In the words of New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes, “Wine I can drink in New York. I cannot get food like Cuvée’s.” Well spoken, considering the New Orleans restaurant known for its wines that he was referring to.
From the moment you walk in the door of the elegant Cuvée on Magazine Street until you feast on the last morsel of ethereal dessert, a sense of magnificence washes over you like a river of luxury. You have dined in style, and you will sleep well. Fois gras as smooth as whipped butter paired with fruit marinated in champagne, chardonnay-fennel braised lamb shank served with grapes and olives, Steen’s cured smoked duck breast with a walnut-bleu risotto, and mustard-herb crusted salmon with lump-crabmeat-brie orzo will give you the overwhelming inclination to go into the kitchen and hug the chef.
Robert Iacovone is the executive chef of this award-winning haven. He has a passion for things like goat cheese, a zesty meat sauce he calls Sweet Heat, dew-fresh fish, and fine wines. He is also one of the select group of American chefs with impressive credentials in the field of oenology, having earned a first-level certificate from the Court of Sommeliers in London.
Iacovone has teamed up with the chef and co-owner of Cuvée’s equally elegant sister restaurant in Covington, The Dakota, to jazz up the catering scene on both the north and south shores. Executive chef and co-owner of the Dakota, Kim Kringle brings a string of culinary accomplishments including being named “Best Chef” by New Orleans Magazine. He met Cuvée’s proprietor, Kenneth LaCour, years ago while working as the executive chef at Juban’s restaurant in Baton Rouge. Like Iacovone, LaCour also holds a first-level certificate from the Court of Sommeliers in London, and he is an award-winning pastry chef.
Dakota-Cuvée Events is their formidable catering company that has clients such as Exxon-Mobil, the Discovery Channel Network, Bell South, CBS Sports, Country Living magazine, Abbott Laboratories, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Board of Trade, Northwest Cardiovascular Clinic, Courtyard by Marriott, Robert Mondavi Winery, the Ritz Carlton New Orleans, Tulane University, the Whitney Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Money Hill Country Club in addition to numerous individuals including a passel of doctors and judges, and the Carnival krewes of Babylon, Eve, Juno, Olympia, and the big daddy of them all, Orpheus.
“It’s a fusion of the two restaurants,” explains Bridgette Miramon, director of sales. “We took the best things from both to create an event company. We do everything on a personalized basis to uphold the five-star status in fine dining, from wedding receptions and home dinners to corporate events. It is very personalized, and very high-end. We take care of all the rentals, decorations, the entertainment, the invitations, and transportation in addition to the food.”
Do you feel like having a simple seated dinner for 50? Let them do the work while you feast on passed hors d’oeuvres such as crisp wonton cups filled with chevre mousse, sweet peppers, and pine nuts, then enjoy crabmeat and brie soup followed by a pepper-seared filet mignon on an herbal potato cake accompanied by grilled lobster tail in Worcestershire pepper cream, ending with coconut cake with a fresh flower crown.
Or perhaps it will be a wedding reception for 100, and you will nibble at foie gras mousse, candied macadamia, and strawberries in spoons, plus oyster cocktail shooters, and duck confit paninis. At the grazing table you will possibly find oysters Rockefeller in mushrooms, and if you stroll to the cheese station you can pick up a little demitasse of crabmeat and brie soup while pondering the fondue of cheeses finished with truffle oil. Seafood and meat stations may include spiced crabmeat remoulade, lobster risotto, Gulf garlic shrimp with stone-ground cheese grits, and Tuscan-style beef tenderloin.
At a passed New Orleans hors d’oeuvres party for around 300 guests you may find miniature buster crab po-boys, Natchitoches meat pies with tomato-garlic confit dipping sauce, cochon du lait hush puppies with Steen’s fig glaze, miniature New Orleans muffalettas, miniature crab cakes topped with jalapeno aioli, and shrimp remoulade. Cold offerings to be enjoyed could be fresh-shucked Gulf oysters with spicy bloody Mary, blackened redfish on toast points with white truffle-chive aioli, and spiced creamed potatoes with crawfish-corn relish. Passed desserts to dazzle the senses could include miniature bags of beignets and powered sugar, New Orleans buttermilk-pecan pralines, bananas Foster tarts, and Grand Marnier chocolate lollypops.
Whether you are hosting an intimate dinner party for a few close friends, planning a wedding, setting the date for a special brunch buffet, orchestrating a corporate lunch, entertaining out of town guests, or throwing a big fundraiser, Dakota-Cuvée Events is the surest path to perfection. And the wait staff is very professional. On the northshore in Covington, call (985) 892-3712, and on the southshore call (504) 587-9001. It will take all the hassle out of the event you are planning, and you can completely rely on it being done right, and in a five-star dining manner.
