Coastal Cajun Restaurant DTB Opens This Week On New Orleans' Oak Street

Not too far from the hustle and bustle of downtown New Orleans are the calm and eerily quiet bayous of Louisiana. Oak Street's newest restaurant addition, DTB (which stands for "Down the Bayou"), merges the city with the bayou by highlighting the best of both worlds. The eatery features coastal Cajun cuisine created by its executive chef and owner, Carl Schaubhut, who has held positions at Commander's Palace and Café Adelaide and has garnered more recent attention for his Northshore eatery, Bacobar.

The restaurant, which opened Wednesday, March 29, in Riverbend, offers an extensive menu of southern Louisiana coastal cooking, which is a nod to Schaubhut's upbringing just outside the Big Easy in Des Allemands, Louisiana. The playful menu is broken up into four categories — Sociables, T-Plates, Beaucoup Plates, and Lagniappe — with offerings designed to be shared or mix 'n' matched. Sociables features items perfect for sharing, including crab boiled chips with popcorn crème fraîche and pickled lemon; and fried cornbread with ham hock marmalade, goat cheese, and jalapeño. The T-Plates section features small plates like stuffed squash blossoms with alligator chorizo, ricotta, olives, and sauce piquant, while the Beaucoup Plates — the heartiest of the bunch — shine with items including a 24-hour short rib with marinated tomatoes, fermented pepper jelly, and baked grits and a shrimp rice bowl with crawfish, pork belly, mirliton, tasso, and egg yolk. The Lagniappe section features savory side dishes like roasted cauliflower and smothered Brussels sprouts. Leave room for something sweet from the Nightcaps menu, with offerings such as banana toffee cake, an ice cream sandwich, and seasonal sand pies.

In addition to the hearty food menu, beverage director Lu Brow put together an inventive cocktail list that uses ingredients specific to the state. Try the Louisiana, made with Sazerac rye, sassafras bark, Peychaud's Barrel-Aged bitters, and Balsam amaro drizzled with pecan oil; if you want a little spice in your life, go for the Fire on the Bayou, a shot made with Magnolia vodka, Lillet, citrus, and house-made pepper jelly and accompanied by a pony beer.

Visit DTB for dinner Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. For more information or for reservations, visit the website.