I finally dusted off that Galatoire's Bistro gift certificate

and was pleasantly surprised at how good everything was.

I had eaten there a couple of times the first year they were open at the new location and didn't not care for it. It was noisy, had unpolished service and found the food to be very average.

Recently, there has been a bit of discussion about Galatoire's on this board so we decided to give them another try on Saturday night.

First, I think their efforts to tone down the noise level in the main dining room has been effective. Moving the booths to the center of the room, adding a few curtains here and there and covering the floor with a large persian rug certainly reduced the decibels to tolerable levels.

The wife and I both ordered a blue cheese wedge salad and found it to be delicious. I don't know where they got the iceberg lettuce from, but I wish I could find lettuce this fresh and without any bitter taste. I think they added a little bacon grease to the dressing, which gave it a nice depth of flavor.

We both ordered a fish dish, I had the Gulf Crabmeat Yvonne, Sautéed Gulf fish topped with jumbo lump crabmeat,
artichoke hearts, mushrooms and green onions and the wife had Grilled Gulf Provençal Grilled Gulf fish over roasted roma tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, capers, and fresh basil.

Both or us thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Our server was Devon, a cute little blonde that did a fine job. She suggested an alternate bottle of wine, as they had just sold out of the one we ordered, and it drank very well with our meal. We didn't get dessert, but did have some coffee. I wish I could make coffee this good at home.

Overall, a really delicious meal and will definitely eat here again. I can't wait till it cools off a bit as I would like to give their patio a try.