THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Hard Water Awards

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Hard Water Restaurant Review:

Chef/restaurateur/author Charles Phan expanded his restaurant family --- its best-known member is Slanted Door --- to include New Orleans-themed Hard Water, where creatively spiced and sauced Southern dishes augment popular bourbon-based cocktails such as mint juleps and Roffignacs. Olle Lundberg, whose epic-whimsy vision characterizes Phan's other restaurants, designed a striking space in which narrow marble counters (who needs tables?) line three walls, one of which offers prime bay views. Massive glass shelves ascending ceilingward --- most accessible only by ladder --- bear some 500 bottles of whiskey. Quality ingredients shine in ostensibly humble sides such as black-eyed peas and mac ‘n’ cheese; carefully crafted entrées range from tender braised rabbit to crispy fried chicken, rib-sticking andouille-spiked seafood gumbo and seven types of oyster, raw and baked. A meatless treasure is smoky pearl barley studded with chewy chanterelles, candy-sweet delicata squash and soft-boiled egg. Whiskey flights recognize makers both familiar and elite; desserts include apple-walnut turnovers and taffy-esque Scotch kisses. Many come here just to sip.