Tujague’s: New Orleans Essential
by Andrew Chalk
There are few restaurants that exude so ostentatiously that they are of New Orleans than Tujague’s. Founded a mere 170 years ago, when Franklin Pierce ceded the Presidency to James Buchanan in the United States, Queen Victoria sat upon the throne in England, and Nikola Tesla was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The menu embraces the creole cuisine that shaped it and which it, in turn, shaped. At a recent media event we were treated to some of the all-time favorites during a visit to Crescent City. Suffice is to say that this repository of traditional recipes is in fine shape and looks set to continue for another 170 years.
Our waiter, Victor Dinh, served not in cajun, but in baritone. I envisaged him as a chairman at a Toastmaster’s confab. He was, incidentally, also a partner in a company for meeting planners, such is the laissez-faire MO in The Big Easy.
After the obligatory Sazerac (very pink here) we started the meal quite conventionally with Watermelon Salad ($14). It was built from mixed greens, spicy pecans, strawberries, shaved Vidalia onions, gruyère cheese, sugarcane and mustard vinaigrette. It whet our appetites perfectly for the meal ahead. Alongside was a plate of Boudin Balls ($14) with pepper jelly aioli. Umami and fire, just right.
This was the step into creole and the Table d’Hôte (an alternative term for prix fixe). Here it is a four-course meal priced at $32, plus the price of your entrée. Up came a Demi Shrimp Remoulade in which the shrimp bathed in the richness of the sauce and light, almost fluffy, grits melted alongside them in the mouth. Then, a Gumbo du Jour, emphasizing that gumbo was a product of what was good for that day’s cooking. A brisket appetizer.
Then our entrée of the most legendary of the dishes on Tujague’s menu. Chicken Bonne Femme ($28). It started as an off-menu special by Madame Clemence Castet (in 1914, according to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans which tragically closed for good earlier this month) the restaurant’s third proprietor. It is crispy, garlicky, fried chicken surrounded by thinly-sliced potatoes fried in the same oil as the chicken and doused generously with parsley. You may need to take some of this home, in which case it is great on the second day as well.
You could add on lump crab meat ($18), sauteed gulf shrimp ($12), or fried oysters ($14) but that might be gilding the lilly.
Finally, dessert of satisfying bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream, or crême brûlée.
One thing I appreciated was a wine list populated by a large number of half-bottles. These essentially stretch the number of wines available to the single drinker. If you prefer a cocktail the famous Grasshopper ($13), a cream and crême de menthe preparation created by Tujague’s Philip Guichet in 1918, is available in a demi size for just $1.70 during this anniversary year.
Can’t make dinner? During this anniversary year Tujague’s is also offering an 1836 two-course brunch special at $18.56 (get it) Friday through Sunday during brunch service. Diners can expect dishes such as BBQ Shrimp & Grits, Roast Beef Debris Poboy, and a Muffaletta Chopped Salad.
Tujague’s is justly proud to be 170 (who wouldn't be) so, with such a phenomenon as New Orleans right on our doorstep, now is a very good time for Dallasites to get there!
Tujague’s-specific recipe (from chatGPT), rather than the many unrelated French versions of Chicken Bonne Femme. Tujague’s version is remarkably simple: fried chicken, thin fried potatoes, and a garlic-parsley persillade. Tujague’s current menu describes the dish as “1/2 chicken, fried potatoes, persillade,” and an older recipe attributed to Tujague’s gives the preparation.
Tujague’s Chicken Bonne Femme
Serves 2–4
Ingredients
½ chicken, cut into pieces — or about 2–2½ lb chicken pieces
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Vegetable oil, enough for frying
2–3 large potatoes, sliced very thinly
4–6 cloves fresh garlic
¼ cup fresh parsley
Salt, to taste
Method
Season the chicken.
Season the chicken pieces generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Fry the chicken.
Heat enough vegetable oil in a large, preferably cast-iron skillet to cover the chicken. Fry the chicken until deeply golden and cooked through, turning once. The original Tujague's recipe specifically notes that starting skin-side up produces a crispier result.
Fry the potatoes.
Remove the chicken and keep it warm. Add the thinly sliced potatoes to the same hot oil. Fry until crisp and golden, essentially making very thin homemade potato chips. This is an important characteristic of the Tujague's version.
Make the persillade.
Finely chop the fresh garlic and parsley together until almost paste-like. This is the persillade. Tujague's uses it very generously.
Assemble.
Arrange the fried potatoes on a platter, put the chicken on top, and generously scatter/spread the garlic-parsley mixture over everything.
Serve immediately.
The contrast between the crisp chicken, crunchy potatoes and raw, intensely garlicky parsley mixture is the point of the dish.
The important thing about the Tujague's recipe
Don't turn this into a conventional poulet bonne femme with bacon, onions, mushrooms, white wine and a sauce. Those ingredients appear in other versions of the French dish, but they're not what makes Tujague's Chicken Bonne Femme distinctive.
Tujague's own description is essentially chicken + fried potatoes + persillade. A former Tujague's account likewise describes it as individually pan-fried chicken with generous garlic, parsley and “cottage fried potatoes,” emphasizing that the dish should be kept simple.
For an especially authentic result: make the potatoes very thin, get the chicken skin exceptionally crisp, and do not skimp on the garlic. Tom Fitzmorris called the garlic the standout flavor of Tujague's version.
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