Café B, Metairie, LA Report #146

********** PERMANENTLY CLOSED **********

 

My birthday was last month and I got an email from the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group offering me a free dessert for my birthday!  It’s the least they could do after all I’ve done for them.  They listed Cafe B, the Red Fish Grill and Ralph’s On The Park as the participating restaurants.  I didn’t feel like going into the French Quarter for Redfish Grill, and I’ve been to Ralph’s on the Park numerous times.  I figured I’d try out Cafe B for the first time.

Beautiful, elegant looking place.  Nice little bar.  Even tables outside with white tablecloths if you want to dine there.

They started me off with a little amuse bouche I guess you could call it.  A very small piece of smoked salmon.  Pretty good.  Figured it was just a little Langiappe (more on that later).  Their buns with softened butter are good.

I was in a seafood mood so I started off with the fried calamari.  I don’t know which was more delicious.  The calamari, or the marinara sauce they gave me to dip them in.  You could definitely tell it wasn’t out some jar.  If it was I want to know the brand!  The squid were nice and crispy, seasoned perfectly and very tender.

I had a pretty heavy lunch so I wanted something kind of light for an entrée.  There were a few things that caught my eye on the menu.  Tough decision, but I decided on the Crab & Truffle Pasta.  Housemade Fettuccine, white truffle oil, tomato, garlic, butter, mushrooms, topped with jumbo lump crabmeat and shaved black truffles.

Besides marrying my wife, this was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.  Actually, it’s a toss up.  This was fantastic!  And as you can see they give you a very generous portion of crabmeat!  Loved this dish.

I had some bread pudding I didn’t care much for at lunch (Report #145), so I figured I’d try again and ordered bread pudding for my free birthday dessert.  What’s the odds of me going 0-2?  This bread pudding was utterly delicious!  It was everything bread pudding should be.  Slightly crisp on the outside but nice and soft and fluffy on the inside.  Almost like a custard.  One of the best bread puddings I ever had.

When I was first seated I showed the waitress my free birthday dessert email.  She said, “No problem and happy birthday”!  When she brought the check I saw the bread pudding on it.  I politely said, “Oh, did you forget to take the dessert off?  Do you need the redemption code from my birthday email”?  She said, “Oh, that was for dessert?  I thought that was for that salmon appetizer we brought you”!  So apparently I wasn’t supposed to get that.  Either way, she took the dessert off and all was right with the world.

Great place.  I highly recommend it!

Blaine 10-6-2018

SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT:

 

Café B closes Friday, December 21st, so this was my last, delicious, meal there.  Everyone dining there tonight got a little jingle bell necklace.  Nice touch for the season!

I started off with the Chicken and Andouille Gumbo.  You have a choice between brown rice or green onion potato salad in it, and I opted for the potato salad.  Their gumbo is just how I like it.  Nice and thick with a real dark roux.  Seriously good.

Next was the Grilled Artichoke Dip.  Very good.  Then as a little lagniappe they brought us out a fried oyster, with Israeli couscous and a red chili mayo.  Utterly delicious!

Paneed Veal Marsala with spaghetti bordelaise was my entrée.  The mushroom-marsala reduction was so good I’d eat it over cardboard.

I received an email from the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group telling me happy birthday, and offering me a free dessert.  My birthday was in September but who am I to argue?  I got the bread pudding, which is fantastic.  We also got an ice cream sandwich.  Three slices of chocolate cake with strawberry and vanilla ice cream sandwiched between them.  Also fantastic.

Again, if you want to have a delicious last meal there, get there by December 21st.  Goodbye Café B.  You will be missed.

Blaine 12-8-2018

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