A sleek, sophisticated, and experimental type restaurant...ROOT

ROOT...What a special find on our foodie vacation to New Orleans in the beginning of July 2012!  This restaurant experiments with  molecular gastronomy, deconstruction, and other truly contemporary cooking techniques.  The feel of the restaurant is very comfortable and casual but the food they serve there is far from the standard dinner fare.  Both of us were intrigued by their menu and eagerly awaited as each plate was brought to us.

We began our feast with a carbonated apple on top of a bacon cream, which was actually compliments of the chef.  This was a sweet touch and a great start!  The plating was beautifully constructed and the flavor was a combination of sweet, savory, creamy, and fresh.

Following the starter was our truffle scented chicken liver parfait and moroccan spiced pork and duck rillette. The plating was definitely an eye opener. Both of our choices were made very well. The parfait was ultra smooth to the palate then it hits you with that good livery funk which is what most people crave if they love livery delights, for example foie gras. The rillete's texture is different from the parfait which gave variety to the board.  Their home made pickles (cucumbers, zuchini, red peppers, cantaloupe, leeks, green tomatoes, and apples) went really well with both of our choices and helped cut through the richness.  We loved their homemade pickled cantaloupe and red peppers the most.  Their homemade strawberry mustard was a first for us.  They thoughtfully inserted the mustard into a paint tube which was a great presentation, making it look like a paint color.  The flavor was also a burst of strawberry sweetness with the spice of mustard.  You can definitely tell they used real strawberries to make the mustard.

Ménage à Foie which is a trio preparation of foie gras was our next course.  Our plate consisted of a bowl of foie gras dipping dots in a lychee consommé, lollipops of cotton candy, wrapped in foie gras and pop rocks, and a foie gras  Pâté  on top of caramelized onions and paired with honeycomb. The foie gras dippin dots with the lychee consommé had the rich and creaminess of foie gras but was very cool and refreshing at the same time.  The foie gras  Pâté  paired really well with the caramelized onions and the honey comb gave it some sweet chewiness to go along.  Last but definitely not least was the cotton candy lollipops.  OMG this was a playground in my mouth!  First you get the expected sweet playful cotton candy, then the popping of the pop rocks hit your tongue, and ends with the buttery flavor of the foie gras.  This is not something you can share, so make sure you ask for an extra lollipop if you are have more than 1 person because 1 order of  Ménage à Foie only comes with 1 cotton candy lollipop.  We, of course ordered one extra one!

Our next course was our roasted tri-color pickled beets salad. This is a work of art!!! Head cheese, blue cheese, blueberries, gingersnap beet crumble, and candied pistachios...what a combination!  All the ingredients worked really well together, not only in taste but texture as well.  The juicy and sweet of the blueberries, the tart and sweetness of the beets, the tang and creaminess of the blue cheese, the salty and chewiness of the head cheese, and the crunch from the pistachios really made it one GRAND bite.  If all salads were  made like this, who can ever say salads are boring?

Chicharrones 2 ways, pork crackling & crispy pork belly.  They came with 4 types of sauces: Limón, Mole de Sangre, Lemon Balm Chimichurri, and Adobo.  Our favorite was the Adobo (sweet and savory) and the Chimichurri (fresh and spicy), they paired the best with the pork belly.  The crispy pork belly was delicious.  Crispy on the outside, soft, moist and delicate on the inside.  The pork crackling...sad to say, were a miss.  They were hard to the bite.  We left them.  

Our 2 entrees :

Cohiba Smoked Scallops with chorizo dust, caramelized cauliflower, and fennel choucroute (sauerkraut) & Grilled Hanger Steak with crispy sweetbreads, smoked blueberry bordelaise, and pommes frites.  

Cohiba smoked scallops, this was truly drool worthy!  The presentation was gorgeous!  The scallops are presented to you in a closed cigar box.  When they open the box in front of you..MY GOD!  The smell is very tantalizing to the senses.  You will get a little bit of cigar smoke fragrance incorporated with the aroma of seared seafood.  The scallops were seared perfectly on both sides.  The caramelized scallops were sweet and soft with a kick from the chorizo dust.  The caramelized veggies paired well with the scallops.  But I must be fair and give the bad part of dinner.  We actually received 2 boxes of scallops.  Despite the beautiful presentation, we actually found a piece of cardboard in our 1st box of scallops.  The waiter was very attentive, and quickly arranged for a new box to be made and brought to the table. We were also not charged for this box of deliciousness =)

The grilled hanger steak was very good.  The steak was very tender and seared to perfection.  The crispy sweetbreads were very special.  We eat sweetbreads all the time but this was the first time we had them fried.  All the ingredients melted really well together.  The fries were also surprisingly delicious, crispy and well seasoned on the outside and soft on the inside.  They also made homemade ketchup and placed it in a paint tube for presentation, but the ketchup was lacking in tomato flavor.  We finished the steak but left the fries.  We were WAY too full!

I know what you all are thinking...These two people really EAT!  Yes we do!  The whole meal overall was very very good.  Even though there was a miss here and there but this restaurant has lots of potential.  ROOT managed to surprise us in their presentation, preparation, choices of ingredients, and flavor.  The hospitality was also fantastic.  Out of 10 this restaurant would get a 7 just because of some of the mistakes made, but again this meal was pretty fantastic!

ROOT

200 Julia St

New Orleans, LA 70130