New Orleans: Bayona

by JS

Bayona, Susan Spicer’s French Quarter establishment, was the most polished, complete-in-concept meal of our gustatory vacation. The restaurant is a block north of Bourbon St. on Rue Dauphine. Having arrived to the Quarter early by streetcar, we decided to walk down Bourbon during the rather tame 7 o’clock hour. Only a block north, Rue Dauphine is both socially and societally different from its lower neighbor. Gentleman’s clubs and bars give way to an almost classically serene French Quarter community in the span of only a few feat.

Some gradients in New Orleans are sharper than others.

We were still early for our 7:30 seating and waited momentarily in a sitting room to the side of the maître d’ station, among wine racks, cookbooks (including the proprietor’s own) and various other volumes on food and wine. This is where they choose to stash the four star award from Mobil Travel Guide. I still find it strange how rating services like Mobil or Michelin exist in some kind of synergistic brand space with automotive related companies, though I suppose the automotive revolution made modern notions of travel and tourism possible. To live in the day when restaurant and lodging recommendations ran along side instructions for car maintenance…

The Zagat recommendation was more prominently displayed.

We began our meal with two appetizers, the oyster and Italian sausage gratin and the sweetbreads with sherry mustard butter sauce. The sweetbreads were flirting with over-salted, but were deliciously balanced with beets and potatoes.  The oyster gratin was well seasoned, with layers of complex flavor and an easy, approachable texture. I do wish that the Italian sausage was more pronounced.

I had a glass of Cabernet/Merlot blend. A forgettable wine, but the choice of a blend moderated the heftiness of a normal Cabernet and made for a nice pairing with my entrée, peppered lamb loin with a sweet potato puree. Anastasia ordered a special entrée, pork chop with mangoes, pineapple and coconut wild rice. My dish was technically sound, cooked to a perfect medium-rare, and complete in concept if lacking in some inspiration. The pork chop was a bolder stab at something new, with shades of Asian influence in the flavors. The dish was somewhat undone by the ratio of chop to other elements.

For dessert we had chocolate vacherin, a meringue crust filled with crème Chantilly and fruit, along with pistachio pot de creme with phyllo wrapped pear and pomegranate sorbet. The chocolate did not do quite enough to moderate the acidity and fruity sweetness of the vacherin, resulting in a flavor that was very single note. It was a nice single note, just not the one I was looking for. The glass of port I finished the meal with (Dow’s LBV 2001) served as a better endnote than the dessert itself. The pistachio pot de creme was quite good, particularly paired with the pomegranate sorbet. The pear was the least convincing element of the trio.