Sink your teeth into Chef John’s new menu items

You know that thing we like to say around here?

Good. Real Good.

That’s an easy way to describe one of our latest menu items, chicken and parmesan dumplings. It’s a tasty play on a soothing favorite that defined so many of our childhoods.

“My grandmother’s chicken and dumplings was one of my all-time favorite family dishes,” says Bistro Chef John Lundin, who came up with the new dish. “I liked it for the Bistro menu because it’s relatable and approachable, but also works well with a different twist.”

The base of the dish is as belly-warming as you remember, with tender baked chicken torn into pieces and combined with sautéed aromatic vegetables and sauce velouté. But John takes the dumplings in a different direction. He adds grated parmesan to homemade biscuit dough, cuts the dough into strips and poaches them. Then he sets the dumplings aside until you place your order. That’s when he drops them into the fryer until they’re golden and crisp. Perched on top of the steaming, creamy chicken mixture, the savory dumplings form a delectable crust.

Like the rest of our menu, the dish strikes an interesting balance between cozy and sophisticated.

“That’s our sweet spot,” says John. “We’re always looking for ways to reinterpret classic cuisine.”

John’s talent with homemade biscuit dough extends to our expanded brunch line-up as well. His crazy-good Poché Etouffée is an open-faced biscuit topped with crabmeat, a deep-fried poached egg, our signature crawfish etouffée and a finish of Hollandaise.

“You’ve got all these great flavors -- the runny egg yolk, the etouffée and the Hollandaise, mingling and soaking into that fresh biscuit,” says John. “That’s the kind of weekend decadence everybody needs.”