I only know one person in New Orleans, and that's the former alumni relations director from my college who over the past 10 years has become an incredible friend. She and her husband moved to New Orleans in June 2011 and when I found out I'd be heading their way for work, I couldn't wait to meet up.
For our dinner, my friend selected Domenica which is in the Roosevelt Hotel off of Canal Street in downtown New Orleans. Domenica is owned by celebrity chef John Besh. You may know him from his guest appearances as a judge on Bravo's "Top Chef."
We arrived for our 8:00pm reservation and we were seated right away at a comfortable table for four. Domenica is a beautiful restaurant. The design and decor was the very first thing I noticed.
In addition to the art work and mirrors that are mounted on the wall, they also display paintings of New Orleans jazz musicians.
The bar area is on the second level and has very pretty light fixtures.
Once we were settled in I was in awe about the menu. Absolutely every single thing looked incredible!
While we attempted to decide on food, our waitress brought us a plate of bread and bottle of olive oil with a chili in it!
The bread was my favorite kind: doughy in the center, hearty crust on the outside. The chili in the olive oil gave it a nice kick.
To start, my friend ordered the wild mushroom soup with truflle bruschetta. It came to her piping hot and I could smell the mushroom flavor wafting towards me.
Her husband ordered squid ink pasta with blue crab. Crab is a New Orleans specialty.
After a great first course, we were chatting away when we realized it had been over 45 minutes since our appetizer plates had been cleared. Though we were enjoying each other's company, that is an awfully long time to wait between courses. Our waitress came over to apologize and offered us a round of drinks on the house.
When our food finally did arrive (around the one hour mark) it was glorious!
My coworker ordered the sweet potato tortellini with hazelnut brown butter. She was nice enough to let me have a bite and it was so sweet! It tasted like a dessert.
To accompany her tortellini she ordered a side of Brussels sprouts which were a vibrant green.
My friend ordered the cheese tortellini with arugula pesto. She also let me have a bite and the pesto was so fresh! I wanted to ordered a second plate of that just for me!
Her husband ordered a pizza with sausage and though I didn't snap a photo of it, I did snap a photo of my pizza. I decided to order the margherita pizza which was wonderful. The tomato sauce was so fresh and juicy and the crust had the perfect amount of char.
After stuffing our faces our waitress brought us a dessert on the house. She picked the restaurant's most popular confection, spiced apple cake with buttermilk gelato. The cake is baked in parchment paper and they unwrap it table side sending the scent of cinnamon and apple straight up your nostrils. It's intoxicating.
Though I am not a fruit dessert person, this cake was sublime. The gelato accompanying the cake with rich and creamy. A winning dish for Mr. Besh!
Though there wasn't anything particularly New Orleans-y about Domenica, the restaurant was stunning, the food was excellent and when we had to wait, our waitress went above and beyond to make it up to us.
Have you been to Domenica or any of John Besh's other New Orleans restaurants?
