Nottoway’s upscale restaurant open in basement

Nottoway Plantation’s post-Gustav renovations gave Australian owner Paul Ramsey the chance to turn the antebellum home’s basement, once a bowling alley, into an upscale restaurant. Taking a slow, methodical approach to opening, Ramsey’s Fine Dining has hired Chef David Reyes of Chicago, who earned his chops at tourist resorts in Mexico; they brought in a grand piano in the lounge area and 120 dining seats, and are now serving breakfast, lunch and supper. “We’re trying to not unveil too quickly. We still have art work to hang, still redesigning the lounge and upgrading the wine list,” says Christopher Alexander, director of dining services. “We’re daily giving birth, and we think we’re going to do some good stuff.”

Though Reyes has embraced South Louisiana-style cuisine, using classics such as blackened alligator, Gulf shrimp pasta and crawfish bisque, he has also brought an edgy twist to plantation cuisine. Items such as okra cakes, grilled Pacific octopus with spicy citrus vinaigrette over fregula, lacquered veal with hazelnut and cilantro, and grilled fish in a coffee vinaigrette with pear.

Nottoway’s banquet hall, Randolph Hall (named after the family who built the home in the mid-19th century) remains open for weddings and holiday parties. Just a 25-minute drive from downtown Baton Rouge, Ramsey’s is open on the ground floor of the main building for breakfast every day from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; for lunch everyday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and for dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Call (225) 545-2730 for reservations.