Maurepas Foods 3200 Burgundy St New Orleans, LA
Maurepas Foods menu is filled with creativity and personality. Great restaurants are increasingly using local product especially vegetables, fruit, and proteins. Dining is evolving at hyperspeed, everyone wants to have the next hot dish or food trend. Two things that will remain staples are creativity and having the best products. I believe every contemporary diner wants these two staples. Maurepas Foods has an ambitious but successful concept that could not succeed without innovation and great products.
Creative people don’t like labels but I would describe this place as a modern locavore restaurant. This is the only restaurant I recall thats lists their purveyors. I like the feeling of knowing where my food comes from. This lends to a more organic experience in a world where food is industrialized. A restaurant like this has to have a chef that likes a challenge. When you get what is available on any given day, what are you going to do with it?
Maurepas Foods menu takes the approach of putting good things together in a simple but refined way. For example, green beans, crabmeat and anchovy lightly sauteed and garnished with some good cheese. I have to go from memory here because the menu changes so much the online copy is just an example. Or butternut squash with escargot. It was pretty enough for a picture. These dishes are seasonally unique and may not be recreated.
Maurepas Foods lives by its mission of robust cuisine. All the plates have big flavors and bold colors. The menu also feels like and answer to the questions; what is good today and what is in season? They provide a housemade selection of hot sauces that complement the savory dishes. Just like the menu the sauces are bold and unique.
I love goat tacos but I think this is one item they could improve. The tortillas were not flavorful. A good fresh corn tortilla would elevate this dish. I know they want to be innovative, but I think these tacos would be better traditional. Good pico de gallo and tomatillo salsa verde would be better with the goat. Opposed to pickled green tomatoes and cilantro harissa.
Dessert was the standout course for me at Maurepas Foods. One was chocolate and satsuma. First those two are made to be together. Second all the ice cream is rich and silky it puts store bought “ice cream” to shame. This dessert was a chocolate mousse with a small airy chocolate cake with satsuma.
I also tried an apple tart with black pepper vanilla ice cream. It was tasty, I was skeptical about the black pepper vanilla but the pepper flavor is subtle. I would also recommend a scoop or two of their ice cream. The almond ice cream was so flavorful you could taste the smoky buttery notes of the almonds.
I would recommend this place for a nice casual night out in New Orleans. The parking is on the street so you may have to walk a little. Most restaurants close around 10-11 p.m. Maurepas Foods stays open til midnight. If you are thinking, what's new and good today? Maurepas Foods maybe the answer.
