NC Eatin’: New Hanover

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Le Catalan
224 South Water Street 
Wilmington, North Carolina

I had the opportunity to visit Wilmington this Wednesday.  I checked Chowhound for recs, but they all seemed to be about 15 minutes from where I was going.  A co-worker asked a friend for a rec, and she suggested the Water Street Restaurant.  I missed it while driving along Water Street, so I ended up at Le Catalan, a little French cafe.

Le Catalan is very well located – it’s on the Riverwalk overlooking the Cape Fear River.  I was able to park across the street for free, so that was a bonus.  I had the ham and cheese feuillete with a small side salad.  I loooved the feuillete!  Warm, flaky pastry with meat and cheese – how could that be bad?  To me, a salad is generally a salad (unless it’s iceberg lettuce – ick!), so I don’t have much to say about that.  I meant to avoid dessert, but the sweet server informed me that it’s not to be missed.  I think I’m as much as mousse snob as I am a tiramisu snob.  I liked it, but I didn’t think it was great.  It was as rich as I think mousse should be, but I really didn’t like the consistency.  It was kind of… well, chewy.  I don’t like the kind that’s too fluffy or too pudding-like either.  This mousse was close to being correct – I guess maybe it was overworked for my taste.

After lunch, I had time to walk around on the Riverwalk a bit.  Then I drove around a tiny bit on my way out of town.  I saw a bunch more cute restaurants, bakeries, and other places to grab a bite.  I definitely hope to visit again sometime – maybe catch a filming of One Tree Hill (yeah, right).

 

More pics are here.