text: Chef David Fergusons new concept is roadhouse according to a recent review in the Gazette This means two things you will find a lot of items that fall under the casual or more appropriately the upscale casual category and you will find a menu that is enamored with aspects of American regional cuisine especially that of Texas and the American Southwest But Ferguson first made a name for himself by fusing Mexican and French cuisine and his most recent menu continues to display a curious predilection for Frenchifying not to be confused with Frenchifrying just about everything Thus you will find tender smoked brisket on the menu but Ferguson serves it with a red wine and veal jus reduction You will also find a Southwestern cassoulet composed of romano and navy beans duck smoked lamb hominy and poblano which holds the potential for teasing out the affinities between a French cassoulet and the bean and meatbased stews of the Southwest while cleverly playing on the fact that cassoulet is a classic of the southwest of France get it But instead of taking the cassoulet and pushing it the direction of say New Mexico Ferguson takes ingredients typical of New Mexican cuisine hominy poblano peppers and pushes them in the direction of France So much so that his Southwestern cassoulet tastes a lot more like a French cassoulet than anything one would find in the American Southwest The hominy was overwhelmed the poblanos were barely present and there were no traces of chili or cumin or any one of a number of other ingredients that might have provided a real taste of the Southwest Frankly this is a shamethere is no shortage of traditional French cassoulets in Montreal while the cuisine of the American Southwest is virtually nonexistent and the dish holds a lot of potential