NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 12:45:40 EDT
Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu rec.food.restaurants:44546
This is from the New Orleans Menuletter, a free newsletter published by Tom Fitzmorris, a local restaurant critic and radio personality. Enjoy...
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T H E N E W O R L E A N S M E N U L E T T E R
Volume Four, Number Thirty-Eight
EXTRA!
Thursday, April 1, 1999
By Tom Fitzmorris
Host of "Dining Around," 4 till 7 every afternoon on WSMB, Talk Radio 1350 AM Editorial and subscription address: [email removed] Back editions and more at http://www.nomenu.com Circulation: 3807 Share the taste of New Orleans with friends! Forward the MenuLetter to them and recommend that they ask for their own free subscriptions! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RESTAURANT REVIEW The Best Restaurant In Town Just Opened--In A Bank By Tom Fitzmorris
PGI Bank and Bistro
Ratings: 99, 2$
601 Perdido (corner Camp), CBD
Reservations essential: 524-0348.
Lunch Wed.-Fri. Dinner Wed.-Sun.
Cash only.
The questions I get asked the most are, "What's the best restaurant
in town?" and "What's new?" I can now answer both questions with the same restaurant: the PGI Bank and Bistro, which opened a couple of weeks ago in the magnificent lobby that used to be the main office of the old International American Bank of Commerce Bank. Since three mergers ago those classic Art Deco headquarters have languished, waiting to serve again.
And serve it does. It's a real bank--the PGI stands for Progressive
Guarantee Inc. But already its investors and ad people are calling it the Piggy Bank.
And it's also a real bistro. No modern banking operation needs the
kind of space that these grand old main offices once sprawled over. So when the PGI guys took over they were originally going to just wall it over and lease most of it.
What happened is strange. Melvin LeMuth, PGI's president, tells
of a long board of directors lunch at the Rib Room during the bank's planning stage. They had quite a few of those washbucket martinis, and somebody jokingly suggested that they serve food in the lobby. After the laughter died down, LeMuth said, "Why not? We're trying everything else in the banking business!"
So, when the PGI Bank opened its doors, there was a full-fledged
restaurant right in the middle of the place. The setting was perfect: the marble floors, expensive wood tables and chairs, and lighting were classic bank fixtures, but they also were the stuff from which very grand restaurants are built.
All interesting enough. We move into the realm of amazing when
the food starts coming out. It's a set table d'hote menu, changing monthly, with six courses being the standard for the rather amazing price of $17.50--which, the waiter is quick to point out, is also the interest rate the bank pays on big CDs.
Here's what they had for dinner when I went a couple of days ago.
(Incidentally, both the restaurant and the bank tellers stay open till midnight here.)
You start with the crab cakes: solid jumbo lump meat, with a
spectacular taste. You get three of them, each the size of a hamburger bun, along with a perfect remoulade sauce and a magnificent tarragon-flavored tartar sauce. This is served with a glass of Ferrari- Carano Chardonnay, a big buttery job that's great with the crabmeat.
Then comes the soup. The best in the house is what they call a
potage of bouillabaisse. Chef Jahn Jaspreel says that he uses smaller, better fish and shellfish for this, and it's lighter than the classic bouillabaisse. The soup is served in a large tureen with a flame underneath: take all you want. That comes with a glass of fino sherry: a nice touch.
The fish course this month is a whole pompano, simply roasted and
then stuffed with truffles, finished with a stripe of hollandaise over which is scatted beluga caviar. This is without question the best fish I ever ate, and I made such a thorough job of devouring it the waiter came over and said, "Well, sir, if you thought that was as good as it looks like you did, would you care for another one?" It turns out that seconds, and even thirds, are available at no extra charge here. Hard to believe, but then a restaurant in a bank is too.
Chef Jahn says he likes to serve the salad between the fish and the
meat course. I never heard of that before, but what a salad this was: arugula and bibb, my two favorite lettuces, topped with a dressing into which sharp cheeses, pepper, and 75-year-old balsamic vinegar play against one another. I've never had better.
They had a choice of entrees. The first was a whole rack of
American lamb, paired up with a whole backstrap (the tenderloin) of venison, each roasted after being treated to its own particular marinade for three days. The other option was a two-and-a-third-inch thick filet mignon, roasted to a magnificent crust, incomparably juicy, served next to my favorite eating bird: roast squab, stuffed with foie gras. I couldn't make up my mind.
And then the waiter made an outrageous suggestion: "Why not just
get them both? I won't tell anybody." I said I couldn't let him do that unless it was something he'd do for any customer, not just restaurant critics. His reply: "Restaurant critic? You're a restaurant critic? No, that's just our house policy. In fact, if you just have enough room for the lamb, I'll just pack up all the other stuff and you can take it home for later. Or we can save it for your next visit. That option is included in the $17.50 price."
Did I mention that the wine was Chateau Montelena 1993, and that
it came with the meal?
I had no room for dessert, but they gave me a rain check--literally a
check, since this was a bank, for the $1.75 nominal cost of the dessert course. But I did have a swallow of the dessert wine, the lovely Dolce from Far Niente.
The PGI Bank and Bistro is not without its problems. I didn't really
like the idea of ordering your meal by making out what looks like a deposit slip--although it did remind me of the way you order sushi. Also, I thought the color of the waiters' ties didn't really go with their tuxedos. And they really shouldn't have covered over the old paneling with mahogany, even if it is more expensive. I think restorations ought to be true to the old look.
One more apparent inconvenience: they only accept cash here. This
turns out to be a gimmick by which, when they cash your check at the teller's window, they can ask you to open an account. Fortunately, they'll cash checks on any bank, with a limit of $200 over the price of the dinner.
The Piggy Bank and Bistro is just getting started. But I don't think
I'm guessing wrong when I say this will be the most talked-about restaurant in town. Until, of course, the Hibernia or the Whitney get the idea.New Orleans, LA