Last night we took a trek across the Ponchartrain causeway (over 23 miles of bridge) to En Provence, the last of our John Besh restaurant experiences. And we certainly left the best for last.

En Provence is more than a little out-of-the-way, but it’s certainly worth the trip. It’s a little restaurant off in the boonies in Lacombe, LA, with the look and feel of a rustic French farmhouse. Besh is raising his own pigs and chickens in the back, in addition to raised gardens that provide herbs and veggies for the kitchen.

There’s quite a story behind this restaurant, but I’ll leave it for others to tell: http://www.simonesez.com/laprovence_general.shtml. However I will tell you about eating there. In fact, I can sum the experience up in one word: fantastic.

It didn’t hurt that the evening started out with complimentary glasses of champagne, to celebrate our 20th anniversary. And it only got better from there.

Besh has kept many of the staff that were at the restaurant before he bought it in 2007, including Joyce, who has been the “mother” of the restaurant for 20-some years. She’s not a hostess in the traditional, show-you-to-your-seat way; in fact, there are other people who do that, but she is the hostess in the welcoming, friendly sense. The night we were there, she visited with every table, and made us, at least feel as though we were her personal guests in her home. She even wrote us a poem–which I intend to frame–celebrating our anniversary.

The food, service, and atmosphere has everything that was lacking at Restaurant August and Luke. It is warm, friendly, and welcoming. You feel as though everyone is really glad that you, personally, are there, and that you, personally, matter. The food was excellent; Besh has a way with salads, but the blue cheese-buttermilk dressing here was, well, to die for. I had a trio of “Wild game” including boar, venison, and house-made pheasant sausage, and I couldn’t decide which of the three I liked better, although the venison stew may have edged out the others by a hair. DH had the same thing, so I wasn’t able to compare my dinner to his. I had a cheese plate for dessert; although not something that showcases anyone’s art, it was delicious and exactly what I wanted.

And it doesn’t hurt that the prices are about half of what they are in the city.

In fact, En Provence comes pretty darn close to Commander’s Palace on my list of great restaurant experiences. Now if it can just keep up to this standard for 40 years, as CP has done, I may have a tie.

Yup, that’s where DH took me as a surprise. Most of my friends and clients guessed; I thought it might be but didn’t want to know for sure. But I’m here and I’m loving it.

I’ve always had a great relationship with this city; I’ve been coming here for 40 (gasp! has it been that long?) years now. Not regularly, but once in a while. I’ve been here as a kid with my family, with my first husband (and we were broke!), with my daughter to celebrate her 21st birthday, on business trips, with friends, even by myself. I’ve always had a great time here. But this is my first post-Katrina trip–and the city has changed.

How could it not? People are frustrated by how slowly recovery is happening. There are entire areas of the city that are still being cleaned up; large sections of it are nothing but debris and old concrete slabs where houses used to be. And that’s progress. People are living in trailers in their driveways. The population is down by 40%, and 1 out of every 25 people is homeless.

New Orleans is no longer “The city that care forgot.”

Yet, while there is a sense of frustration and impatience in the city, it’s still a great town. There’s history and culture and character and soul in New Orleans that simply doesn’t exist any place else. New Orleans is New Orleans, and you can’t mistake it for any other city.

There’s still cafe au lait and beignets at the Cafe du Monde–and it’s still almost impossible to get a seat there. There’s still buskers playing jazz on the street corners. Bourbon Street is still it’s slightly sleezy self, and there are still art galleries and antique stores on Royal. And then there’s the food.

The food is why we are  here. DH has managed to get reservations at three of the four restaurants owned by John Besh, a celebrity chef, and one of my favorites. We ate/are eating at Restaurant August on Monday, Luke (for lunch) today and En Provance on Wednesday. We’re skipping Besh Steak at Harrah’s Casino in favor of one of my all time favorite restaurants ever, Commander’s Palace, which is where we’re going tonight.

So far, I’m not overly impressed with August or Luke. The food at August was so-so for the price, and the service spotty. Our server seemed to be too busy to keep on top of our table. They were unable to cook my husband’s steak to his specifications, and my entree (veal stuffed with shrimp) was not well balanced. I felt the shrimp overwhelmed the sweetness of the veal, not to mention the shrimp had not been well cleaned and were gritty. (Yes, I know about veal; I very rarely eat it–as in twice ever in my life. So don’t get on my case.) However the salads were fantastic.

Luke is more of a luncheon/bistro place than the upscale dining experience Besh is going for at August. (Luke actually has two dots about the “u” in the name, but I don’t have that option in WordPress.) The food there was better, at least for what the restaurant was trying to be, but the service was perfunctory. Adequate, but perfunctory.

It will be interesting to see how Commander’s Palace stacks up. I’ve eaten there five previous occasions, and every one of them has been fantastic. It was closed for a long time after Katrina; I wonder what it’s like now. I’ll let you know!