Thursday, February 25, 2010

Panchita's Mexican Criolla

After a few months of teasing, Panchita's on Carrollton has finally opened up. I'm always all about new Mexican places so we went for lunch a few days ago.

It was an okay Mexican lunch. Kerry went for the Tamal de Barbacoa, which was definitely the highlight of the meal.


The meat was fall-apart good and was served with tortillas, rice and beans. We were a little surprised when it wasn't a traditional tamale in a corn husk, but I think something got lost in translation. It was good either way. It looks like Kerry had a Corona Light with it, because we live the type of lives where a beer at lunch is appropriate.

I had the chilaquiles. I was less impressed, though in all fairness there is a chance that the chilaquiles I am used to are completely unauthentic and Americanized since they came from a place in the suburbs of Atlanta. For all I know these were completely authentic chilaquiles... they were just a little too red sauce and not quite enough cheese and sour cream for me. But if you have a more sophisticated Mexican food palate than me I bet you would enjoy them.


So I would try it again for sure, maybe take a stab at one of the burritos or some tacos. You should give it a try too.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Pepperoni's Cafe

So Pepperoni's isn't great.  Sometimes I feel bad saying things like that.  I worry that the owners will find this post and it will ruin their day.  I especially feel bad about it when I have no problem with the people there.  Sometimes people do something that make me have no problem if they know if I didn't enjoy my meal.  For example, St. James Cheese Company stole $15 from me.  But Pepperoni's has nice people just not great food.

We started with the garlic cheese bread.

 
I like bread, cheese, and garlic so much.  What I'm not crazy about is sesame seeds and the bottom if this garlic cheese bread was laden with them.  I couldn't figure out why bread with sesame seeds would even be in an Italian place.  I was hungry though so I ate 4 peices.

Kerry had a shrimp wrap.  

 

I didn't eat any of it so I don't know what it was like but what I can tell you is she only ate half of it. It came with  Sun Chips.  Sun Chips!

Alright and I had a calzone.


My calzone had no ricotta in it.  I'm not sure if calzones have to have ricotta in them but I like mine with ricotta.  I got it with olives, spinach, and Italian sausage.  I don't know it just wasn't great.  I ate it anyway but it wasn't great.

I think there is a place for not great cheap little places.  I'll be honest, sometimes I just don't care if the food is great as long as I don't have to pay much.  But when it was all said and done the bill came out to $39 (inc. tip).  That's way too much for a sub par meal.  I don't care how hungry I am.  And I was so hungry.
Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bourbon House



So we watched the big game at Bourbon House. Somehow we managed to snag two seats at the bar (for free, although one woman did try to sell us her seat). I'm not really sure how that happened but it worked out well.

What's nice about watching the game at a place like Bourbon House is great bar food. Well, that and Andygator on tap. Oh and the free pour of bourbon since I am a NOBS member. But back to the food.

We just got three appetizers to hold us over until after game time:

The Red Bean Hummus


It was interesting and not quite what I expected but definitely tasty. Plus it came with some tomato and cucumber so it was fresh and light which isn't normally the case I find with hummus.

We also had the Corn and Crab soup and the Caesar Salad.



Unlike the Hummus, the soup was exactly what I expected. Sweet and corny and crabby and warm. A little garnish would be nice on it, though. At least for picture taking purposes.

The Caesar Salad was actually a little surprising. It was a good standard Caesar but with sweet croutons. I'm pretty sure the light ones were cornbread croutons and I'm not sure about the dark ones but they were sweet as well. It was a pleasant surprise.

Bourbon House was a successful place to watch the game. Good food and drink and high energy. Plus being just a revolving door away from Bourbon Street after a Super Bowl win was a nice plus.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Somethin' Else Cafe


Have we all recovered yet? With so much Super Bowling and parading its been hard to stay up to date here. So I apologize for that but I have some good posts coming up for you. The first is Somethin' Else Cafe on Exchange Place in the Quarter. Now Somethin' Else Cafe has to share its street with Pelican Club and Green Goddess so it kinda makes it the quirky sibling on Exchange Place but it has some pretty good food.

It's the kind of place that serves its sandwiches and burgers with a bag of Zapp's chips, so it seems like a good place to eat pre-Super Bowl. It was crazy inside as you might expect but we managed to grab a table outside and it was just warm enough for that to be a reasonable decision.


Kerry had the burger. It might look like a standard burger but it was the bun that set it apart. It kinda tasted like one of those Hawaiian rolls, but you know, about 4 times bigger. In the 20 feet I walked from the bar to the table I had 2 different people stop me and tell me how good it looked. And it was good. I know because I stole a bite.


And I had the cochon de lait sandwich on the same sort of bun. I think I have said before that I'll pretty much like any sandwich with coleslaw on it. So this one fit the bill for a positive review. The only thing awkward about it is that someone asked if they could film us for an in-house commercial, so I was trying to eat this messy sandwich without looking like some sort of barbarian. If you catch the commercial, let me know.

OK that's it. More posts to come on what we ate Super Bowl week.
Friday, February 5, 2010

Taqueria Corona


Have you been to Taqueria Corona? If you are anything like me, you have tried to go a bunch of times and they are always closed. During the regular season this year, they once posted a sign in the window that said "Closed for Saints game." At least their heart's in the right place. But after a year of trying to eat there once every 3 months, I finally sneaked in with Kerry. They had a pretty extensive menu of tacos, combination plates, flautas, enchiladas, and so on. Though everything seems well-priced individually, our bill did end up being a little pricier than expected. I think it might have had something to do with the two margaritas.


So Kerry had three tacos. I'm pretty sure they were (in order) rib eye, fish, and shrimp. The best thing about the tacos are the tortillas they come in. I'm one of those people that orders corn tortillas at places even though I like flour better. I like people to think I'm authentic. Well, Taqueria Corona doesn't give you the option. They hit you with some flour tortillas that are pillowy and delicious so I don't even feel guilty about them.


I had one of the combination plates. It had a name but I forget what it was because this was literally weeks ago. Let's see though. Looks like I had a flauta, a burrito and a fish taco. It was all pretty good. I do remember that the fish taco was especially good, I think because i substituted the tartar sauce out for some pico de gallo. Kerry had her fish taco with the tartar sauce, and didn't love it. But the fish was lightly battered and crisp and fresh.

Alright, I think that's it. Have a good Super Bowl weekend. Let's be honest, everyone: Super Bowl weekend probably started on Tuesday. Go Saints.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

TJ Gourmet Hot Dog

 

 So I like the the Arts Market at Palmer Park.  The only real problem is I don't really have $100 to blow on art the last Saturday of every month.  The one thing that I can afford there though is a hot dogs from TJ Gourmet.

No joke I was walking to the market thinking that I could really go for a good hot dog.  Man was I in luck.  Look at this thing.


Hot dog with chili, cheese, red onion, white onion and a mustard sauce.  Best hot dog I have had in a long time.  A very long time.  I'm pretty sure TJ Gourmet is a catering place but I can't find a website or anything.  I have literally no reason to ever need a caterer but this thing makes me wish I could come up with reason.

So stop by the Arts Market and snag a hot dog... I guess grab some art too if you can foot the price tag.