COOLinary New Orleans

July 23, 2010 12:00 AM

The dog days of summer have definitely descended upon us. As the rays intensify and the air feels stifling and heavy, those light lunch breaks in cool and calm settings offer a pleasant diversion. And by evening, spirits are uplifted by thoughts of frosty beverages and a delicious dinner.

In New Orleans, restaurateurs are figuratively displacing the steam from outside and using it in the kitchen where it belongs. And to fend off that weighty outdoors atmosphere, chefs are preparing lighter-style fare like soups, salads, smaller sized portions, accompanied by cooling beverages to beat the heat. Going lighter doesn’t stop there. Many restaurateurs are offering dynamite deals for lunch and dinner, or on certain weeknights, or when the mercury hits specific levels, and other fun promotional tie-ins to encourage diners to escape the heat by enjoying great food and beverages.

In addition, the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) has paired with local chefs, restaurants and hotels to offer many more inviting summer specials in their COOLinary New Orleans program, which kicks off August 1 and runs through September 30.

This summer restaurant promotion features two-course menus attractively priced at $20 or less for lunch and $34 or less for three-course dinners. For example, The Bombay Club’s Richard Fiske offers a daily three-course COOLinary dinner for $25 in addition to his regular menu. Guests can choose between four appetizers for the first course: apple, Brie and walnut salad; soup de jour; curry and citrus steamed mussels; or fried calamari.

Main course selections are English-style fish and chips with fresh cut fries; Creole carbonara linguine with chicken, andouille, asparagus, garlic, cream, and cheese; braised beef shepherds pie with horseradish mash potatoes; or for a $5 up charge, baked stuffed Louisiana shrimp with crabmeat, sautéed spinach and choron sauce.

Brigtsen’s COOLinary dinner, priced at $32, is offered Tuesday—Saturday. For starters, diners can choose between duck and pistachio pâté with red onion marmalade, Creole mustard and homemade pickles, or coconut shrimp bisque with ginger and garlic.

For the second course, Chef Brigtsen offers panéed veal with mushrooms, asparagus and lemon parmesan sauce or grilled fish with shrimp and jalapeño smoked corn buerre blanc. Next, guests can choose either strawberries, raspberries and summer melons in Champagne vanilla sabayon or tres leches cake with pineapple brûlée and piña colada sauce.

Tujague’s, New Orleans’ second oldest dining establishment (since 1856) offers a COOLinary dinner menu priced at $28. To begin, guests can choose between shrimp rémoulade or soup of the day. The main course varies nightly between a choice of three entrée specials or a six-ounce filet mignon. Dessert options also vary nightly for the third course.

Bourbon House is presenting a COOLinary lunch menu priced at $20, which begins with appetizer choices of corn and crab bisque; lightly fried alligator in Crystal butter sauce with blue cheese dressing, or a soup du jour. Entrée selections include shrimp Creole, panéed veal with lemon butter sauce, or grilled chicken spinach salad with feta cheese and spiced pecans with a pecan-molasses vinaigrette.

Additional restaurants offering COOLinary menus for lunch and/or dinner during August and September include Café Degas, Bayona, The Rib Room, Mr. B’s Bistro, Mike’s on the Avenue, Palace Café, Antoine’s, Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, Royal Palm, Café Giovanni, House of Blues and Mulate’s Cajun Restaurant.

Other restaurants throughout the city are offering their own summer dining specials. At Ralph’s on the Park, dinners can order three small plates and a glass of wine for $28 any day of the week through August. Executive chef Chip Flanagan has come up with a creative collection of dishes-to-die-for at prices to love.

Some of the dozen or more items are: turtle soup finished with sherry; local Creole tomato tart with a baby arugula salad; cauliflower soup with a mini blue crab cake; and a version of oysters Rockefeller with fried oysters, savory spinach custard and crunchy bacon-infused bread crumbs. Other selections are a BLT of roasted pork belly atop a fried green tomato with poblano pepper-red onion coleslaw and a Creole mustard sauce, wild mushroom ravioli with Boursin cheese, sweet vermouth sauce and crispy leeks; and house-cured blueberry Atlantic salmon with asparagus salad, feta and roasted pecans.

Additional appetizers incur a $4 upcharge, but are well worth it. Try the tuna two ways, tartare and cold-smoked with avocado, sweet chili and a wasabi crème fraiche; tempura fried Maine lobster tail with a poached lobster claw and buttery grapefruit sauce; crabmeat Ravigote Napoleon; and Worcestershire-citrus glazed lamb spare ribs.

The accompanying wines to choose from are not shabby either. The white is a delicious 2007 La Doucette “Les Doux Tours” Sauvignon Blanc from France’s Loire Valley, and the red is a 2007 MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir from California’s Sonoma Coast. As a footnote, it’s difficult to just drink the one glass diners are offered with the special! Additional glasses can be purchased at $9.25 for the Sauvignon Blanc and $9.75 for the Pinot noir.

On Sundays, Ralph’s also offers a three course “bubbles and brunch” with a glass of sparkling for $28.

At GW Fins, New Orleans’ extraordinary French Quarter seafood restaurant, owners Gary Wollerman and Chef Tenney Flynn are serving up a $35 menu with three delectable courses Sunday through Thursday during the month of August. Fins’ regular menu will still be offered nightly. Five dollars from each dinner will be donated to local, regional and national conservation organizations assisting with the area’s recovery from the oil spill.

Although the menu changes daily based on the freshness and availability of the seafood, following are some sample dishes to whet diners’ appetites. Appetizer course offerings could include a Vera Cruz seafood cocktail with shrimp, crabmeat and squid; Blue Hill Bay mussels with chanterelles, sausage and rice noodles; or a butter lettuce salad with deviled eggs and green goddess dressing.

For the main event, Chef Flynn’s daily choices from a variety of fresh fish available in the market might showcase Canadian salmon, wood-grilled with a pepper salsa and chipotle butter sauce; rainbow trout, also wood-grilled with spinach, shitake mushrooms, oysters and Smithfield ham; Parmesan crusted Carolina catfish meuniere with asparagus, lump crab and fried capers; Thai bouillabaisse with shrimp, mussels, whitefish, and rice noodles in a green curry broth; and sautéed Arctic char served with sticky rice, Asian vegetables and a sweet soy butter.

Muriel’s Chef Gus Martin and owner Rick Gratia have come up with a tasty table d’hôte menu for dinner featuring a trio of courses for $29.95 that is so popular it’s being offered year ‘round.

For the first course, guests are offered a choice of New Orleans seafood gumbo; turtle soup, soup of the day, romaine salad tossed in a dressing of roasted garlic and Parmesan with shaved onions and herb croutons, goat cheese crepes topped with Louisiana shrimp in a buttery Chardonnay sauce, or pecan crusted Louisiana alligator, flash fried and served with mirliton, carrot and onion slaw, accompanied by pepper jelly.

Entrées featured in the table d’hôte menu are seafood au gratin with Gulf shrimp, fish and crabmeat baked with Parmesan and served with potato croquette. Other entrée selections are pecan crusted puppy drum with crabmeat relish and a lemon butter sauce; shrimp Creole with popcorn rice; and pasta jambalaya with chicken, andouille, duck and shrimp simmered in a seasoned sauce and paired with fettuccine. A selection of fresh made daily desserts is offered as the third course.

“Ciao Down,” Bacco’s $25 summer dining special features three courses and is available 5:30 pm–7:30 pm every night through August. Some selections are corn and crab soup, lobster ravioli, roasted chicken and stracci, Bacco shrimp and lemon icebox pie.

Broussard’s, with perhaps the French Quarter’s loveliest restaurant courtyard to gaze at during these warm summer evenings, is offering a three-course dinner for $32.50 Monday—Saturday through Labor Day.

Appetizer choices include chilled curry cream soup with fresh lump crabmeat, parsley oil and sour dough croutons; and a ceviche cocktail with marinated fresh Gulf seafood in a cucumber/poblano relish.

Entrée selections featured are pan sautéed Gulf fish of the evening in a Creole tomato and crabmeat sauce, sautéed jumbo Gulf shrimp, grilled honey lavender glazed salmon and redfish court bouillon.

Dessert choices are mango cheesecake with citron passion fruit sauce or strawberry shortcake with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

In the Central Business District, Herbsaint’s Chef-Owner Donald Link and Chef de Cuisine Ryan Prewitt offer a $45 tasting menu as a summer special through the month of August. The dinner begins with an amuse-bouche and continues with three additional courses which change weekly.

Seated at a table laden with some of the world’s greatest cuisine in the air conditioned comfort of one of New Orleans’ legendary restaurants, the steamy air outside quickly seems to matter hardly at all. N

Details. Details. Details.

Look for the COOLinary New Orleans link at www.neworleanscvb.com for additional details, menus and restaurants who signed on after press time.

Uptown at Upperline, the divinely gracious owner and hostess, JoAnn Clevenger, is offering the restaurant’s marvelous garlic festival menu in a three-course dinner with multiple, scrumptious-sounding selections for $28.50 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday through August.

However, Wednesday through Sunday until the end of August, a special three-course menu also will be offered for $35 including most of the regular menu items with surcharges for certain dishes.

Mimi’s in River Ridge has a $25 Triple Play + One summer special which is having so much success it will continue through the fall. Dining guests can order three appetizers from dishes like panéed eggplant and grilled jumbo shrimp with herb aioli and Pecorino Romano; oyster pan roast with Italian sausage, bread crumbs and Parmigiano Reggiano; and jumbo lump crab cake with rémoulade sauce and fried spinach.

Other choices include tempura fried asparagus spears; grilled eggplant, heirloom tomato and goat cheese Napoleon; shrimp rémoulade; and a variety of salads. The “plus one” includes a choice of a glass of wine or bread pudding.

At Vega Tapas Café on Metairie Road, Chef-owner Glen Hough is spiriting diners away on a culinary Tour of the Mediterranean Monday—Saturday nights through the end of August with weekly visits to Greece, Italy France and Spain.

The five course tapas dinners are priced at an attractive $27. Optional wine pairings from the featured country—two served with each dinner—are $15.

Windsor Court’s summer menu special is $39, for three courses, offered Sunday—Thursday through August. In addition, the special can be ordered on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30–6:30 pm.

To begin, diners can choose between “Laughing Bird” shrimp or Creole tomato salad with Thai eggplant, buffalo mozzarella, arugula and aged balsamic vinegar.

The second course presents a choice of grilled Angus beef filet, roasted fingerling potatoes, grilled asparagus and vincotto, or seared Florida grouper with English pea purée, Parmesan risotto and pearl onions.

Dessert options are nouveau bananas Foster or hibiscus panna cotta with pomegranate fruit salad.