That's 4 Beans for John Besh's Seafood Spot, Borgne

"For every take on a Louisiana classic," writes Brett Anderson of Borgne in this week's Times-Pic, "there’s a less omnipresent dish (like sheepshead en papilotte fragrant with fennel) that argues for wider exposure or a ringer (smoked pork empanadas) that challenges expectations of what counts as Louisiana cuisine." Anderson gives four beans to John Besh's new seafood restaurant in the Hyatt Regency, helmed by former Galatoire's chef Brian Landry.

He adds:

All [these dishes] expose an inveterate curiosity uncorked by Borgne and, more specifically, its culinary conceit: to explore the Islenos cuisine created in St. Bernard Parish by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands. The creative unleashing has resulted in a first-rate, distinctly modern Louisiana seafood restaurant that widens the parameters of what a Louisiana seafood restaurant can be.

But he does note that "there's no escaping that you're at a really big hotel," though that feeling is tempered by Landry's distinctly Louisianian cooking. Still, Anderson does find it "hard to resist dreaming what Borgne — and a number of other Besh partnerships, for that matter — would be like if it were less bound to corporate interests."

· John Besh's Seafood Restaurant Borgne Earns Four Beans [TP]
· All Borgne Coverage on Eater NOLA [-ENOLA-]