Serendipity

An «A» for effort… and by that I mean, they’re obviously trying hard to be innovative, but effort doesn’t count when you’re CHARGING us for your experimentation. What counts is how good it tastes.
Look, I’m all for exotica. I live in Los Angeles, where my palate has been foamed, liquid nitrogened and gastro-​moleculared all within an inch of its jaded life. And I’m cool with that, but not for it’s own sake. By all means, dunk a smoked oyster in white chocolate because holy crap, that’s crazy delicious, (you heard it here first!!!), but my hunch is that the Executive Chef is concocting these crazy combinations and then everyone in the kitchen is too scared to tell him it tastes like garlic salted particle board smeared with Friskies Buffet.
This Emperor has no clothes. Or whatever the culinary equivalent might be. Mixed metaphor noted.
So why the three stars when I disliked the food so much?
AMAZING cocktails and great service. And after three amazing cocktails served by a very friendly waiter, I’m ready to give anyone a few extra stars wherever they might want me to put them.

I write this with a heavy heart. I was very excited when I heard this place was opening in the Can company; along with my library and wine shop and hair stylist, now a great neighborhood restaurant! Alas, I have been there three times now and more has turned me off than wowed me. First, I was excited for the cocktail menu but there was almost nothing that appealed to me. It was full of obscure items that the server could not explain and I am not a fan of this trend to include sherbets and such in a drink. I’ll have dessert after my meal please.
I did have the most outstanding salad there on trip 2; it had duck sausage and white beans and caramelized grapefruit. FANTASTIC! Now, the list of disappointment; a lamb baklava that, while tasty, was tiny and burnt; a goat empanada that was mouth-​searingly hot; a suspiciously not fresh-​tasting sardine bruschetta and finally, an homage to Hubig’s pie that contained water-​logged and still-​frozen bananas in its center. A recent scan of the menu shows many items I sampled are out and several dishes have been added. I’d like to say I’d try it again because I like what Chef DeBarr is doing but three times burned… We’ll see.

I’ve been excited about this place since before it opened. Green Goddess was my favorite neighborhood restaurant in the Quarter, and I couldn’t wait to find out what Chef De Barr would do next. Luckily, I also got a Livingsocial deal to check it out. So my husband and I finally had lunch there yesterday. It was a great experience and the chef did not disappoint. The entrance and the restaraunt’s aesthetic is rather drab though. The clerestory windows let some nice daylight in, but the décor is minimalist and industrial. It doesn’t feel unique and cozy like Green Goddess. It does feel clean though. The problem is that on a slow lunch day, you look at a lot of empty tables even as you walk up.
The lunch menu had a few eye catching dishes such as the crawfish hush puppy sandwich, grilled cake desert and bison bacon meatloaf. The meatloaf stole the show featuring great combinations of flavors in a well balanced meal. There was a bit of a hiccup in service. We waited at least 50 minutes for our food. After about 40 minutes the server came to apologize because our order had somehow disappeared from their computer. Chef De Barr always tries to make it to the table and thoroughly apologized offering us a taste of a lovely Reisling and a complimentary dessert. Even though the atmosphere isn’t as cozy as I’d like, I’ll definitely go back because the chef is so personable, and he always has wonderful meals up his sleave.

I am the graphic designer for this business and after drooling over the menu while design it for hours and hours, I finally got to come in and try several of the dishes and I was blown away! I do not treat myself to fancy meals like this often, but this place is totally worth it. It is funny to obsess over every detail of a design and be totally disconnected from what the product is, so it feels good to finally know that all this work is for truly spectacular food.
Totally unique combinations and beautiful presentation, I was blown away by the food wizardry of Chef Chris. I hope to come back many more times!
**Also as a non drinker, I love this place (as well as Ed’s other business, Bar Tonique on N. Rampart St.) for their tasty hand made temperance drinks. It is hard to go places in New Orleans and find anything without alcohol, so that alone is reason for me to come back to the bar and enjoy at least a beverage.

I’ve been here 10+ times.
I wish I could give this place 5 stars, since I live in the hood. I’m bumping it up a star for having had a better-​but-​not-​great experience the last time I went.
As a service industry veteran, Serendipity is one hell of a strange experience. I took my mom here last week, who is also a service industry vet, and here’s what we came up with:
Pros:
Bar staff and maitre’d are wonderful, Chef is amazing.
Try the homage to Hubig’s. ZOMG. So good!
Open for lunch most days.
Parking is plentiful.
Wine selection is great.
Hangar steak is great.
Thursday Market & a wine shop next door mean you can pretend to make your own concoctions when you’re done.
Cons:
The waitstaff are either adequate or infuriatingly terrible. HINT: If you roll your eyes, we can still see you.
If my KM had caught me on my cell phone/​taking 45 minutes to get someone a drink/​letting food hit a table off-​temp, without the right sides/​silverware/​condiments… I wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes, much less 5 months.
Hoping they’re working on getting things sorted.

Just like I feel my last experience at Serendipity would be hard to beat, I know there’s no way to top my last review without sounding like a gushing sycophant, so here’s an update to reflect my recent experience (by all means, read my last review for more of an overview of the place!)
My birthday is the most important day of the year. So it’s kind of a daunting task to pick a restaurant out since there’s such high expectations for that annual meal. As such, I tend to choose from one of my top five favorites in town. Enter Serendipity.
I had such a spectacular meal the last time I was here, that I… didn’t go back for four months. There is no reason for this, other than I typically like to dole out special treats so that I don’t get spoiled. It’s not like Serendipity breaks your bank, but I do look at it as more of a special occasion kind of place. I’ll likely change that attitude because dang, this place is just so good and I’m missing out on new menu changes!
I didn’t mention this in the last review, but from when you walk up to the door, the staff is waiting there to make you feel welcome. And if you’ve made a reservation, there’s no blank stare and searching the computer. They make it seem as if they’ve been waiting for you, which is really a unique touch. And all of the staff is extremely hospitable from the maitre d’ to the servers and their assistants.
The menu is pretty much completely different from what it was in October, in homage to their intention to use as fresh and local ingredients as possible. Note to vegans: dishes are clearly marked as such. There is one item that seems vegetarian, the fried okra relleños, but they are not, due to the fact that they are fried in lard (it doesn’t say this on the menu, but the waiter informed me of this). Just a note!
I started off with the cauliflower soup. It’s a purée of cauliflower and potato and exquisitely creamy with a robust flavor. I like! I love!
Although I was undecided between the cauliflower «steak» and Three Sisters Stew, I went with the latter to mix things up a bit, and because I love me some hominy. Consisting of seemingly humble ingredients: hominy, butternut squash & black beans, the pumpkin seed & jalapeño mole that graces the top of the mélange brings this stew to a whole other level! It’s a really powerful flavored paste. Dip into it sparingly as it gives a massive kick (I’m pretty sure there’s lots of garlic in there)! Wow. Just wow.
There was no question about saving room for dessert. The food is light enough that you can do this here and as I mentioned in my last review, the Sultan’s Nest has to be one of the best desserts I have ever had. I «shared» it with my date, who, for the record, is way more into dessert than I, but he couldn’t get a fork in edgewise. I did not feel an ounce of guilt over that either.
In closing, the *perfect* birthday dinner was had. Thank you, Serendipity!

I’ve silently stalked Chris DeBarr for years online via DocBrite’s (aka Poppy Z. Brite, aka Billy Martin) blog, which lavishes praise upon his cooking, so my expectations were a touch high. Serendipity bullet points below.
*The space felt cold and cavernous. A stark black-​and-​white palette and sparse lunchtime crowd didn’t detract from the sense of desolation.
*Lunch entrees were around $ 9-​$ 18. There were four entrees and five sandwiches, three of which were «poor boys» ranging in price from $ 9 to $ 12. Fancy, pricey po-​boys are a peeve of mine. If I want a shrimp po-​boy, I’m not going to a swank loft restaurant. So I was mad that fancy po-​boys cluttered up the menu.
*The lemon-​lime soda was nuanced and sparkling and mouth-​puckeringly good.
*I got a grilled cheese sandwich on some kind of dark bread with a beery cheese and pear butter. The bread was a little dry. The dressing on the arugula side salad tasted ambiguous. It seemed like it was supposed to be citrusy, and I think there was a mote of grapefruit in there. But it was lacking any discernible flavor.
*The chocolate and almond cake bruschetta was weirdly reminiscent of the grilled cheese sandwich w/​r/​t appearance, and the toppings were skimpy. I’d hoped for it to be loaded down with cherries and whipped ricotta.
*The waiter was very attentive and friendly and didn’t allow my water glass to approach half empty.
My experience was the opposite of serendipitous (see: Merriam Webster: the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for). I went in consciously seeking a mindblowingly agreeable meal. So maybe the meh experience is partly the fault of my mindset.

I’m a sucker for an adventurous, quirky menu, as well as an expertly crafted cocktail, and Serendipity delivered on both fronts. We arrived well ahead of our reservation time, but were seated right away. Chef DeBarr came by to chat a couple of times between courses. We started with the fried okra rellenos, which came with a side of avjar. I couldn’t really taste the pimiento cheese but it was very good regardless. My main dish, the cauliflower steak, was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The gouda was very subtle and a little crispy, which made it all the more enjoyable, and the beet sauce was out of this world. The hubs kept stealing bites even though he is generally not a fan of vegetables. The only thing on the plate that didn’t quite do it for me was the fried kale on the side, which was very, very salty, but I enjoyed it in small bits, mixed together with the rest of the food. The hubs enjoyed the lamb baklava, even though the portion was a little on the small side. From the bar, we enjoyed a perfect French 75 and Ramos Gin Fizz (which I would recommend for dessert). We were too full to partake of the dessert menu, but I was quite satisfied with my experience. The menu is equal parts whimsy (shrimp «wearing a grass skirt»), current food trends (i.e. cauliflower steak and avjar), and new twists on Southern favorites (the okra rellenos, crawfish hushpuppies). The décor is spare and the place is a little drafty on a winter evening, but there’s also nothing to distract from the fine dishes and drinks. And it didn’t set me back as much as I expected. Yes, the location is off the beaten path, but it was worth the trip.

Chef DeBarr is a genius. Oh, how I wish we had something like this in Bakersfield, CA. Friends told me he was the best in New Orleans– I didn’t eat as many places as locals surely have, but I can definitely say that it would be hard to top this.
Start with the bruschetta sampler. Each sampling will blow your mind. For $ 11, you can not go wrong. Another really strong contender is the fried green olives. Stuffed with alligator sausage, arugula and pecorino cheese, it’s an absolutely fantastic dish.
I had the Greek fish tacos. Oh good lord, I could stuff my face with this on a regular basis. Marinated gulf fish, artichokes in bariguole and roasted tomatoes over turnip and potato latkes with smoky greens is this brilliant, mind-​blowing combination. I would have never thrown this together and yet it seemed like the most obvious, perfect marriage one would imagine.
Friend had the Quinoa-​Stuffed Roasted Tomato, and he said it was absolutely wonderful.
Dessert was Saturn Calling and it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Refreshing and, again, just brilliantly executed.
The staff was attentive, alert, and paid attention to detail. Excellent service all around.
This restaurant is a combination of diverse flavors. It’s innovative, genius, and worthy of your time and hard-​earned money. Don’t let the few dollar signs scare you away– this place is WELL worth the money you pay. If I had been asked to pay double I would have, gladly, and not felt even the least bit cheated.
Chris DeBarr’s humor shines through even on the menu. I’ll add some of the great quips here:
We accept all cards: No cash? No problem! You won’t have to wash dishes.
Chef’s recommendation: Order anything you want, it’s all fantastic.
Chef DeBarr, I bow down to you, sir. No wonder you have a foodie cult-​following.

I truly, truly wanted to like this place. I wanted to LOVE this place! Alas, I left dinner disappointed.
As a general disclaimer, I was a Green Goddess fangirl when Chef Chris DeBarr was still at the helm so maybe I had too high of expectations going in. Maybe they haven’t worked all of their new restaurant kinks out. I dunno.
We’ll go through the dining experience from beginning to end:
Parking was easy enough at a prime time on a Friday night. We were able to glide into a spot right out front in the well-​lit parking lot.
We walked into Serendipity and a very gracious host named Ralph greeted us and made us feel right at home. I’ve seen him mentioned in other reviews so he must always be on his game. You go Ralph! We told Ralph we had a reservation and he immediately whisked us away to our table. Our server greeted us in an average amount of time and we were starving so we ordered right away.
We started with:
The steak crostini
DO NOT order this on a first date – it’s horribly awkward to eat. It is pieces of rare steak laid on a bed of arugula on top of a grilled crostini and then covered (too liberally) in something fancy sounding that was really just ranch dressing. The bread was almost too big for me to fit into my mouth (tehehe) so I tried eating it in various ways: breaking it into pieces, trying to cut the steak with a butter knife, picking it apart with my fingers – all much to the chagrin of my dining partner. It tasted okay – I’m glad they serve the meat rare – but it was just meh. It reminded me of something I make when I’m drunk and come home from the bar and think I’m Emeril Lagasse or something.
The fried olives
Because we were ravenously hungry, we immediately tried to bite into these little fried balls and promptly had our tongues seared with hot olive juice. Once they cooled off a little they were easier to eat, but all they tasted like was fried olive juice. You couldn’t taste the stuffing of the olives at all, which is a damn shame.
The corn casserole
Chef brought this to the table himself which was a nice treat. As soon as my girlfriend broke the crust of the casserole we were hit with the overpowering smell of dijon mustard. This whole dish was way too mustard-​y to be edible. It’s all you tasted and smelled. The consistency of it was weird, too. I think that maybe they pureed the squash too much because instead of chunky vegetables it was just indistinct mush. We ended up sending this one back to the kitchen and before we could open our mouths to explain why the server said, «It’s the mustard, isn’t it?» Apparently a lot of people have the same issue with this dish.
The johnnycake crabcake thing
It would have been better if the johnnycake was warm instead of tepid. It tasted okay, needed more crab meat on top. Would’ve been great with some avocado slices and some chili vinaigrette on top.
Overall, none of these dishes impressed me. They accidentally brought the «shrimp wearing a grass skirt» dish to our table and I wish we’d just kept it because it looked and smelled really great.
We were both happy with our entrees! My date got the vietnamese crêpe and I got the goat empanada. My date’s dish was served cold. The lady at the table next to us got the same thing at the same time and asked the server why it wasn’t warm, apparently it is supposed to be that way. My date didn’t mind it being cold but I thought it would be good to know because that can be off-​putting to some people. My goat was really good and just the right amount of spicy. The sweet potato cakes it was served with looked burnt but tasted amazing. My date tasted my empanada and hated it, but haters gonna hate, ya know?
The overall redeeming saving grace of this meal was the SULTANS NEST! I want to sing its praises on high! It was easily the best dessert I’ve had in my entire life. My *only* criticism with it was that I wish they’d made 2 of the 3 scoops of ice cream pistachio and only one absinthe, instead of the other way around. The whipped cream with honey on top of it is what an orgasm would taste like if such a thing could be done.
The interior is cool in an industrial loft feeling way. Our table was fine but I wouldn’t be happy if I was seated at one of the little high two-​tops right inside the door. The bar is pretty and there is a cool loungey space with couches. The bathrooms were clean. There was a good mix of folks inside – young, old, dressy, casual.
The service was okay. Our bill was only $ 111 after 4 apps, 2 entrees and a bottle of wine. A total steal! We were also totally stuffed. Way better of a bargain than the comparable SoBou.
I may try Serendipity again after its had a little more time to figure itself out. It’s rating is probably more realistically a 3/​5, but if we’re going by the Unilocal standard that 2 means «Meh, I’ve had better» than that is exactly what this place was.

I went to Serendipity on Thanksgiving eve with a small herd of friends and it was a nice juxtaposition with the über-​traditional dishes consumed the next day.
The menu is hyper-creative…almost too much so on some dishes and for some tastes. (Think the Salierie criticism of Mozart… too many notes.) The menu changes a LOT! And that’s what the chef is known for so don’t expect the website to reflect the menu that will handed to you on any given night.
There are items here for the extreme carnivore and the vegetarian and most folks in between. I had the shrimp in grass skirt and the Vietnamese style crêpe with crab. Both were really tasty and filling. One of my big appetite friends got the tasting menu which was 5 courses and was satisfied. Everyone else at the table got two plates and left full and many things were passed around for sampling… which is probably the best way to go.
The drinks menu is very creative but there were no bourbon based drinks the night I went so I just stuck with my standard old fashioned. And old fashioned it was and made perfectly.
We also shared 2 desserts among our big group. The ice cream special of the evening… which had absinthe & pistachio flavors and also the homage to hubig’s pie. Both were delicious.
The service was good and personable and the chef stopped by our table twice so that was cool. I was afraid the restaurant would be loud with it’s concrete floors and modern ambiance… but they’ve done a good job with deadening the hard spaces so it was a really comfortable place to have a meal.

Great food and the service is top notch. I recommend everything the server Ryan recommends — he knows his stuff!

Chef Chris is the best in the city, and his staff is exemplary. We ordered the tasting menu, and added a few other dishes as well. Highlights were the lamb baklava, beer and sausage soup, spooky mushrooms, and shrimp and tomato dish.
Service was great, wine list is stellar, atmosphere was lovely, the place was immaculate… in every way you could tell that the staff and the chef REALLY care about food and about ensuring that their guests leave full, and happy.

My girlfriend wanted to have a romantic, semi-​fancy dinner together and, having heard about this place from Unilocal and others, I really wanted to go. We were mostly not disappointed.
We had made reservations and were immediately seated upon arrival. We were offered drinks, and the waiter anticipated my need for a cocktail menu. Sadly, I did not get a chance to try the delicious sounding cocktails, but perhaps another time.
The ambiance is romantic yet modern, and it definitely tips towards the fancy dress side, although not overly dressy.
Once my beer arrived, my girlfriend and I were pretty much ready to order. That’s another thing: one of my pet peeves is when waiters don’t get the timing of ordering, bringing out dishes, and checking on us correctly. I liked our waiter because he was knowledgeable about the menu and did not make us feel rushed, yet was attentive.
Anywho, we ordered the jimmy cakes to share to start off with, and I ordered the Malaysian Red Curry Goat Empanada while my GF ordered the lamb baklava.
The jimmy cakes were just meh, room temperature and flavorless, although the topping was quite good and fresh. I wouldn’t order them again, they really didn’t do it for me.
However, both of our entrees were fantastic. My empanada was just the right amount of spicy; it wasn’t so spicy that it burnt my tongue off so I wasn’t able to truly taste the flavors, but still had a nice kick. I can see this dish being too spicy for people who are generally wimps about that sort of thing, but I love spicy food. The accompanying rutabaga fried in duck fat was the perfect sweet flavored compliment, and perfectly crunchy on the outside. The basil, mint, and cucumber raita was good for cooling off if the spiciness was too much.
Likewise, my girlfriend loved her lamb baklava so much that she practically inhaled it. She did say, however, that she would have liked a bit more meat in it. I sadly did not get a chance to taste it. Neither of us were too into the pickled mirliton, but that is just a matter of taste.
At this point, the chef was nice enough to walk around and chat with the diners, checking that everyone was enjoying their dish.
Finally, for dessert, we finished off with the Baked Hawaii because, um, FIRE! Sadly, it wasn’t as on fire as we were hoping, with a few puny flames not fully engulfing the dessert, making the surrounding unburnt meringue heavy on the liquor taste. However, what was inside was delicious! The sherbet was heavenly, the pineapple sauce a perfect tart compliment, and the cake was flavorful. I actually wished there had been more cake, less sherbert.
It was a great dinner with interesting tastes and perfect portions, for what I considered to be a reasonable price. We will definitely be back.

I wasn’t expecting this at all. A former can company turned into lofts and retailer spaces on the ground floor, among which Serendipity. The staff was very helpful with our 80-​year old lady guest. They made sure we were having a good time.
The wine list was very diverse, I went for the Malbec that was at perfect room temperature. The menu looked divine. This restaurant being great to share, hence to taste more meals, we ordered 4 different meals and shared: the cheese-​filled okra, the New Orleans casserole, the farmer salad and the Vietnamese crêpe. All tasted delicious and we could have easily eaten two portions each. When we received the dessert menu we weren’t hungry any longer. It looked less interesting than the savory menu.
The atmosphere is very nice, they have bathroom glasses for water, it is still quite casual and laid-​back. I would return to taste the rest of the menu!

This restaurant has breathed new life into the stale atmosphere left by the Olive Branch. Set in the old American Can building you are greeted by a friendly, spirited host and seated in the newly renovated Serendipity restaurant.
The chef of Serendipity comes with a large following as this place has only been open for under a month and is already filling up with reservations. Picture intimate mood lighting, a tremendous list of cocktails inspired by the minds of Bar Tonique, with the refreshing creole fusion cuisine of the ex-​Green Goddess chef.
You could wear a coat to this restaurant, or jeans and fit right in, but the atmosphere leans towards the former.
Our waiter Jay was charming and did his best explaining the features of a simple, yet not unrefined menu. Most of the dishes are priced between $ 10 – 20 but none are meager, nor are they tremendous in portion size.
Our order: Greek style fish tacos (did not come out as expected, still delicious), sirloin bruschetta, and lamb baklava.
Nothing was what we expected it to be, but we didn’t ask many questions as we were enjoying our swanky cocktails for less than 10 bucks a pop.
The lamb baklava was surprisingly sweet – much like a dessert baklava with a strong honey overtone. The ground lamb was almost unrecognizable in the dish so I was a bit off-​put at first, but if you blend it with the garnishes on the plate (I think it was pickled hicama) the sour took the bite out of the sweet.
The Greek fish tacos came on a skewer with mushrooms and peppers over a potato based pancake and a yogurt sauce that was the winner of the night.
Sirloin bruschetta was just chopped steak on top of toasted bread with a mayo-​based drizzle – yummy nonetheless.
After we paid we stayed at the bar for a dessert cocktail and are overwhelmingly glad to have this new restaurant to feature the charms of our neighborhood.
Look for brunch in the near future!

Chef Chris is finally putting the entire package together! I have been a fan of Chef Chris since I first visited Green Goddess. However, over several visits, I couldn’t ignore the lack of service. Serendipity has finally turned this around.
When we walked into the restaurant we were promptly greeted by the host and seated, and the service was excellent until we left.
The food was fantastic. The table ordered a brown beer, cheese, and sausage soup; flank steak bruschetta, and a curried goat empanada with grilled sweet potatoes and a cucumber salad. The menu is focused on seasonal ingredients and creative without being overly fussy. In other words, the items are creative enough to be interesting, but not filled with so many ingredients that you can’t figure out what the dish would probably taste like.
The new space is open, classy, and inviting. I would love to come here to sit and have small plates and cocktails or for a long romantic dinner. I look forward to coming back!

Chef Chris knows his wine and knows his food: That’s the bottom line. And he’s not afraid to experiment with unusual food and wine pairings and lesser-​known varietals. Bonus points for that.
Dishes show creativity, balance and inventiveness – and there’s a sense of adventure that is palpable in his creations. One relatively simple-​ish dish I keep thinking about is the Asian seaweed salad… if no one had been there, I would have licked the plate.
I’m holding back one star since I haven’t knocked back any cocktails, was too busy drinking wine…(tough life). Guess I’ll have to come back…

I never made it to Green Goddess while Chris de Barr was still there. Two attempts failed for various reasons, the second one was in May and found me standing in front of the restaurant wondering why it wasn’t open on a day it should have been. In days that followed, I found out that Green Goddess was in turmoil because Chris de Barr had just left and that he’d be opening a new restaurant soon. I’ve been following the developments ever since (in fact, a Google search for «Serendipity New Orleans» still yields my thread, asking on Trip Advisor whether anyone knows when it would finally open, on the first page :)). After all that, the fact the restaurant should finally open during my next visit to New Orleans was pure serendipity and made my husband and myself re-​arrange our dining plans to make sure we ended up there on our last night in town.
It’s located in Mid City, actually right across Bayou St. John from Parkway Bakery. We took the Canal streetcar to Jefferson Davis Parkway and walked from there via a nice street lined with old trees that somewhat reminded me of one particular street in my hometown.
We were met at the door by a gentleman named Ralph, who was very informative and helpful.
The dining room is spacious, dimly lit and nice, with some ambient-​ish music playing. Actually, the «dimly lit» part is just about my only complaint. It was hard to read the menu and whereas I wouldn’t like the place brightly lit, I’d turn the lights up just a notch. I loved the wine glass bottle chandelier in a smaller room to the right of the main dining room. The bar looked nicely stocked. Chris de Barr was in the dining room all the time, walking from table to table and talking with everyone. Ralph kept stopping at the tables as well and making sure everyone enjoyed everything. Everybody seemed fairly content that I had just added them on Unilocal (they hadn’t yet been listed here at that point) and asked for reviews, which I’m doing right now. :) In general, I had the impression everyone was working really hard to please the patrons.
I recognized quite a few items on the menu from the old Green Goddess menu (I might have never tried it, but I got to study it extensively before my trip back in May). There was «Shrimp wearing a grass skirt», «Cochon de lait/​lei» etc. I posted a photo of the menu (as well as photos of our food) while still there, so please refer to that.
Between the two of us, we ordered two appetizers: «Eat a grilled peach», which was grilled peaches with blue cheese and bacon, drizzled with … ketchup (amazing!), fried green olives stuffed with alligator sausage (good) and two entrees: fish tacos (very good) and lamb baklava (wonderful). I had the Saturn Calling dessert (a great option for a dessert less sweet) and Mr had Baked Hawaii, set in flames and brought to the table by Chris de Barr himself. We were very pleased with everything. There wasn’t coffee yet, but since it’s been only a couple of days since opening, we let this slide and filed under «kinks being ironed». :)
Their Dark and Stormy and Ramos Gin Fizz were both pretty good. Nice layers on the Dark and Stormy! The Ramos Gin Fizz was shaken for an enjoyably long time and second only to Victory Bar’s (out of the many places in New Orleans I tried this drink in) in the fluffy cloud-​like texture. While I was putting the bar to the «Dark and Stormy test» and «Ramos Gin Fizz test», my husband ordered absinthe. He got *a lot* of it in the glass and even though we are not sure what kind exactly he had (the server was struggling with the name and we didn’t quite catch it), it was very smooth and good.
Being a technology freak, I have to comment on the electronic receipt, which you signed with your fingertip on the server’s cellphone. I loved it!
After the meal, when Ralph saw us calling a cab, he said we should have told him and he would have called us one. Too late at this point, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.

Serendipity opened this week, and I am much happier for that.
Reading Chef Chris’ biography is like reading The Odyssey as told by a rogue gourmet wandering kitchens in and around New Orleans. And when you meet him, you soon discover that the bio merely scrapes the surface. He brings with him strange and wondrous aromatic dishes. He will tell you tales of his beloved Saints. He’s a ‘punk rock, pirate.’ Hopefully, he has found his peace in Mid-​City.
The menu at Serendipity is ambitious but not frighteningly so. The staff does a great job of walking you through the selections available. On top of that, Chef Chris is more than likely going to tell you the history of every ingredient in your meal in a way that makes each bite more interesting than the last.
Everything seems to compliment everything else on the menu. Throw a dart at it, and you won’t be disappointed with what fate has in store for you (unless you miss the page entirely). We opted for the three-​cheese plate, fried olives, Greek fish tacos, and curried lamb baklava. This was topped off with the Serendipity Punch and the magic carpet foie gras fantasia. There were only two of us dining, and we threw quite a few darts at the menu. Chef Chris came out and gave us the lowdown on the cheeses and their producers. He takes pride in finding other artists like him and then shining a spotlight on their craft. His finds are splattered all over his menu, waiting for you to discover them. His enthusiasm is infectious. The cheese was delicious. And that was just to start.
From top to bottom, our meal was fantastic. We fought over every last crumb with smiles plastered over our food drunk faces.
This review could go on and on, but the take away is this: Serendipity is a wonderful experience that will play on all of your senses. Chef Chris’s ambition continues to grow, yet he is still a friendly co-​conspirator. He wants you to love and enjoy his food as much as he does. And you will.