Saffron. This was the best dining experience I’ve had in almost three months in NOLA. We went when they opened in 2017 and it was great, but tonight they were just operating on full cylinders. I remember going to Shaya after they won their James Beard award in 2016 and there just being an energy among the staff - that’s what I felt here (two years after its own James Beard nomination).
I obviously wouldn’t recommend it if you come here once a year, but if Shaya is on your list, this should be too. Higher, actually. It’s Indian, but the cooking of an Indian immigrant who came to New Orleans thirty years ago to work in a hotel and remained to raise a family and become a New Orleanian himself. Chef Vilkhu actually came to every diner in person this evening, and both his kids work the floor.
Oyster bed loaf. Caramelized onions, curry leaf, garlic.
Gulf seafood biriyani.
Edit: not pictured is the curried gumbo, but the NYT does it justice.
Ms. Mae’s (now officially Igor’s Ms. Mae’s the Club, with a patio and a clean bathroom and a curfew - strange times).