Cuisine Review

This is one of those reviews I have kept to myself for a while. When I first began eating Sunday brunch at Café 615, in LoDa on Dauphin Street just east of Washington Avenue, their business was not too busy, but the room filled up as time passed.

Mostly full of churchgoers, this last time I went the room was packed at noon. Lively and energetic, a band greets you playing loudly in the courtyard. On nice, cool days, the courtyard is a great spot where I have enjoyed several lunches, but it has always been full when I have been for brunch.

The Sunday Champagne brunch is a price-fixed menu for $20 that has tax and added 20 percent gratuity. Its unlimited champagne and Bloody Marys are $3 with house vodka. The Bloody Marys are zesty and come with all the vegetables – picked okra, olives and celery. The have a wide array of other accompaniments at the bar that has many different hot sauces, spices, lemons, limes, anything you may want. Café 615 has always had a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere with friendly and attentive service.

You are served a great deal of food, in fact just about every time I have eaten the brunch it has been my only meal for the day. All menu selections come with a small plate of fresh fruit and a slice of coffee cake, two eggs any style, breakfast potatoes or three-cheese grits, biscuit or English muffin. You will have a hard time making a decision on what to order as your main item. Especially since all the items above could pretty much make a filling breakfast.

It is worth me naming all the selections. First up is a four-egg crab frittata with lump crabmeat, Gruyere cheese and asparagus.

What I had on my first visit and one of my favorite brunch items, grits and grillades. Café 615 is the only place I know of in town that serves this classic Creole dish. Panneed Veal strips, tender and flavorful with an almost smoky taste, are served atop creamy three-cheese grits in a spicy sauce espagnole. This sauce has an interesting history. Espagnole sauce is one of the mother sauces that are the basis of sauce-making in classic French cooking.

Even though espagnole is the French word for Spanish, the sauce has little connection with Spanish cuisine. The author of the classic Gourmet’s Basic French Cookbook wrote, “There is a story that explains why the most important basic brown sauce in French cuisine is called sauce espagnole, or Spanish sauce. According to the story, the Spanish cooks of Louis XIII’s bride, Anne, helped to prepare their wedding feast, and insisted upon improving the rich brown sauce of France with Spanish tomatoes. This new sauce was an instant success, and was gratefully named in honor of its creators.”

The basic method of making espagnole is to prepare a very dark brown roux, to which are added several gallons of veal stock or water, along with 20-30 lb (9-14 kg) of browned bones, pieces of beef, many pounds of vegetables, and various seasonings. This blend is allowed to slowly reduce while being frequently skimmed. The classic recipe calls for additional veal stock to be added as the liquid gradually reduces, but today water is generally used instead. Tomato sauce is added towards the end of the process, and the sauce is further reduced. Needless to say this is a quite impressive addition that the chef has made to this dish.

On my second visit I had the very rich empanadas which consist of sausage, wild mushrooms and smoked Gouda wrapped in puff pastry. Now do you see why it is worth going here on Sunday? I truly cannot decide what my favorite dish is.

On my last visit I chose the fish and grits – another fine experience. Fresh Gulf snapper was prepared perfectly and topped with a creamy tomato sauce (the sauce changes every week) over three crusty grit cakes with a thick, creamy inside. Two of my friends have selected the steak and eggs, which have two tournedos of filet with a sauce choron (a tomato-based sauce made with white wine, peppercorns and parsley), and another orders the Eggs Mauvila. The Eggs Mauvila is a large stack of poached eggs, apple wood smoked bacon, Hollandaise sauce and “colossal” crab over three-cheese grit cakes. There is just nothing that is not good here.

Yet there is more to tempt you. How about Lobster Crepes, two French crepes stuffed with lobster, Mascarpone cheese and Smoked Gouda Mornay sauce? This last time another person at my table ordered the Crawfish Pie that was chock full of crawfish in puff pastry and topped with the apple wood smoked bacon. The last thing I will talk about is the Oysters Dimanche – cornmeal battered fried oysters with a creamy Creole BBQ sauce and crumbled blue cheese over a three cheese grit cake.

The fruit and coffee are nice to break your hunger, but I would maybe skip the coffee cake for all that is to follow. I have always ordered the grits as my side and remember that all of the above, if it does not already have eggs, comes with two any style. I always get mine poached medium to consistent results. And always choose the biscuits as they are fluffy.

Beyond the excellent food what makes me want to come back is the same superlative I gave the eggs – consistency. This continues to be a problem with some of our finer dining restaurants but not here. At least on a Sunday. The combination of these two qualities will cause you come back again and again.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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