Eating in NOLA:

We went with some friends on Friday night to celebrate the end of a long (not so hard) semester.  Take note of the new and improved picture quality.  A fellow Eating In NOLA blogger hooked me up with an early Christmas present and in turn, hooked you up with an improved blog reading experience.

So here are the five ways we celebrated only having only one semester of school left.

#1 Beef Empanadas

These are great empanadas.  I think the secret to good empanadas is how the beef is seasoned.  They really get it right at Mimi's.  It also helps that the casing is pretty authentic and I'm an expert on that because I've been to Argentina before.

#2 Gambas Al Ajillo

This is one of my favorite things at Mimi's.  Mostly because I like to break the heads of things since it makes me feel like a big man, but also because the sauce that they come retains its own flavor rather than turning into garlicky shrimp water as is the case with this dish lots of times.  And it comes with just enough bread to soak all the goodness up.

#3 Lamb Chop Lollipop

Best thing we had all night no question.  No question at all.  The lamb was salty and tender and juicy.  It was so good that when later in the night someone else ordered it and got 3 chops instead of 2 I had to stop myself from whining that it wasn't fair.  So I guess what I'm saying is they were so good they turned me 6 years old.

#4 Tomato and Avocado Bruschette

This was Kerry's favorite of the night.  It was pretty good.  I think what made it particularly good was how seasoned the toast points were.  They tasted like they had be frolicking in a garlic forest right before someone snatched them up, put then on a red hot grill and then covered then in avocado slices and grape tomatoes.

#5 Spanish Cheeses with Roasted Red Peppers

We were too full to really appreciate this but that's not really the cheese plate's fault.  It was good though and all the cheese tasted like cheese and not feet so that's an A in my book.

They were out of the Goat Cheese Croquettas which was a pretty big disappointment but I guess you can't win them all.

All in all it was a great meal at a good old standby.