Restaurants

Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen

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We found the entrées disappointing. Pableaux got the shrimp étouffée. I expect shrimp étouffée to be thickened with roux, and I figured a restaurant with a gumbo as good as Danton's would serve a kick-ass étouffée. But the dish, which the menu described as shrimp in a "rich, spicy onion sauce," appeared to be thickened with cornstarch.

"It tastes like bad Chinese food," Pableaux concluded. And I had to agree.

Our other companion got a sandwich described as a "crab burger with French fries and garlic rémoulade." There were two crab patties on a hamburger bun that was nicely dressed with lettuce and tomato. But the crab cakes were bready-tasting, like they were made with too much filler. I got redfish stuffed with what tasted like the same bready dressing.

The bowl of garlic rémoulade that came with the sandwich was the surprise hit. It was so good, we all scrambled for things to dip into it. After we polished off all the bread, crackers and the French fries that came with the crab burger, we ordered some of the oversize onion rings. And when the rémoulade ran out before the rings, we asked for another bowl.

On my second visit to Danton's, a friend and I ate a dozen oysters that had been bagged on November 28. They tasted about the same as the earlier ones. We fared much better on the entrées, though.

I got a plate of fried shrimp and fried oysters with a side of excellent slaw. The shrimp were butterflied, which makes them drier than I like them, but the oysters were excellent — if you like them juicy.

My dining companion got a grilled red snapper special that was served with a choice of sauces. I steered him away from the shrimp étouffée sauce. He went for the tomato scallop sauce instead. The sea scallop was spongy; it tasted like it had been treated with the chemical that makes seafood absorb excess water. But the red snapper was spectacular — moist on the inside with a spicy crust on the exterior.

When I told him the gumbo here was better than his favorite at Jimmy Wilson's, he looked at me like I was a rube. He got a cup, just to challenge my silly assertion. He was shocked. He oohed and aahed over the darkness of the roux, the spice level and the seafood. When he was done with it, he set the cup down with authority and said, "That's the best gumbo I've ever had."

Danton's has got a few kinks to work out, but it looks like it's destined to become one of the best Gulf seafood restaurants in town. You better go check it out before they raise the price on those happy hour oysters.

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