A rendezvous with Lüke on the Avenue
When Lüke opens on New Orleans’ St. Charles Avenue in May 2007, it’s going to feel like old times – very old times. Chef John Besh, the 2006 James Beard Award winner of Best Chef, Southeast, is expanding his family of restaurant holdings to include an old-fashioned brasserie.
‘Alsace meets New Orleans,’ is how Besh characterizes the cuisine, explaining that the old brasseries were the time-honored establishments of late 19th-century German and Jewish immigrants — whose influence on the food and culture of New Orleans was profound. “This is everyday food,” says Besh, “that is, food I would choose to eat every day, I love it that much.”
The inspiration for Lüke is beloved but bygone New Orleans brasseries like Gluck’s and Kolb’s, landmark restaurants dating back to the 1890’s that combined the best of German and Creole cuisine. Besh explains, “The brasserie as an entity came to Paris through the Franco-Prussian Wars – they were how the French interpreted the beer houses and weinstubs of the Alsace, Prussia, Luxembourg, and Belgium. A few great ones flourished here in New Orleans for most of the last century, but seem to have vanished completely in recent years.”
Not surprisingly, Lüke will offer an extensive French, German, and Belgian beer selection, including three exclusive house brews. The cuisine is unaffectedly Old World, using slow and traditional cooking techniques. Among the Germanic specialtiés de maison are Choucroûte Maison, Housemade Sausages and Slow-Cooked Berkshire Pork Belly and Knuckles;
These are balanced by an equally tempting range of French bistro classics, from the Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame; to the Louisiana Speckled Trout, prepared either Meunière or Almandine; to Steak Frites with your choice of cuts. Abundant plateaux of cold fresh seafood will showcase the local Louisiana oysters and shrimp.
And the space is just as warm and nostalgic as the menu. The new interior, on the ground floor of the boutique hotel on St. Charles Avenue newly developed by the Hilton Corporation, will gleam with cherry and cyprus paneling, antique floor boards, a salvaged pressed tin ceiling, and stained glass windows providing a glimpse through to the wine room, which will double as a cozy semi-private dining room. Patrons of Kolb’s will recognize the elaborate pulley-and-belt driven ceiling fans, an early air-conditioning system first admired by visitors in the 1880s; A sweeping fruits de mer display and handsome mirror-backed bar will likewise recall the grand brasseries of the century-before-last.
Report by Chitra Mogul
Chitra Mogul
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