At the original site in a new and beautiful Acadian style structure, this Gulfport jewel is already a popular spot. Their years-old reputation and food serves them well.

The chef is back (along with some other staff), preparing food The Chimneys is noted for. Shrimp crab chowder is chock full of seafood and lightly spiced – excellent. I dined on stuffed flounder – a whole fish – that tasted like it was just pulled from the water. Asparagus and a salad with a lightly spiced Creole ranch dressing were perfect accompaniments. A fellow diner ordered sauteed shrimp;  the dish, with plenty of fresh shrimp, was heavy on the lemon. But the meal ended well. The chef recently added some great dessert items to the menu including a coconut cake ... delicious.

This is a sophisticated, yet unpretentious place. Overheard were guests claiming the new Chimneys has the same warm, friendly look and feel of the one the storm destroyed. The only criticism would be the poor lighting after dark of the dining room. Hopefully, that will be remedied. The owners, the Nords*, have plans to open the porch for dining when weather permits; it’s a beautiful setting with an expansive Gulf vista. If it's the view you're after, go for lunch or early dinner. Live jazz is played on weekends starting at 10 p.m. in the lounge area.

Dinners run about $15-30  - quite reasonable in this setting - and includes salad and a vegetable. Menu at link above. Service: Good. © 2010 All right reserved.
 * Unfortunately, Dix Nord passed away  April 17, 2012 after a courageous battle against cancer.


For more information about the Mississippi Gulf Coast, visit:

Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau at www.gulfcoast.org

Domenica - New Orleans

Domenica
123 Baronne Street (Roosevelt Hotel )
New Orleans, LA 504-648-6020
Open 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Daily
504-648-6020

By Jane Feehan

John Besh’s Domenica is not your 20th-century neighborhood spaghetti house with checkered tablecloths, dim lights and the aroma of garlic wafting throughout. Instead, the décor is modern Italian minimalist, the atmosphere oozes trendy and the menu offers a wider array of dishes and flavors than we usually expect of an Italian restaurant.

There's an interesting collection of cured meats and cheeses on view, an antipasti list featuring wood grilled shrimp, fried squash blossoms, baby lettuces with beets and then, the "secondi," the main menu, that really gets the juices flowing.

The main course offerings are a collection of items that includes anolini, small ravioli with wild mushrooms; fettuccine with oysters, saffron and cream; spinach and ricotta gnocchi; rigatoni with crab; stracci - torn pasta with oxtail ragu; and fresh fish, veal, goat, pork and hen creations. Pizza is also served.

I sampled Burrata Mozzarella with tomatoes and grilled bread as a starter and was so impressed I ordered another antipasto, fried squash blossoms. Both dishes were memorable – as was the quarter-sized delicately flavored anolini, the secondi. I’m not big on desserts but was eager to experience as many of Domenica’s Italian delights as I could. The fig and ricotta fritters served with moscato zabaione – frothy egg yolks whipped with wine and sugar – was a delicious end to a meal I won’t soon forget.

Many of the antipasti and main course dishes are served in two sizes, two different prices - a great option. Reservations are recommended. Service: good. © 2009 All rights reserved. See review on Jane's Bits of another John Besh restaurant, American Sector.