THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602130113
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: On The Town
SOURCE: Sam Martinette
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Last year on Shrove Tuesday we attended the annual Mardi Gras celebration at the Bienville Grill, and if it isn't quite as wild as its counterpart in New Orleans, it comes close.
It was so crowded we shared our booth all evening with different friends who sat with us to dine and then moved on, making way for the next diners. When we left, there was a conga line snaking among the tables to a limbo contest, each celebrant dancing low under the stick.
There were women with hand-held masks, men wearing dresses (though not fooling anyone, with the moustache and cigar one well-known chef sported), and everyone seemed to wear a smile. It's all happening again next Tuesday evening, starting at 8 o'clock.
``It's a blowout, the last bash before Lent,'' Bienville's chef/owner Mike Hall explained. ``The next day you quit drinking or give something up for Lent.''
Carnival, or Mardi Gras, is celebrated in most communities in Latin America, and along the Gulf Coast of the American South, most notably in New Orleans, where Hall worked for a number of years with Chef Paul Prudhomme. Hall later owned his own restaurant in Lafayette, La., deep in the heart of Cajun country.
The Bienville Grill menu showcases that experience, offering dishes from both Cajun (or country) and Creole (or city) cuisines.
Add a touch of nouvelle cuisine and regional influences and you have appetizers such as grilled andouille sausage with red pepper polenta and honey barbecue glaze ($5.95); crawfish and porto bello mushrooms in an onion and garlic cream sauce with fresh Parmesan over bowtie pasta ($6.95); or the Bienville Trio of chaurice sausage, chicken and shrimp in a barbecue glaze with a red chili sauce and red beans ($9.95).
A bowl of duck, turkey, andouille sausage and okra gumbo with whipped potatoes is $4.95, or a bowl of black or red beans is $3.50. Salads include a warm duck salad of boneless duck and mushrooms in a vinaigrette, served over a bed of mixed greens with pear slices and toasted pecans ($6.95).
Entrees include Catfish Atchafalaya (grilled catfish over rice, topped with sauteed crawfish, artichoke hearts and mushrooms, and served with a meuniere sauce and sauteed vegetables, $13.95); a fire-grilled pork tenderloin, served over smothered cabbage, carrots, red pepper polenta and black-eyed peas and lima beans ($13.95); and Chicken Mamou (breast of chicken stuffed with chaurice sausage dressing and served with red pepper polenta, honey barbecue glaze and sauteed vegetables ($13.95).
``French Quarter Cuisine'' includes red beans and rice ($4.95, or $6.95 with smoked sausage), and Shrimp Creole ($9.95). And every Wednesday and Thursday evening, from 5:30 till 9 p.m., boiled crawfish are $4.95 a pound.
In addition to the regular menu, Hall will offer a ``Grilled Catfish Mardi Gras'' special with crawfish and done in the traditional Mardi Gras colors, with purple cabbage, yellow peppers and green onions. There will be special libations available and music by ``Against All Odds.''
``We'll also have Mardi Gras cake, which is a yeast bread with colored icing and a baby (doll) baked in it,'' Hall said. ``Legend has it that whoever gets the baby throws the party next year.''
There's no cover, but get there early if you want a seat. There is a costume contest again this year and a limbo event. Call the Bienville Grill (723 W. 21st St., 625-9172), starting at 7:30 p.m. The first course will be deviled eggs stuffed with backfin crabmeat and Smithfield ham, followed by a fried chicken breast breaded in hominy grits and flour and served with a warm couscous, tomato and okra salad, with a dessert of peanut butter pie in a chocolate crust.
Each course will be matched with a pair of selected beers. ``It's Southern food but not necessarily Southern beer,'' co-owner James Talley said. Possible beer pairings include Nathan's Blond and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the first course, Rock Creek Brewery's Raven Porter and a Belgian-style white for the second, and Sam Adams Double-Bock and Dixie White-Mousse Lager with dessert.
The cost is $21 per person, all-inclusive. Seating is limited to 25, so reservations are necessary. If there is enough demand a second dinner will be held the next evening. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Mike Hall, the chef/owner of the Bienville Grill, provides the site
and the food for an annual Mardi Gras celebration in Norfolk. ``It's
a blowout, the last bash before Lent,'' Hall says. ``The next day
you quit drinking or give something up for Lent.''
by CNB