Closed Forgotten New Orleans restaurants and they're outstanding dishes

[joedontexan]

Heres two restaurants Uglesichs on Baronne, and Mandich on St Claude. Uglesichs had a dish created by a regular customer named Paul called Pauls fantasy it consisted of pan fried trout topped with grilled shrimp and new potatoes. Needless to say I still fantasize about this dish. Mandich had trout Mandich a breaded trout filet with lemon butter it was incredibly good but alas Katrina did the restaurant in that opened in 1922. anyone got any others?

[AreBe]

I found a copy of the cookbook Great Chefs of New Orleans II in a thrift shop. The copyright is 1984. I've had the pleasure of dining at only three of these: CP, Brennan's and Trey Yuen.

Warren Le Ruth of Le Ruth’s, Gretna
Daniel Bonnot of Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel
Willy Coln of Willy Coln’s Restaurant, Gretna
Gerhard Brill of Commander’s Palace
Günter Preuss of Verailles
Geoffredo Fraccaro of La Riviera, Metarie
Claude Aubert of Le Bec Fin, Covington
James and John Wong and three more brothers of Trey Yuen, Mandeville
Chris Kerageorgiou of La Provence, Lacombe
Roland Huet of Christian’s
Gerard Thabuis of La Savoie, Metarie
Michael Roussel of Brennan’s
Gerard Crozier of Crozier’s

[Ignatious Riley]

LaRuth's

[texasredtop]

Uglesichs was my favorite :-( There was a hamburger joint on Veterans in Metairie called Lee's Hambugers that was awesome. It never returned after Katrina. The new place closer to the mall and across Veterans is not even close, can't even believe it would be the same people.

[Big Easy]

Battistella's in the French Market. Trencherman food but about as fresh as you could find anywhere. The Battistella family used to be THE seafood distributor in New Orleans. I still recall the oyster omelette, the ultimate hangover remedy. When I first moved to New Orleans Battistella's still had a separate "colored" window for take-out, an eye-opener for this yankee boy.

One of the Battistella kids has opened a restaurant in (I think) North Carolina.

[AreBe]

Brian Battistella runs Battistella's in Raleigh, NC.
http://battistellas.com/chefschoice.html

[Gizmo56]

FYI, R'evolution is currently recreating famed dishes from bygone NOLA days at lunch:

http://www.nola.com/food/index.ssf/20...

[Bill Hunt]

That could be great fun. Several years ago, we stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, and the main dining room did similar. The concept was great, but it was too bad that the execution was not up to par. Same for the wine service then too.

Hunt

[hjacmc]

Good Lord, shall we just get weepy again? Anyway, you asked so here goes:

Gabrielle - the duck (the chefs are still here, just can't get permission to open up)
Fitzgerald's - stuffed flounder
Buster Holme's - redbeans & rice ( and whatever was on special)
Chez Helene - chicken
Wise Cafeteria - boiled beef dinner
Le Ruth's - Wiener schnitzel au citron (yeah, I know that's a mixed metaphor, but it was GOOD!)
Bruning's - stuffed shrimp (not my favorite, but others raved)
Visko's steam room - the steam bowl for two (lobster, crab, scallops, mussels, clams, shrimp and veggies) I must sadly admit that even though most often I properly shared this with my date, on occasion I was known to scarf down the whole thing by my myself. OK, I'm a pig.

and many, many others - sigh . . .

[joedontexan]

Kolbs was one of the most unique restaurants Ive ever seen and it is definitely missed by me.

[sanglier]

Seafood platter, stuffed flounder and Dixie Beer at the massive bar at Bruning's. The ecletic, creative food of Paul and Patty Constantin at Constantin's on Oak Street. And the wildly creative, globe-trotting food of Pete Vazquez at Marisol on Esplanade (though we can still get his food on Sundays at the Stein's pop-up).

[sunshine842]

Man, I was hoping against hope that Bruning's would rise again.

I have a full set of their little beer glasses-- "Don't Drink Water"

[collardman]

I've got the glasses too and loved the flounder. (and prize my Brunnings flouder t-shirt)

Another choice was Bucktown's White House with the thread thin onion rings.

[Bill Hunt]

Chef Patty's was the ultimate Trout Almondine, at least for me, and all other establishments will forever be judged by her treatment!

Thank you for the memories. Now, she reprised that dish, for a nephew's wedding, so I did get a tiny "fix," not that many years ago.

Hunt

[roro1831]

Restaurant R'evolution has Buster Holmes red beans on Mondays

[hjacmc]

Oh really?! At what price, do you know?

[Gizmo56]

$13

Red Beans and Rice 13
Hot Sausage, Roasted Garlic Aioli
Buster Holmes, 721 Burgundy Street, 1944 – 1983, Chef Buster Holmes
Known to locals as the most iconic casual Creole restaurant in the French Quarter, Buster Holmes catered his famous red beans and rice for years after he closed his restaurant.

from: http://www.revolutionnola.com/restaur...

[hazelhurst]

$13 is not too bad for RB&R considering we are talking about a restaurant in a hotel. I'm kinda surprised it is that low. presumably he's got a good sausage in it (he shopuld do it with a pork chop, too).

Hadn't realized Buster's had been closed that long. It was a convenient place and you always saw someone you knew.

[underworld gourmet]

"$13.00 is not too bad for rb&r"? Buster's price, when I first went in 1970, was 45. Cents, that is. When he raised it to sixty cents my friend Faruk von Turk commented, "what's he think he's running here, Antoine's?"

Admitedly, with choice of fatback or sausage it was something like seventy five cents, but you also had some great french bread with it.

[hazelhurst]

Re: Faruk, how is Justin? I haven't seen him in years.

[underworld gourmet]

He's just fine, still at the big house on Dante.

[mrsfury]

Everything was good at Bruning's. My husband used to work at Visko's, his great aunt owned Fontana's and his grandparents worked at the My-Oh-My. Those were the days...

[Bill Hunt]

I greatly enjoyed their Fried Flounder. They ranked # 2 in my "all-time best of" list, behind an also departed restaurant, Benny's, on the MS Gulf Coast.

Their Trout Almondine was about # 3, behind Patty Constatine's (Constatine's on Oak St.), and Galatoire's.

Good memories,

Hunt

[Bill Hunt]

my "second" would be Kolb's for interesting German food.

Hunt

[Bill Hunt]

Out on Chef Hwy - Marquez Bros. restaurant - fried shrimp. Those were probably my # 2 on my "All Time Best List."

Hunt

[porker]

Alas I am but a visitor to New Orleans - my first visit about a year ago - so know little about bygone restaurants. As a souvenir, I picked up "Lost Restaurants of New Orleans", a great book about many old restaurants. Its a collection of stories, anecdotes, recipes, and plenty of pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Restaurant...
There is mention of Uglesich's, but not Mandich.

[Bill Hunt]

I have not seen the book, but have purchased several DVD's, of the same (or very similar) names, from WYES. Lots of nostalgia for me, and for my wife. Gone, but not forgotten. Each time that we watch those DVD's, we have additional memories of many - including where I proposed to my wife, 42 years ago.

While NOLA is still a great culinary city, there are many "MIA" restaurants, that should still be around. Stuff just happens. Maybe it is because a neighborhood on Metaire Road goes toward a McDonalds, or perhaps a Popeye's, or perhaps because a family just retires, or disappears?

Fortunately, there are often restaurants that "pick up the slack," though maybe n another neighborhood. NOLA will always (so I hope) have great restaurants for both locals, and tourists, such as myself now.

Hunt

[porker]

I don't know if its simple nostalgia or a bygone era or if old school is becoming old fashioned, but I think we lost some innocence along the way.
Theres a gem of a place serving great food, but its under the radar. Soon, some blogger "discovers" the place, it gets a buzz. Then its in the forums, on No Reservations, and everything else.
The humble owners know a good thing when they see it, so they amp up the prices, knock down some walls, and expand.
Soon, what made them great is but a memory...

Then there's the flip side - hipster dufus guys open a joint trying to capture that bygone feel with $39 rice & beans, but its all contrived.....

I dunno...
I dunno.

[Bill Hunt]

Yes. Similar often happens, and not just in NOLA.

Going back, just immediately pre-K, we did some of the "Grand Dames" of NOLA. One, Antoine's, had really changed things greatly, bowing to the "tourist trade," and it showed, at least for us.

Post-K, they rather got back on-track, and seem to be coming back. I wish them well, and hope that they are successful. On my last visit, I "missed" them.

As for the US $39 Red Beans & Rice, I have not seen that yet. Still, some dishes are but a mere expensive "shell," of what I once knew.

Hunt

[HappyHattiesburgr]

Thanks for this information. We had wondered how Antoine's was doing.

[kibbles]

i havent seen any hipster-doofus places charging $40 for red beans & rice...im not even sure what qualifies as "hipster" since in common use it seems to include anybody-but-me.

what i have seen are amazing restaurants and disappointing restaurants, of all sizes. Antoine's fails squarely in the latter each time ive been -- service is fun but the food is not good. the execution at newer places like Coquette or RR blow it out of the water...just sink it like a doomed broken-hulled ocean-liner hit by a german u-boat.

[hazelhurst]

We had a big banquet at Antoine's in April and it was fine if a bit uneven. The Rock and Foch were wonderful but my cut of meat, which was a special, was no great shakes. Still, the waiter, who was a classic, if younger, fellow, brought out some sauces that carried the day. Wine was marginal, cocktails were OK even if the French 75 is no longer in an iced tea glass (now it is in champagne glasses). But I'd be very sad if we were to sink her at sea...Antoine's, as are some others, is a museum of sorts and there is nothing wrong with that. When I see reviews that lament "the food is out of 1950" I retort that crabmeat and trout were good in 1950 and they were good in 1890..."innovative cuisine" is, for the most part, a snare. I'd rather have lunch a Commander's..even the same thing..three days in a row that have dinner every night at WD-50 which, in my visits, has been fine but contrived. But, then, I prefer a honest, direct appropach and confess to being as confused by comments that such-and-such a dish was "perfectly executed." " Sometimes these comments are like wine-speak. But the public can be convinced that tasting menus are the Future and then the old warhorses founder and leave us the poorer for it.

Re: the RB&R, back in the 1970's there was a restaurant in Manhattan on Lexington in Midtown..something like "La Louisiane." They had Red Beans and Rice for $18.95 (W/pork chop, $22.95). The description in italics read "A typical, southwest Louisiana Peasant Dish." Shades of brightly clothed farmers marhing on the Castle with torchlights.

[kibbles]

i didnt mean that as in "Antoine's should be sunk", i meant that as in "places like Coquette blow it out of the water; (they) just sink it".

"perfectly executed" = doesnt suck. as in, "the chef prepared & served every element of the dish without failure".

sadly, every time ive sat down for service at Antoine's something's sucked about my dish or my partner's. while the service & company were nice, the food certainly didnt meter up on my value scale for the price, where it often does at the places i mentioned.

[HappyHattiesburgr]

Porker -- thanks for mention of this book. I had been thinking there SHOULD be a book about them. I'll look it up.

[Gizmo56]

Tom Fitzmorris maintains a considerable number of articles about "extinct" New Orleans restaurants. You might enjoy looking through them. Here is the index:

http://www.nomenu.com/joomla1/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=55&Itemid=263

And here's the article on Mandich:

http://www.nomenu.com/joomla1/index.p...

[hazelhurst]

Fitsmorris book is preety comprehensive..and it is fun, if a bit depressing.My list of dead ones is fairly extensive but off the top of my head: Maylie's (brisket and the eggs remoulade), LeRuth's, Kolb's, Christian's, LaLouisiane, Willy Kohn's, Totorichi's(not great but Jake Tortoritch was a fixture in the Quarter) the old Tony's on Bourbon, the Lakefront joints, a slew of little mostly-Italian places Uptown.

I am a bit concerned for the future of some of our established places...judging by trends in other cities, lots of old line spots are going under while glitzy tasting menus and places that put Jackson Pollack on a plate are prospering. And when Parisians didn't riot over the death of Lucas-Carton and Boston stopped supporting Locke-Ober, well, anything can happen. It is up to the locals and the loyal visitors to keep these joints going.

[Bill Hunt]

I think that you have great reason for concern.

"Old-line NOLA cuisine" is not what it once was. Tastes change, and now, words like "hip," or "new" populate many threads.

Molecular-gastronomy is on many lips, as are some other "fads."

I'm old enough to recall the "glory days," and still appreciate them. I love "tradition," and accept it, for what it is.

Maybe it's because I travel about 250 days per year, and dine around the globe, but when in NOLA, I appreciate that "tradition." Not sure how many others do the same.

Hunt