See Food: Mardi Gras Themed Sprited Dinner With Bar DeVille And Henri

By Paul Leddy in Best Of on Feb 15, 2013 8:00PM

$The Bourbon Street version of the Hand Grenade cocktail is a secret concoction of rum, vodka, gin, grain alcohol, and Midori. Bolt made his with Cana Brava Rum, Ford\'s Gin, Green Chartreuse, Homemade Melon Liqueur, and Pineapple. This was served in a special cup made just for the evening.$

Served with the Hand Grenade was the first course of Redfish Nilgiri (Dirty Rice, Hushpuppy, and Lemon Marmalade).

$The Scarlett O\'Hara cocktail on Bourbon Street contains Southern Comfort, Lime and Cranberry juice. This cocktail was made more \"adult\" with a canned-peach infused bourbon, Todd Appel\'s Cranberry Cordial, Campari, and Lime.$ $Second Course was a riff on the Po\'Boy: Sourdough, Boudin, Pecan Veloute, and Smoked Oyster Vinaigrette.$

The classic Hurricane cocktail made with Cana Brava Rum, Matusalem Rum, passion fruit, blood orange, and lime.

Third course was an updated Crawfish Boil: Corn and Crawfish Tortellini, Andouille, Citrus, and Old Bay.

The Vieux Carre cocktail (Bulleit Rye, Carpano Antica, Armagnac, Benedictine) is finished before being served with the 4th course.

The elements of the cocktail were included in the accompanying course of Vieux Carre Pork and Grits (pork, cheddar grits, and tomato jam).

Frozen Coffee (Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Black Coffee) accompanied the dessert course.

The traditional New Orleans King Cake was served to guests.

$Traditionally, whoever finds the baby in the cake is to be \"king\" for the day and be expected to get the cake next year. For the person who found the baby at the Sprited Dinner, they received a free ticket to the next dinner.$

The staffs from Bar DeVille, Henri, and Gage are hard at work getting drinks out for the 60+ guests.

On Tuesday, February 12, Henri restaurant hosted their second "Sprited Dinner" with the staff of Bar DeVille. Since the dinner was being held on Fat Tuesday, the evening was a New Orleans' themed Mardi Gras celebration. Brad Bolt, head bartender from Bar DeVille, decided to embrace the "bad" drinks of Bourbon Street and make them a bit more refined.

Although Chef Chris Gawrowski was away, Peter Coenen (Chef de Cusine at Gage) and Kris DeLee (Sous Chef at Henri) riffed on classic New Orleans food. Descriptions for the cocktails and food accompany the pictures from the dinner.

There is one more dinner left in the series. Carriage House will take over the spot on March 13 when Cognac-based cocktails will be paired with their southern cuisine. Tickets are still available for the dinner. Call 312-578-0763 to make reservations.

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