Coquette - New Orleans (Bread to die for!) - A Review

We thought Coquette was a real find - though it is well known to New Orleanians.

We had the tasting menu so we had no idea what would come out of the kitchen - but all ingredients are purchased pretty much locally and is in season.

5 COURSE BLIND TASTING $70

OPTIONAL WINE PAIRING $30

The blind tasting reflects what the chef wants to highlight that moment and is customized for guests.

We started with house-made sopressata and jalapeno mustard, which was not too hot, and very good. Then they brought out a smoked catfish spread with cilantro and seeds. I gobbled that right up. Next came fingerling sweet potatoes in a Greek yogurt and curry sauce, then red snapper with sunchokes, a beet sorbet on a small block of ice, then beef tenderloin with kale, roasted potato squares and a parsley sauce. All very nice and very filling. Dessert was amazing, but of course I can't recall what it actually was because too much time has passed and I tossed the receipt like a dope.

The waitress asked my husband what was his favorite and he indicated the red snapper... Now, my husband is not inclined towards fish.... and that was his favorite. The meal was wonderful.

Taken from their web site... seems that the chef is from Maryland.... And worked at August - a restaurant that my husband and I really enjoyed.

OUR STORY

Michael Stoltzfus and Lillian Hubbard opened Coquette on the corner of Washington Ave. and Magazine Street in December 2008. The Garden District building was built in the late 1880’s and has been among other things a residence, grocery store, auto parts store and a number of restaurants. With dining rooms on two floors and a 14 seat bar, Coquette offers innovative southern cuisine with an emphasis on locally sourced product. Featuring an accessible international wine list, classic and creative New Orleans cocktails and a well-traveled beer list.

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MICHAEL STOLTZFUS

Chef / Owner

Although he grew up on a 140 acre working dairy farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and enjoyed the freshest products available, Stoltzfus never imagined a career in the culinary industry.

Fate or perhaps his mother’s intuition steered him in a fortuitous direction, when a couple of weeks before he was to begin college, his mother decided to open a bakery and enlisted Stoltzfus’ help in running it. Although he knew little more than how to scramble an egg, Stoltzfus found himself cooking breakfast and lunch at the family owned restaurant.

While working at the family bakery, Stoltzfus embarked on his personal culinary adventure, purchasing a variety of cookbooks and began cooking and experimenting at home. At 25 years old, after working at a few restaurants in Maryland, his talents were evident and he was hired to work at New Orleans’ esteemed Restaurant August, where six months later he was promoted to Sous Chef.

His entrepreneurial spirit flared, and in December of 2008, he opened Coquette in a gorgeous two-story Garden District building. Stoltzfus looks at Coquette as a culinary playground where he thrives on designing personalized tastings menus for guests and creating a menu that changes daily. His inspired cooking earned his restaurant a four bean rating from New Orleans’ Times Picayune, a Star Chef’s “Rising Star” Award and most recently Stoltzfus was named a semi-finalist in the prestigious 2013 James Beard “Best Chef in the South,” award

Michael Pollan's 'Cooked' Netflix Series & BREAD

I did have other thoughts while listening to the television show, besides belly button beer.

Mr. Pollan talks about big, bad gluten and how we are all avoiding it. (I have recently learned by an elimination process that eating bread/flour will swell my fingers over night and make my knuckles sore in the morning; the soreness does go away as the day goes on. I can choose, now, if I want that feeling in the morning or not.)

What did excite me, though, was his thoughts that perhaps if we returned to real flour and a fermentation process, eschewing the commercially made quick-rise yeasts, we might be able to eat bread again. I did rather feel that I didn't particularly have a problem after enjoying the bread at the New Orleans restaurant Coquette, which is made with a starter/sponge and 'rests' overnight. They will kindly share their recipe for bread, if you ask. As I understand it, the recipe originated with the chef's mother.

While listening to Splendid Table I learned about a group of women who have opened up a flour mill in Asheville, NC called Carolina Ground. Their whole deal is to make healthy flour and to keep it closer to the community. Even in the television show they talk about a wheat economy and how wheat is being shipped all over the world, with real ripples in the system when invasions happen in the world's 'breadbaskets' (i.e. Ukraine). We, in America, are not as effected by that kind of thing, but cultures/countries which eat bread as a staple are hardest hit.



I may be back in the business of making and eating bread... my bread, from my home, from my yeast.

Making a starter, apparently the yeast is robust!

Now I am just thinking that I need to visit Carolina Ground as I travel between New Orleans and DC. Perhaps I can visit a newly discovered cousin when I take my night-time break 9 hours in to the trip.