00:00Hi, I'm Dana Blair of Essence Live, and I am here in Nola at one of my favorite restaurants,
00:07Restaurant Revolution. Fabulous wine, so much cuisine that is authentic to the
00:13Louisiana that you can't find anywhere else. Let's go inside and check it out.
00:16Hi Molly, how are you? It's such a pleasure to be here.
00:25Very nice to meet you. Molly is the wine director and expert of all things fabulous here at Restaurant Revolution.
00:32Thank you so much for having us. It is our pleasure. You're going to take us on a little tour today?
00:35I'm going to give you a tour of the restaurant, absolutely, but I'd like to again by offering you a glass of champagne.
00:40I never turn down champagne. Roland Champignon from Chewy, that's the Grand Cru.
00:45Equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. How many different types of champagne and wine do you have here at Revolution?
00:52We have 1,800 different selections. Just one or two. Just one or two. Just one or two.
00:56Just one or two. This is amazing. On behalf of Chef Olsen and Chef Jermonti, we welcome you.
00:59Mmm. How do you like it? This is good. The color is perfect. It matches my outfit, actually.
01:04It sure does. This is amazing. Oh, I'm so glad you like it.
01:07Okay. I'm so excited. Okay, where do we start next?
01:10I think we should start here. We're going to step into what's called the parlor. Actually, Storyville parlor.
01:15Now you have many different rooms here and each one has a theme? It does. This room is very unique. It actually is, you know, fashioned after what a parlor would have been in Creole Mansion.
01:27So it's the only room with tablecloths. So each mural actually depicts the seven nations of Creole. And that's a whole focus.
01:34We want to be very New Orleans and pay homage to the history and the preciousness of New Orleans and the restaurant culture.
01:41One more extra step that we take here at Restaurant Revolution to make sure that the guest has the best experience.
01:46And shall we head into the market rooms? Yes. I've been watching this room. I can't wait.
01:51This room excites me because in my head, like I'm a master chef. In my head.
01:57Now do a lot of your clientele request this room? Because to me, this is like my favorite space thus far.
02:02You know, it's very interesting because so many people request different aspects of the restaurant, which is very exciting.
02:08I love it. This is our communal table. So it's communal dining. Everybody sits side by side.
02:13And this is actually a table that came from the show Axeman and it's Seeker Cypress.
02:17Really? That's fun. Approximately, give or take, a thousand years old.
02:23No way. And it's one solid piece of wood. To me, this is the best seat or the favorite seat in the house.
02:30I want to sit like right here. And a lot of people actually request this.
02:34Absolutely exciting. So where should we head next?
02:37I'm ready to go to the wine room though. That's like my favorite thing in the world.
02:41That's way to head to the wine room. I'm so excited. You said 1800 varieties?
02:46This room I absolutely cannot wait to go to. Welcome. It's like heaven. This is like wine heaven.
02:51Kind of like a wine library. It's a wine library.
02:541946, 85, 68, 1905. 1905? All by the glass.
03:00Does that say 1863? It does, yes. This is beautiful. Oh, thank you.
03:06This is absolutely stunning and so impressive. So one last thing I really wanted to talk about was this bottle here.
03:12So this is special for a couple of reasons. So it's Chateau de Quim. It's a Sautern. That's a dessert wine from Bordeaux.
03:19And it's vintage in 1921. So this was actually bottled during World War I. And it was bottled in Belgium because the war was going on.
03:28So this is one of the Belgique bottled in Michael Broadbent. He calls it one of the top 100 wines of all time.
03:34So not only it tastes really great, but there's so much history right here. Oh, that is awesome.
03:39So I wanted to be sure and share the beverage side of the history because it's so important to Revolution.
03:48Of course. And really, it's important to paying that homage to the city of New Orleans and how important New Orleans is.
03:55I mean, the je ne sais quoi that's here. You mourn, you grieve, you celebrate, you enjoy. Everything happens at the table.
04:02And one last thing. I think we should head this way. And I introduce Chef Gianna.
04:06Yes. All right. We'll head this way.
04:08All about the food.
04:16Hi, Gianna. Hi. Very nice to meet you.
04:18It's a pleasure to meet you. And you're the chef here?
04:20Yes, ma'am. I'm chef de cuisine here at Restaurant Revolution in New Orleans.
04:23So on an average night, how far in advance before service are you and your team here preparing?
04:29You've actually got a guy here cooking breakfast who has to be here at 4 a.m.
04:32And then we're here up until 1, 2 a.m. in the morning.
04:35About how many entrees do you feel you guys serve a night?
04:38On the weekends, we'll do 300. Yeah.
04:42I can barely get my life together.
04:44And you have to also consider, most of the people who are coming into this restaurant, they're not just having an entree.
04:48Right. They're having several courses.
04:50Whole experiences.
04:51They're having appetizers, pasta mid-courses.
04:53So when people come to Revolution, they're not just here for the food, they're here for the entire dining experience.
05:00I love that. I just love seeing the passion in your eyes for what you do.
05:04And, of course, I love girl power, so I'm super excited.
05:07And you're also going to be showing us a little something-something in the kitchen?
05:10I am. Yes, ma'am. Why don't we head out to the little demo station area in our market room, and I'm going to do a little barbecue shrimp.
05:16Yes! I'm very excited. Wait, is this something I can try to do at home?
05:19Oh god, absolutely. It's so simple.
05:21Okay, okay, okay.
05:22It's time to eat.
05:28Alright, so you ready? We're going to do a little what we like to call our naked barbecue shrimp.
05:33And what's so special about this barbecue shrimp is you can't find it anywhere else except New Orleans.
05:38And the best is, of course, at Revolution.
05:40Absolutely. At Restaurant Revolution, you can't find any better.
05:43I'm going to do a little cornmeal-dusted fried shrimp.
05:45I'm going to toss them in the barbecue Worcestershire butter sauce and serve it over some grilled French bread.
05:50We like to serve it with the heads on.
05:52This is how you know you have a truly fresh shrimp when the heads are on.
05:55It's very nice.
05:56So, to get started, I'm going to add my shrimp shells.
05:58This is where all the flavors are going to come from.
06:00Oh, the shells!
06:01Barbecue shrimp, the ingredients.
06:03Garlic, lemon, Worcestershire, of course, rosemary, and a ton of cracked black pepper.
06:08All of this sounds like music to my ear.
06:10A little shrimp stock with all the herbs and spices.
06:15Adding the rosemary, the cracked black pepper, and the most important ingredient being the Worcestershire sauce.
06:22This is where all that nice acidity comes from.
06:25So, we're going to let this simmer.
06:27Okay.
06:28So, over here, I've got my fryer.
06:29I'm going to start getting my shrimp rolling.
06:31So, essentially, all you need is just a pot of some vegetable oil.
06:34These are my shrimp.
06:35These just came in this morning.
06:36I'm going to season these.
06:38A little salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little cayenne for a little spice.
06:45Yeah.
06:46Here I have my already seasoned prepared corn flour.
06:49So, I'm going to dredge these very well, just lightly coated.
06:52And then, I'm going to drop them in my fryer just like that.
06:56So, we have our soft simmering over there.
06:58It's just about ready.
06:59What we're going to do now, we're going to puree everything together.
07:02Now, I'm going to add the abita amber beer.
07:05The beer is a very large part of the barbecue shrimp as well.
07:08Let this soften up just a bit more.
07:10My shrimp, they look like they're ready.
07:12They're golden brown.
07:13They're floating here.
07:14So, when they start to float, that's when you know they're ready?
07:16Yes, ma'am.
07:17It smells delicious.
07:18It smells amazing.
07:19All right.
07:20Now, back to our barbecue sauce base.
07:23Into this blender here.
07:26You're in a safe space.
07:29All right.
07:30I'm going to add my cream.
07:32This is about two cups of cream going in there.
07:34The cream is really going to give a nice richness and help emulsify the sauce
07:38when we start adding the butter so that it doesn't break on it.
07:41So, Chef Jana, to some, that might seem really strange to blend the shells.
07:45Why do you do that?
07:46I'm pureeing the shrimp to add that depth, that level of shrimpy flavor,
07:51that sweetness that you find in the heads and the shells themselves.
07:54That you won't find when you just remove them.
08:01Just to get in the excess shell, our spices that didn't blend entirely.
08:06So, while this is going, I've got some already prepared sauce over here.
08:11We're going to let that warm up and I'm going to start whisking in this butter.
08:15And it's going to naturally thicken from all the butter that we're adding.
08:19So, what I like to do is I like to take my shrimp, as soon as they come out of the fryer,
08:24put them in a bowl, toss them in a little bit of this barbecue sauce so they get nice and coated.
08:32A little fresh chopped parsley.
08:34So, we already grilled off some French bread.
08:37You can do that to order, make sure it's nice and warm.
08:39We're going to put this on the bottom.
08:41Place our shrimp right on top here.
08:49Looks pretty quickly.
08:50Yeah, it really, it doesn't take terribly long.
08:53I mean, you saw that.
08:54I just did that from scratch.
08:55Yeah.
08:56And like you had mentioned, it doesn't even take that long.
08:58You can do it at home.
09:00I can have all of it.
09:01That is for you, lady.
09:02It's all for me.
09:03Can't forget the sauce.
09:04Don't forget the sauce.
09:06Oh my gosh.
09:12That's good, right?
09:15Chef Jana, are you married?
09:16Can I marry you?
09:18This is absolutely amazing.
09:19And with this sauce, you almost forget that it was fried.
09:22But you taste the crunch and the texture.
09:24It soaks in.
09:26This is heaven on a plate.
09:27Thank you so very, very much, Chef Jana.
09:29You're welcome. Thank you for having us.
09:30This is absolutely heaven on a plate.
09:31You can't have any.
09:32It's all mine.
09:33But if you come to New Orleans and you come to Restaurant Revolution,
09:35you can have some.
09:36And then you have to send me some at my house as well.
09:39Thank you so very much.
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