Restaurant Review: The Voting Booth

1-APRIL-2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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New restaurant offers classic New Orleans atmosphere with contemporary cuisine.

I had the pleasure of attending a preview event for the city's latest restaurant last week. Clerk of Court Kimberly Williamson Butler is broadening her horizons by opening The Voting Booth today.

New Orleanians are often conflicted when it comes to restaurant style. While we will go on and on about how we don't want a lot of atmosphere, preferring that an establishment focus more on the food than the appearance, we still have a soft spot in our hearts for romantic settings. The Voting Booth strives to give the diner both.

The main design theme of the The Voting Booth is secrecy. Our nation prides itself in the sanctity of the secret ballot, and the restaurant has carried that theme to the dinner table. A number of standard voting machines have been converted into individual enclosed tables-for-two. The curtain that guarantees your privacy when casting your vote has been converted into one of the most romantic dining experiences in the city. When you arrive for dinner, the maitre d' will politely wait until nobody is looking to escort you to your private table. This attention to discretion is important to patrons who like to keep secrets.

But The Voting Booth is not just about privacy. The restaurant expects to fill up not just the romantic curtained booths but the thirty-five additional tables of the main dining room. There is little doubt that they can accomplish this feat, because the food is excellent. Creole-fusion is the main theme of the menu, a blend of classic New Orleans cooking with modern influences. Start off your mail with Right Thing Remoulade, an interesting variation on the traditional appetizer. Follow that up withBallot Box Bisque, the restaurant's signature soup. It's a subtle corn-and-crab bisque, brought to your table or booth in a locked ballot box. The filet mignon is a great choice, topped with the Seven Seal Sauce, an updated version of Marchand de Vin. The Courthouse Crawfish Pasta, is a great alternative to the steak, prepared tableside by armed sous chefs. Side items include the Patron's Potato, a baked potato that's stuffed according to the needs of Butler's campaign contributors. There's also Revival Rice, a creole pilaf dish served while a quartet from the choir of Butler's church serenades the diners.

Dessert is a real treat at the Voting Booth. In addition to classics such as bread pudding, the restaurant has two signature desserts. Cop Car Cake is parked on your table when you give your dinner order to your waiter. It looks like a car from the Criminal Sheriff's office. While the cakes look big enough for two, it's an illusion, because there's really nothing in the car. The caked looked yummy, but I opted for Connick Crème Brulee, an delicious chocolate twist on the classic dessert, where the hard coating has a subtle citrus taste. It comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. If you're not in the mood for ice cream, you can order Creme Jordan. It's essentially the same dessert, but your waiter will scoop off the vanilla when it's brought to the table.

If all this has you reaching for the phone to make reservations, pay close attention. One of the lovely quirks of The Voting Booth is its location. The restaurant has no fixed abode, moving around to various school cafeterias in the city. Aware of therisks that this arrangement poses to quality, the kitchen is in a self-contained moving van. The booths and tables are contained in a second van. The interior of the restaurant can be easily set up in a new location and broken down at the end of the evening. It's such a simple process that even elected officials who arrive early for dinner can lend a hand.

Reservations are essential for dinner at The Voting Booth, and we recommend that you make them for early in the evening. While we had no problems being seated last week at the cafeteria at Gentilly Terrace School on Mirabeau Avenue, we did hear stories of problems with the delivery of the booths the night before at McDonough #35. Several diners told us they arrived for their 7:30pm reservations and the moving vans had not yet arrived at the school. They were told to come back "in a couple of hours" when the booths would be delivered.

In spite of this rocky start, we strongly believe that The Voting Booth has the potential to be as much of a New Orleans classic as Clinton's Combat Cafe or Bonnie's at the spillway.

Rating: 9 Stars * * * * * * * * *