“Must Try” PREUX & PROPER DTLA: Chef Sammy Monsour Cures My Heart

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Preux & Proper’s is in a sweet two-floor version of the iconic (22 stories) New York flat-iron high-rise built in 1902.   This DTLA location may be an odd match-up for New Orleans cuisine, but founder-owner Joshua Kopel, partner-Chef Sammy Monsour beautifully realize Kopel’s mission to “bring a little bit of authentic Southern food and hospitality to Southern California.” It is his modest Southern way of saying, “we moved mountains to bring it about.” www.PreuxandProper.com 

The first visit ranged from endearing endlessly impressive, and even more so on confirming visits afterward.  Not one to follow the herd, it makes me beam that the owner’s vision of Preux & Proper doesn’t sit well with certain local restaurant critics.  They just don’t get it.

There are two stories to the place.  PROPER  (präpər): Conforming to established standards of behavior or manners, refers to the upstairs dining room enveloped in an elegant bistro atmosphere, and offering an extensive dinner menu and craft cocktails.  For the Preux story, please see //localfoodeater.com/makers-mark-defines-preux-proper-and-vice-versa/.

So let’s talk about the intensely flavored, sometimes giddy combinations of food.   What is merely the standout dishes on the menu could make a menu in and of themselves though it was heavenly to work our way through here appears to be the best of all New Orleans cuisine.

Chef Sammy Monsour is a man who traveled down many culinary roads, and he will readily explain how this works.  His Lebanese heritage shows up in the middle eastern flavors threading their way through dishes, infusing a sunny, cool Mediterranean light among the more earthy heat of New Orleans ingredients.  He fondly recalls his grandmother cooking dinner for the family every night, and we suspect he may be channeling her talents.

Chef Monsour, first of all,  cures my heart.  This is the “heart” listed first in the  Hand Made Charcuterie as SMOKED BEEF HEART PASTRAMI TOAST, hummus, lemon, and shaved trinity.   A surgeon would be proud of this precisely-sliced heart, evenly laid onto a bread roll spread with hummus and rancho Gordon Domingo Rojo beans.  A novel shaved a layer of New Orleans Holy Trinity (onion, garlic and bell peppers) on top becomes an instant, natural classic.

Anson Mills sea island red peas, blackstrap molasses, marjoram, house gorditas share the bowl and dress up HOUSE ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE.

In the SOUTHERN fried section, SQUASH BLOSSOM CHILE RELLENO arrives as an outrageously colorful blooming Squash Blossom, hides under a crazy quilt of Humboldt fog, midnight bean & corn succotash and epazote, with pumpkin seed mole rivulets to seal in all the flavors.

The FRIED WHOLE GAME HEN in the same section will make you forget about fried chicken forever. The secret is the crunch of crushed pecans and the honeycomb on top.  Add it to the buttermilk biscuits with serrano jelly taste for pure decadence.

CHARRED OCTOPUS in the Fresh OFF THE HOOK section refers to the most tender but firm, scintillating octopus dish ever prepared.  I’ve always loved the Marino ristorante grilled squid and it turns out squid and octopus are cephalopod cousins but not rivals!  //www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I3221Fhb14

Preux & Proper DUNGENESS CRAB HUSHPUPPIES float atop a house bourbon barrel-aged green hot sauce, boil spice, with a spark of color by way of charred poblano butter.  The textures alone define umami.

VEGETABLES in THE TABLE section possess their own innovative Chef Sammy twists.  Classic BRAISED COLLARDS arrive with a Chino Valley egg perched atop the greens, laced with shredded lady Edison country ham shoulder, and Fresno chili hot sauce turning up the hearing.  Cracking the egg over the top turns the dish into “bacon and egg.”

The last bite is, of course, beignets dusted with powdered sugar.

PREUX & PROPER 840 S. Spring St., downtown | (213) 896-0090 | preuxandproper.com | Sun.-Thu., 4-10 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Upstairs dining room opens at 6 p.m. | Entrees, $24-$44 | Full bar | Street parking