Dichotomous Reviews: Steakhouse Doris Metropolitan and Vegan Cafe Seed

This week, the Gambit's Sarah Baird reviews Doris Metropolitan, the new, next generation of steakhouse in the French Quarter, which she claims "flips the traditional notion of the steak house on its head with the kind of streamlined swankiness that makes the case for reinventing the wheel." Doris Metropolitan's steaks are all dry-aged for weeks, which "results in meat with a concentrated, nuanced taste and succulent bite." Baird recommends the mystery cut of the "classified" steak and the hamburger, with its "rich, concentrated beef flavors... heightened by an unctuous blend of Gorgonzola and Gouda and slathering of caramelized onions and mushrooms." Baird also enjoyed several non-steak items such as the "lush" salads, "dense, perfectly seared" yellowfin tuna steak with a presentation that "resembles a Joan Miro painting" and the beetroot supreme appetizer that is served with a "dramatic" table presentation after arriving at the table "pregnant with surprise, like a peony ready to burst from its bud."

In the Advocate, Ian McNulty writes of new vegan restaurant Seed's "stylish, casual restaurant and juice bar with an approachable menustylish, casual restaurant and juice bar with an approachable menu." His favorites include several of the po-boys, the "Nuevos Rancheros," and the raw, gluten-free and soy-free vegetable pasta which he calls "Fresh with herbs, cool and filling, it worked like a substantial salad reconfigured into something a little more fun." The cocktails are nothing to sneeze at either, it was the "Himalayan Salty Dog" that clued him in that his vegan meal to come would be pleasurable indeed.

Although the success of the well-reviewed Oak Oven in Harahan has been very well documented, it bears sharing this part of Tom Fitzmorris's review of the rustic Italian restaurant and pizzeria: "They must be doing something right, because the main challenge here is getting a table. The old trick of showing up when it opens at 5 p.m. doesn't work because everybody in Harahan eats at 5 p.m." T-Fitz also gives +3 points for both attitude and hipness, and notes that the food at Oak Oven "carries the flavor of Palermo (and I was just there two months ago). Even the sandwiches are exciting."

· Review: Doris Metropolitan [Gambit]
· Raw ambition [Advocate]
· Oak Oven packs the house in Harahan [CityBusiness, subscription required]
· All Week in Reviews [-ENOLA-]