Bank Cafe In The Marigny - (504) 371-5260

I've eaten here twice in the past few weeks. After seeing their ad in the Gambit for quite awhile, hearing about it on Tom Fitzmorris's radio show and reading his review in City Business, I was curious enough to pay them a visit. My first visit was last Friday. As I turned the corner from Frenchman Street, we almost immediately heard the din of conversation coming from the open door. Once inside though, the expansive room had a lively atmosphere. The first thing that I noticed was the handsome wooden art deco bar. Since I've always enjoyed watching oyster shuckers work, I took a seat at the end of the bar across from the man coaking the oysters open with a small hammer. I'm glad that I did because he was full of old-time new orleans personality. We ordered a half dozen and they were very fresh. A quick inquiry informed me that they were locally procured that very evening. The appetizers all sounded so compelling that I decided to skip the entree in favor of two appetizers and a salad. I choose the short ribs, gnocchi, and a lardon salad. The gnocchi was very satisfying. It had plenty of basil, shaved parmesan, and kalamata olives mixed in. The lardon salad with quail egg sounded intriguing and didn't disappoint. Even if bacon and eggs on a salad sounds strange, let me tell you that you should try it because it worked well. The short ribs were somewhat tough in texture but good nonetheless, the sweet potato gnocchi that surrounded the ribs were so good that I had to keep my dining companion from stealing them. She had a veal cheek salad that was on special that night. I enjoyed the small amount that she allowed me to have. For dessert we decided to share a chocolate mousse which we also enjoyed battling over. This morning we went there for brunch. We split an order of steak and eggs with hollandaise sauce. My favorite thing was the complimentary fruit salad and biscuits. I'm glad that I gave it a try and we'll definitely be back.

There was nobody to seat my friend and I when we arrived so we just stood in the entrance for about 10 minutes looking at four open tables while no one even acknowledged us. After we asked the bartender where we could sit (because a waiter told us we couldn't just sit anywhere), it took fifteen minutes until a waiter came up to us and gave us a menu. The wine we ordered with our appetizer did not arrive until after the bread, which came after the appetizer. The entire TWO HOURS we were there, we only got one glass of water and one glass of wine because our waiter NEVER came to check on us. Food was good, but not great. After we asked for a dessert menu, we waited 20 minutes and it was never brought to us so we happened to "catch" our waiter and of course the check was brought to us immediately with a "Thank you for you patience" from the waiter. Needless to say, we wrote on it horrible service and will never be back again.

I have been going to this restaurant since it opened. The food is very good, the wine list is small but well thought out. Heard it re-opened post Katrina and am hoping to get down there this weekend. The atmosphere is loud but it is also full of energy. You can also have a conversation without feeling like the whole restaurant is listening in.