QUICK BITE: Josephine Estellle New Orleans

We arrived two days ahead of the embarkation day for our NCK Breakaway sailing.  Tonight was dinner at Josephine Estellle.  It is located in the Ace Hotel.  Something interesting about New Orleans is that so many if the restaurants and bars are located inside hotels.  And you might think that those places are tourist traps it have orlverpriced, generic food. Not the case.  

We started with this delicious Sangiovese wine.from.the Toscana region. Dry with just hints of some.fruit.  

Dinner stared with an assortment of appetizers including Napa Cabbage with Prosciutto, their famous meatballs and burrata.  

The stay prosciutto was so good with the crisp.cabbage and green apples.  The meatballs had just enough breadcrumbs to hold them together but you could still taste the beef, veal and pork.  And the buratta was creamy and savory.  Just perfect with yellow beets, toasted hazelnuts and a delicious pomegranate molasses.  

For mains we want with the delicious fettuccine with veal ragout and short ribs with pureed cauliflower.  

The star was definitely the veal ragout.  Essentially like a pot roast, full of flavor and meatiness.   And perfe fly al dente pasta. 

The short ribs had decent flavor but I have had better.  They were missing the succulence and richness I associate with a great short rib.   The pureed cauliflower save the dish.  So creamy and buttery - almost like grits.  I would have preferred a vegetarian dish with this instead of the short ribs.  

Desserts were stellar.  These were a lemon semifreddo and a Peanut Butter mousse with chocolate ganache.  The semifreddo has some.smart addition of cadied lemon peel and a dark chocolate ganache. 

The peanut butter dessert was so well balanced between the creamy mousse and rich  chocolate.