From New Orleans in Paris, to Paris in New Orleans
Inside the Eliza Jane, Chef Ryan Pearson's Couvant is the best of French technique, flavored by the best of the Gulf
A hotel restaurant has the odds slightly more stacked against it. Guest expectations might include a menu featuring palate-pleasing overviews of a city’s greatest hits, afterthoughts overshadowed by the bar, where too-dim lights facilitate a party more than an engaged meal.
So it was refreshing to be sitting at one that strikes the right balance: inviting for those staying on the floors above while remaining inclined towards its local clientele, thanks to thoughtful food and service. Such is the case with Couvant, located in the Eliza Jane Hotel in New Orleans’s Central Business District, with Ryan Pearson taking the reins as executive chef after a pandemic shutter. Couvant stands out thanks to a friendly staff, (when I was there, the bartender and I talked about our favorite New Orleans dives) and a French menu that interprets New Orleans indulgence as an expression of the Gulf’s bounty.
When I spoke with Pearson before dinner service, he said cooking was “the only thing I ever remember wanting to do,” and so he cooked his way into some of the best restaurants in New York under the guidance of fine dining chefs like Daniel Boulud. Pearson's motto, “Find the best chefs I can, put my career in their hands, and then work hard,” paid off: he landed positions as sous chef for the two-Michelin starred Daniel and at the one-Michelin star Bâtard, as well as the The NoMad Bar and Restaurant. The opportunity to helm a New Orleans-themed brasserie in Paris followed, where Pearson learned the value of excellent ingredients. In France, he said, “every fig is perfectly ripe, it makes you not want to accept a bag of carrots from who-knows-where.”
He brought that attitude stateside. Food-wise, Couvant is heavy on French technique, but when I asked Pearson how he sets his restaurant apart from the slew of downtown French establishments, he was quick to highlight the ingredients he selects. “We try to get the best product that we can,” he said, to give the food at Couvant a “sense of place.” Every day, his distributor from JV Foods texts him selections from local farms and seafood purveyors. Even if it means a dish doesn’t stay on the menu for long thanks to Louisiana’s notoriously short seasons, Pearson highlights whatever the Coast has to offer that day.
“It used to be like every dish would have a pickle, a pureé, a roasted element, a shaving, a this, a that. There’d be fifteen different ingredients on a plate and eight different little herbs on top. Now I think [chefs] are leaning towards ‘simple is hard’. If we do a steak frites, the steak and the frites have to be perfect, cause there’s nothing to hide behind.” —Chef Ryan Pearson
Perhaps nothing better demonstrates this than the Gulf Fish Chaudrée, cooked with bass the night I ate at Couvant. The chaudrée, a French chowder traditionally cooked in an iron pot, is a comforting canvas of the region’s offerings and Pearson’s selectivity. The best catch of the day is served in a rich broth that gets its flavor from simmered shellfish and is thickened with blended potatoes. The shrimp and broccoli rabe provide bite, and thick cut bacon lardon makes it a very moreish dish. I only wished there was bread to mop up the stock at the bottom of the bowl.
Pearson, like other fine dining chefs, is returning to simplicity. Compared to the Michelin-starred restaurants of a decade ago, “the style of food has changed a lot,” he said. “It used to be like every dish would have a pickle, a pureé, a roasted element, a shaving, a this, a that. There’d be fifteen different ingredients on a plate and eight different little herbs on top. Now I think [chefs] are leaning towards ‘simple is hard’. If we do a steak frites, the steak and the frites have to be perfect, cause there’s nothing to hide behind.”
Other menu items demonstrate this notion. The duck confit is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, accentuated with lima beans, lentils, and blue cheese. All the dishes I tried, though unapologetically rich (Pearson originally won the Couvant owners over with his signature brioche-crusted veal.), is prepared with the idea of enjoyment, not obliteration. I was smitten by the neatly-cut strips of baked-in-house brioche to pair with the foie gras torchon. It was a caring touch, like when a mother cuts the crusts off of a sandwich.
The details of service matched the consideration of each dish. The staff has a friendly rapport with guests and each other. The wine pairings our bartender recommended—a surprisingly hearty Gamay, a Sauvignon Blanc that was ample while remaining crisp—were fresh takes on classic styles, and paired excellently with the meal.
For Pearson, returning to the childhood city where he learned to roll biscuits with his grandmother has proven to be a successful homecoming. As food ambassador for The Eliza Jane, visitors can take pleasure in a meal that celebrates the Gulf’s abundance and the city’s French history. If Couvant is a hotel restaurant, it's the best of its kind.