Dinner at the Midnight Star

Midnight Star Cafe is your basic old frame house converted into a restaurant. It's got a very big front porch that has been converted into an outside dining area, so you have the choice of dining inside or outside. The weather was fairly mild last night, but we opted for inside anyway. The first visual impression one gets upon entering is blue. The whitewashed outside is wonderfully contrasted by a consistent blue theme based upon the royal blue glass of some brand of mineral water from Wales (the name escapes me at the moment). There's a wall full of the bottles staring you in the face when you walk in, and a bottle on each table. We were seated at a table-for-two near the gas fireplace that divides the dining room by a quite young hostess (all of the staff appeared to be young). Lots of modern art on the walls; one piece that caught my eye was a water-color entitled "Mardi Gras Party." The hostess gave us menus, and our waitress immediately came up to take our drink order. I ordered us both a glass of Fume' Blanc and set about consulting the menu. For all of its non-traditional New Orleans feel, you gotta love a New Orleans restaurant that automatically brings you a big glass of ice water with a lemon slice in it. These places that try to be so California that they forget where they're located can be tiresome after a while.

As with many nouvelle-style places, it can be difficult to find something that will agree with my wife's conservative tastes. The entrees weren't a problem, but the appetizers were all, how do you say, innovative. We decided to split an order of Caribbean Shrimp, which were grilled shrimp wrapped in bacon served with lime wedges and a very interesting chutney for dipping. The entrees are KISS-simple, mostly pasta dishes, with a meat and fish items as well. I chose a crawfish, tasso, and mushroom pasta while Helen ordered a veal with artichoke and crawfish cream sauce. Our quite-efficient waitress headed right back to the kitchen with the order. We dined early last night, around 7:00pm (no point in pushing our luck with the Granny and the kids), so the place was pretty empty. There was one other party inside and one couple out on the porch. The background music was nice but low, so the place wasn't library-quiet. It was a great atmosphere for just chatting. The shrimp arrived pretty quickly. They were delicious. I could have made an entire meal out of eight to a dozen of 'em. A lot of restaurants make the mistake of overcooking shrimp, particularly when they're wrapped in bacon. They figure that the bacon drippings will compensate for the dryness of the shrimp, but they forget that overcooked shrimp tend to be tough. These were cooked just right, and the bacon was sufficiently drained that each one wasn't a grease pit. While the shrimp were great, the chutney really gave them a special flavor. It was fruity with a hint of chili powder. We disposed of those six shrimp as quickly as decorum would allow.

Our waitress cleared the table, and our entrees weren't far behind. (We're going to have to come back on a night when the place is a bit more occupied, because service was impeccable last night. It'll be interesting to see what things are like on a Friday or Saturday evening.) My pasta arrived in a bowl the size of one of the entree dishes you get at Semolina. In other words, it was a very generous portion. It was fettucine noodles tossed with lots of crawfish, tasso, and portobello mushrooms. The dish was subtle, which means it was a bit of a disappointment. What was advertised as tasso tasted more like ham cubes. The entree was good, just not what I expected based on the menu. Helen's veal, on the other hand, was exactly what it should have been. Lots of crawfish, and a spicy cream sauce over tender, tender paneed veal. We both had another glass of the Fume' Blanc with the main course. I finished off my pasta, and Helen left one medallion of veal and a bit of the linguine on the side to be wrapped up.

Throughout the meal, service was solid. The young lady who waited on us was attentive without being overbearing. Of course, the place wasn't crowded, so it was very easy for her to keep an eye on us and be there when she was needed/wanted. Still, she was good at the job, and that's a nice thing to see.

For dessert, I chose a slice of a chocolate/strawberry/Grand Marnier cake, and Helen had a slice of blackout cake. Mine was very light, lots of cream and strawberries, with a big chocolate-dipped strawberry on the side. Helen's blackout cake put the McKenzie's version to shame, of course. There was a large selection of coffees and teas, this being a coffeehouse as well as a restaurant, but I went with a regular cafe' au lait. For all of these fancy coffee places and their extensive selection of beans and roasts, it's all wimpy when compared to good New Orleans dark roast with chicory. When one orders cafe' au lait in New Orleans, one has certain expectations that those fancy-shmancy coffees just don't deliver. Fully stuffed by now, we paid the check ($75 with tax, $90 with tip) and headed for a drive along the lakefront.

To sum it up, everything was great except for the un-spicy tasso. The Manda meats rep needs to get over there and see what he can do about changing their brand.

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