Having met with many of Beau’s team leaders, Evans Tedford, Harry Hall, and Brandon Dardeau, we were honored to be dining with our dear friend Mary Cracchiolo, head of Public Relations. Cheli and Mary joined Coraline’s General Manager Stephanie Scott to make a Tiktok video while I got acquainted with or excellent server Hannah. I sipped on a signature cocktail, C’mon Sunshine – Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey with raspberry syrup, a mint sprig and lemon. This is their take on a mint julep, and, I enjoyed it immensely. As the ladies returned I ordered oysters three unique ways while Cheli was served a Coastal Decadence Martini – local Cathead Vodka, Cointreau, Dorda chocolate liqeur, orange bitters, cream, and espresso, and Mary had the Gulf Sands Mojito – Bacardi white rum, Mango rum, Demerara sugar, mint, lime and rimmed with Tajin. The bartenders worked hard to tweak a specialty drink menu fitting for this coastal venue, very tasty.
The oyster bar offers a view to the shucking and preparing of freshly opened, chargrilled, or Oysters Rockefeller. These are wonderful, but we opted for fresh oysters with a spin. In homage to Austin’s dad, our dear friend Kendall Dedeaux, whom opened the original Memphis-Q in this location, we had the Oysters Dedeaux – grilled with crawfish tails and bernaise sauce. These were amazing and were the favorite of the table! We also loved the signature 875 – oysters topped with blue crab, shrimp, and mushrooms, with a truffle sauce and scallions, fantastic as they were, but we added the lemon vinaigrette to our second one, and wow! We were intrigued and pleased with the Lighthouse oysters as well – topped with crawfish tails, andouille sausage, tomato, and Veloute sauce (similar to the flavors of gumbo).
