Birthday Dinner at the Rezervior Lounge

For my birthday last week, Mel and I went to the Rezervior Lounge, aka the old Sazerac Lounge (the sign out front still says Sazerac). So without any further adieu, here is the review of our night.

I started with the crawfish spring rolls and a cup of gumbo. Mel decided to forego the spring rolls and just have a cup of gumbo. I believe I have talked about the gumbo before so I will focus on the spring rolls. The filling was a cream cheese base with little pieces of crawfish and cajun spices like cayenne pepper. The dipping sauce was a sesame soy like sauce. The wrapper was nice and crispy without being over done. The filling was sweet with a little spice. I preferred to eat without the dipping sauce. I thought the flavor of the crawfish was very nice, it was sweet with a little brininess to it. Sometimes crawfish can be somewhat artificial tasting up here. Not in this. It was definitely the star of the show.

For the entree I got the blackened catfish. It was served with a remoulade sauce on a bed of rice and steamed broccoli. The rice and veggies were a little under seasoned. They were cooked well however. The broccoli was still firm and definitely not mushy. The rice was just kind of there. It added a little texture but that is about all. The catfish was beautifully seasoned. Blackened does not mean burnt. Blackening is a cajun method of cooking where a meat (typically catfish or chicken) is covered with spices. Typically the spice blend has some heat to it, but it is not mouth numbing hot. This catfish was moist and flavorful. It was not muddy as a bottom fish can be. The spice was perfect. The sauce complimented the fish without covering the flavor of the fish. It was a good dish that I really liked. It reminded me of New Orleans more than any dish in recent times. 

Mel chose the cajun porchetta sandwich with pork belly as the star. But unlike classical prochetta, its cooked with some cajun style spices that adds a little unexpected kick to such an unabashedly rich and porky dish. The flatbread is an interesting choice that is perfect. It is dense enough to not fall apart but soaked up some of the juice. If you like thick slices of pork on bread, this is a sandwich to try.

For dessert we had a brownie with raspberry lambic ice cream with a homemade whipped cream. The raspberry and chocolate marry well with each other. The ice cream added a nice cooling effect to the hot brownie. The whipped cream balanced all the flavors out oddly enough. The flavors were really well balanced. It was not sweet on sweet on sweet. The sweet was balanced with bitter from the chocolate and the beer in the ice cream. The mint on top brought a little bit of freshness as well.

Overall it was a good birthday dinner. From the start to finish it hit the spot. Happy Birthday to me!