Brigtsen’s was last written up here in 2017, but not much has changed here.  The small old home is quite a ways from the Quarter and it’s many rooms are filled with dining tables and happy people.  Chef Frank Brigtsen is still running the kitchen and his wife Marna manages the floor.  Frank apprenticed at Commander’s Palace and then worked under Chef Paul Prudhomme, who helped the couple open this place in 1986. He has since won numerous awards for his cooking.  The super friendly and efficient staff were all wearing buttons saying “I’m vaxed to the max.”  The polished bare wood tables no longer have cloths but white cloth napkins are still on the table.  Music is in the background, art is on the walls and a bottle of cold water is set on each table.

Set Up

 

Food

Bread service is in extra $2.50 and we had it.  It was a 10″ Leidenheimer French Bread loaf and whipped butter.  It was a nice warmed loaf of traditional light New Orleans bread with a thin crispy crust and light soft interior.  It was good with the butter or for getting up the last bits of sauce on the plate.

 

Veal sweetbreads with mushrooms, capers and lemon roasted garlic butter was our first plate.  The tender organ meats were lightly fried and presented in a rich sauce with strong overtones of mustard/capers.  It all blended very well and the thick mushroom slices added just the right touch to this excellent dish.

 

Roast Duck a l’ Orange was plated with dirty rice and a vegetable medley.  Some of the duck organs were used to flavor the wonderful dirty rice.  The lovely orange sauce was perfect with the massive roll of boneless duck meat.  The fat had been almost completely rendered to leave a perfectly crisp and tasty skin around the moist meat.  It was very good and a really generous portion.  The vegetables were cooked with some sauce and added nice texture to the plate.  This was a good plate of food.

 

Pecan Pie with caramel sauce and whipped cream is where the chef really shines.  The delicate crisp crust is sitting in a round of delicious caramel and the pie’s interior is filled with toasted pecans in a rich sticky filling.  The whipped cream could be forgotten for me, it’s the pie and caramel that make this dish the winner it is.  Some of the other dishes didn’t seem to have the luster they’ve had in the past, still good just not over the top.  This pie still has it though, it is terrific.  Yum x3.