Eliza Restaurant & Bar rolls out its fourth annual Reveillon menu nightly, Dec. 5-31. The multi-choice lineup of lavish holiday dishes is prepared in honor of a centuries-old Louisiana tradition.
Reveillon is French for awakening, and it refers to the large and detailed dinners many Louisiana families of French descent served after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The tradition, most robust in New Orleans, died out around World War II, but was brought back in the 1990s by enterprising Crescent City fine dining operators who saw it as a way to increase business during a normally slow period for restaurants. Numerous New Orleans eateries have since adopted it, including Brennan’s, Tujague’s and Café Degas.
But no need to traverse I-10 to experience the meal. Reservations for the Eliza dinners are recommended. elizabatonrouge.com
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This year’s menu
Eliza chef-owner Russell Davis’ Reveillon three-course meal features:
• Appetizer: Turtle soup au sherry or local lettuces with bacon lardon, pickled shallot, poached farm egg and sherry vinaigrette
• Entree: Gulf crabmeat-stuffed flounder with Champagne beurre blanc and sauteed spinach or grilled veal chop with port demi glace, creamy mashed potatoes and oven-dried hot house tomatoes
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• Dessert: Peppermint panna cotta with dark chocolate and crushed candy canes or flourless chocolate cake with satsuma sauce and chantilly cream
This article was originally published in the December 2022 issue of 225 magazine.