Jazz fest 2005

[Mayhaw Man]

Brook, that photo is priceless!  It's the very same table that I had my boiled crawfish at yesterday before heading off to the Better than Ezra performance.

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THat's known as atmosphere. You can't eat standing in a foot of water just anywhere.

[Bond Girl]

Restaurant August sits on a corner and occupies two floors. The interior is one of the loveliest dining decors that I've seen in years. The upstairs room that we were seated at has lovely wooden floors, simple table sitiing with old fashion spindle chairs. The long wndows finishes the sitting.

We were seated very promptly despite being half hour late. The server proceeded to tell us about the menu, which was set up in tasting style'. You could either choose three courses ($40), or four courses($60) or seven courses ($100). George and Evette, reeling from the late lunch at Uglisches, content thenselves with the three took the four course tasting while Mark and I happily head for the four course tasting. We shared a bottle of very dry Ancien 2002 chardonnay between us, which provided a clean notes to our palates.

We began the dinner with the chef sending out a dish of amuse-crawfish braised in truffle butter sauce. The sweet crawfish meat was drawn out by the earthy note of the truffle butter sauce. I notice that several of us ended up mopping the sauce with pieces of bread. John Besh, the chef, stopped by and spoke to us for a few minutes, which was a very nice touch.

Then the first course arrived. The chilled seafood, which two of us ordered was a trio of good and bad. There was a salmon wrapped terraine of some aort of which the smoked salmon over powered everything. There was a gelee of another shellfish that tasted of jelly. But, the shrimp was sweet and succulent and perfectly cooked. By contrast, Evette's soft shell crab with lettuce and tomato was a delightful twist on the classic BLT and here the glorious Louisiana seafood was allowed to shine. I didn't get to try George's angnoltti, but he seemed very happy with it.

Next up, I had an almost souffle like gnocchi with crawfish sitting in a wonderful butter sauce which slight hint of spiciness to it. This is by far the best dish I had. The gnoocch rival the one at Hearth in New York (of whoch is the gold standard that I measure all gnocchi by), and provided a wonderful contrast in texture to the crawfish and warm cajun spices. The creation was at once sensuous and sublime.

The sheephead on everyone else's plate seemed lovely as well, with the delicate flesh of the sheephead bought out by the sturdy contrast of the pecan crust. Unfortunately, the grouper cheed was well done but a little boring in taste and combination. The potatoes were undercooked and the grouper cheek lacked flavor.

Dessert was excellent with an orgasmic chocolat tart that permeate all your senses. The sugar tart with lemon verbena sorbet was elegant in execution with the high notes of the lemon verbena balancing the dainty melody of the sugar tart. The bread pudding was deep and rich and ahd a homespun comfort that was rare in dessert these day.

The service could be better with attentive servers that kept our water glasses filled and wine glasses topped. I wouldn't call August an "overrated" restaurant, for the price they charge, the place is a great dining option. It has a chef that pushes the envelope and although the dishes may not always work, it shows an adventurous spirit that is to be admired. I would go back anyday.