This week, Brett Anderson files on Isaac Toups' meat-centric Mid City restaurant Toups' Meatery. Writing that his "initial thought" upon hearing about the restaurant was "of hope," he finds that Toups has taken a much more earthy, rustic turn compared to his days at Cuvee:
Freed of the demands of cooking to a sensibility that wasn’t his own, Toups’ food has become earthier and more personal. His cracklings are nothing less than equal to Christendom’s finest—meaty and warm and dusted with spices, the snack chip favored by couch potatoes watching football in heaven. It’s as good a beginning as one can imagine to a meal at a restaurant Toups, a native of Rayne, is calling a contemporary Cajun bistro.Though the space can feel a bit cramped?much as it did in its previous, less ambitious life as Mediterranean Café?and though the kitchen "hits some off notes," Anderson gives the restaurant three beans, praising Toups for a number of dishes that "underscore the chef’s country bona fides, but delicately so."
· Toups' Meatery Sinks Its Teeth into Contemporary Cajun Cuisine, Earns Three Beans [TP]