You Had Me at Donut...I Mean Beignet

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You are what you eat.  If this is true, alas I would a fried chicken/beef rib/donut, wrapped in bundle of al dente noodles.  With room to spare, I'm sure there's spinach in there somewhere.

So imagine the pitter patter of my heart, when "what's on the menu" includes, yes you guessed it, fried chicken, noodles and of course my favorite version of donut, the simple, fluffy, lovable Beignet.

This past Sunday, I was invited to a tasting dinner, where Local Habit was serving up some new menu items and sharing the new changes to come, which also includes a big remodel.

The news of the night?  Chef Nick Brune is back, and plans to further the New Orleans soul and Creole flavors into the restaurant and menu.

Everything we tried, were really a taste of things to come.  Chef Nick mentioned that all of it is still a discovery and refinement in progress.  With each tasting, was a delivery of intention, technical composition, ingredients and thoughts of where they're looking to improve.

Vignettes
- despite being a breading person, more than a batter person, that fried chicken made me a believer in batter.  It was on the salty side, but damn was it good.

- being a fly on the wall in the kitchen, watching the chef, sous chef and staff work the kitchen and hearing the dynamic and conversations between everyone, was my favorite part of the evening.

- I wanted to love the gumbo/ramen noodle dish, the pork was of course amazing, but the noodles didn't have that bounciness that I love in noodles.  It had the texture of brown rice pasta, still good, but not ramen like.

- that pizza dough.  wow.

The best part.
Let's start by stating, I'm not a dessert person, I'm don't get cravings for cake or chocolate, and I dislike glazed donuts.  If anything, I'm more of a croissant person.

So, the Beignets.. well let's just say, I'm thankful that the people we made friends with, at the table, were incredibly full by the end of the evening... because I ate 4......

and saved one for the next morning. 

THANK YOU to Chef Nick, Amanda and the Local Habit crew for the invitation to a wonderful evening and letting me hang out in the kitchen :) 



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