N'awlins style N'awlins style (June 11, 2004)

The good times still roll at NOLA

By Elaine Rowland

New Orleaneans are famous for their zest to ingest, and that enthusiasm is alive and well at its namesake NOLA.

Established in 1996, NOLA captures the essence of a quick trip to the Big Easy through highly seasoned foods, parti-colored plates, primitive Southern folk art, Christmas tree lights, and Mardi Gras beads for lucky patrons. This isn't the quiet restaurant to bring your soon-to-be ex for a sophisticated break-up; it's an after-work, football-fan, double-date, or birthday party place for relaxing and celebrating.

NOLA's charm lies partly in its inspired choice of location: an unusual office building in downtown Palo Alto that instantly made me feel I was back home in Louisiana. The Avenir Restaurant Group, which owns six restaurants in the Bay Area, found the perfect setting in the Ramona Street building's Spanish-style courtyard surrounded by rooms and balconies (after all, Spain rebuilt the French Quarter when fire destroyed original French structures). NOLA's bar occupies the front rooms, leaving the patio and surrounding open-air rooms for al fresco dining even when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, thanks to heat lamps, canopies and a pigeon barrier.

We stopped by Saturday night and found NOLA's main bar room, where people party with old and new friends, filled with revelers. We eventually found space across the foyer in the mellow Inferno room, a sort of voodoo lounge with old comfy couches, flat-screen TV, and candles and Dia de los Muertos figurines on the mantle piece. A quick scan of the menu revealed normal beers and cocktails, plus kooky New Orleans-inspired drinks, but no Louisiana beers.

"Customers weren't interested," according to general manager Jennifer Perlstein, so we settled for a pint of Fat Tire Amber ($4), and a bottle of warmish Heineken ($3.75).

We began with chicken-andouille NOLA gumbo ($3.75 a cup; $6.95 a bowl) and a wedge of light, moist jalapeno cornbread. The gumbo tasted like the real deal, which is made with a roux of flour browned in fat, plus tomatoes, onions, peppers and whatever's handy. I generally liked NOLA's version, finding its richness comparable to those I've eaten in Cajun restaurants in the Deep South. It was full-flavored, with an abundance of chicken, andouille (Cajun spicy pork) sausage, green onions and rice. It would be better with less thyme.

If it's hot spices you crave, go for black 'n' blue tacos ($9.95). Four soft tortilla rounds laid out attractively on a rectangular dish were piled with nice-quality, seared Ahi tuna, jicama slaw, wasabi-avocado crema, and a wicked red-hot pepper sauce. The contrasting crunchy and tender textures, plus hot and cool flavors, were a clever, zesty twist on tacos.

Still on an andouille jag, I ordered andouille-cornbread stuffed pork chop ($16.95). The dish consisted of a giant Berkshire "Eden Ranch" bone-in chop atop very garlicky mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, dotted with pineapple glaze. When you read "sauteed spinach," forget that nasty bitter sludge rendered by school cafeterias. This spinach had only a fleeting acquaintanceship with the saute pan, arriving at my table as identifiable leaves, without a trace of bitterness. The ensemble was a classic combination of flavors, and the thick chop was juicy and tender.

My husband had NOLA etouffee ($16.95). Another roux-based dish, etouffee is a thick, dark sauce of chopped vegetables simmered with seafood and served over rice. NOLA grounds its hearty etouffee in a dark-roasted shrimp sauce, adding a generous amount of prawns, crawfish, and expertly cooked, tender-firm scallops. The dish also includes tail-on shrimp. For the uninitiated: Don't eat the very end of the tail. Rather, pinch near the flipper and bite just to where the shell begins. I enjoyed this dish, though once again the kitchen had too much thyme on its hands.

Any restaurant named for New Orleans should offer dessert, and NOLA certainly does, along with "liquid desserts" (liqueurs, coffees and tequilas). I had Bananas Foster Split ($5.50), a variation on the original from Brennan's French Quarter restaurant. Bananas Foster epitomizes Louisiana cooking's vigorous pursuit of flavor over moderation, combining bananas, butter, banana liqueur, caramelized sugar, flaming rum, and vanilla ice cream. To this, NOLA adds clouds of whipped cream, toasted pecans and rum caramel sauce, creating an unapologetic and deliciously creamy dessert.

We should have stopped there, but ordered the beignets -- a difficult dish to master. Even while growing up in Louisiana, I had a hard time finding good beignets. The best are soft, puffy, deep-fried-to-golden-brown pillows eaten amid a storm of powdered sugar. Though NOLA's beignets with chicory-chocolate sauce ($5) had the requisite blanket of sugar -- which I was obliged to blow onto my husband's black shirt (beignet tradition) -- I didn't finish them. These were too dark, too heavy and too doughy. I didn't care for the sauce, either, preferring chicory in my coffee, not my chocolate.

Lunch hour at NOLA bustles, too, though by 2 p.m. the crowds thin enough to get courtyard tables easily. I ordered a BBQ pork Po-Boy ($8.75), which wasn't the Southern sub I expected, but rather a square roll with nicely braised pork, shredded and mixed with sweet-and-tangy sauce. Melted pepper jack cheese added body and creaminess. It tasted so good, I wish there were more of it. I washed it all down with a glass of raspberry-minted lemonade ($2.75), whose ingredients were proportioned just right, with no one flavor dominating.

NOLA's all-day menu includes Cajun (cuisine featuring a predominantly French influence), Creole (cuisine with a mix of French, Spanish, African and West Indies influences), Southwestern and pasta dishes. Executive Chef Carlos Maeda (at NOLA for more than five years, and previously at The Creamery) makes seasonal changes to the sauces and fish dishes, but nothing too drastic, since NOLA fans are rabid about their favorites. Service is fast and friendly, with an amazing array of people working each table, so you don't lack for help. If you do find yourself waiting, NOLA recently added free Wi-Fi wireless Internet access (see www.nolas.com for details) to help plan your next Mardi Gras trip.

Dining Notes

NOLA
535 Ramona St. in Palo Alto
328-2722; www.nolas.com

Hours; Mon. - Thurs. 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri: 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.;
Sat. 4 - 11 p.m.; Sun. 5:30 - 9 p.m.

Highlights: Heavenly Bananas Foster Split, and andouille-cornbread stuffed pork chop. Unlike street-side tables at some restaurants, NOLA's courtyard seating doesn't leave you eating car exhaust with your food.

Atmosphere: A bustling, yet competent, party place. Very lively, very loud. Don't come to mope or read poetry.

Reservations-yes
Credit Cards - yes
Parking - street and nearby garage
Alcohol - yes
Catering - yes
Wheelchair Access - yes
Highchairs - yes
Banquet - yes
Outdoor Seating - yes
Noise level - very loud
Bathroom cleanliness - cleaner upstairs than downstairs

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