{"id":7539,"date":"2014-11-21T07:11:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T13:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=7539"},"modified":"2014-11-21T07:11:19","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T13:11:19","slug":"orleans-la-cafe-degas-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=7539","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans, LA – Cafe Degas Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

(From our archives) I\u2019ve intentionally shied away from the Caf\u00e9 Degas, because it\u2019s one of those places that many natives find absolutely thrilling. That\u2019s usually my first clue to avoid it like the plague.<\/p>\n

I frequently find that my view of \u201coutstanding\u201d varies widely from my native friends, but that\u2019s largely due to the fact I\u2019ve been exposed to restaurants outside of the area, and have a base of comparison. When my native buddies talk about a local restaurant as \u201coutstanding,\u201d I realize it is because they are comparing it to the Tiffin Inn.<\/p>\n

Desperate to find something nice to say about the Caf\u00e9 Degas, I come up empty. It is tied with my visit to the Caf\u00e9 Adelaide a few weeks ago, for worst overall dining experience in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

We could start with parking, but there is none. At that corner of Esplanade, with Whole Foods and a few other shops, parking is non-existent. The Caf\u00e9 could well use a valet service, but service doesn\u2019t seem part of their vocabulary.<\/p>\n

I had made a reservation and arrived promptly on time. One enters the Caf\u00e9 thru the bar, and walking into that space, four employees were busy talking about everything under the sun, but none asked if they could help me. I wandered into the dining room alone, where a single waiter was waiting on the one couple that had arrived before me. The waiter DID ask if he could help me, but it was more the kind of \u201care you lost\u201d type of inquiry. I told him I had a reservation, and he told me to go back up front and see the hostess. She was nowhere to be found, so I returned to the dining room, and the waiter did show me to a table.<\/p>\n

The place did fill up over the course of the next few hours, and \u201cfill up\u201d is an understatement, as they have crammed far too many tables into the small space, claiming an \u201cauthentic French bistro\u201d ambiance. The owners and I must have visited different bistros during our journeys to France. Certainly the French buy more comfortable chairs, anyway, so that if space is at a premium, at least your personal space is enjoyable. Dega\u2019s chairs are patio furniture.<\/p>\n

The menu (\u201cFrench with a Creole accent\u201d) (geez, why does EVERYTHING have to have a \u201cCreole accent?\u201d \u2013 why can\u2019t one get simple classical French cuisine in this town?) is short, with a few nightly specials.<\/p>\n

As restaurants, like everyone else, struggle with increased energy and supply costs, they look to cut costs, and Caf\u00e9 Degas has done it on two fronts \u2013 wait staff and ingredients.<\/p>\n

In short, the service was lousy, the food worse.<\/p>\n

The house salad with Dijon vinaigrette was bad enough (btw, add gorgonzola for a buck extra); I ordered \u201cparmesan encrusted veal with caper lemon butter\u201d for an entr\u00e9e, and the first bite cried out \u201cchicken fried steak!\u201d<\/p>\n

Some portions of the meat were inedible.<\/p>\n

Service was nearly non-existent, again, probably due to cut backs, the room is noisy and crowded, and a peculiarity with the air conditioning causes the vents to drip water on diners. A woman at the table next to me, having had enough to the drips alternating hitting her plate or her shoulder, asked the waiter to do something about it. He asked her to stand up, whereupon he stood on her chair and wiped the grill above her with a towel.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not talk about what color the towel was after a single wipe.<\/p>\n

Or the look in her eyes as she glanced at the chair that she was supposed to sit back down on.<\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Degas is a disaster. Another in a series.<\/p>\n

The good thing about the evening? I got to leave at the end.<\/p>\n

\"Caf\u00e9<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cafe Degas Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(From our archives) I\u2019ve intentionally shied away from the Caf\u00e9 Degas, because it\u2019s one of those places that many natives find absolutely thrilling. That\u2019s usually my first clue to avoid it like the plague. I frequently find that my view of \u201coutstanding\u201d varies widely from my native friends, but that\u2019s largely due to the fact… Continue reading New Orleans, LA – Cafe Degas Review<\/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],"tags":[368,2421],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7539"}],"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=7539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}