new orleans: compère lapin: review

Compère Lapin occupies a giant L-shaped space in the lobby of an old hotel that has been totally gutted and renovated. Its influences are supposedly caribbean, but the flavors were international.

From the small bites section we ordered Crispy Dirty Rice and supplemented this with two items from the extras category: Roasted carrots almondine with salsa verde (always order the carrot dish if there is one: the're sure to be doing something special) and Black-eyed peas with Bacon and Crispy Shallots. The carrots were out of this world: you wanted to sit there all night and eat the orange salsa verde.

From first courses, we tried oysters, Broiled Shrimp, and Roasted Beet salad. The shrimp consisted of four head-on shrimp, perfectly cooked in Calabrian Chili Butter.

Finally, the chef offered us his Spinach Cavatelli with Fontina Fondue, which was very hot but quite tasty.

Service was excellent and the wine selection was quite good with good choices by the glass.

Compère Lapin

535 Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans

Grade: A–