The Room
Restaurant R'evolution opened in 2012 as the first joint venture of John Folse — the Louisiana native who built much of the contemporary case for what Cajun cuisine could be — and Rick Tramonto, the James Beard winner whose Chicago career (Tru, Avenues) defined fine dining for a generation in the Midwest. The two chefs deepened their bond in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when Folse asked Tramonto to join the relief kitchens that fed survivors and rescuers across the region; the restaurant is the long-term answer to the friendship.
The room sits inside the Royal Sonesta on Bienville Street, occupying a generous footprint that runs to private dining rooms, a parlour bar and a main dining room with the architectural weight of a hotel restaurant that means the work. New Orleans Magazine named it Best New Restaurant in 2012; Gayot named it among 2015's Top Brunch Restaurants for the lively jazz brunch that still draws the city's regulars.
Three subsequent owners and one menu refresh later, R'evolution still trades on the chefs' joint pedigree — Folse's Cajun depth, Tramonto's tasting-menu discipline — and the dining room is one of the most reliably interesting fine dining experiences in the Quarter.
The Food
The kitchen describes its work as 'imaginative reinterpretations of classic Cajun and Creole cuisine,' and the menu reads accordingly: turtle soup that has not been seen on a New Orleans menu in a generation, a death-by-gumbo composition that runs through six iterations of the form, a holy-trinity charcuterie programme that runs Cajun smoke through a serious foie gras torchon. The tasting menu at $145 is the way in for a first visit.
À la carte highlights include the Gulf shrimp and andouille étouffée, the wood-fired duck breast with Louisiana cane syrup, and a death-by-pasta course that reads as a tribute to Tramonto's Italian roots. The Sunday jazz brunch is the city's most musical brunch service after Brennan's; book the bourbon barrel-aged Sazerac at the start.
Wine programme is American-French with a substantial Italian bench (Tramonto's hand) and a usable Champagne list. Service is hotel-restaurant pace — formal, well-trained, the captains know the menu by heart. Cocktails are New Orleans-classical, mixed with discipline.
Best Occasion Fit
Birthday: R'evolution's main dining room is the most architecturally generous birthday dining room in the Quarter. The captains handle the candle, the dessert and the small acknowledgement at the table with the practiced ease of a hotel restaurant that hosts these moments daily. The booth at the back-right of the dining room is the seat to request.
Team Dinner: The private dining rooms seat up to thirty-six and run a set Cajun-Creole menu that the corporate dinner needs without negotiation. The wine pairings are well-priced for the format, and the room handles a long table with the same composure it brings to a two-top.
Impress Clients: International visitors to New Orleans recognise the Royal Sonesta address and Folse's name without translation. The seven-course tasting with pairings is the meal that frames the city's cooking history correctly. The jazz brunch the morning after is the gracious bonus.