✭✭✭
Review: French Quarter Bar and Grill in Pompano Beach
By Judith Stocks, Dining Correspondent
Important: This article was last updated on April 29, 2010. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
 |
 2341 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach 954-781-5222 thefrenchquarterbarandgrill.com Cuisine: American Cost: inexpensive Hours: lunch, dinner daily Reservations: not necessary Credit cards: all major Bar: full service Sound level: noisy, including live music; table conversation tough Outside smoking: yes For kids: high chairs, boosters, menu Wheelchair accessible: yes  |
|
First impression: This New Orleans restaurant features that great French Quarter libation, Hurricanes, made with Pat O'Brien's mix, and New Orleans style beer to wash down Crescent City classics.Ambience: Table conversation is tough when you're competing with blaring flat screens and a lively bar crowd. Dark wood booths and high-top tables give the place a comfortable barroom quality. Those eating on the covered patio can enjoy the convenience of an outside bar along with the open air.
Starters: Onion rings ($6.99 for a heaping platter) are served with house Bistro sauce that's much like remoulade. Black and blue oysters lightly speckled with Cajun seasoning and blue cheese ($9.95) deliver a mellow blue that doesn't overpower the perfectly grilled oysters. A dark roux forms the base for rich shrimp and crabmeat gumbo ($4.50/$5.99).
Entree excellence: Thumbs up to the agreeably salty muffuletta sandwich, an open-wide enormous endeavor even if you order the half sandwich at $9.95. A whole one is $18.95. That muffuletta comes with a Food Network pedigree: Mike Serio, of Serio's deli in New Orleans, defeated Bobby Flay in a throwdown and shared the secret of his winner with the French Quarter. But, don't ask because they're not telling. The crawfish etouffee ($14.95) is lavished in good Cajun gravy while the jambalaya ($14.95) is drier than most but has good flavor from rice cooked with sausage, chicken, peppers, onions, celery and rice. A long length of horizontally split grilled smoked sausage brings snap to the mixed Cajun grill ($18.95), with nicely cooked blackened chicken and shrimp, though the blackening is barely what the name implies. We were happier with the more authentic red beans and rice dotted with smoked sausage and a side of cornbread ($9.95).
Sides: Kudos to house-made sides of sweet moist corn bread ($2.95), fresh, crisp coleslaw ($2.75) and mildly sweet Southern red skin potato salad ($2.75).
Sweet!: A slice of carrot cake is a triumphant not-overly-sweet effort and better than most. Carrots and coconut add texture to this inches-high cake glazed with brown sugar and slathered in a cool drift of cream cheese frosting. I'd pause before ordering the uneventful bread pudding again. The not sappy sweet pecan pie would be good if it didn't taste of the refrigerator. Most desserts are $5.50.
Service: Servers should be more savvy about menu references relating to Louisiana. The restaurant wasn't busy on our visit, but we spent the night trying to track down our server.
Dining deal: Kids eat free on Tuesdays with the purchase of an adult entree.
Contact dining correspondent Judith Stocks at judithstocksreviews@yahoo.com