Crescent City

Mardi gras: the Bourbon Street party moves to Shrewsbury Street

278 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester 757-1540
Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-1 a.m.
Sun. Brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Dinner 3-9 p.m.
Major credit cards
Full bar
Handicap Accessible

by Jim Johnson

If you're not heading to New Orleans this weekend, fear not: the game's better on TV anyhow, and you can eat just as well (and more comfortably) at Crescent City Steakhouse, Worcester's answer to the French Quarter.

Incredibly, Crescent City's upscale setting was once the Boulevard Market, where I scuffed through sawdust to pick up sandwiches. Where Cheetos and cheese dip once filled the shelves, carnival masks brighten the walls. Mahogany is everywhere -- from the fancy bar to the walls. Flickering candles and fresh carnations decorate tables decked with pink linen tablecloths. Napkins are a sophisticated black. Seats are plush and oversized to ensure customer comfort.

"We want people to feel like they can eat, relax, and make an evening of it," says partner Dennis Caracciolo. Indeed, on our visits, attentive, personable servers made us feel like pampered guests.

Caracciolo cut his teeth during 14 years managing various Piccadilly Pubs and opening East Side Mario's. He later helped open Willy's Steak House, in Shrewsbury. When he was approached to take on a partnership role at Crescent City, he jumped at the chance -- and brought three of Willy's chefs with him. In barely two months, word of mouth has made the restaurant the darling of Worcester, an outstanding steakhouse with a New Orleans flair.

Coincidentally, Caracciolo's grandfather ran a market in the same building. Old-timers on the street still remember heading down the back stairs during World War II to pick up horse meat for their braciolas.

Today, you won't find horse meat anywhere on the menu. Instead, the steak is all Certified Black Angus: sirloin, tenderloin, Delmonico, porterhouse, prime rib, and beef tips. Blackened, broiled, or pan fried, the steak comes on its own or in creative combinations like steak au poivre ($19.95) encrusted with crushed black peppercorns in brandy cream sauce or surf 'n turf ($21.95) with salmon and swordfish in Hollandaise sauce.

Pasta dishes start at $5.95 for a half-order of tri-color cheese tortellini with roasted red peppers, broccoli, and prosciutto in a lemon, garlic, thyme, and parmesan cream sauce, and top out at $12.95 for a full order of seafood Dixieland: scallops and shrimp sautéed with garlic onions, peppers, and prosciutto in a light white-wine lemon cream sauce and served over linguini.

Chicken dishes average $14.95, each more creative than the other. How does Bourbon Street chicken sound: blackened chicken breast with andouille sausage covered with red and yellow peppers, onions, and tomatoes in a bourbon Creole sauce? Or, how about shrimp etouffée sautéed in a spicy, rich brown sauce made up of dark beer, shrimp stock, and Creole spices?

Dinner starts with fresh bread and an addicting roasted garlic red-pepper spread. Appetizers are equally excellent. The coconut crunchy shrimp ($7.95) were tender inside, crispy on the outside with a coconut breading. The Windsor Bay crab cakes ($6.95) were browned perfectly, bulging with crabmeat, and rich with flavor. The grilled portobello mushrooms ($6.95) were meaty and moist, served over a decadently delicious prosciutto and spinach cream sauce. Equally successful was the risotto of the day ($6.95) simmered to perfection with parsley, broccoli, garlic, and cheese mixed in.

For entrées, the jambalaya ($16.95) was superb, a mound of rice rimmed by shrimp, crawfish, andouille sausage, and ham in a rich Creole sauce. Likewise, the oven-baked chicken bellavista ($14.95) was outstanding and unusual, thanks to the rosemary pecan-mustard crust and a light saffron and mustard-seed cream sauce.

A hint of Cajun spices didn't mask the meat's own flavor in the Crescent City steak ($19.95) topped with blackened shrimp. Pan fried in a French skillet, the tender steak melted with flavor. (The secret, Caracciolo says, is adding a touch of melted beef fat to the skillet. "That's where the flavor comes from," he says.)

Although we had room for dessert, this review doesn't. Trust me; they're great.

Plan on spending $22 to $28 per person for dinner (excluding drinks), as little as a third of that cost for lunch. Sunday brunch costs $9.95 for a seemingly endless buffet.