Coquette, New Orleans, LA What to Order: Speckled Trout. Michael Stoltzfus’s menu changes regularly, including the $23 prix fixe lunch (possibly the best deal in town). On my last visit, I fell hard for the speckled trout served with burst cherry tomatoes, perfectly cooked pattypan squash, and a fluttering of Brussels sprouts leaves, finished with delicate satsuma butter. 2800 Magazine Street; coquettenola.com
New Orleans Magazine / December 2013 / Best of Dining 2013 CHEF OF THE YEAR Michael Stoltzfus Charting his own path The danger with becoming a successful chef, if you love to prepare food, is that you tend to spend more of your time managing other cooks than cooking. Chef Michael Stoltzfus told me that when he was faced with that problem recently, it led him to start doing something he hadn’t before. He began saying “no.” Stoltzfus opened his first restaurant, Coquette, in 2008, and ever since, he’s steadily been accumulating both praise and employees. From a starting staff of nine, including only three in the kitchen, Coquette now employs 40. He has been nominated for Best Chef, South by the James Beard Foundation and named a Star Chef by Food & Wine Magazine, among other accolades. With the attention came requests to participate in all manner of projects, and for a while Stoltzfus accepted pretty much everything. It kept him away from Coquette, and ultimately he decided to be more selective.
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Every fall, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune restaurant critic Brett Anderson selects the Top 10 Restaurants in New Orleans. The list should not be mistaken for The 10 New Orleans Restaurants Brett Would Insist on Eating Just Prior to Meeting His Maker. That list would certainly contain at least one po-boy joint. The Top 10 is much more exclusive by design. It only includes restaurants that meet the expectations of fine-dining restaurants in terms of ambition, food quality and service. The restaurants that made the final grade are not the only local restaurants that rank among the country’s finest, but they comprise convincing validation of New Orleans’ reputation as home to some of the most talented restaurant professionals working today.
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New Orleans' Top 10 Restaurants for 2012.
"Thriving” in the Garden District, this “dynamite” venue enamors guests with its “beautiful”, “brilliant” and “seasonal” French bistro fare (including “terrific small plates”) by “innovative” “up-and-coming” chef Michael Stoltzfus; “luscious cocktails” and a “stylish” setting that’s “atmospheric in that wonderful old New Orleans way” add to the “charm”, so even if the “engaged” service “could use a tad more polish”, most feel it “does everything right.
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Thanks to demanding diners and improved suppliers, chefs are accessing better produce than ever. We see plenty of evidence of that: At the five-year-old Coquette, one of the city's new breed of modern American bistros, lusty Gulf shrimp and grits are complemented by a plate of raw and pickled vegetables arranged into a composition as colorful as a Chihuly glass sculpture...
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"Pastry Chefs Adding Luscious Layers to New Orleans Dining Experience"
"Coquette is a neighborhood place with intelligent, creative food, an inviting bar and frequent drink specials that draw on both an eclectic cocktail repertoire and a concise but captivating wine list. It sounds simple enough, yet it's difficult to think fo a local restaurant to compare it to.
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Notable New Orleans chefs share what their mothers taught them in the kitchen and beyond.
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Not only is Coquette running with the big boys, in some ways it is setting the pace. Take for instance the fact that Chef Michael Stoltzfus has melded the higher end cooking of places like Restaurant August (where he trained under John Besh) with the farmer's market driven menu of the new American Bistro.
Of all the shrimp and grits you can find in New Orleans, we love this version for its robust sauce and rotating cast of seasonal vegetables.
A masterful, provocative gumbo of oysters and innovators.
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The James Beard Foundation announced today its list of Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists for the 26th annual James Beard Foundation Awards. Selected from a list of more than 20,000 online entries, the prestigious group of semifinalists in 21 categories represents a wide range of culinary talent, from exceptional chefs and dining destinations in ten different regions across the U.S., to the nation’s top wine and spirits professionals, best new restaurants, rising star chefs, pastry chefs and bakers.
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