French Quarter in Wayne

[Rail Paul]

Dee and I went to the French Quarter in Wayne. It's been mentioned here by Walter Maier and others. Located on the Hamburg Turnpike (US 202). NJ 23 north, right on Jackson Avenue to end. Left on 202 to left on Hamburg 202, place is on your right about 1/2 mile.

Very nice place, an updated version of an old roadhouse in rural Louisiana. I think it was Chez Louis in another life. They were doing some remodeling, so entry was thru the bar, which looked like a movie set for a 1930s movie. Dark wood, mirror behind the bar, a guy sitting with a huge plate of oysters and a mug of beer. Woman nursing a drink. Smoking section is in a pleasant room adjacent to the bar.

We went thru that area to the non-smoking, which is three rooms, and about 75 seats. Two other tables were occupied at 730 on a Wednesday. Not a good sign. There was a faint stale smell in the air. Nice room, tiled fire place, decorative beer mugs and abstract art on the wall by us.

Waiter put on the a/c, smell disappeared. Fresh spiced tortilla chips and faintly bbq flavored cole slaw appeared. Tasty and different. Menu has a five course dinner for $29.95 (chips, appy, entree, salad, dessert/coffee) with supplements of $5 for buffalo and beef filet. Entrees included chicken jambalaya, andouille sausage, a house pate, beef bourguinon, duck cepes, and several pasta items. A la carte also available.

Dee ordered the catfish filet with an escargot appetizer, I ordered the crab cake and pulled pork. Escargot was served in puff pastry, arranged in a pinwheel of five on the plate. A very rich mushroom sauce dressed the plate, with a sprinkle of ground red pepper and dried celery. Escargot was delightful.

I ordered the crab cakes. Three silver dollar sized pieces, very tangy, with a respectable amount of crab (expected for $11). I enjoyed them. My entree was the pulled pork, which was fine. Not great, not Memphis pig-out fine, but OK. I found it to be interesting but not exciting, and lacking the complexity of flavors I want in a good pulled pork. Beans, a stewed beet (not bad, and very unexpected) and rice rounded out the healthy serving.

Dee's catfish was spectacular. Blackened, but moist to almost wet in the center. Thick piece, spice was very evident. Very attractive presentation, with the spice dusting and a remoulade on the side.

I had two pints of the Widmer's dark beer, which was fine. Dee had a pinot grigio (morsautti 2001) by the glass, which they handled on the honor system. Opened the bottle, and left it. Dee drank two healthy glasses, he looked at it and send "Two?" for the bill. No ice bucket provided, bottle sat on the table.

Dessert was a chocolate mousse cake. All in, with tip, bill came to $90.

Nice place, fine service, good food. It's a shame it was so empty. The other tables were empty by 815, and they turned the lights out as we left at 9 pm.

[Rosie]

I have this place on my list. Thanks for the report. Would you go back?

[Rail Paul]

I'd go back. I'd be interested to see how it performs with a full house, since we had the whole joint to ourselves. I think I recall WM mentioned they have a jazz group in on the weekends.

I was surprised there were no specials offered, but the menu was full and complete. Lots of choices.

Which brings up a minor negative. The menu was stained. Both of them. With easy and cheap laser printing, there's no execuse for making up a new menu every day and assuring only clean menus are used.

[TheBoatMan]

Excellent review Rail Paul.  I love pulled pork, tough to find it served decent in the area.  Are you normally wary about restaurants that are not busy or crowded?  Do you alter menu choices because of it?  I think I might have been scared to order the escargot.  Dirty menus are a pet peeve of mine as well.  How can you expect the kitchen to be clean if they can't even provide you with a clean menu?

[tommy]

I love pulled pork, tough to find it served decent in the area.  

have you tried cubby's in hackensack?

[dodge621]

Finks Funky Chicken River Edge also serves Pulled Pork

I have not tried this here but other food there very good.

www.finksfunky.net

[Rosie]

"Are you normally weary about restaurants that are not busy or crowded?  Do you alter menu choices because of it?"

I am leary of an empty restaurant on a weekend and will order chicken, veal or pasta rather than fish.  I usually don't order fish on Sunday's either. And I am really turned off by dirty menus. If the establishment doesn't care that the menus are dirty what else don't they care about?

[TheBoatMan]

I love pulled pork, tough to find it served decent in the area.  

have you tried cubby's in hackensack?

Havent tried it Tommy.  Is this the same owner of the Cubby's in Hasbrouck Heights?  I think I heard mixed reviews about it.  Also, heard the prices are a little on the high side for the type of food they serve.  Is it worth a try?  If you say it is maybe I'll trust your "taste" and give it a shot.

[dodge621]

"Who made you the reigning deity on what is an interesting thread and what is not"

great quote

[TheBoatMan]

"Who made you the reigning deity on what is an interesting thread and what is not"

great quote

LOL, thanks Dodge.  Thanks to Tommy for helping me come up with it  

[tommy]

Thanks to Tommy for helping me come up with it  

no problem.

[dodge621]

In NJ, I would prefer pulled pork at a place like Cubby's to a place with menus, etc.  Always liked Cubby's.  Found the prices a little high as well for what they offer but then again do not have to leave tip.

[Rail Paul]

Rebecca's in Edgewater often has pulled pork on the menu.

I prefer the way they do it, which is a roasted marinated pork shoulder, with crisp edges, and a moist inside. If sauce is used, I prefer it on the side. When it's done the French Quarter way, stewed in the sauce, you run the risk the sauce will hijack the meal. Just a personal preference for me.

"The reigning deity on bbq" is markstevens. He has a thread somewhere in here about how the various bbq techniques work. The other "reigning deity on bbq" Holly Moore, has an exceptional site with world class examples of high priestly bbq artists.  Holly Eats

[Rachel Perlow]

The two Cubby's used to be related, now they're not. We go to the one in Hackensack, right near the Bergen County Jail.

[walter maier]

Paul, I was pleased to see your review of French Quarter.  Haven't been there in a bit myself, but if I may, I'd like to add a few of my personal comments.  First, a Dixieland band plays Saturday evenings, from around 8pm, till whenever, and they are a lot of fun, not to mention they wail!  Saturday is usually a bit more crowded in the restaurant.  I was surprised to hear you were not offered specials, every time we have been there, specials were plentiful and interesting and good.  I noticed the soiled menus myself, but to be honest, I overlooked that especially after the first time we went and Jean, the chef-owner, was our waiter as well as cook!  BTW, the Hurricanes are quite tasty.

As an aside to no one in particular, just back from a trip to Stockholm in Sweden, and Iceland.  Some rather interesting food experiences I must say.

[Rosie]

I recently had a very different experience at French Quarter in Wayne. First impressions are made before you enter a restaurant and I thought the outside was dirty and unkempt. The entrance needed to be swept. The inside was dark, the floor dirty, crumbs were on the table and the rugs needed a good cleaning. The menus were stained and two of our dishes were brought on chipped plates. Specials were recited without the prices.

Coleslaw was brought to the table with soggy tortilla chips. My friend ordered a beer. We don't know what she was served as it came in a very tall dark bottle that had been opened and the label was ripped off. I ordered a glass of wine. The bottle was brought to the table and opened. A bucket was brought to the table and I requested that it be removed as I was not drinking more than one glass. The premise is if you leave the bottle the customer will pour himself or herself another drink.

I ordered a special of five meat gumbo which tasted like shreds of meat with some rice in a floury beef gravy. My friend had crab cakes which were dark in color and tasted heavy in breadcrumbs. Entrees were a crawfish ettouffe which smelled fishy and had to be spruced up with some hot sauce. I had an unappetizing chicken jambalaya that had globs of chicken skin that had fallen off of the chicken. The rice and sauce were bland and greasy.

Desserts are made in house and the gummy key lime pie was inedible. The bread pudding was ok but certainly not worth the calories. All of my dishes were sent back barely touched.

[Rail Paul]

Walter Maier - thanks for your comments. Will you be posting your Scandanavian comments over on the Europe boards? I'd be delighted to read them.

Rosie - I'm sorry to hear about your experience. In retrospect, perhaps our initial greeting and the general appearance of a 1940s film noir movie set (grimy bar, guy nursing a beer, tired woman with a drink, etc) prepared us for a downer, and we received a pretty good experience.

It definitely sounds like a lack of housekeeping supervision (rugs, sweeping), poor service standards, and a badly out of whack kitchen. Some of your elements were identical to ours (glass plus bottle) while others varied (crisp, warm tortilla chips, very tasty meats).

Did you go on a weekend? Was the place packed, empty, etc? I think we went in the middle of a week, and had the place to ourselves.

[Rosie]

Went in the middle of the week. Two other tables were filled.