Eating John Besh: Take One

Sometimes, the best way to get an idea of a chef’s range is to eat at his different restaurants several nights in a row, to contrast and compare.

I’m not talking about the Food Network celebrity chefs who have thousands of employees spread through their farflung empires so that the food served is but a far cry of the chef’s original vision, but those chefs that a) have made a name for themselves, and b) grew up with a particular regional cuisine and in their culinary adulthood, they give it a quirky, irresistible twist of their own.

John Besh of New Orleans fits that category, and last December I visited a couple of his restaurants. First, Luke, with an umlaut over the U, to reflect his German heritage; the menu is primarily old world French brasserie, an endangered species in some cities.

Luke Restaurant in New Orlenas

From the Assiette de Charcuterie, a variety of meats and pates served with tiny dollops of wildly flavorful accompaniments to the Flamenkche, a thin onion tart with bacon, caraway and Emmenthaler cheese, this meal kept building and building. Just when we thought we couldn’t be blown away anymore, we were.

Then came the frites. No matter what else you order, be sure to get a side of frites, and ask for a side of garlic aioli. We sat at a table looking into the kitchen through a plate glass window, a front-row perch. I can usually take or leave frites. These, I couldn’t stop inhaling. At one point, one of the chefs glanced over, his expression asking my opinion. I did the only thing imaginable at the time: I leaned forward, plugged one nostril, and pretended to snort up the few remaining fries.

Big laughs in the kitchen. At the table, it was a memorable meal that would be hard to beat.

By Lisa Rogak

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1. Eating John Besh: Take Two
2. Please Stop the Gumbo!
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