OTIS & HENRY’S AT ISLE OF CAPRI

One morning recently, I woke up to a message from my brother Marco telling me I needed to go check out a young chef at Otis & Henry’s named Roman Seigel that he had worked with during his time at Coushatta Casino.

Marco is like me in that he isn’t prone to praise someone for his food if the praise isn’t warranted. He spoke very highly of Seigel, so Chelsea and I decided to have our date night there.

I must be honest — since Marco left the Isle, I haven’t been back. I don’t gamble, and since there isn’t a huge food selection there, I just never saw a reason to make it back. I always thought Otis & Henry’s was a nice-looking restaurant, but I just found its location inside the casino to be strange.

But location doesn’t affect the quality of food.

Chelsea and I started with a white bean and chorizo soup. If you know anything about me, you know I feel you can’t go wrong if there’s chorizo involved. This soup didn’t change my feeling.

The soup had a chili flavor to it. We both thought this was an excellent spin on a hearty chili. It was one of those soups that warmed the body. I said it would have been great with some corn chips, but I’m sure not all the guests would have agreed.

We ordered the Redfish Opelousas, which is one of O&H’s signature dishes. We had the snapper blackened. It came topped with a seafood cream sauce, and sat atop a very fresh- tasting garlic mashed potato with a sautéed bok choy (Chinese cabbage), a favorite of mine.

The snapper was cooked perfectly, and had the exact amount of seasoning that it needed. The cream sauce was very nice, but I would have liked to see a bit more of the seafood that made up the sauce. The flavor was a nice complement to the fish, though.

When I make my garlic mash, I run my potatoes through a food mill that takes out all the lumps. But that’s just the way I like mine. These at Otis & Henry’s were more like natural whipped potatoes. But the pieces of potato were so tender that the dish was just fine. Also, you can’t go wrong with Yukon gold potatoes.

We also ordered the double-cut, bone-in pork chop that comes with caramelized onions and a pork demi sauce. Every time I’ve ordered a double cut pork chop, it’s always ended up being a bit dry, as the cook time is a little longer because of the size of the chop. But Seigel and his staff cooked it to perfection; each bite was more enjoyable than the previous one.

I’ve had some very bad mac and cheese. Either it was under-cooked or the cheese combination wasn’t the right choice.

This mac had that nice browned crust on top that’s a personal favorite. In fact, I’m addicted to cheese, and the more so browned cheese. And there was no rocket science involved in this dish — it was simply a great mac and cheese.

Seigel said he wanted me to try a few dishes that weren’t on the menu, but were items Otis & Henry were doing as specials or for events, and you know me — I’m down for trying new items.

One of the specials for the evening was diver scallops that were seared and topped with a corn and black bean mixture that sat on a house-made aioli and a celery root puree. This dish was light and very full of flavors. In my opinion, it should be on their menu full-time.

Next, we were served foie gras. It’s strange that in the last two places I’ve eaten, we’ve tried foie gras prepared three different ways. It was never an item I really enjoyed; my palate for it is very limited. I in no way could explain the proper way to use or prepare it. But what I can say about this dish was that it was amazing, and I would eat this any time Seigel or his staff prepared it.

The follow-up was a braised short rib that sat atop red cabbage and carrot slaw with a ginger sauce that was screaming with flavor and the rib was so tender I could have cut it with my spoon. This kind of talent doesn’t belong to every chef out there. It’s wonderful seeing it come from such a young chef, as Seigel is only 27.

The meal ended with a bread pudding. And I’ve said 100 times that the title of best bread pudding belonged to Sha Sha’s. I wasn’t a fan of anything on the menu other that the bread pudding, but I would make a special trip there just for it.

Seigel uses croissants that make the dish very light in its texture. A lot of people use entirely too much cream when they make it. I find it to be soggy when it it’s done that way; that’s a texture I’m not fond of in bread pudding. But there were no problems of that sort with the Otis & Henry’s bread pudding. It was a great finisher to a great meal.

What I really liked about Seigel was that he was a hometown boy from Oberlin. He said he got his start in cooking while he was in 4-H. I believe he’s the first chef I’ve heard say that.

He brings a maturity to his cooking for someone who’s still very young; that means he’s still developing every day. I’m very excited to see what the future holds for this young man.

One thing that impressed me about him was that he wasn’t one of those cocky chefs who thinks the food all revolves around him. He made a point of letting me know that his sous-chef Matthew Kaub was his right hand man, and that their creativity together is what was making the dishes so spectacular.

Kaub is also a home-grown product. He went off to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in New York for his formal training. He moved around a bit before coming home to share his craft.

Seigel stated that his and Matthew’s connection was so in touch that it seemed they knew what the other was thinking with regards to their dishes. The GM of O&H, Matthew Savoie,  said he made it a priority to bring Kaub on as the sous-chef in order to complete the team. The sky is the limit with these two, and you should come see what they’re doing.

On a side note, I don’t think the management of the Isle of Capri could find a better GM for this restaurant. Savoie makes the magic happen on the floor, while Seigel and his crew make it in the back of the house.

Savoie was so engaging with the guests that everyone was smiling when he left their tables. He spoke with us at length about some plans the casino has with regards to having a more upscale restaurant on the second level with a view of downtown Lake Charles and Shell Beach Drive. I think this would be an amazing view. Other than the Country Club at the Golden Nugget,  all the casino restaurants have views of the refineries.

Otis and Henry’s has a very good team in place. Now that I know there are such exciting new things going on there, I’ll make that five-minute drive from my house more often.

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My list of SWLA’s Top 10 Burgers was completed the other day when the judges and I tried a burger from a place we’d never reviewed. The restaurant debuted a new menu last month; its burger was shown on Facebook, and I felt we needed to give it a shot.

This is the one and only update, and next time, we talk burgers. I’ll feature the Top 3 in order and crown the champ. Here are the top finishers:

• Nina P’s

• Big Daddy’s

• Walk-On’s

• The Country Club @ Golden Nugget

• Loggerheads

• Calla

• Cotten’s Downtown

• Jack Daniel’s @ L’Auberge

• Prime Cuttery

• Dairy Barn.