We were completely surprised by Maypop, an incredible new restaurant in New Orleans. When we think about New Orleans, we think about creole food and beignets, not Asian food. After hearing numerous locals in the culinary industry recommend Chef Michael Gulotta’s fine dining/Cajun/Asian fusion restaurant, we made time to go.
The restaurant is stunning inside, featuring a sleek, modern interior that is atypical of the rest of New Orleans. The dining room features an accordion-style piece of art that, when viewed from one direction, is a map of Southeast Asia and from the other direction, is a map of New Orleans.
We started with a twist on a New Orleans classic, the Sazerak de Roi cocktail. The Bibb Lettuce salad was probably the most interesting Bibb Lettuce salad we’ve ever had, made with coconut, cucumber ranch, Chaat spice, and a big cashew crisp.
We also shared two of the handmade pastas, the Roasted Eggplant Tortelli in Spicy Tomato Ham Hock Broth, and the Hand Pulled Noodles with Blue Crab and Pork Sausage. Even if it didn’t have the blue crab in it, the hand-pulled noodles would have been amazing, but it was a great way to put a creole twist on an Asian dish. The small batch, locally made tofu from Mrs. To Le was phenomenal and the we loved the spicy mapo broth.
Having eaten our way around town all day, we weren’t equipped to take on two entrees, so we shared the Crispy Fried Soft Shell Crab Amandine, which was a really fun twist on a French classic. The dish had all the elements of a Trout Amandine—brown butter, beans, almonds—but with the added twist of coconut and lime leaf, and a soft shell crab fried in almond flour.
We skipped dessert, but couldn’t leave without trying one of the restaurant’s frozen Old Fashioned cocktails, which actually comes from a frozen slushee machine. It was really good, and actually stands in quite well for a dessert. It’s also really impressive that they were able to nail the flavors in a cocktail that is served below freezing temperature. On that note, we would recommend getting a bottle of dry Riesling off the wine list. It’s our go-to with any sort of spicy Asian food and it works with pretty much everything on the menu.
Maypop was definitely our favorite restaurant on our New Orleans trip. We’d highly recommend making a reservation, and in our opinion, sharing two noodle dishes and one entree is the perfect way to experience the menu without eating too much.
Thank you to Alaska Airlines for sponsoring this post.