Bouche -- visited Friday, November 11, 2011

This is a charming spot for dinner. The room we were in had a lovely multi-arched ceiling similar to the back room at the former Bacco, but much lower and more intimate. The walls were lined with wine bottles, as the room also serves as cellar space.

Since I am only just now writing this in January, some of the details are a bit hazy by now. However, I know we started with martinis, as it was a Friday, and that is our tradition. That was followed by a shared salad, hat as I recall had pears atop the greens.

We visited Bouche expecting the menu to be mostly mid-sized plates entitled “Partailles”, based on the online menu. The menu we received was a more traditional one with appetizers and entrees. To try to stay with our “smaller bites” plan, we stuck to the appetizer page.

Our first selection was, a risotto appetizer that I remember as being very good. I believe some wild mushrooms were involved, and the risotto was made into small cakes and crisped.

After that, we had New Orleans styled BBQ shrimp. It was done in the style of Emeril, with shrimp perched on biscuit-type croutons, drizzled with meuniere sauce. From the biscuits up, it was great, but the biscuits were like stones. Bummer.

To accompany our meals, we two wine flights. Ralph had red; I sampled the sparklings. Both were excellent, and a good value at $16. Interestingly, they were served one-by-one, with an intro by the sommelier for each, which was very nice.

We ended the meal on an up note. A HUGE cheese plate with various picks from St. James Cheese. We had as much as we could eat, and plenty in a go-box. Total tab: 111.95 plus tip.

Ancora Pizzeria/Salumeria

Ancora Pizzeria/Salumeria
4508 Freret Street (near Jena Street), New Orleans, LA

Ancora is a fairly new addition to the NOLA dining scene. They specialize in Neapolitan style pizza and house made salumi. Ralph and Terri celebrated Terri’s birthday this year by giving them a try. We were joined by our good friend Michelle.

For a first course, we shared an “Anti Pizza Plate” which combined several salumi items selected by the chef along with some other anti pizza items. (If you are not familiar with salumi, think “artisan cured meats”). In addition to the various sausage items, we snacked on an assortment of savory items. They included greens with smoked pork, artichoke hearts, white beans and other yummy things.

For dinner, we ordered two pizzas. One was the daily pizza, topped with one of the some of the spreadable sausage that we’d had in the first course. The other pizza was a Margherita, with a cheese we’d not had before -- Fior di Latte -- along with the usual tomato and basil. The crust was thin and crisp, and satisfying. The service was efficient and helpful, and the servers took the time to answer (and re-answer) our questions about the food.

We filled up long before the food was gone and also before we had dessert. We ended the night by
checking out the really hot but cool looking custom pizza oven. It is covered with colorful tiles, and backed up by gleaming stainless steel walls.

Pretty impressive all around…