Herbsaint Bar & Restaurant
- Kira Jabri
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
This was the perfect place to dip our toe into the New Orleans dining scene, a city we had never visited before and one with a food culture we have wanted to explore for a very long time.
Herbsaint Bar and Restaurant has been part of New Orleans since 2000. Herbsaint also earned Chef Donald Link the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South in 2007.
For a first meal in New Orleans, it felt like a great introduction. The menu gave us a chance to try a lot of different things. And, as usual, we took full advantage.
We started with the Watermelon Gazpacho with Jumbo Lump Crab, and apparently we were very lucky with our timing. We were told this dish has developed such a following that Herbsaint actually keeps an email list to let people know when it returns to the menu. Our server even told us about diners who make the drive from Mobile when it comes back into rotation.
Watermelon Gazpacho Okra Fried Halloumi
After eating it, we understood the enthusiasm.The chilled watermelon gazpacho is served with jumbo lump crab, jalapeño-lime mayonnaise, and fried bread. It is light and refreshing, but the crab and mayonnaise give it enough richness to keep it from feeling overly delicate. The fried bread is the smart part, soaking up the gazpacho and pulling everything together. On a hot New Orleans day, it was pretty close to perfect.
We also had the Cornmeal Fried Oysters, served with sesame slaw and hot sauce. You cannot come to New Orleans for the first time and not immediately start eating oysters, and these were a great place to start.
The Fried Green Tomatoes were another dish we were excited to see on the table. For us, visiting New Orleans is as much about exploring ingredients and dishes that are deeply connected to Southern cooking as it is about seeking out the city's most celebrated restaurants. Fried green tomatoes certainly checked that box.
Deep Fried Green Tomatoes Overhead view Lamb Kofta
Then there is the Housemade Spaghetti.We ALMOST edited this because we have so many great Italian resturants back home. Thank would have been a HUGE mistake.
It may not be the dish you expect to talk about after your first meal in New Orleans, but this has been a Herbsaint staple for years. The housemade pasta is served with a fried-poached farm egg. Breaking into the egg sends the yolk into the pasta, bringing everything together into something rich, savory, and incredibly satisfying. It is essentially Herbsaint's own interpretation of the flavors we associate with carbonara, and it was easily one of the dishes we would order again.
We worked our way through a significant portion of the rest of the menu as well: Kanpachi Crudo, Bluefin Tuna Tartare, Grilled Lamb Kofta, Fried Halloumi, Crispy Duck Rillettes, Tempura Fried Fish Collars, Beef Short Ribs, and, of course, those Fried Green Tomatoes.
That variety was part of what made Herbsaint such an enjoyable first stop. There were recognizable Southern flavors alongside dishes that pulled from French, Italian, editerranean, and Asian influences, yet nothing felt particularly out of place.
New Orleans has an almost intimidating amount of food history, and we knew there was no possible way to understand its dining scene in one meal or one trip. Herbsaint was a very good place to start.
What we tried
Watermelon Gazpacho
Cornmeal Fried Oysters
Beef Short Ribs
Housemade Spaghetti
Kanpachi Crudo
Bluefin Tuna Tartare
Grilled Lamb Kofta
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Halloumi
Crispy Duck Rillettes
Tempora Fried Fish Collars
Tempura Fried Fish Collars
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