Restaurant Insider

Bee Sweet Cupcakes (5706 Magazine St.) has opened a second boutique bakery at 800 Metairie Road, Suite Q. The new location serves the same decadent cupcakes as the original, including the “Drew Bees,” which is a chocolate cupcake with vanilla butter cream frosting topped with M&M’s; the “Chubby Elvis,” a banana cake made with fresh bananas and topped with peanut butter frosting; and the “Roger Rabbit,” a carrot cake topped with spiced cream-cheese frosting, and dipped in gingersnap cookies. Call 891-8333 for more information.

City Diner (3116 S. I-10 Service Road E, Metairie) has been open for almost a year in a location that formerly housed a Denny’s. If that’s deterred you from trying it, you should reconsider. It’s a classic “diner” but with a surprisingly eclectic menu. In addition to serving the usual suspects on its breakfast menu (served 24/7, by the way) and the sandwiches and plate lunches you’d expect, the menu includes a strawberry spinach salad garnished with pecans; a Thai chicken sandwich served fried or grilled with a Thai-inspired glaze, ham and grilled tomatoes; and grilled tilapia stuffed with crawfish dressing and topped with a “Cajun” cream sauce. Call 831-1030 for more information. 
 
Sucré (3025 Magazine St.), the pastry, chocolate and gelato shop, has gone mobile. A candy-colored van helmed by “Captain Kate” Sonderhoff is now rolling through the city Wednesdays through Sundays in the afternoons and evenings. You can even track its location on Twitter, by following “sucregelatovan.” That’s a model that’s been demonstrably successful elsewhere, most notably in Los Angeles, where a Korean/taco truck has been incredibly popular. The truck is also available for private parties, and it serves gelato with toppings such as chocolate and caramel sauces, and whipped cream, plus iced coffee, iced tea and lemonade. Call 708-4366 for more information. 

Recently I had the opportunity to check out a few items that Chef Tenney Flynn of GW Fin’s (808 Bienville St.) is introducing to what is already the most impressive seafood menu in the city. One of the new appetizers, blue crab ravioli with fresh peas, pea shoots, and chanterelle mushrooms features a fantastic contrast: sweet crabmeat, earthy mushrooms, and slightly spicy pea shoots. Flynn serves wood-grilled pompano with a melon salsa, some plantain chips and chili oil that enhanced the sweetness of what I believe is the finest fish to come from local waters. There’s also a salad of mache with a pernod vinaigrette and a little bomb of tempura-fried Brie hidden by the greens. It was excellent, and I’d recommend it as a second course, after an appetizer, but before the entrée.  Flynn sources most of his seafood from the waters around Louisiana and Florida, but he also flies in fish and shellfish from elsewhere, such as the Coho and King salmon he imports from Alaska, the Arctic Char from Iceland, or the Butterfish from Hawaii. Call 581-3467 for more information.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail Peyton: rdpeyton@gmail.com.
 

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