Two New Metairie Restaurants... It's been some time since I've made any serious comments on restaurants. I've been writing an article on HTML for a magazine in New Zealand, and I'm burnt out enough on computer writing that it's high time I told you about Terra and Petra. Terra first. Terra is Morton Andersen's place in Lakeside Mall. What used to be Champions Restaurant and Sports Bar is now a "real" restaurant, operated by the folks that bring you Bella Luna down in the French Market (Luna/Terra -- get it?) The main ad pitch for Terra is "we're in a mall, but we're *not* a mall restaurant." And they're right. Terra has a Southwestern theme and flavor. The menu has several nouvelle-Southwest dishes on it, but it's mostly variations on New Orleans classics. Terra does gourmet pizzas, mainly as appetizers, along with chips and salsa, etc. The entrees include several pastas (pasta with pesto, crawfish pasta, pasta w/sundried tomatoes, etc.), a good selection from the grill (steak, lamb chop, chicken, catch of the day), and several specials. I've been once for lunch, once for dinner. I had roast pork, mashed potatoes and red cabbage for lunch (the "blue- plate special"), while my friend Steve had stir-fry sirloin tips and veggies (very California-looking dish). Both were pretty good. For dinner I had grilled Amberjack with a salsa relish and Helen had the crawfish linguini. My son Justin had a four-cheese pizza whose flavors were totally lost on his 6 year-old taste buds. (We should have gotten him the chicken fingers from the kid's menu and left the pizza to Domino's). I sampled a little of everybody's and was impressed with all of 'em. The lunch bill ran around $25 (we both had iced tea) and the dinner bill (where we both had two glasses of wine by the glass) ran around $50 (tip included on both of those). Terra looks like it'll do well. I think Morton made a wise decision moving away from the sports bar theme. The metro area got its first Red Lobster a couple of months ago, located in the Lakeside parking lot, facing Causeway. Terra is also on that side of the mall, at the end of the arm of the mall going east. On the night we went to dinner, we got there about 6:00pm and the place was fairly empty. By 7:30, the place began filling up with families that definitely looked like they tried to get in Red Lobster first and gave up on the long wait. That there is a wait at Red Lobster still boggles my mind, but it looks like Terra will pick up a bit of a following as a result. If you stray from downtown next time you're in town, I'd suggest this one. Many people end up making a trip to the mall for various reasons, and this place makes Lakeside tolerable. Now on to Petra. Petra is located on Oaklawn and Veterans, right behind the Burger King. This location used to be the Beef Baron. The old Beef Baron moved some years ago from its Canal Street location to Metairie, but the Metairie location has been closed for over a year. The place came alive last week in the form of Petra, an Italian place opened by a couple of Andrea's alumni who got some financial backing. The interior doesn't look all that much different from the old Beef Baron, mainly because they didn't change the private booths. The Canal St. Beef Baron was known for the little curtained booths that ringed the dining room, making for a nice, discreet dining experience. The owners continued the tradition in Metairie by building booths into the new place, and Petra has kept 'em. The main dining room has about twenty tables, 10-12 booths along the walls, and one big side room with a table for 8-10. The menu is Creole-Italian, in the Andrea's style. Steve and I went there for lunch last Thursday. My friend Steve put himself through law school working as a waiter at Andrea's, so I always try to go to Andrea's alumni places (like Brick Oven Cafe, Vincent's, etc.) with him the first time. I had the lasagna, Steve had a breaded veal with a light sauce. Both were excellent. The soup du jour was french onion, which was also quite good. Lots of hot cap bread came coming out, making the meal a very enjoyable one. The place had only been opened three days when we ate there, so it's hard to know whether or not it's going to be consistently as good as it was last Thursday, but I'd say it's worth a shot.
New Orleans, LA