We moseyed into the French Quarter today to take advantage of the three-course prix fixe menu offered for lunch at Antoine's. The price for all three courses is $20.13 per person. Also being offered was the .25-cent drink of the day... which just happened to be lemon-drop martinis (one of my personal favorites - mouth puckering sour lemonade and a lot of vodka). Fuck the wine, we martini-ed it up!! At the beginning of the meal, the waiter brought out two fresh (as in just-out-of-the-oven) mini-baguettes and freshly churned butter. ::swoon:: It was so delicious. I had to stop eating it so that I could save some room for the three plates to come!!
For my first course, I had the Hot Shrimp Ravigote Au Gratin and the husby had the Ponchatoula Salad. For my entree, I had the Ginger Currant Pork, which had a current-cranberry sauce with sweet and herby rice. B. tried the Basil-Crusted Drum (a light flaky local fish) on a bed of corn, artichokes and tomatoes - both of our meals were perfectly prepared and delicious. For dessert, I had the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (which had a sweet rum glaze) and ordered a cafe au lait. The cake itself was dense and moist and had freshly whipped cream on top. Husby had the candied Peach Melba with home-made vanilla ice cream. He skipped the coffee and decided to have another martini. Fabulous New Orleans lunch!!
Antoine's happens to be one of the oldest restaurants in the Quarter. It was originally opened by a Frenchman back in 1840 and is still owned and operated by the founding family heirs. As a matter-of-fact, our waiter was proud to point out that he was the third generation in his family to work at the restaurant (he started when he was 15 and told us that this year he celebrated his 20-year anniversary working at Antoine's)... he even gave us a business card with his name on it so that we could request him again. The restaurant itself has 16 different dining rooms and can hold a capacity of 1400 people at one time. Some of the dining rooms are small and private, but there are also larger, banquet-style rooms available. The decor is truly old New Orleans and the food is distinctly French (there are some Creole-style offerings on the menu, but for the most part it is classic French cuisine).
The service was impeccable - white linen - and the wait staff wear tuxedo-style "uniforms" (for lack of a better word) and patrons are expected to be a bit more formally dressed (no flip-flops or shorts or wife-beaters). For evening dining, patrons are expected to wear a coat and tie and ladies to be dressed appropriately. There are NO children's menus, nor are there high chairs OR booster seats offered. I was pleased to see that there were NO children at all, everyone there appeared to be older than the age of 25. Personally, I think it's worth every penny to dine at this type of restaurant.
^^ Antoine's is very distinctive - you can see the sign from a mile away...
^^ The main entrance...
^^ One of the large dining rooms. The staff encourages patrons to look all around the restaurant... they also provide souvenir menus on request.
^^ The Wine Cellar. Antoine's has one of the largest wine selections in the entire city. Well over $2,000,000.oo of wine on hand... this would be one of the premier restaurants to visit for wine aficionados.
^^ Every fine liquor you can imagine is available in the bar.
^^ Pre-mixed Sazerac!!!
^^ One of the private dining rooms. It had a snail theme of sorts going on... perhaps a referral to the Escargot that can be found on the menu???
^^ Back hallway leading to the various private dining areas...
^^ I loved this dining room... the colors were fabulous and I'd love to have dinner with a group of friends in this lovely room...
^^ Courtyard walkway. The glass cases on the right-hand wall contain a huge collection of ashtrays from all over the world. I was wondering if people donated them...
^^ I just loved the name of this dining area...
^^ The inside of the mysterious "Mystery Room"... ;0))
Once again, my apologies for letting so much time lapse between posts. Since I've been behaving myself, I haven't been out and about as much as usual. This will definitely be changing over the next couple of weeks... hell, I *still* haven't posted anything about the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas!! Stay tuned...
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