Donald Link has brought a soul-warming heartiness to Herbsaint. When chef Donald Link of Herbsaint talks about his cooking, he does it modestly and in a surprisingly soft voice for a man of his imposing presence. The lack of bluster in his manner could be a sign that he’s confident enough to sit back and let his dishes speak for themselves. If the dishes could talk, they’d do it in several accents, reflecting a free wheeling and adventurous cooking style that was shaped during the years Link was growing up on the plains of southwest Louisiana near Lake Charles, as well as his stint at Bayona as sous-chef to Susan Spicer (New Orleans Magazine’s Chef of the Year in 1992), and the time spent at the helm of several leading restaurants in San Francisco’s Bay Area. Herbsaint’s menu is a collaborative effort by Link and Spicer. They opened the restaurant together in the Central Business District two years ago. Dovetailing with Spicer’s elegant, Mediterranean-inspired adroitness is Link’s soul-warming heartiness. The mushroom is one of his favorite ingredients, and nowhere does he use it to better effect than with gnocchi. Firm yet tender pillows of pasta and potato, brushed with a little brown sauce, come alive in the company of lacy hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and bits of tomato and wilted greens. The duck-and-andouille gumbo he sends to the tables at Herbsaint plumbs the depths of Louisiana’s trademark flavors – earthy, robustly seasoned and rich enough to linger on the palate after the bowl is emptied. Ditto his rabbit fricassee, with delectable nuggets of tenderloin glistening, along with wide ribbons of pappardelle pasta, in a dark-brown sauce studded with carrots, mushrooms and scallions. Fanciers of duck confit will be hard pressed to locate a better rendering of this French classic than Herbsaint’s. The leg arrives grease-free and fork tender, the skin crackly crisp. Even the pickiest French purist would be unlikely to grumble about what comes with it, a dirty rice that gives the fowl a run for its money. If meat dishes are the standouts in Link’s repertoire, his German heritage may be at work here. His ancestors arrived in southwest Louisiana from the Rhine Valley in the 1880s, no doubt bringing along the home country’s centuries-old tradition of expert butchering. Catch him in a nostalgic mood and he’ll describe the Link family’s feasts he shared in Calcasieu Parish, with 30 or more people gathered around tables laden with the game and seafood brought home by his grandfather from frequent hunting and fishing trips. Herbsaint’s charcuterie plate, usually featuring rillettes of cold, shredded pork, silky foie-gras pates and rough-hewn, country-style terrines, could be echoes of those Link family rituals. “Almost from infancy, all of us learned to eat what was brought to the table from the woods and farms – the game, the peaches and apples and beans.” Much of Donald Link’s food may owe its sophistication to his training at the California Culinary Institute. But its down-to-earth goodness comes from a place much closer to home. |
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