The sign outside Straya, Al Copeland's newest restaurant concept says "California-Creole Cafe." I've never been to Southern CA, so I can't comment on just how much California is in Straya, but it certainly is quite a different concept for New Orleans. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Al Copeland, he is best known worldwide as the founder of Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken. His next creation after Popeye's was Copeland's, a New Orleans/Cajun bistro that now has four locations in the metro New Orleans area, as well as in Houston (and I think in at least one other city). Popeye's is now big-time, and has spread nationwide. Al hasn't been able to really expand Copeland's into a wide-ranging franchise, mainly because the menu doesn't lend itself to the kind of quality control one needs to spread out. Straya, on the other hand, may be the concept that Al can turn into the next Olive Garden or Red Lobster. The menu is based on gourmet pizzas and pasta dishes, along with a small selection of seafood and some grilled chicken dishes. The restaurant (located at Clearview and Veterans in Metairie) has been open for three weeks. We went last Tuesday night, thinking that a weeknight would make it easier to get into the place. It was still pretty packed. We got there about 7:10pm and had a 35 minute wait. When Straya was under construction, I started to admire the art deco design, particularly the archway in front that leads to the patio dining area. Now that it's completed, I'm not as fond of it. My friend Richard, who has a BFA in photography says Straya is "art dago" rather than art deco. The painted ribbons on the side of the building and the proliferation of painted and neon stars blow away the graceful art deco lines. Inside, gaudy continues to be the dominant theme, with full-size palm trees made of brass overshadowing the glass, chrome and mirrors also there. But, like true New Orleanians, we didn't go there for the decor. The menu makes it clear that you're not in a traditional New Orleans restaurant. There are no appetizers. The waiter suggested that we split one of the 8" pizzas to get started. The entrees were split into pasta dishes, pizzas, seafood, salads, wrap sandwiches (whatever the hell that is), roasted chicken, and desserts. There were three of us, and our entrees were a rigatoni with sausage in a regular marinara sauce, spinach fettucine and grilled chicken in a soy-lime sauce, and something called "sesame grilled tuna sashimi," which was tuna rolled in seasame seeds, then grilled for a very short time, just enough to toast the seeds and cook the outside of the fish. I had the chicken with lime sauce, which was pretty good. The chicken was spicy, and the pasta was cooked right. My friend who had the red sauce pasta thought it was pretty good. My other friend who had the tuna said the sesame seeds could have been cooked a bit more, but the fish was good, lean tuna. The one main complaint we had with the place was they didn't serve bread, which one of the guys explained was the way it's done in California. Shoot, earthquakes and no bread with dinner? You ain't gonna catch me moving out there, no sir! Dessert for me was blueberry cheesecake and white chocolate bread pudding for my friends. We were all satisfied. I wouldn't say the earth moved, but the fruit was fresh, and the white chocolate was an interesting enough angle that they enjoyed it. Service was a bit spotty. The guy tried hard, but was obviously inexperienced as a waiter, making little mistakes that could have happened in most places in town with a new waiter. In spite of it being a new restaurant, and crowded, we got our food reasonably quickly. There were some delays from the bar, however. The bill was reasonable. I didn't pick up the tab (the meeting was partly a business one), but the entrees ranged from $6.95 to $14.95. Overall, I'd say the experience was a B-. The tackiness of the inside of the place is quite possibly enough to put off some folks. If you go to the place with expectations of a "normal" restaurant in town, you'll be disappointed. If this is really the way they do things at a place like Spago's or other trendy restaurant in L.A., then I'd say they do a pretty good job of it. I wouldn't say it's a must-do experience for anyone coming into town for a weekend or a few days, but if you live here or will be here for an extended period of time, you may want to check Straya out.
New Orleans, LA