Dish: BRQ’s Crab Beignet
BRQ Restaurant, which opened in early July, addresses Baton Rouge’s longstanding appetite for tender, smoked meats served with punchy sauces and nostalgic sides. The barbecue-centric menu holds plenty of seafood options, too, including its No. 1-selling appetizer, crab beignets. Chef Justin Ferguson prepares these savory deep-fried pick-ups with lump crabmeat from the Gulf, Creole cream cheese and sautéed garlic and shallots. The mixture is formed into tidy mounds, chilled and dropped in beer batter comprised of self-rising flour, cornstarch and Tin Roof Turnrow Coriander Ale. The finished product is plated with a schmear of puréed roasted corn relish and a scoop of house-made chow-chow, a tangy amalgam of green tomato, cabbage, bell pepper, pickling spices and mustard seeds. “It’s just the right amount of acidity,” says Ferguson, “to cut through the beignet’s richness.”
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