Soigné a bold new culinary adventure in Ocean Springs

New restaurants open on the Coast almost every day.

Seafood places, burger joints, bars with an upscale menus. Every once in a while, however, a new place opens that is bold in concept, aggressive in design and for the foodie population, a stand-in-line good sort of place.

Soigné, which recently opened in Ocean Springs, is one of those places.

Soigné, is a French term, pronounce swänˈyā, or as the restaurant’s hashtag for social media puts it, #SwanYAY, and means, according to Google translate “dressed very elegantly; well groomed.”

Now that we got that out of the way, Soigné offers a chef’s table concept during the week but Saturday and Sunday a brunch menu takes its place. It is hard to imagine a restaurant making a more radical menu change three days into the work week, but what an exciting idea it is.

Just in case you are not quite sure what the chef table’s concept is, when you sit at the chef’s table you will not be ordering off a menu.

The chef will take the best ingredients of the day, apply his considerable skills, and present you with a multicourse meal that is sure to be long-remembered. There is, of course, a menu, but it only lists the courses, not choices.

The success of a chef’s table depends quite a bit on the talent of the chef, and owner Jourdan Nicaud did his homework and research well in hiring Chef Milton Joachim, who not only is a graduate of a le Cordon Bleu cooking school, but he also did his time on the line, and further up the ladder, at Wolfgang Puck, Commander’s Palace, Stella, Nola Restaurant, Gautreau’s and Carrollton Market. He also won a James Beard Award for executive sous chef while cooking at Carrollton Market. How many chefs can tout a resume like that?

Please remember that this is a menu that changes weekly, so the experience we had a few Sundays ago, will not be available when you visit. Rest assured, though, it will be just as good, just different.

We started our Sunday brunch with cochon de lait Benedict. A scrumptious rendition of eggs Benedict, creatively refashioned with slow-roasted pork and homemade, fluffy biscuits. It was a hearty and delicious breakfast-themed choice that will hopefully make repeat appearances on the menu.

Next was another regional specialty dish whose history is a bit murky, but most agree it got its legs in early 20th-century Harlem, New York. Fried chicken and waffles is a breakfast dish that Joachim jazzed up by preparing the chicken in an immersion circulator, a process called sous vide. Delicious and tender fried chicken, with a just-right crispy exterior, was paired with sweet potato waffles and garnished with pepper jelly Steen’s glaze. Delicious!

The Brunch Burger was our last choice, and it was hands-down the best of the day. A ground ribeye burger, topped with cheddar cheese, a fried egg and bacon onion jam, all on a brioche bun. It was as good as a burger can get. Cooked exactly as ordered and perfectly seasoned; no improvements possible.

Soigné is a bold stroke, and if there is a community on the Coast that’s ready for this next level of culinary invention, it’s certainly Ocean Springs. Put this one on your list.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Soigné a bold new culinary adventure in Ocean Springs."