Random thoughts on Compere Lapin, Shaya & more

Went to a bunch of restaurants last week with kids out of town and finally made it to Shaya and Compere Lapin. Overall thoughts on dishes I had and tasted. Take it for what you will. I will try to add some pics later.

Compere Lapin - Really enjoyed the meal. I hope this place takes off.
Conch fritters - a bit spicy and lose the flavor of the conch, but very tasty.

Pig ears - okay, but could have gone without, nothing special.

Roasted Corn - this was really enjoyable.

Tuna tartar - very good, but nothing special in terms of tuna tartar.

Watermelon/Tomato Gazpacho - refreshing and well thoguht out. Better than other iterations I have had of this.

Crawfish pici pasta - this was excellent. Really flavorful sauce/broth to go with homemade pasta and perfectly cooked vegetables and lobster. My favorite dish.

Roasted drum - This was another standout. The fennel was subdued unlike in other places.THe protein was excellently prepared and the pinenut gremolata provided great flavor.

Duo of Beef - standard beef dish. Hard to screw up. If you enjoy beef dishes, you will like it. Vanilla type dish.

Chicken - I would not order this. It was average and chicken needs to be special to order it. It was basically a roulade with dark and white meat done sous vide with skin reattached and crisped.

Root- I was disappointed. I have been four times now and I continue to find too much of the focus is on presentation, technique, and whimsy over more practical matters like taste/texture. Very talented kitchen and if you like whimsy, this is the place to go in New Orleans. Just maybe not my style.

Charcuterie Boad - the charcuterie is excellent, but quite expensive even for house made stuff. I would prefer more meats and less accoutrements.

Roasted Beet Salad - the beets were served in fist size chunks. It was a beautiful presentation. I have never seen beets served so large in a salad. The beets were compressed with honey, but it did not seem the honey fully penetrated. Also the beet was more dense than typical and I prefer beets sliced for me. Much prefer compressed melon and fruits to beets.

Crispy Pig Ear & Warm Giardiniere Salad - The pig ears were plentiful and better than compere lapin. Anchovy dressing was really good.

Chicken Wings - fried beautifully. Very flavorful and the smoked onion buttermilk dressing was wonderful.

Menage a Foie - This is where substance in terms of taste and texture suffered the most. One presentation was in a glass bowl made to look like a terrarium using some granola like substance, frozen orbs of foie, green puree and a white foam. It was absolutely beautiful and did not taste very good. The granola texture does not mix well with the foie and the saue added to the dish spread out unevenly. The foie-li-pop is a poprock dipped foie on a stick covered with cotton candy. Overly gimmicky to me. Another presentation was serrved with unripe grilled avaocado that had a terribly hard texture with almost no flavor.

Hot & Sour Lemonfish - some may like this, but most at our table did not. Either the broth or cobia itself had a strong fishy taste. I did not find it offputting, but would not order it.

Cohiba Smoked Scallops - These are good, but I am not in love with the cohiba smoke. I know that is the schtick, but it is mainly just olfactory. I think they could use the same presentation with a fruitwood or alderwood smoke and it would be a better experience.

Black Laquered Duck - This is my favorite dish here. Duck is tender and super flavorful. I wish more of the dishes were like this. Maybe I am just getting old.

Shaya - this is going to be a new staple of mine
For the table - Baba ganoush, watermelon & feta, and the ikra were all very good in terms of the for the table.

Curry fried cauliflower hummus - this was fabulous combined with the bread. They serve basically pizza dough by itself fired hot in a wood oven with most of the dishes. We ordered multiple rounds.

Kibbeh Naya - this is my new favorite steak/lamb tartar in the city. It is served with an oiled, fried dough that is outstanding. I did not share this dish and will order again.

Matzo Soup - very good matzoh, but the broth was just a bit too heavily salted.

Plums & grilled peaches - I was not offered a tatse of this and it disappeared, so I assume it was good.

Slow Cooked Lamb - delicious, but like shortrib it is too heavy for me during the summer. I will order this in winter.

Roasted Chicken - not quite special, but close. This is very good chicken. Much better than the previous night.

Avo - we had apps here and they were fantastic. Avo seems to be getting better each time I go.