New Orleans Eats: Luke

I'm kind of a John Besh fan.  His cookbook is one of my absolute favorites and I forced sweetly asked my husband to take me to August on of the last times we were in New Orleans.  In fact, my friend Gidget and I were just talking about Besh a few weeks ago on twitter.  At that time, I didn't know when we were heading to NOLA, but when we headed there last weekend and I found out our hotel was only a few blocks away, I really, really wanted to try Lüke (Cynical Cook might have contributed).

We started with flamenküch - "thin Alsacien onion tarte with bacon, caraway and Emmenthaler cheese."

If you go to Lüke, and like bacon, order this.  It was absolutely amazing.  Crispy crust, rich cheese, with sweet caramelized onions, and big, salty chunks of bacon make this a fabulous starter.  It pairs beautifully with a St. Charles Streetcar (St. Germain, pear vodka and champagne).   It would be great for a group, since there are about 8 slices there.

This is where I was bad.  I decided I had already eaten bread, so "in for penny, in for pound."  This hot, fresh country bread was delicious.  Add butter, and I was in heaven.

Patrick had the Lüke Burger - "tomatoes, Allen Benton’s bacon, caramelized onions and Emmenthaler cheese with housemade fries"

Doesn't that look good?  According to our waiter, it's ranked in the top 5 burgers in the US.....and I get it.  It was literally one of the best burgers I've ever had.  Cooked Medium (every restaurant should take note), Patrick said it is the best thing he has had at a Besh restaurant.  He even said we should avoid living in the CDB, just because he would want this burger.....a lot.

I had entrecôte grillée au frites - "grilled ribeye with maître d’hôtel butter and house made fries"

I'm usually not a ribeye person, but this could make me convert.  They cut their steaks in house and it shows.  I typically think of a ribeye as being fatty, but this one wasn't.  I took the first bite and thought that it was pretty good, then I spread the butter all over, and it went to amazing.  The herbs in the butter just took it up to another level.  Finally, it was a perfect Medium Rare.

Finally, one of the best things on the menu....the fries.  Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, thin deliciousness with the perfect amount of salt, and served in a julep cup.  You just can't go wrong with them....So much so that I asked Patrick to take them away from me.

So basically, score one for Lüke.  Delicious food, if you're into the old Franco-German brasserie kind of thing, which we are.