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- The New York Times’ Meghan Murphy-Gill paid a visit to Marjie’s Grill (320 Broad St, New Orleans), the Mekong meets Mississippi Delta hot spot on S. Broad, and found it “delightful.” The restaurant got its start as popular pop-up Sparklehorse Grill before opening its brick and mortar location just before Christmas last year. The brainchild of “alumni of the fine dining stalwart Herbsaint” Marcus Jacobs and Caitlin Carney, Murphy-Gill found the “weird pieces of pork,” particularly the knuckles, cracklings, and jowl on offer that day, “sublime.” She swooned over charred cabbage that was “brightened with cilantro and scallions and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.” The fried Gulf shrimp were “sweet and crunchy, while Mississippi beef tartare tossed with mint and cilantro and savory fried shallots [was] meltingly tender.” The only dip in the positive review: The dessert was “incongruous” with the rest of the meal, with a strawberry jam and praline topped johnnycake that that the “balance between Delta influences was all off, favoring the Mississippi and abandoning the Mekong.” [New York Times]
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- Helen Freund headed out to the lakefront to dine at Sala (124 Lake Marina Ave, New Orleans) this week. It’s the newest restaurant from the Riccobono family, known for Riccobono's Peppermill, Riccobono's Panola Street Cafe, and Cafe Navarre. She found that the most successful dishes are the ones that follow the family’s “established Creole-Italian roots.” The paneed chicken linguine is “straightforward comfort food perfect for Sunday supper.” The fried drum amandine gets a shout out with “two large, golden-fried drum fillets served atop mashed potatoes with lemon butter sauce and toasted almonds.” She wasn't impressed with the size of some of the appetizers, finding the rib plate “puny” (and inconsistent in texture). She finished with a fried zeppole “with a burned caramel-like exterior that gives way to a deliciously doughy interior.” [GAMBIT]
