Costera made this as clear as the sear of the plancha.
The redfish was cooked skin-on, but by the time it reached us, that skin had been rendered into a marvelously crusty, buttery, softly smoky cap over the juicy fish within.
This was the signature of the plancha, the ultra-hot flattop griddle in the kitchen at Costera, and at that moment, it felt like the only thing hot enough to cut through a thick New Orleans summer night.
This particular night was especially heavy. A few hours earlier, we learned that Jazz Fest was canceled, an exclamation point on the painfully obvious fact that we will be slogging through the pandemic for quite some time.
But we had a date night penciled in, we kept it, and got a needed reminder of what New Orleans restaurants continue to give us even in these tense times.
We went to Costera, the Uptown Spanish restaurant, because it always reminds us of happier times, when we traveled to Spain.
Share the garlicky shrimp, try the crudo, pluck on a plate of olives or jamon while looking over the deep wine list and you get a taste of what Costera does. And get anything cooked on that plancha.
The meal we had proved to be a miniature staycation for our duration of dinner. It was also a fresh endorsement of how much we get from a dining scene, and the good feelings that good places like this cultivate, and how lucky we are in New Orleans to have such a diversity of distinctive independent restaurants.
One couple nearby was celebrating their engagement, showing off the ring to the bartender as if to an old family friend. Another regular insisted on sharing a glass of his favorite wine with a stranger.
Our restaurants are required to take more safety protocols now as the delta variant rages, which predictably makes them again a focal point for pandemic angst, mostly poured into social media feeds. But go, actually visit and take part in what they do and bring your own good cheer, and you connect again to all the pleasure, rejuvenation and gratification we derive from having a robust restaurant culture.
