THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Midi South of France

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Midi South of France Restaurant Review:

The flouncy, bright-green bar has an amusement-park look, and the rest of the so-called Provençal décor is worthier of Coral Gables than the Côte d’Azur. Food as good as Midi’s deserves a less-distracting environment. The kitchen’s helm is usually tended by a protégé of Paris’ Michel Rostang, the outside consulting chef for the JW Marriott Hotel New Orleans. On our most recent visits lunch and dinner menus featured such creations as a glorious, refreshing shrimp and cantaloupe salad with a vinegar beurre blanc, a delectable parfait of jumbo lump crab meat, and a succulent filet of roasted lamb, excellently paired with carrot-cumin purée and a stew of white beans. Some French finesse raised the bread pudding high above its plebeian origins, and lavender honey put some extra snap in the crème brûlée. Service is brisk and informal, well-mannered without being haughty, and the wine list covers the major French regions well.