Also this issue: XOtica -Jenn Carbin

June 19-25, 2003

food

Bon Temps

NAWLINS IN THE 'YUNK: The gumbo is jumbo at Bourbon Blue. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Bourbon Blue, the first new Manayunk eatery in five years, is a welcome addition.

by Maxine Keyser

Summer is a good time for strolling. The tow path in Manayunk is a tranquil spot to wander, then end up at Bourbon Blue, the first new restaurant on Main Street to break the five-year ban. It’s built in a historic 19th-century canal house with thick brick walls, dark rafters with old lanterns hanging from them, lots of iron grill work and deep burgundy walls that define the huge front bar area. There you can usually find Sean Coyle and his wife, Irene, who are veterans of more restaurants than we can list here, although lately of Binni & Flynn’s in Wayne. He’s proud of his new venture and loves the spacious old building, where he joins chef Gabe Hawk to create the joie de vivre of New Orleans. There’s live blues nightly, and a menu that Hawk describes "as simple and fresh -- a blend of African, Spanish and French dishes that compose what we call Creole cuisine." He says he stays away from obvious heavy spices, but the staple ingredients are always celery, onions and peppers.

It is our good fortune to choose a Tuesday evening for our first meal, and we find that there are three prix fixe menus for that night, ranging from $19.95 to $21.95, and best of all, wines are half-price. The wine list is basically Californian, with nods to Australia, and includes helpful descriptions. We settle back with a Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, normally $40, and survey the handsome surroundings. There are murals of New Orleans and Paris and large, deep windows to light them. Then, warm cornbread and biscuits arrive, perfect with a large bowl of gator seafood gumbo, which contains all the right ingredients: alligator, shrimp, crawfish and rice, in a dark roux-based broth -- the only thing missing is the seasoning. When Hawk said "nothing obvious" he really meant it, for only in the jambalaya did we find the spicy, smoky flavors we associate with Creole cooking. The service is well-paced, and soon we are enjoying that old cliché of coconut tempura shrimp. After all these years, they are still a popular item on every menu, and this is no exception. The shrimp are butterflied, flattened, breaded with shredded coconut, fried and served with a mandarin marmalade that adds some spice. You can never go wrong with this dish, or with cornmeal-encrusted oysters. These are plump and sweet and drizzled with an anise cream that evokes thoughts of the lethal absinthe that used to be a chosen drink in the Big Easy. Served on a bed of sauteed spinach, they are very satisfying.

Cornmeal also crusts the fried catfish, and though it is offered with a crawfish étouffée (literally crawfish "smothered" by all the vegetables on top), I ask for it on the side, because, for me, catfish needs no gilding. This much-maligned bottom fish is now generally farmed, and has morphed into something almost unbelievably delicate and sweet. Lightly crusted and fried for a minute, it is almost creamy inside, and is better than the étouffée, which suffers from the same under-seasoning as the gumbo. It also has a plethora of celery in ratio to the crawfish, and the dirty rice that accompanies it is not quite dirty enough, but these are easily remedied complaints. (Dirty rice classically has chicken gizzards chopped in it, or other such effluvia.) The aforementioned jambalaya is well-spiced and full of chunks of andouille sausage, shrimp, mussels and catfish, all the requisite vegetables and a hot red sauce. This dish, a close cousin to Spanish paella, is a true New Orleans staple, and chef Hawk does it quite well. For those not interested in Creole food, the 20-ounce porterhouse, rubbed with adobo and garlic and served with mashed potatoes, is a lot of meat for the money and is tender and properly done. The only dish that is a complete failure is, unfortunately, the first soft-shell crabs of the season. They are advertised in a tempura batter, but the delicate, barely there coating of flour and water that forms tempura batter is replaced here by a thick coating, more suitable to onion rings perhaps, that completely encases the sweet crabs in a suit of armor. It overwhelms the crabs totally, although, unaccountably, the rice on the side is much spicier and more interesting than the other rice preparations we have tasted. They also feature jumbo shrimp barbecued in their shells in a spicy butter broth that is best sopped up with cornbread, and on the other side of the coin, a dish of chicken medallions with spinach, goat cheese and oyster gravy in puff pastry that sounds like something straight out of Galatoire's.

A slice of bourbon pecan pie is more pleasing than the usual bananas Foster, and certainly satisfies any cravings for sweets for the next month at least. Bourbon Blue gives us their take on Creole cuisine and, in this old warehouse, it definitely works, despite the fact that occasionally the sound of an amplified harmonica solo can cut your eardrums like a knife. This is small stuff if the food is satisfying, and it is. And the bar looks like a very good place for a Hurricane (rum, fruit juices and grenadine) and an oyster po' boy, at lunch or dinner.

Bourbon Blue

2 Rector St., Manayunk, 215-508-3360 Appetizers, $7-$10.50; entrees, $13-$27 Sun.-Thu., 11:30-1 a.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11:30-2 a.m. Wheelchair accessible. Smoking section available. Reservations suggested. All major credit cards.