For those of us who delight in the New Orleans fine dining experience, one particular problem always seems to rear its head when an inspired kitchen team is firing on all cylinders and turning out a menu overstuffed with outstanding, “not-to-be-missed” dishes: option paralysis. You could keep going back to the same restaurant until you’ve sampled everything their menu has to offer; a difficult and expensive challenge even for the most steadfast gourmand. Alternatively, you could just leave your dining decisions completely up to the chef, in what’s commonly known as a “tasting menu” experience.
If you’re looking for the latter in New Orleans, you’re in luck. This past year, lauded local chef and restaurateur Michael Stoltzfus decided to take the idea behind his popular tasting menu at Coquette and center an entire restaurant around it. The result is Wild South, which features a fixed, six-course menu cultivated by executive chef Bret Macris, served in the same cozy spot in the Lower Garden District that formerly housed Stoltzfus-backed concepts Thalia and Lengua Madre. Creating a constantly evolving, fixed menu restaurant was a gamble for Stoltzfus, but that was a bet he was willing to make.
“The original idea for this space, before COVID, was going to be a tasting menu,” said Stoltzfus. “We realized that the tasting menu at Coquette had been great. It was just kind of a fun way to experiment with the things that we were excited about to give our guests. When it started, we had friends come in, and we were like, ‘We’ll just cook for you!’ And it kept happening. It was never fleshed out as much as I would have liked, given that we were a 120-seat restaurant with a large á la carte offering. But over the last couple of years, seeing places like Lengua Madre or Mosquito or Dakar or St. Germain suddenly start developing small spaces for specific tastings or very specific experiences, I felt like our tasting could stand on its own in that same way, and evolve.”
In order to continue Coquette’s success without overextending himself, Stoltzfus decided to bestow executive chef duties at Wild South to Bret Macris, who had most recently been the chef de cuisine at Cochon. Macris jumped at the chance to stretch his creative legs and explore new exciting challenges. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have the control I have,” he said. “Because I love doing tasting menus. I really hadn’t had a place to do that in a minute except for New Year’s Eve at Cochon. So I always wanted to do that format, and let the food and the courses flow organically.”
That organic, free-wheeling menu evolution naturally means that you never know exactly what might be in store for you during an evening at Wild South, other than a delightful showcase of local, seasonal ingredients. But suffice it to say, so long as you have a healthy appetite and an open mind, your trust in Stoltzfus and Macris will pay off in spades.
A recent visit there started out with a wedge of Covey Rise watermelon topped with lime vinaigrette and Creole cream cheese, a slice of spear-caught cobia lightly cured in Magnolia gin atop a shiso leaf and a peach mignonette, and a delicately shaved, aged Mississippi country ham piled atop a cylinder of fresh cantaloupe. It was an impressive opening salvo perfectly executed to rev up the appetite for the courses to follow.
Next came an umami explosion in the form of a chanterelle mushroom tart resting on a sweet corn custard and topped with a poached quail egg, followed by a plate of blistered shishito peppers featuring “Cajun furikake,” as well as a black garlic emulsion and speckled trout bottarga cured in-house and shaved tableside. Then came seared yellowfin tuna with Higgins crabmeat and tomato salad, a pitch-perfect taste of summer, bested only by the coup de grâce, a gorgeously lacquered cube of braised beef belly served with a hibiscus emulsion, roasted figs and a fermented corn hush puppy.
A surprise lagniappe dish of grilled chanterelles and braised, cold-smoked short rib and charred eggplant purée also made a welcome appearance before the dessert course, an elegant riff on Southern icebox cake with whipped cream cheese and a blueberry sauce. Putting a fine point at the end of the evening was a perfect pairing of local coffee, amaro, candied ginger and a curated selection of chocolates from Piety & Desire.
The entire experience at Wild South delivers on every possible level. In less capable hands, perhaps the menu might result in a few uneven hits and misses, but every dish here is conceived and executed with a level of detail and sophistication rivaling the best this city has to offer. And since you don’t have to worry about making critical fine dining decisions, you’re refreshingly freed up to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Which is entirely the point. “You don’t have to pick anything, and you don’t have to choose. We’ve done it for you,” Macris said. “And that’s the beauty of it, especially if you’re on a date, or if you just had a really long day at work and you’re like, ‘I just want to go have a nice meal.’ You don’t have to think about it. We hope that you love the food, and we hope that we become friends with you. That’s what we hope with every diner.”
About the Chef (Left)
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chef Bret Macris worked at LA’s Campanile before crossing the country to cook in New York City, where he continued to hone his modern fine dining skills at Rosewater, a romantic spot cherished by Brooklyn locals (including this writer) in the late 2000s. After moving to New Orleans with his wife, a fellow chef, Macris found himself at Donald Link’s Cochon Butcher before eventually becoming the chef de cuisine at Cochon. Looking for a change and the freedom to challenge himself creatively, Macris joined Chef Michael Stolzfus as the executive chef at Wild South earlier this year. More than anything, Macris is not just invested in his role at the new restaurant, but also in his adopted hometown. “I love cooking for the people that come in every night,” he said. “And I love New Orleans. There’s really no other city like it in the world.”
About the Owner (Right)
Michael Stolzfus has garnered a stellar reputation as one of the top fine dining chefs in the Crescent City. A Maryland native, Stoltzfus swiftly rose up the ranks at Restaurant August before opening Coquette in 2008 and has been delighting New Orleans diners ever since. His recent projects have included refreshing the menu at the Columns hotel, as well as backing local favorite Thalia and Ana Castro’s brilliant Lengua Madre. In early 2024, Stoltzfus decided to branch out in concept from his Garden District flagship by opening Wild South, which, like all of his projects, has been garnering consistent raves among both natives and visiting diners. “I feel like one of the things that I really love about Wild South is the people that do come in are truly excited and invested in the experience,” he says. “Those guests are almost always consistently fantastic. And we have a great time with them!”
