Dinner at Lüke

[zin1953]

In this traditionally Catholic town, one problem confronting the out-of-town visitor can be where to eat on a Sunday night, when many restaurants are closed. Fortunately Lüke is OPEN!

As most people already know, this is a part of John Besh Empire -- uh, sorry, John Besh Restaurant Group -- this, said to be Alsatian influenced. As with every dining experience I've ever had at one of his restaurants, the meal was SUPERB!

For appetizers, I started out with the pâté of Louisiana rabbit and duck livers, scented with truffle and served with Dijon mustard, caramelized sweet onions, pickled watermelon and housemade croutons -- a surprisingly large portion, and positively wonderful. Meanwhile, Lynn had the Badischer presskopf (hog's head cheese) -- about twice the amount she expected appeared on the plate, and it just may have been twice as good, too!

We each opted for the salad of chicory, lardons of Allen Benton's bacon, croutons and a soft poached yard egg, with creole mustard and tarragon -- excellent -- while Amy selected the fried oyster, bacon, romaine and avocado salad (her Tennessee roots blending with her time in California: fried food and avocado: what could be better?) that was as good as it gets.

For our mains, I chose the moules et frites (Prince Edward Island mussels steamed with garlic and thyme with housemade fries) for $18. I mention the price, because -- can I just ask: who serves FIVE DOZEN MUSSELS??? After ploughing my way through 36 of these excellent and tasty little morsels, I waved the white flag of surrender, and apologized for the poor 24 that were sacrificed needlessly . . . .

Lynn had the Louisiana redfish with a sauce meunière -- and instead of one fillet, she received two . . . perfectly delicious, yet she, too, failed to finish the second one.

Amy, feeling smug that she skipped the appetizer course ("What were y'all thinking?"), chose the Lüke burger -- served with tomatoes, Allen Benton's bacon, caramelized onions, and Emmenthaler cheese with housemade fries -- yet she, too, could only make it halfway through . . . .

So the lesson at Lüke is to only order ONE thing! Well, maybe not, but you gotta save room for the bread pudding -- the best I've had in NOLA since 1970! Honest . . . .

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Luke Restaurant
333 St Charles, New Orleans, LA 70130

[Niki in Dayton]

Jason, we only hit Luke for breakfast, but what a brekkie!! The grillades and grits were enough for two substantial meals, and the fried potatoes (with rosemary, carmelized onions, and double smoked bacon) were the absolute best fried potatoes I've ever had in my life, and I'm a girl who likes taters! Your review makes me eager to return to a wonderful city, and try dinner at Luke :-)