 BOUDRO'S
Go there for intense flavors
superior service and
the River Walk
By RON BECHTOL
Photography JANET ROGERS
The crowds of a spring and summer
evening on the River Walk
can be daunting; there often
seems to be no real goal in
mind but the being there, the participation
in the surge, the feeling of being an extra
in a scene directed by an unseen hand.
I have to admit that being a part of
this linear lemming show holds no
interest. And I also admit that I find it
fascinating — and best observed from
the relative remove of the terrace of a
riverside restaurant.
Boudro’s has long been such a place.
Its just-segregated-enough patio is perfect
for people watching, and the restaurant’s
superior service reinforces both the
illusion and the reality of being outside
the fray. Even the acutely agoraphobic
might find the experience fascinating.
But because some might need an
extra shot of courage (and because it’s
just plain fun to make more of an
evening of it), here’s a suggestion:
Start your evening at Zinc, the champagne,
wine and spirits bar also owned
by the Boudro’s boys, Richard Higbie
and Randy Mathews. It’s
little more than a block
away on South Presa —
handily right across the
street as you exit from
the elevator at the River
Bend parking garage.
 A glass of champagne
and a light and luscious
appetizer such as the marinated
salmon on flatbread “paddles” will set the stage
admirably. Now you’re set to enter the
restaurant through the back entrance on
Commerce Street — just in case it happens
to be a warm night on the river.
It’s hard to resist the mesquite-grilled
Texas quail as one of your appetizers; the
partially boned critter looks resplendent
upon its bed of cheesy grits, and the flavors
contributed by marinating in sherry,
orange and soy, followed by glazing with
Dijon mustard, are bold and beautiful.
Pan-seared tuna — and we do mean just
seared — derives much of its appeal
from a very serious coating of cracked
pepper and a dressing of soy, chile and
vinegar that evokes Thai and Vietnamese
cuisine. There’s also a bountiful bed of
baby spinach and spiky chives to play
Jeeves to Bertie.
Wild field mushrooms served over
grilled baked polenta with goat cheese
and a chipotle-thyme demi-glaze are
another stalwart starter — perfect with
a lusty red, now that you’ve had the
champagne course. We can’t recommend
too highly the JC 2004 Syrah
from Santa Barbara County; it was the
consummate chameleon throughout
the evening.
Though Boudro’s has a cadre of waiters
that have been with the restaurant
for years, we had a fast-learning rookie
with a feel for proper pacing. (The point,
after all, was to be leisurely in contrast to
the scene just yards away.) In due time,
then, the duck. Billed as black-lacquered
and glazed, this leg and thigh is first panseared,
then braised in a heady mixture
of soy, dark-roast espresso bean, orange,
star anise and brown sugar for more
than two hours.
The braising liquid is then reduced
to serve as the glaze, and a side sauce
of reduced blood orange with huckleberry
and maple syrup is concocted.
(Yes, I had to ask; it was that fascinating,
and, no, I couldn’t have divined
the complex process without help.)
Thus anointed, the duck is perched
atop more duck, smoked and shredded,
and a mound of garlic mashed
potatoes. Bring on the Syrah and prepare
to be transported.
Tuna still seemed like a good idea,
even after — or perhaps because of—the
appetizer preparation. So we had it
again, this time with a Caribbean marinade
of achiote and a lacing with roasted-
poblano butter. A citrus/tomato/fennel
chutney is part of the package as
well, as are new potatoes simply
smashed to form a foundation for the
fish. We have to admit that these flavors
were less intense than the duck’s — it
would have been hard not to be. But we
also left no bite of tuna unturned.
We are also partial to Boudro’s woodgrilled
fish fillet — precisely because of
its elegant simplicity, and suggest that
the blackened prime rib with Boudreaux
butter also is not to be overlooked. That
Syrah again — or almost any other red
from the well-stocked wine list.
The name Boudreaux harkens back
to the restaurant’s early days and the
name’s original spelling — one that
conjures Cajun influences still apparent
in dishes such as the duck and sausage
gumbo. The Louisiana bread pudding
with whiskey sauce is another reminder
of those roots, and it’s as light and lilting
as a bread pudding can be; even
the whiskey sauce has an almost perfumed
quality. The only disappointment
of the evening, in fact, was another
dessert, the coconut custard with
caramel sauce — a coconut-studded
flan, in other words.
In the company of all the full-throttle
flavor delivered by Boudro’s on other
fronts, the custard comes up short, but it
didn’t deter us from enjoying parting
glasses of Justin Obtuse port and Pierre
Ferrand 1er Cru de Cognac. As a toast to
the teeming tourists still thronging the
trammeled waterway, of course.
BOUDRO’S
Texas bistro on the River Walk
421 E. Commerce
(210) 224-8484
boudros.com
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