James Beard award-winning, Food & Wine Top 10 and Iron Chef runner-up chef/owner John Besh really did it right with this lavishly refined restaurant, where guests are pampered from start to finish. Upscale, sumptuous décor, complete with elegant wood paneling and Parisian-style chairs, provides a refined ambiance, though the service exhibits a more comfortable, laid-back, quintessentially New Orleans feel. And the food? Utterly out of this world. Choices may include sugar-and-spice duckling with grits or Louisiana red fish with cauliflower, crabmeat and caviar. Besh also offers a superlative five-course, prix fixe tasting menu. Full bar. Serving lunch Mon–Fri, dinner daily.
Where the Locals Eat Rating
Top 100 Restaurant, New Orleans
"Everything was fantastic . . . Besh's food has a way of taking you places without getting lost. Along the way, he manages to please everyone, himself included."
– Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune
"August is one of our most cosmopolitan restaurants . . . John Besh's cooking is worldly but distinct, far-reaching but personal."
– Sara Roahen, Gambit Weekly
"Harkening back to elegant New Orleans dining . . . but with a nouvelle twist on classic New Orleans cuisine."
—Frommer's
". . . innovative and delicious menu of dishes that marry robust ingredients from Spain and France with regional flavors."
—Mobil Travel Guide
"The atmosphere is as welcoming and chic as ever-crystal chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows played against weathered brick-and Besh hasn't missed a step despite the chaos [of Katrina]."
—Condé Naste Traveler
How Others Rate Restaurant August
Zagat 2009
28 Food Quality (extraordinary to perfection)
The Times-Picayune
5 beans (of 5)
Top 10 Restaurants, 2008
The New Orleans Menu by Tom Fitzmorris
***** (among the best restaurants in the New Orleans area)
Gourmet Magazine
No. 22 of America's Top 50 Restaurants, 2006
New Orleans magazine
Best chef, 2009 readers' poll