La Boca – Highest Cuisine Ratings for Steakhouses in New Orleans Ratings & Review: 27 Food/20 Decor/24 Service Lovers of “red meat and red wine” say “run, don’t walk” to this “tiny” Warehouse District Argentinean (a sib of RioMar) where the specialty is “superbly cooked” “unusual cuts” of steak escorted by “interesting” “homemade” sauces and “fantastic” sides, as well as “tasteful” vino from the same region; the staff “makes you feel at home”, while soccer uniforms and photos of the “Boca Juniors team” lend a spirited touch to the “masculine” setting.

La Boca If you’ve been to La Boca you’ve met Orestes Rodriguez. He is the friendly, unassuming fellow who greets you warmly at the door and takes you to your table, periodically checking in to ensure that everything is just the way you want it. He is sociable without being intrusive, his desire for his guests to enjoy their meal is motivated by an honest sincerity and his low-key personality dovetails perfectly with the feel of his restaurant.

Rodriguez’s presence at La Boca isn’t due to lucky chance. Rather, it’s the happy expression of a longtime relationship with Adolfo García, who co-owns the restaurant with Nicolas Bazan. “I knew Adolfo before he went to culinary school,” Rodriguez recalls. “Back then he was a server at La Riviera. We’d run into each other a lot and see each other off and on after working.”

Rodriguez and García remained close friends along the way, so when García and Bazan followed through on their plan for a post-Katrina Argentine-style steakhouse, García knew who he wanted at the door. He tapped his longtime friend for the Maître d’ and General Manager position. Rodriguez slid easily into the role and has been a constant presence at La Boca ever since.

Born in Cuba, Rodriguez came to New Orleans in 1970. “I fell in love with New Orleans when I got here,” he says. “I like the people, I like the culture and I like the fact that the city is a melting pot.” He worked a series of odd jobs, including a stint at Coca-Cola, until he found his way into the restaurant business. He spent an astonishing 30 years at La Riviera in Metairie, a remarkable amount of time in an industry marked by increasingly high turnover. Rodriguez represents a more genteel time when being a host was a profession and not just a job, and La Boca is a more pleasant restaurant because of it.

Along with his duties at the door, Rodriguez is responsible for everything that goes on in the dining room. “I’m responsible for our customers and the servers. I do wine, inventory. I take reservations and set up for the parties, whatever needs to be done pretty much,” he says. Guests at La Boca will see him clearing tables and helping out in just about every way, save working the grill. “No cooking,” he laughs.

The prevailing atmosphere at La Boca is warm and inviting, with a contemporary edge and a bit of urban chic imparted by the exposed wooden beams and brick walls of its Warehouse District locale. The restaurant is small, with just 47 seats augmented by a few at the bar; overall, it is a space that lends itself well to both intimate two-tops and small groups of diners.

However, the Argentine focus on the menu required some due diligence on Rodriguez’s part before opening. “The whole concept was something totally new to me,” he remembers. “We brought the concept in from Buenos Aires and I had to learn about that. I had to go to the library and learn a little bit of the history of everything so I could explain things to the customers.”

A good restaurant isn’t just about good food, though La Boca certainly has this. To truly distinguish itself from the pack, a restaurant’s parts must come together into a harmonious composition. The kitchen, the service and the ambiance all contribute to the diner’s overall experience. And at La Boca, Rodriguez brings these parts together. His genteel nature infuses the dining room and contributes to the positive feel of the place, making the whole somehow greater than the sum of its parts. La Boca is one of those restaurants that, when I go there, I ask myself why I don’t go there more often. There is a welcoming feel to the place, it seems cozy and “right-sized” and perfectly attuned to itself and what it tries to be. And a share of the credit for this goes to Rodriguez. He is down-to-earth, sincere and really cares about his customers’ experiences.

“I feel very comfortable here,” he says. “It is like a home to me. I enjoy what I do. I like the satisfaction of talking to the clients, the feeling I get when I know that they are happy about the meal and the service. I am happy when they have a good experience and say that they look forward to coming back again.”   – Jay Forman

1 ½ oz Pisco (Peruvian brandy)

1 oz. house made sour mix (lime juice/powdered sugar-based simple syrup)

1 T egg white

Shake vigorously and strain. Garnish with a dash of cinnamon

credit: Times-Picayune
By Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune
February 18, 2010, 10:15AM

Semi-finalists for this year’s James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards were released this morning. At least 20 semi-finalists are named in 19 categories, and as usual, there are plenty of New Orleans names among them.

The strongest representation is in the category Best Chef: South, where six local chefs from five restaurants are semi-finalists. They are Scott Boswell of Stella! and Stanley; Aaron Burgau of Patois; Adolfo Garcia of RioMar, La Boca and A Mano, a new Italian restaurant that made the list in two national categories as well; David and Torre Solazzo of Ristorante Del Porto in Covington; and Lilette’s John Harris, who was one of the final five nominees in the category last year.

Beth Biundo of Lilette is among the 20 semi-finalist for Oustanding Pastry Chef. Joshua Smith, chef de cuisine of A Mano, joins Gautreau’s Sue Zemanick as a potential Rising Star Chef of the Year, which honors chefs under 30. Zemanick was a Rising Star nominee last year. A Mano was also among the Best New Restaurant semi-finalists.

Two New Orleans restaurants got the nod in Outstanding Service: Upperline and Emeril’s, which was also a nominee last year. Emeril’s is a semi-finalist in Outstanding Wine Service as well.

Chefs with local connections now working in other markets are also recognized. David Kinch, chef-owner of the visionary restaurant Manresa in Los Gatos, California, cut his teeth as a teenager working under Paul Prudhomme at Commander’s Palace. Kevin Davis of the Steelhead Diner in Seattle (on the menu: chicken-andouille gumbo and fried oysters po-boys) worked at Arnaud’s and the Sazerac Restaurant in the 1990s.

Two chefs who used to work under John Besh, Lee Richardson of Ashley’s at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock and Kelly English of Restaurant Iris in Memphis, are semi-finalists in Best Chef: South and Best Chef: Southeast, respectively. Bryan Caswell of Reef in Houston, a semi-finalist in Best Chef: Southwest, was born in Lafayette.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other semi-finalists with local connections. Please point out any I may have missed.

The James Beard Foundation Awards are generally considered the highest honor available to culinary professionals in the United States. (Full disclosure: I chair the committee that oversees the Restaurant and Chef Awards.) A pool of over 400 judges, which includes past award winners, vote on the semi-finalists. The final nominees will be announced on March 22 at the Palace Café here in New Orleans. Winners are announced May 3 at the James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception in New York City, which is often referred to as the food world’s answer to the Oscars.

Written by: Jay Forman
January 2010

With the opening of the central/southern Italian trattoria a Mano in November, chef Adolfo Garcia has increased his portfolio to partnership in three holdings, rounded out by Rio Mar and La Boca. And while the cuisines served at each are disparate (Italian, Spanish and Argentine, respectively), they are all united by Garcia’s essential philosophy:

unadulterated, traditional fare. Garcia doesn’t go for fusion or mash-ups; he is interested in roots cooking.

The beginnings of A Mano – Italian for “by hand” – started with a meeting of the minds between Garcia and his chef/partner Joshua Smith. “Josh started working with me at Rio Mar and we got to talking about it there,” Garcia says. “Italian food is his passion. Traditional cooking is mine. I used to have to tell him, ‘Quit cooking Italian – this is a Spanish restaurant!’ Point is, he got a lot of his inspiration from Italy; that was his passion.”

Garcia noted Smith’s love of authentic Italian and also saw a niche to be filled in a city where Italian fare is predominately cross-pollinated with Creole influence. “The opportunity arose and I asked, ‘Are you ready?’ and Josh said, ‘Yeah, I’m ready,’” Garcia says. “I kind of stacked the deck for him and brought in a lot of my best guys from Rio Mar, and said, OK tear it up.”

read entire article . . .

Borrowing from the Argentine steakhouse tradition, La Boca has given New Orleans a taste of something new without losing sight of what diners really want when they venture to a steakhouse: steak. The rub at La Boca, the brainchild of RioMar chef Adolfo Garcia and partner Nick Bazan, is that very few of the steaks will be mistaken for what dad threw on the grill. Chef Jared Ralls — who, like maitre d’/general manager Orestes Rodriguez, has embraced the place as though it were his own — has a way of churning out revelatory meals utilizing little more than beef and fire. The flank and hangar steaks are wonderful; the entrana fina con la piel, a self-basted cut of beef that arrives preternaturally tender and tasting as if it were injected with rendered fat, is something else entirely. The pastas are good, too. And don’t miss the french fries.

Source: http://www.nola.com/dining-guide/index.ssf/2009/10/la_boca_1.html

Argentine steakhouse La Boca isn’t the be-all, end-all, but it sizzles all the same

In the spring of 2006, New Orleans needed a lot of things. A fully functioning justice system comes to mind. Affordable housing would have come in handy as well.

As it turns out, the city also was in the market for something considerably less urgent but nonetheless keenly desired: a quality steakhouse. In retrospect, it is hard to imagine a more perfect answer to that particular problem than La Boca.

Considering how many restaurants that spoke to New Orleans’ steakhouse history remained shuttered – Crescent City,Charlie’s, Ruth’s Chris, Dickie Brennan’s — beef grilled by well-meaning amateurs wasn’t going to cure what ailed us. And the occasion didn’t call for — and still doesn’t — another steakhouse that requires corporate backing to both build and patronize. The need was for a steakhouse that hinted at progress while providing familiar comforts.

La Boca continues to satisfy these criteria and then some. Borrowing from the Argentine steakhouse tradition, the restaurant has given New Orleans a taste of something new without losing sight of what diners really want when they venture to a steakhouse: steak. The rub at La Boca is that very few of the steaks will be mistaken for what dad threw on the grill.

The restaurant is the brain child of chef Adolfo Garcia and partner Nick Bazan, who made their mark with the seafood-oriented RioMar. La Boca is their second foray into the Latin culinary diaspora, but the restaurant does not have the disposition of a neglected second child. The partners have left it in the hands of two trusted lieutenants: chef Jared Ralls and maitre d’/general manager Orestes Rodriguez, both of whom have embraced the restaurant as though it were their own.

READ REST OF STORY: http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2009/08/chris_grangerthe_timespicayune_1.html

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE: http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?imageIndex=1&oid=oid:38148