Willa Jean
Intelligentsia Coffee
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
Biscuit + Butter + Jam
Biscuit + Fried Chicken + Tobasco Honey
Griddled Pumpkin Bread + Whipped Cranberry Spread
Willa Jean Cornbread + Poirier’s Can Syrup
Butterscotch Apple Poptart
Praline Brownie
Willa Jean Chocolate Chip Cookie / Oatmeal Cookie + Dried Fruit + Sea Salt
Sticky Bun
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Another piece of the John Besh Empire, my 2010 meal at Luke still memorable to this day despite dinner at Restaurant August proving to be a big let-down, Willa Jean seemed to be a perfect place for early Saturday breakfast before driving family to the airport, though just short of making a scene the service was so lackadaisical and involved with “team meetings” that a simple order of Pastries, Coffee and two Biscuits threatened to make them late.
Located on O’Keefe Avenue in the business district, not exactly a hopping area at 7:15am on a weekend, Willa Jean sees Besh collaborating with Chefs Kelly Fields and Lisa White to bring a quick-casual all-day eatery to downtown New Orleans, a grab n’ go counter up front for those in a hurry while plenty of seating is offered amidst floor-to-ceiling windows in a vast space that would also seem to be prime for expedited eating.
Arriving just past opening, the counter well stocked and a few folks already present and seated at tables, it was with pleasant greetings at the hostess stand that the morning got off to a good beginning, our trio led to a reclaimed wood table where menus were presented – the server inexplicably disappearing for nearly fifteen minutes after water and Coffee were poured, Intelligentia always a favorite…though less so the difficulty with obtaining refills.
Excusing the delay with a “team meeting,” generally the sort of thing a restaurant does before unlocking the door, it was with ten items ordered and a specific mention that we’d like to be on our way by 8:30 that a mug of Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate was delivered, the creamy concoction delicious but not enough to make one wonder why nothing had arrived with Coffee cups again empty as minute hand crossed fifty-five past seven o’clock.
Stating that he’d understood “as items are ready” to mean the table wanted everything at once, as soon as the four hot items were prepped in the kitchen, it was just past 8:00am that a glut of food arrived, the Biscuits setting a high standard unrivaled by any other in The Crescent City, each laminated layer loaded with Butter and incredibly flaky while the large Chicken Breast was juicy and rife with spices brought across by the house-blended Honey.
Continuing to sample the hot items, Griddled Pumpkin Bread moist and dense whether alone or topped in sweetened Cream Cheese Mousse, Willa Jean’s Cornbread may just be the best in the industry as it is lacquered in Poirier’s Cane Syrup with more on the side with Butter for spreading, each bite toothsome and boldly flavored with incompletely pureed Kernels adding naturally sweet pockets to the mix.
Blasé about the Butterscotch Apple Poptart, the Fruit filling tasty while the shell itself lacks any real character, a tightly coiled Sticky Bun quickly saw the team back on good footing with rich spice notes but not *too much* Sugar, the excessive sweetness instead saved for a duo of Cookies that achieved well otherwise with Salted Oatmeal and mixed Fruits certainly offering an upgrade on plain ol’ Oatmeal Raisin.
Unlikely to finish such a spread even with plenty of time, and certainly not when in a hurry, the excess of several items were packed to go after a few bites of the Fudgey Praline Brownie, a slice of Chocolate Pecan Pie not subjected to such treatment as the top-to-bottom filling of candied nuts suspended in Cocoa, Cream, Sugar and Butter atop a robust Crust compelled bite-after-bite until the plate was empty.
www.willajean.com
