{"id":7519,"date":"2012-06-23T06:57:42","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T13:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=7519"},"modified":"2012-06-23T06:57:42","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T13:57:42","slug":"orleans-la-bon-ton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=7519","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans, LA – The Bon Ton"},"content":{"rendered":"

(From our travels) Another one of those venerable \u201cinstitutions for locals,\u201d the Bon Ton Caf\u00e9 has been dishing up Creole\/Cajun specialties in the CBD since 1953. Located in an historic building from the 1840s, the Bon Ton is, in fact, New Orleans oldest Cajun restaurant.<\/p>\n

The Pierce family has presided over the estab since the beginning, and current chef, Wayne Pierce, actually graduated from dental school, but found his heart, and his ability to get people to say \u201copen wide,\u201d was more suited to having them taste the Pierce\u2019s fine dining, and altering the appearance of their smiles that way, instead of through dentistry.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a certain \u201cdown-home\u201d feeling that you get immediately entering the place, partially communicated by the soft-color of the brick walls contrasting with traditional red and white checkered tablecloths.<\/p>\n

As one of the pioneers of Cajun cuisine in the city, the owners originally made an attempt to have the cuisine be as appealing to as large a group as possible, and thus have toned down the usual assortment of spices generally associated with Cajun cuisine. So the \u201cheat\u201d is understated, which I found refreshing. I have never thought there is much of a need to make \u201cheat\u201d into one of the main flavor groups, and the Pierce\u2019s accomplish imparting the true flavors of Cajun food on a subtler basis.<\/p>\n

Crawfish and crab, though traditionally thought of as seasonal dishes in South Louisiana (crawfish=summer, crab=winter), are served year round at the BTC, and they \u201cdo them right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crawfish Dinner, at $22.00, provides diners with the opportunity to sample five of the house specialties: bisque, jambalaya, etoufee, Newburg, and an omelette \u2013 all on one platter.<\/p>\n

Crabmeat Imperial, served on toast points, is as pure, simple and satisfying as you can get. I\u2019m guessing the portion runs nearly a full pound.<\/p>\n

When most people think of \u201cNew Orleans seafood,\u201d trout probably doesn\u2019t pop into the top of their heads, but it\u2019s widely available here, and Bon Ton\u2019s tenderloin of trout, accompanied by their homemade tartar sauce and onion rings, was sublime. Chose your method of prep, fried, grilled, or broiled. I chose the latter, and I chose correctly. This is one of those dishes, though I wouldn\u2019t normally think of ordering, that I would crawl over broken glass for. I just wished they had a \u201csupersize option,\u201d cause it left me wanting more. I ordered ala carte, which came w\/ two monstrous onion rings on it.<\/p>\n

You know me and onion rings. Bon Ton\u2019s were superb.<\/p>\n

The full entr\u00e9e version of dishes come with a soup, chopped green salad, and desert choice \u2013 ice cream, bread pudding or pineapple sherbet.<\/p>\n

As my companion had ordered the entr\u00e9e, we opted for the sherbet, which was disappointing. It had two flavors: \u201ccold\u201d and \u201csweet\u201d but nothing more.<\/p>\n

But that trout\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Nothing fishy about that, at all. I\u2019ll be back.<\/p>\n

The Bon Ton serves lunch and dinner Monday through Fridays and is located at 401 Magazine in the CBD. 524-3386.<\/p>\n

\"Bon<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(From our travels) Another one of those venerable \u201cinstitutions for locals,\u201d the Bon Ton Caf\u00e9 has been dishing up Creole\/Cajun specialties in the CBD since 1953. Located in an historic building from the 1840s, the Bon Ton is, in fact, New Orleans oldest Cajun restaurant. The Pierce family has presided over the estab since the… Continue reading New Orleans, LA – The Bon Ton<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,34,35],"tags":[368,2421],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}