Anderson on Tableau; Gold on The Mother Land Cafe

This week Brett Anderson gives THREE BEANS to Tableau inside the renovated Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre: "With Tableau, Dickie Brennan and Company has proven itself a respectful steward of the historic site... its latest aims to unobtrusively add a touch of class to its wrought iron surroundings." Anderson notes that chef Ben Thibodeaux has spent a bit of time cooking in France, and his food "has the flavor of a Hemingway-era Paris bistro's." The good: myriad seafood dishes, impressive sauce work, exacting poached eggs, beef filet and more. The bad: Anderson would like to see pomme frites as a side, to mop up some béarnaise, y'all.

If there's something lacking, it would be service, which Anderson describes as charismatic, but, kind of annoying: "A confusing system that assigns separate servers to food and drink orders once led to our not receiving any wine until our entrees were nearly finished. Another time an end-of-meal drink order never materialized – and that was after we were talked into a more expensive Burgundy... Too often it felt as if it was being deployed to pad our bill." Discuss. [NOLA.com]

Scott Gold reviews the "bare-bones" Mother Land Cafe, a West African restaurant that opened in the 7th Ward off St. Bernard Avenue in October 2013: "Specializing in the dishes of Gambia and Senegal, chef Teda Ftty and her family serve cuisine with deep roots in south Louisiana, even if it's by no means Louisiana food." There's Foufou a palm grain stew the staff calls African Gumbo, and "thiebou guinar, a huge plate piled high with lamb... sauteed spinach, sliced tomato, cucumber and sweet peppers, a generous portion of perfectly cooked coconut rice and a savory sauce." And thiebou jienne... similar to the thiebou guinar, only with whole-roasted tilapia." Also a ginger drink, and hisbiscus juice. Overall, it's not fancy, but worth a trip for the food alone. 1700 N. Galvez St. Phone: (504) 342-3996 [Gambit]

· Tableau, restaurant inside Le Petit Theatre, earns Three Beans: New Orleans restaurants review [NOLA.com]
· Review: Mother Land Cafe [Gambit]
· All Week In Reviews [-ENOLA-]
Tableau [Photo: Brasted]