I’ve been a fan of Chef Donald Link for some time. He’s from New Orleans and started working in restaurants at age 15 washing dishes. He worked his way up to cooking and then in 1993 moved to San Francisco to study at the California Culinary Academy and work in a number of Bay Area restaurants. After he finished school he moved back to New Orleans and worked as Sous Chef at Bayona under Chef Susan Spicer. After two years he returned to San Francisco to work for a number of restaurants including the Elite Cafe, Bizou and Jardinere. He credits his time in San Francisco with refining his cooking style and giving him an appreciation for the beautiful fresh ingredients the Northern California food scene is known for.
But being a native son of New Orleans, he had to return home. In 2000, he opened Herbsaint (a brand name for Absinthe which was made in New Orleans as early as 1934) in the Warehouse District. He evacuated during Hurricane Katrina and was one of the first to reopen after the storm. It was hailed by many as an important very early step in rebuilding the city.
In Spring 2006, still shortly after the storm, Link opened his new restaurant Cochon (meaning pig in French) also in the Warehouse District. Cochon focuses on charcuterie and does incredible things with every part of the pig. Try the Chochon platter if you ever get the chance. I’ve been there numerous times and it never disappoints.
Chef Link, Herbsaint and Cochon have won numerous culinary awards.
So back to dinner at Herbsaint …
As I was getting ready to leave my room to head out for dinner, I looked out the window of my room on the 42nd floor of the Sheraton New Orleans to see an incredible red sunset over the turn in the Mississippi River (the bend in the river is why New Orleans is known as the Crescent City).
When we got to Herbsaint, they sat us right in front of the kitchen.
My first course was salad of bitter greens and winter citrus with blue cheese and candied pecans.
I looked over at the table next to us and saw some kind of interesting contraption I’d never seen in action before. It’s an Absinthe Fountain. The Absinthe is poured into the glass a cube of sugar is placed on a slotted spoon over the glass and a carafe of iced water is placed in the middle of the table. The spigot drips icy water over the sugar cube and it all mixes with the absinthe in the glass to create the characteristic opalescence. It was so interesting to see it being used.
There were a couple of items calling my name, but the one that spoke the loudest on this cold wintery night was the Kurabuta Pork Belly Cassoulet. A good cassoulet is hard to come by, but I figured that any Chef with a restaurant dedicated to the pig would be pretty expert at creating a remarkable cassoulet and he did not disappoint. The pork was so tender and the sausage so lush and garlicky. There were hunks of bacon and beautifully cooked white beans. As I got further into the dish it just got more flavorful and more rich.
For dessert, Karen had the Coconut Cream Pie with a Macadamia Nut Crust which was not like any coconut cream pie I’ve ever seen. Yum! He shared this recipe on his October 2003 Rising Star profile.
I chose the Banana Brown Sugar Tart with Fleur de Sel Caramel. It was also opulent and again, very very rich. Probably too rich a choice to have made after eating the cassoulet. I was expecting something more banana-y but this was more like a brown sugar tart with a garnish of banana. Still delicious, just too rich given my previous entree selection.
I will definitely try Herbsaint again. Next time I’m going to try to balance my menu a little better or do some sharing.
My Luscious Temple 