re: Baton Rouge Restaurant Week- Round 2

Just got back from Le Bon Temps.

Cool place, would be great for football season if there are a few games on that you wanted to monitor. Chairs a little uncomfortable for long times, but the bar area is large and even has an outside patio.

For was nice. The andouille stuffed jumbo shrimp were plump and the shrimp tasted fresh.

Wife had the turtle soup which I thought was good. Not a turtle soup expert so I can't give too much insight.

I went with the couchon de lait platter which was awesome. The pulled pork in duck fat had a rich brown gravy flavor to it that still let the pork flavor come through. Green beans nice and crunchy still.

For dessert was the beignets and ice cream and also the pecan bread pudding. Beignets were hot and fluffy. Were definitely fresh.
The bread pudding was rich with the caramel sauce in top, moist but with a nice firm crust outside.

Service was great, we had a waitress and trainee. One little mixup, but they were more than happy to fix it and really went out of the way to make it right.

The place started picking up when we left, we ate early and were alone most of the time. The place was about half full when we were leaving at 7:20.

I think I'm going to give Bin 77 a try tonight too. Their menu has some good choices on it.

Bin77 does a $15 wine pairing with it. Worth it IMO. Three wines for basically the price of one. It's a small pour for first course but normal the other two.

I had the duck beignets for the first course. They tasted fine but I didn't catch any duck. More like a hush puppy.

Second course I got the stuffed quail and loved it. It was delicious. My guests got the beef tenderloin. Also delicious but not cooked the way they ordered. All three got medium. One ordered medium, one ordered med-rare, and one ordered rare.

For dessert I had the brûlée cheesecake. Didn't see any caramalized sugar to qualify it as brûlée but it was good cheesecake.

Everything was great but I will admit it didn't wow me.

Nino's is the only other place doing a wine pairing Plus their food is great.

We did Chelsea's T night... some of their standard fare but a great price and it's always delicious.

Going to check out Frankie Marcello's tonight, it's one of the few places on the list that neither of us has been to.

Last night, our intention was Le Bon Temps at first, but when we pulled into the parking lot, it was obvious it was slammed. I asked someone who was walking to their car if they ate there, and they said the wait was too long.. so we decided on Galatoire's.

I went in not expecting much because I have not heard much praise for the place, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The building is nice, but everyone was right about the noise level. Holy crap And that's WITH eggshells under the tables/chairs.

Our waitress was the sweetest little thing. One of those types that probably has never said a mean thing in her life. She was freshly 21. I liked her.

I had a French 75 to start and we ordered our food. My date and I agreed to order stuff we both like and split it all. We started with the Crawfish Maison [Louisiana crawfish tails tossed in a cream salad with capers, green onions, lemon, and creole mustard, per the website menu] and the BBQ Shrimp and Grits.

For entrees, I had the roasted duck with a sweet potato hash. I kid you not.. I've NEVER been served such a large portion of meat. I was shocked when she set down the plate. Not only was it way more duck than I could imagine eating, but it was next to a healthy helping of sweet potato hash. Not just for decoration.. a massive scoop. The sweet potato hash was my favorite part of the meal. So yummy.

My date had the ribeye, also a huge portion, served with a garlic and herb spaetzle. The ribeye had a sauce on it, which I normally am not into, but I liked the sauce. It wasn't too overpowering.

As if our entrees weren't huge enough, each came with a side of with broccoli or fried potatoes, so we got both. The fried potatoes were so good.. this restaurant can work some magic on potatoes.

For dessert, we both got the chocolate pecan pie. I am not a dessert person and could have easily done without dessert, but my date said he thought it was too much crust. They were individual pies. I like too much crust, so I didn't mind.

TL;DR: Galatoire's was very good. Much better than I anticipated. Bin77 was 1/3 the amount of food and not nearly as good.

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the service was spotty and all out or sorts.

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Par for the course with that place. I won't be back.

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Prepare to be completely underwhelmed. Wife and I gave it two tries, and they fell short both times.

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Unfortunately I've heard this same thing twice now.

Did y'all go? we were thinking about going tonight but maybe we need to rethink this.