Eating in NOLA:

Riccobono's Panola Street Cafe

2010-12-09T14:20:00.001-06:00

You thought we disappeared again, didn't you?

Wrong.

KM moved last week and there just wasn't enough time to cook. There. Is. Never. Enough. Time. (Is that joke old yet? I hope so.)

Riccobono's is in Kerry's new 'hood so we thought we would check it out for Saturday breakfast. Some people say good things about Riccobono's. We don't, necessarily.

It's not that it's terrible... it's just not really good. Everything we had tasted like the sum of its ingredients... nothing more, nothing less. Kerry said the coffee was good, though, if you're into that sort of thing.

Here is the food stuffs -

Kerry had the Eggs Benedict. It looked like this and I can't tell you what it tasted like, because I don't eat things with Hollandaise Sauce, because it give me nightmares. Especially with those two beady olive eyes.

I had the burrito special. Here is a funny story about burritos. One time when my sister was a teenager, she babysat a kid whose father had told him that Mexican people only ate burritos. Three burritos a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. What a stereotype, huh?

Well, my breakfast burrito had eggs in it, and peppers and cheese and probably onions and tomatoes I would guess... and it was vastly inferior to the one I had at Huevos a few weeks back. It wasn't as good as my lunch or dinner burrito that day either.

So there you go. Some pictures of food and a story about racist children!

Huevos

2010-11-29T10:06:00.003-06:00

Mid-city? MID CITY?

Is there really anything to do if you live in Mid-City other than tell people how cool you are for living in the American Can Apartments?

My Mid-City experiences are really limited to grocery shopping at Rouses, walking at City Park, and a few treks to Mid-City Bulldog. Oh and going to Clever. Oh... and Pandora. Crap.

Either way, you know know what else Mid-City has going for it? Huevos. Now other New Orleans Food blogs with "larger readerships" and "a consistent posting schedule" have had the best things to say about Huevos. Oh and I just realized they posted a few days ago about Huevos... sorry fellas.

We have nice things to say too. We went the day after the water outage and had a pretty good breakfast with some bottled water on the side.

Kerry had the Huevos Rancheros. Its the charred tomato salsa that really makes it. She had her eggs over medium and I'm not sure what that means but they looked pretty gooey! Anything that comes with tortillas to wrap it in is normally pretty good.

I don't even like to do the work for wrapping things in tortillas myself so I have my meals pre-wrapped. I went with the blue jay special. Egg, cheese, chorizo, I think probably some salsa too - I don't remember. It was great. Filling but not too filling. And it came with a cup of coffe and it was all only $1.82. Or maybe it was $6. I don't really remember, but it was cheap, and good, and they gave me a card, and when I eat 10 of them I get the 11th free!
When I told Kerry that she said, "Who would ever order 10 specials, that's a ton of food."

That made me laugh!

What are you thankful for?

2010-11-27T11:00:00.003-06:00

Because I know your answer is undoubtably "The glorious resurgence of the Eating In Nola foodblog" I thought I would shoot you a quick post about what I'm thankful for.

It's really 3 things, and in this order.

Good friends
Good food
Big Green Eggs

We did our traditional MBA potluck Thanksgiving last week and like always it was great. Kerry and I brought the mashed potatoes, creamed onions, rolls and spiced pear bread pudding. Other selections included stuffing, sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, green bean casserole, cupcakes from Sucre, chocolate pecan pie and a turkey smoked in our friends' brand new Big Green Egg.

Take a look at this plate.

I'm actually sitting in the airport right now getting ready to fly back home from my family Thanksgiving. So check these out too.

Dinner

And the post Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich.

And hell, here is the turkey sandwich I'm eating as I write this in the Victory Lane Bar in the ATL airport.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Coming up? Luke and Huevos.

Friday Night at Pascal's

2010-11-22T08:52:00.005-06:00

Alright so frozen pizza wasn't enough for you? You think you deserve more? You're looking for classic New Orleans restaurants? Fine.

How about Pascal's Manale?

I managed two and a half years in New Orleans without sitting down to dine at the Napoleon institution. It's even more impressive when you take into account that Kerry reviewed the restaurant during her undergrad days, and said review is up on the wall. Or so she says.

Well, we went to Pascal's a few weeks back because KM had a craving for red sauce and I had a craving for dinner. It was a Friday so we had a little bit of a wait but nothing that a Heineken and a Dixie couldn't solve.

Kerry got me super hyped for an eggplant medallion appetizer special - the Eggplant Dryades - that they normally have. When they didn't have it, we went with the Combination Pan Roast. Chopped oysters and crabmeat baked in a dish with shallots and parsley. Pretty darn good.

We kept it pretty simple when it came to the entrees. Like I said, Kerry was fiending for some red sauce so she went with the famous spaghetti and meatballs. Look how much she liked them!

I went with the shrimp plate. Whatever, I know its broring. It was good though. Not really much else to say about it I guess.

Oh and we had bottle of wine. Looks like it was red! We had to finish it at the bar cause they kinda rushed us out of the dining room come 11pm...

So there you go. The first restaurant review in months. Was it everything you hoped for? Stay tuned for a post about Luke soon and a Thanksgiving potluck post.

Back Like I Forgot Something

2010-11-18T18:52:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago at work something asked me, "What do you do when you aren't working?"
...
"I used to have a food blog?"

That was seriously my answer. It's kind of amazing how fast life moves sometimes you know?

I got here in July of 2008 for school and then all the sudden I was done and looking for a job and starting a job and stopped finding the time to tell people about food that I was eating.

Either way I miss it... maybe you do to who knows?

So lets bring it back with a classic. I'm pretty sure there has been some version of this post at least 3 times on this blog in the last 2 years.

But to be honest its the kind of post that this blog really is about so deal with it... and i promise I have some never before seen on EatingInNOLA restaurants coming up later in the week.

So here it is. Pizza at Kerry's place. Honestly, no joke, might be my favorite meal. Who doesn't love frozen pizza? What? Oh yeah your totally right. That's most definitely salad too. Caesar Salad. Light Caesar Salad. We keep it healthy.

The za is from Rousses. Or I guess technically is from where ever they make California Pizza Kitchen pizza (I'm guessing probably not California). The flavas are white, and Sacilian.

Alright so maybe you're already bored. Maybe it's a slow start. Maybe I still dont proofread and my writing style is rusty. But let one thing be clear.

EIN is back.

Sno-Balls

2010-05-21T15:03:00.001-05:00

(Orginally posted on GoNOLA.com)

It’s getting to be summertime here in New Orleans. While most of us are dreading the heat, there are a few things to look forward to during the summer months.

It is not surprising that in New Orleans, at least two famous frozen concoctions exist. While both the New Orleans Frozen Daiquiri and the New Orleans Sno-Ball are icy, syrupy, delicious summertime staples, only one is fun for the whole family (depending on your parenting style).

The New Orleans Sno-Ball, finely shaved ice topped with a generous helping of flavored syrup, has been a city tradition for over 70 years. Originally served by push-cart vendors and shaved by hand, the sno-ball’s popularity exploded with the creation of Ernest Hansen’s Sno-Bliz machine in 1939. Today it is hard to travel a few blocks without coming across a neighborhood sno-ball stand offering flavors like cherry, strawberry, nectar cream, cake batter, chocolate or limeade.

While sno-ball stands are easy to find, there is little doubt that the city's favorites are the original Hansen’s Sno-Bliz and Plum Street Snowballs. Arguments about whose sno-balls reign supreme have torn friendships apart.

Hansen’s at 4801 Tchoupitoulas Street, has the honor of being the inventor of the sno-ball machine and the first to open up a permanent shop in 1944. The walls are covered in news articles and other Hansen’s memorabilia and they dish out everything from a $1.50 one flavored small cup, to a tub of sno-ball covered in crushed pineapple, crushed strawberries, condensed milk, whipped cream and cherries… with ice cream in the middle.

On the other hand, over at 1300 Burdette, Plum Street Snowballs can fit only three ordering customers at a time and its limited wall space has barely enough room to list the dozens of flavors they offer. Plum Street has its own long history to boast, having opened in 1945, only a year after Hansen’s. If you venture to Plum Street Snowballs don’t blink or you might miss it tucked into the surrounding residential neighborhood.

So if the heat is getting to you… or you are nursing a hangover from the other kind of New Orleans frozen treat, grab a sno-ball in your neighborhood and appreciate one of the perks of summer.

La Boca

2010-05-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

Another post from GoNOLA.

With so many great Creole and Cajun restaurants in New Orleans it can be easy to forget that some of the best restaurants in New Orleans don’t have gumbo on the menu.

There are a number of great chefs in the Crescent City whipping up delicious dishes that are not of the New Orleans variety. One of these chefs is Adolfo Garcia. Garcia, a New Orleans native with Panamanian roots, has ties to three New Orleans restaurants that offer something a little different. Rio Mar, Garcia’s seafood restaurant which opened in 2000 is a favorite of both locals and critics and a Mano which opened at the end of last year has quickly become staple in the Warehouse District.

But it is La Boca that really steals the show. La Boca, Garcia’s Fulton Street Steakhouse, is a true Argentine Steakhouse. They serve traditional Argentine cuts of USDA Prime Beef, Organic Beef and American Kobe. Oh, and it is the top Zagat Steakhouse in New Orleans.

I was lucky enough to try it out with a few friends on Monday and La Boca did not disappoint.

If you are the appetizer ordering type, you have to experience the Provoleta. It tastes as good as it looks. Delicious Argentine cheese melted with olive oil and oregano.

I had the Centro de Entrana – An organic hanger steak from Oregon. Do yourself a favor and order it medium-rare. It comes with a good char and seems to get more tender with every bite.

This was the daily special. Flap steak marinated in lime and garlic. It has a great acidity that the avocado mellows out well.

And here are the famed “French Fries La Boca.” Apparently they they take three days to make… they take about three minutes to eat.

So if you’ve worked up a hunger from a day of exploring the myriad art galleries and fantastic museums that make up New Orleans Arts District, be sure to duck into to La Boca for a fresh, new take on the old classic steakhouse.

Superettes

2010-05-10T12:51:00.000-05:00

Another post from www.GoNOLA.com but with some more pictures cause I know you love pictures...

There are three types of places to eat in New Orleans – where tourists eat, where locals eat, and where ONLY locals eat.

New Orleans, maybe more than any place else, is a city of mom and pop grocery stores. Part of the charm of the city is that you have to go out of your way to find a chain supermarket but you are never more than a few blocks away from a superette. And more often than not, where there are superettes, there are New Orleanians eating po-boys, fried seafood and hot lunches.

On my first trip to New Orleans I came across one of these establishments and though I don’t remember the location or the name of the place, I do remember I got the best po-boy anyone has ever eaten. Luckily for me (and you) these superettes are not few and far between. Below are some of my favorites in the city.

Zara’s – Garden District
2042 Prytania Street, New Orleans, LA or
4838 Prytania Street, New Orleans, LA
Zara’s is closed on Sundays but Monday-Saturday they serve up po-boys, fresh deli sandwiches, fried seafood, BBQ and even muffuletta.

Canseco’s Esplanade Market – Faubourg St. John
3135 Esplanade Ave.
Tucked right into a great little Mid-City neighborhood, Canseco’s is like a tiny Whole Foods. In fact, it’s in the same location the first New Orleans’ Whole Foods was years ago, before it relocated to a big box building in nearby suburban Metairie. In addition to groceries, they have a lunch counter that serves made to order po-boys, muffulettas and hot lunches, and picnic tables outside under the oaks.

Calhoun Superette – Uptown
3135 Calhoun Street
In addition to sandwiches, po-boys and burgers, Calhoun Superette serves daily lunch specials and offers seating.

Verti Marte– French Quarter
1201 Royal Street
A French Quarter favorite, Verti Marte never closes and serves everything from breakfast to salads to seafood sandwiches… they even have free delivery.

So you want to eat like a local? Then stop by one of these local groceries (or walk a block or two… you’ll find one) and order up something fried, something over rice, or something between two pieces of french bread.

Cafe Adelaide

2010-04-30T14:31:00.001-05:00

So it's been a while. Sorry about that. I was in China for a while which could turn anyone off to food for awhile.

But here is something I have been doing... writing for the new New Orleans Tourism Blog GoNOLA.com.

Here is a post about $0.25 Martinis at Cafe Adelaide I wrote for GoNOLA:

http://www.gonola.com/2010/04/great-food-greater-tradition-25-cent-martinis-at-cafe-adelaide/

Great Food, Greater Tradition : 25 Cent Martinis at Cafe Adelaide

There is no question that New Orleans is known for great food and drink. With so many world class restaurants and famous bars, it can be difficult to decide where to spend your dining and drinking dollars. But locals (and a few well informed tourists) know of a couple of spots in town that make the decision a little easier… at least at lunch time.

One of these places is Cafe Adelaide in the Lowes Hotel on Poydras Street in the Central Business District. Cafe Adelaide is the younger (and slightly less stuffy) sibling of the famed Commander’s Palace, and just like her older brother, Cafe Adelaide serves up twenty-five cent martinis to lunch hour diners.
The cheap lunch-time martini is a Brennan family tradition that is most widely taken advantage of at Commander’s and Bacco, with Cafe Adelaide being too often overlooked.

So, I know what your thinking, “Twenty five cent martinis? What’s the catch?” The only catch is you’ll need to order an entree. But since Adelaide’s lunch menu boasts dishes like Flat Iron Steak-Frites, Quinoa Crusted Scottish Salmon, and a seasonal lunch special (currently Sugar Cured Roast Beef “Smashed” Po-Boy), it’s the most delicious catch in New Orleans.

So do yourself a favor and stop by Cafe Adelaide for lunch sometime soon. Chef Chris Lusk is turning out delicious, seasonal food daily, and everything that he cooks goes great with a twenty-five cent martini. And if it’s just the drinking you are interested in, Cafe Adelaide’s Swizzle Stick Bar mixes one of New Orleans’ most famous signature drinks: The Adelaide Swizzle .

Cafe Degas

2010-03-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

So Cafe Degas is pretty chill. Not cold chill but chill in the way super laid back people say chill. It was my first trip to Cafe Degas for food. It helped that we scored a sweet $25 gift certificate for $3.

Over all is was a great experience. Pretty good food, nice atmosphere, plus I always like eating in Mid-City and pretending that I belong in that oh so trendy Mid-City crowd.

Now even with the gift certificate we tried to do the meal on the cheap. We shared a cheese plate and didn't spring for dessert but I'm okay with that. The cheese plate was pretty good.

It came with one hard and one soft cheese. I'm not sure what the cheeses were because the waiter didn't tell us. I'm pretty sure you are looking at a brie and a cheddar though.

Kerry had the steak. It was pretty good. Surprisingly the best thing on both of our plates was the broccoli. I cant really explain why. It was cooked in something delicious though. Thats not to say the steak wasn;t good as well. It was. and pommes frites are awesome anywhere.

So here is the problem with low lighting restaurants. This is a pretty miserable looking plate but it looked fine when it came. I had the veal. It had a Parmesan crust and was pan fried and a fantastic sauce. I was happy with my selection but Kerry's steak looked great as well.

So it was a great meal but two small complaints. The service was worse than lack luster. Besides not explaining the cheese, it was slow and the wait staff was rude. And this was a Wednesday night. There wasn't a crowd, it's not like people were just rushing.

And like I said we didn't order dessert but looking at the list and seeing a few that came out, I was unimpressed. I feel like for a french restaurant dessert can be done very very well. It can be what makes the place stick out from the crowd. The desserts at Cafe Degas didn't really do it.

Again though. It was a good meal. It won't be the last time we go by any means.

Louisiana Cookery Pictures

2010-03-23T11:29:00.000-05:00

So the Louisiana Cookery event was a huge success and a great time was had by all. I heard through the grape vine over $50,000 was raised for some great causes.

Rather than a huge recap of the event I'm just going to post some pictures with captions. Mostly because thats must easier and I have a bunch of them. So... Here we go...

First up the offering from Donald Link and the Herbsaint/Cochon crew.

A look at the Stella! table.

Scott Boswell's Asian Chili prawns.

Mat Murphey's M Bistro Crew.Selection from Mat Murphey and Susan Spicer - Rabbit Confit Cake with a Fried Quail Egg on Rabbit Andouille and Kashkaval Brioche with Tabasco Hand Ground Mustard Sauce

Louisiana Caviar

A few good looking fish.

Something with Alligator from Tory McPhail from Commander's

Best thing of the day. From Brigtsen's - Blackened Tuna with Smoked Corn Sauce, Red Bean Salsa, Roasted Red Pepper Sour Cream & Maras Farm Sprouts

Tabasco was on hand explaining how they make... Tabasco.

The crab taco from the Pelican Club was suprisingly very very good.

Here is the deep-fried chocolate bacon cupcake from Tariq Hanna

Oh... Don't believe me? Take that sucka.

Chef Garcia's Louisiana Goat Cheese & Sweet Potato Bunuelos

5 Fifty 5's pulled pork sandwich.

Red Beans and Rice from the Dickie Brennan Group

Some of the best chefs in the world... just hanging out.

John Besh's Bruschette with Warm Crawfish Salad Dipped into Crawfish Bisque

Some awesome bread from the General Store.

And last but not least Frenchy painting the event. A painting that went for $5,300 I might add.

So... All in all it was an awesome event. To bad it doesn't happen every year here in New Orleans... but then again why shouldn't it?

Catch

2010-03-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

So I had a Cafe Degas post all ready to go for today but it turns out that we were scooped! So I'll give you a few days to forget about this Cafe Degas post and post mine later in the week.

That brings us to Catch.

According to some biblical scholars I know we are in the middle of the Lenten season. Now because I have years and years of CCD experience I know that Lent somehow has something to do with eating fish. So a few Fridays ago we ended up at Catch. Catch is new and they serve seafood. They are in the old Semolina location. Man I miss Semolina.

Now as I have been telling anyone who asks about Catch... I think its really hard to run a seafood restaurant. So much is dependent on whats fresh and I think its probably tougher to time things since cooking seafood can be a little more attention intensive.

You know what probably isn't hard to make though? A fish sandwich ($12) and fish and chips ($15!).

My fish sandwich wasn't awful but it wasn't worth $12 either. It was just really unimpressive. To be honest I think this picture probably sums up anything I could write about it.

Actually I just took a look at the picture and it doesn't look that bad. I guess it wasn't bad but it wasn't good either and after tax and tip you have to imagine I payed close to $16 for it.

Kerry went with the fish and chips which looked awesome on the menu. It came with sweet potato fries instead of the standard non-sweet potato fries. She seemed to like that. What she didn't like was the super overcooked fish. It was completely dried out. For $15 you expect something at least appetizing. It looks pretty good in the picture but I'm telling you... nothing special.

So Lent or otherwise I wouldn't suggest Catch, that being said they are still pretty new so maybe they will get their act together.

Frankie and Johnny's

2010-03-18T09:00:00.002-05:00

So Frankie and Johnny's is a classic New Orleans spot.

In all honesty- and it might make me a bad New Orleans food blogger to say it but- there are plenty of classic New Orleans spots that I don't get all that fired up over. I think maybe its because I'm not huge on fried seafood. I'm not sure what it is but its just not my thing.

I think that is probably what led to me getting the meatball poboy at Frankie and Johnny's. Huge mistake. Why I assumed it would be a decent choice is beyond me. I think maybe I figured that if Subway could turn out an edible meatball sandwich this place should be able top as well. Not the case. I feel silly even complaining about it since its just not what they do there but it was particularly bad.

Kerry fared better with her fried shrimp platter. She particularly enjoyed the breading on the shrimp. I enjoyed stealing her french fries.

There isn't anything wrong with Fankie and Johnny's. They serve fried seafood. Just make sure that's what you order. And they have crawfish. Who doesn't like that?

Frankie and Johnny's

321 Arabella Street

New Orleans, LA. 70115

Chefs for Louisiana Cookery

2010-03-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

So full disclosure I have been doing some work for the James Beard Event that is this Sunday. But the way I see it- that is even more reason to believe me when I tell you it'd going to be incredible.

So the event is called Chefs for Louisiana Cookery. Turns out the James Beard Foundation will be announcing its 2010 nominees in New Orleans this year. So what better way to get excited for it than getting some incredible food from every incredible chef in our fair city the day before.

The whole event is about Louisiana ingredients and chefs. Let me list off some names for you. John Besh, Susan Spicer, Donald Link, Scott Boswell, Frank Brigtsen, Adolfo Garcia, Darin Nesbit, Tariq Hanna. And that's just the half of it. Find a fill list here.

The event is this Sunday from 3-7 at Kingsley House. In addition to awesome food, there will also be music from John Papa Gros and Alex McMurry, a silent auction with a ton of awesome items (including a painting by Frenchy of the event) and a General Store where you can stock up on cookbooks and other wares from all your favorite New Orleans chefs.

Tickets are $100 or $150 for VIP (which includes extra face time with the chefs, champagne, and special hor d'oeuvres).A little pricey for you? I get it, but look at it this way - how much would it cost you to eat a meal at Herbsaint, August, Stella, and Bayona... now add Brigtsen's, La Boca, Commander's and about 15 other restaurants. You get the point.

So I'll see you there? Awesome. Looking forward to it.

Il Posto

2010-03-15T09:05:00.000-05:00

Have you been to this place? No. I'm serious? Have you. Then you're missing out.

Il Posto is fantastic. I wish I lived closer but to be honest, if I lived next door to this Italian cafe it woudn't be close though.

This is a cool place down on Dryades Street. They serve salads and pininis but these are not your run of the mill pressed sandwiches. The ingredients are fresh and and of an extremely high quality. And more reasonably priced than many places serving similar fare.

We both had the Classic Proscuitto. Thin procuitto, thick, salty mozzarella, and pesto on warm crispy ciabatta. This is my new favorite spot to get a sandwich. Great food and a comfortable place to spend a little time.

Plus they gave us a few hints on the ganache that went on our bacon creme cupcakes we served at Hogs for the Cause.

I will be back soon. Very soon- and it won't be soon enough.

Il Posto
4607 Dryades Street
New Orleans, LA

Commander's Palace Lunch

2010-03-10T09:00:00.003-06:00

Commander's Palace had the best lunch special in New Orleans. Oh you thought I meant food special? Oh no. Oh God no.

$0.25 Martini's. That's right. Two. Five. Cents. Dig it. Now I'm not really a martini guy but if you are willing to sell me anything for twenty five cents I'll buy it. You can quote me on that.

I get the green ones because I'm pretty manly.

Okay okay they have pretty good food specials too. Like an appetizer and entree for $16. And this is Commander's we are talking about not Chili's. You're thinking about how good Chili's is right now aren't you? Me too.

So Kerry and I actually got the $20 option because it sounded better. Kerry started with the turtle soup. Now I don't know anything about turtle soup but I assume this is some of the best there is. What I do know is there was no turtle shell in it which I expect would be the most common turtle soup problem.

And I started with the Artichoke Salad. I just thought it was just okay but in all fairness I get pretty upset if there isn't either cheese or some sort of candied nut in a salad. Preferably both.

And we both had the Shrimp with the Spoon Bread. Look at all that shrimp. It was a great deal. The $16 option was Citrus Glazed Drum which also looked good.

So at some point this showed up. According to our waiter it is the best drink they serve. I think it was Holly Berry Martini. It was delicious... Seriously I don't normally drink these types of drinks but I'm not ashamed.

And last but not least we had dessert. It was my first experience with pecan pie. It was awesome. The only problem is I'm sure I won't be able to get pie of this quality just anywhere.

So there you go all this and you're out the door for $30 a person after tax and tip and enough martinis to get you through a Wednesday. Not too shabby.

Let me know when you're going. You can buy me a few drinks.

Hogs for the Cause

2010-03-09T10:24:00.000-06:00

So Hogs for the Cause was a huge success. Looks like the $20,000 goal was exceeded and I think almost everyone sold out of food. I know we sold over 200 sandwiches and 140 cupcakes and kicked in a cool $500 to fight pediatric brain tumors.

Here are a few pictures. Well get back to restaurant posts tomorrow.

Here is the scene out on the fly.

This is our team's stet up.

Cooking our pork.

And the famous Bacon Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

Hogs for the Cause

2010-03-03T09:00:00.001-06:00

So who's excited about Hogs for the Cause? I know we are.

For those of you that don't know, Hogs for the Cause is a fundraiser this weekend that is being held in honor of 5 year old Ben Sarrat Jr. who unfortunately just last week passed away from DIPG, a a tumor located in the brain stem.

The event well be held from sun up to sundown on Saturday out on the Audubon fly. Teams will be competing in a pork cook-off there will be lots of other stuff going on.

We will be part of one of the two Tulane MBA teams competing. We will be serving up a Pork Chop Sandwich Three Ways as well as some Bacon Cream Chocolate Cupcakes. Come by, try out our dish, and make a donation to a great cause.

Below is some information from the website. Make sure you stop by and say hello.

Come join us while we roast pigs on a spit and smoke oysters. Plenty of drinks intended for adults and other food as well.

Hogs for the Cause began as an idea to recreate the pig roasts so often encountered around the South. Depending on the amount of money raised and number of attendees, we can determine how many Pigs we plan to roast.

At the very least, we will have one hog on a spit and one in the smoker. Yes, this will be an all day event! It may not take long for the piggie to get to the market, but cooking to perfection takes time!

Not a fan of Pork? Don't show! Just kidding. We will have a variety of other foods smoking as well as many enjoyable beverages. Pork and Beans is good but Pork and beer is better!

Lakeview Harbor

2010-03-02T09:49:00.001-06:00

So Lakeview Harbor is up by City Park and (kinda) near the lake. They serve burgers. Specifically they serve Port-of-Call style burgers.

Their burgers are average... I'll be honest, I can think of at least 3 places off the top of my head (Port-of-Call, Yo Mama's, Bulldog...) whose burgers I enjoy more than Lakeview Harbor's... but my favorite part about Lakeview Harbor is their appreciation of the ironic.

I'll be honest, when I heard "Lakeview Harbor" there were two things I was expecting about the location. I think you can probably figure out what those assumptions were. But Lakeview Harbor is located in a strip mall off of Harrison Ave., with no lakes or harbors in sight. Here is what it looks like.

They do have an old school claw game there, though, so they are okay in my book. Oh and the staff was super friendly too which is always a plus.

I guess we better comment more on the the food. I had a cheeseburger. Like at Port-of-Call, the burger comes with shredded cheese and a baked potato. I couldn't see any reason not to add the bacon, chives and sour cream to the potato, so I did. So did Kerry, except she got a turkey burger on a wheat bun which is something I don't really support.

So was it the best burger in town? No, probably not, but it for sure wasn't the worst and if I lived in Lakeview I could see myself being someone that went there every once in a while. It's worth a try even if you don't live there.

Oh and here is the address of the place. Someone requested we start doing that.

Lakeview Harbor
911 Harrison Avenue
New Orleans, LA‎ 70124
(504) 486-4887

Panchita's Mexican Criolla

2010-02-25T09:00:00.002-06:00

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.

Pepperoni's Cafe

2010-02-17T13:32:00.000-06:00

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.

Bourbon House

2010-02-11T09:00:00.004-06:00

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.

Somethin' Else Cafe

2010-02-10T08:45:00.001-06:00

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.

Taqueria Corona

2010-02-05T08:42:00.004-06:00

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.

TJ Gourmet Hot Dog

2010-02-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

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.

Squeal BBQ

2010-01-28T09:24:00.001-06:00

Hey so this blog is over a year old now. A year and four days to be exact. That's kinda a long time in foodblog years I think. Though I don't really know. Maybe there will be a Eating In NOLA year in retrospect post on Monday.

Today though you get a iPhone picture of food from Squeal.

We went the other night after a 504ward event. It's in Kerry's 'hood so we had been wanting to try it out for a while.

Prognosis? Eh. It was okay. But I have a feeling we ordered poorly. There were lots of things on the menu that looked promising including an array of salads but I feel like if I'm going to a BBQ place for the first time I have to get the pork sandwich.

Now I immediately take issue with places that don't at least offer coleslaw on the sandwich. I had to forgo the fries to get coleslaw to put on myself. Also its on a roll rather than a bun. I don't know, that's okay I guess, but for some reason it seems like a messier way to eat it.

That all being said they had a real good looking late night weekend menu. Better than just good- like gourmet. So it would be a perfect post Maple Leaf spot on the weekend. So I wasn't terribly impressed but I think I could have been had I ordered something else. For example Kerry got some cheese grits that I thought were delicious.

I'll be going back though and when I do I'll let you know how much better it was.

Boucherie

2010-01-27T09:09:00.001-06:00

Boucherie lives on Jeannette. Lots of people love Boucherie -- like, really dig it. We had dinner there a few months ago and were not bowled over, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth another try. At least another try at lunch. Especially because I do like the tiny 12 hour roast beef po-boys they serve out of that purple truck.

They started us out with an amuse which was nice. I'm not sure I've ever gotten an amuse at lunch before. It was a perfect one-bite size and included duck, red beans, and a coriander creme which was my favorite part.

For an appetizer we got the French Fries with garlic butter and Parmesan Reggiano. They were the most memorable part of our first trip to Boucherie, so it was a must to order them again. We cleaned our plate, mainly because french fries are delicious and adding butter and cheese only makes that more true.

And since I'm a creature of habit I did actually get the 12 hour roast beef po-boy. Judge me if you want but it comes with pickled red onions and horseradish cream, and who can argue with that? And the bread is really good too. Though, I'll be honest, by the end it was a little much. There is a big difference between eating a whole one and the smaller ones they offer at festivals. But hey... no regrets. If I had it to do again I would have made the same call.

Kerry had the white peppercorn smoked scallops with sweet potatoes and a Steen's Molasses Veloute (just gonna pretend I know what that means). The scallops were huge and cooked perfectly, and the mashed potatoes beneath were roasted and topped with scallions to create a savory accompaniment rather than cloyingly sweet (which sometimes happens with sweet potatoes). The dish came with some fried ginger on top, which was crunchy and flavorful and not something we'd seen before. Seems like the new trend is serving seafood with sweet potatoes. It seems weird to me, but I guess people smarter than me know what they are doing.

Either way I think it's fair to say Boucherie redeemed itself in our eyes. Definitely a good place for lunch.

LaCote Brasserie

2010-01-21T09:00:00.001-06:00

So LaCote was pretty packed after the second game last Saturday night. We headed over from Lucy's and I don't think we were the only ones. I think it says something about a city when their football fans are just as comfortable at LaCote as they are at Lucy's.

Now, it was pretty late by the time we rolled in and ordered our two post game snacks... and I'll be honest and admit I don't remember ever detail of the trip to LaCote - but one thing I for sure don't remember was being incredibly wowed by the food.

Kerry got the Crabcake. It was a pretty standard fried crabcake I guess. It came over some sweet poatoes and corn covered in a cream sauce. At the time it didn't see all that weird to me (very few things probably would have) but looking back on it now it seems like a bizarre combination.

I had the Alligator Croquettes. It's not something I would normally order- looking back I wonder why I did actually. They were covered in a sauce that was about 20 degrees too spicy in my opinion.

So not a great late night snack... I think we probably would have been happier with Lucy's version of Mexican food... but it was an interesting experience and a welcome haven from the crowds.

Precinct

2010-01-19T09:00:00.002-06:00

So where did you spend the game? Wherever you were I'm sure it was great and exciting... but did you get free shots and Champagne?

There is a new place that just opened up in the CBD called the Precinct. It's a bar/wing place that also calls itself a lounge. Now I'm not sure all those things go together but they have a about 8 TV's, a projector and a clientele that hasn't quite grown to the point of a crowd yet so it is the kind of place I like to watch a football game.

Its in an old firehouse down on Annunciation. They were serving 2 for 1 beers up until kickoff which meant 2 Bud Lites for $2.50. They also gave out shots of something green when the Saints scored. I think its worth trying out next week if your looking for a place to enjoy the game with friends but not trying to stand in a crowd for 4 hours.

They have food too. Kerry got this Veggie Pizza. She said that it tasted much better than it looks in this picture so I guess that some something good about there food and something bad about my photography skillz. I actually had a bite too and shes right. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I went a less healthy route and went with Cheese and Bacon Fries with Ranch. I dont regreat it. They were as good as they look.

So try it out this weekend if you want... but if you want to wait until next season I'm okay with that too. Every bar I like in New Orleans is destined to either close down or get too crowded for my liking. So I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Ralph's on the Park: Wagyu Beef

2010-01-18T09:00:00.002-06:00

Wagyu = Japanese Cow

There is something interesting going on at your local, park-view, fine dining establishment. Ralph's on the Park is serving up something you aren't likely to get anywhere else in the city... or the state for that matter. For the last month Chefs Haley Bittermann and Chip Flanagan have been serving certified Japanese Wagyu Beef to diners in the know. Why only diners in the know? Because up until now it hasn't been on the menu.

Kerry and I were lucky enough to be invited partake in this delicious secret last Thursday.

So whats the big deal about this beef? Well to start it has a $12 an ounce price tag with a 3 ounce minimum. So that's pretty pricey but you really do get what you pay for. What you are paying for is beef from a cow who spent its 2 year life drinking beer and getting body massages. And you know you aren't getting ripped off because if you ask, Chef Chip will probably let you see the certificate that comes with each nine pound rib-eye that comes into his kitchen.

So by my calculations what you see below is a $1,700 hunk of culinary heaven. What is important to realize is this isn't the "Kobe" beef you had on that one trip you took to Vegas. You probably got a steak from a Wagyu/Angus hybrid. This stuff us the real, straight off the plane from Japan, deal. According to the chefs, there are only two suppliers of this stuff in the country and their supplier only is supplying 15 other restaurants. None of them being in Louisiana. Look at that marbling. The stuff just melts in your mouth.

So what does it taste like? Kinda like a rib-eye on crack. It is served with a little bit of cauliflower puree and a dash of salt and pepper and that's it. And that's all you want because you really want to taste this stuff.

Above is about two ounces of the Wagyu. I would suggest sharing a 4 or 5 ounce portion before your meal. It's always exciting when local restaurants are doing something a little different. So go give it a try... you know or don't, but either way lets all appreciate that Ralph's on the Park is willing to offer us something that isn't available to the masses.

Fresco Cafe

2010-01-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

Hey it's Carnival Season... kinda. I'll be honest the Phunny Phorty Phellows parade last week wasn't the most impressive parade I've ever been to, but it was a good excuse to have a few beers with friends.

After the parade I was hungry. My friends suggested heading over the Fresco Cafe. I hadn't been in quite some time but I have no real problem with with the place so I headed over and got a to go order. I was told the Baked Fusili was enough food for three meals so I went with that. I was either really hungry or a glutton because it was only enough for one meal.

There isn't really a ton to say about it. It's not the best looking to go order but who cares about that right? What it was perfect for was the situation. I wanted something quick, fast, and with garlic bread that I could just sit and eat at home. This foot the bill but I think a better option would have been the chicken parmesan at Roman Pizza. But that doesn't mean it wasn't okay. It for sure was okay.

On a history note it turns out I got the same exact thing for the very first Eating In NOLA restaurant post back a year ago. That's at least a little interesting right? Right? Oh.

Grand Isle

2010-01-12T09:00:00.001-06:00

I had been looking forward to trying Grand Isle for quite some time. I'm not exactly sure what had me so excited about it. I do know that I wouldn't be excited to try it again.

We went last night to celebrate the start of our last semester as Tulane MBA students. We don't venture down to toward the Convention Center very often so it seemed like a novel choice to us, but what started out as a novel trip to a new restaurant turned into a pretty big disappointment on all fronts.

I don't think we are very hard to please. I'm pretty forgiving of sub-par service and I can get by on mediocre food but both at the same time is hard to get past. Especially on a night where we were one of maybe 6 tables. The host and the server were both pretty abrupt and unfriendly. I had to ask for the specials one by one. Even when standing at the table the server was more interested in watching the Villanova Louisville game. The most talkative person of the night was the food runner.

And like I said, the food didn't make up for it.

We started with the onion rings which the menu claimed were the best in town. I don't know if that's true or not but unfortunately they were the best thing we had that night.

Kerry had the fish with chili butter. It came with some potatoes and zucchini. Thankfully it was a little better than it looks here but still nothing special.

I had the Hand Cut Pork Plate. I wasn't sure that meant so I asked the waiter and he said it was a carved pork tenderloin. That sounded okay to me. This was definitely some sort of chop though. It came with collards and grits. I don't know one thing about collards so I won't comment on those. The grits weren't bad though. Even though the pork wasn't what I was expecting I still think it would have been better if the sauce tasted like something/anything at all.

So not a great meal. Maybe not the worst meal covered on this blog but definitely the one that has let me down the most.

It's not that I'm mad at you Grand Isle... just very very disappointed.

**Oh and I just realized why I thought it was going to be good. It was that great poboy at Poboy Fest. Last time I base my expectations on 3 inches of poboy.

Doors Pub

2010-01-11T09:01:00.002-06:00

So, in general, haven't the pictures on this blog been a lot better? Yeah not today though, so prepare yourself for that.

I had a buddy come down the day of the BCS Championship. Thinking I would show him New Orleans has some great bars to watch football at I took him to Mid City Bulldog... packed. So I figured Bruno's wasn't the worst option in the world... also packed. So we ended up at Doors Pub across the street from Brunos.

I'm pretty sure this location has been three different establishments in the 19 months I have lived here. Probably not a good sign for Doors Pub but hopefully they make it. Besides having the most bizarre theme I have ever heard of (... doors), it's not a bad place to watch a game and have some beers. Its clean and comfortable with pretty good TVs and a decent selection on tap, including Andygator. On Thursday during the game at least, they had 2 for 1 drafts which worked out to $2 beers.

So those are the good things. The food wasn't great- though in all fairness they have pizza that we didn't try. What we did try was the below pictured burger.

I think it was called the Big 'n' Hot but it might have be the Big 'n' Spicy. Either way you get the idea. It's half beef and half hot sausage. Now normally I wouldn't get something like that but is said right on the menu it was Voted Best Burger in 2007. Looking back that seems weird since this place opened up about 2 or 3 months ago so maybe some alarms should have gone off. My friend said he could have gone with 75% beef and 25% hot sausage... I think I could have gone with 100% beef. it came with some broken corn chips though so, that's something at least.

That being said It was a good place to watch a game. Good beer at cheap prices and I'm sure the pizza is okay, we saw a lot of people ordering it. So if you are ever trying to watch something at Bruno's and it's a little too crowded, head on over to Doors Pub. It would be nice if they had a little longer tenure than their predecessors.

Quick Post 4: Butcher Brunch

2010-01-10T16:10:00.001-06:00

I was away for a few days... but I'm back now with a Sunday quick post, and what is a better Sunday post than Cochon Butcher brunch?

I had been itching to try their brunch for a while so I went with a friend today. I had the Bourbon French Toast with Satsuma Maple Syrup and Fleur de Sel Whipped Cream.

I normally don't like sweet things for brunch but it sounded too good to pass up. I'm glad I didn't. It was great. I mean it was a little rich but what do you expect.

Okay, that's its for now. Eating In NOLA will be back to it tomorrow.

Felipe's Taqueria

2010-01-05T10:51:00.000-06:00

I know plenty of people that think Felipe's is pretty good. I'm not sure that I'm in that camp, but it for sure could be a lot worse. As far as the whole "we make your Mex-American food while you watch" thing goes, I'd say its of pretty standard quality. One thing that they are really good at is being about 400 meters from my house, so I end up there every six weeks for so.

I think they must be making a killing. If lines of people at 3pm and being able to open up a location in the Quarter is any indication, their "quick and cheap" business model is working pretty well for them.

As far as the food goes you pretty much get the same mess of food you get at any of these types of places. I paid somewhere around $7 for what you see below. Under all those accompaniments are three carnitas flautas. I got the chips, queso and drink with it as well. I could have just as well gotten the tacos or anything else and it would pretty much be the same thing. That's the genius of these places.

So Felipe's is what you expect it to be and in some cases probably what you want. Now I think there are better options out there. I like Sarita's and Tacos San Miguel and Juan's better but those are farther away for me at least, and not as fast. So for cheap Mexican(ish) food its not a bad option but chances are you already know of a better one.

Lebanon's Cafe

2010-01-04T09:00:00.006-06:00

I'm not big on Middle Eastern food. It's just not my thing. I don't hate it or anything but there is almost always something else I'd rather be eating. Because of that, it took me a long time to get to Lebanon's despite hearing nothing but good things about the place, including that they have no corkage fee.

Last night, being hungry at 9:15pm was enough o break my non-Lebanon's streak. Kerry and I went and had a pretty good meal.

We started with the hummus. I don't know- it was pretty standard hummus. I'm not sure I even know how to pick a good hummus from a bad hummus. I'm pretty sure this one wasn't a bad one though. What was for sure good, was the pita that came with it. There is a lot to be said about a place that serves you warm fresh pita at 9:15 on a Sunday night.

Kerry had the spinach salad. The only real complaint about on the night was that it came out pretty different than was described on the menu. The dressing was a tomato based one and not the advertised vinaigrette and she got pecans instead of pine nuts. Those are two pretty big discrepancies in my book but she was pretty positive about it.

I had the chicken kabob sandwich. As you can see i tore a little hole in the pita so you could see the goodness inside. It was much better than most kabob sandwiches I have had at other New Orleans Middle Eastern establishments. The chicken was marinated well and there were some pretty tasty onions in there and I like tasty onions in things, so that was pretty good. Plus it was quite large taking into account the $5.50 price tag.

So yeah, Lebanon's is pretty good. Like I said, I'm not big on Middle Eastern fare but it is definitely the place I would recommend if someone asked me about Middle Eastern food. And the

Quick Post 3: Dough Bowl Pizza

2010-01-03T09:00:00.003-06:00

So I resurrected the Quick Post for a short Sunday post about pizza. Its a quick post for a few reasons. One I have written about the Dough Bowl before (but not their pizza), and two it's Sunday and chances are you aren't reading this.

So the Dough Bowl has some pretty great pizza... and not just if you're a Tulane undergrad and its 3am. Its good all day long. The slices are big and the dough is good and the cheese is melted. Throw some Parmesan cheese on there and some red pepper flakes and you got yourself the best lunch in the city under $3.01. Now there might be better pizza in the city... but while you're eating a slice of Boot pizza you are too satisfied to care.

Clover Grill

2010-01-02T12:58:00.001-06:00

Healthy eating was a disaster... lets pretend it didn't happen. And how are we going to do that? By eating at a diner of course.

New Years Eve day we headed down to the quarter to see what people from Ohio look like. We were hungry but everything place we tried was packed with mid-westerners and panhandle dwellers. Eventually though, we came across Clover Grill.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but Kerry liked that they were supporting the Saints with a black and gold ballon arch, and I liked that they the only thing they advertised on their windows were "Eggs", so we went in. Immediately we were told they were crowded and if we wanted to eat we needed to wait outside. Okay, sure.

Clover Grill has a certain charm... a charm described as "not for homophobes" by the Zagat review hanging wall. But thats not the only kind of charm that Clover Grill can claim. There are two clocks on the wall reading incorrect times. The "City Hall" clock reads 4:50pm because "whenever you need something at City Hall they act like they are 10 min from closing" and the "Chalmette" clock which is slow because "Chalmette is behind the times".

In the 10 minutes we waited for Kerry's Burger to cook under a hubcap, the guy behind the counter told another 10 groups of people they were going to need to wait outside if they wanted to eat. So at least we weren't the only ones.

And the food was what you would expect but just a touch better. Like I said, Kerry had the burger. I went with a grilled cheese on wheat with bacon and tomato. We shared a side of fries which was more than enough for us to share.

We don't spend a ton of time in the quarter but maybe you do. You should to to Clover Grill... unless you're from Chalmette. And don't be put off if you are told to wait outside. They move quick... you're probably only 15 minuets away from sinking your teeth into a hubcap burger.

Healthy Eating Series: #3 Cabana Grill

2009-12-31T09:00:00.003-06:00

If the three "Open" signs in the window didn't tip you off then let me be the first to let you know... Cabana Grill (no joke... that's the website printed on the menus) on St. Charles Uptown has opened up. Its a nice place with a friendly staff and a island theme. Thanks to the good people over at Cabana I can finally let you know about a place that is 1. healthy and 2. has some pretty decent food.

Kerry and I went after I picked her up at the airport and we were pretty impressed with the menu. There were plenty of things I wanted to order and there really are plenty of pretty good healthy options. They have around 7 or 8 salads and a number of lighter sandwiches.

I went with the Island Chopped Salad. Chopped lettuce, field greens, corn, edamame, tomatoes, topped with honey pecans and smoked turkey (substituted chicken) in a vinaigrette. It was pretty good and pretty filling. My only real compliant was that the chicken was a little dry and a little bland but I substituted it in so I have a hard time complaining too much.

Kerry had the avocado egg-rolls. I'm not sure how healthy they are but they were awesome and not only because they came with two different dipping sauces.

It was a pretty good experience on the whole and a nice new option in the neighborhood. Good menu, nice space, great lemonade and the staff was really helpful and very nice. The only thing that was a little weird is it seconds as a oddly stocked convenience store. Right in the middle of the restaurant they have shelves stocked with cans of soup, bags of sugar, and squeezable icing. Don't believe me?

Ha! Don't believe that sucka. All joking aside though, it wasn't a bad lunch and definitely had some healthy options. It's worth a try. So go try it already.

Healthy Eating Series: #2 Back to the Garden

2009-12-30T09:10:00.002-06:00

After yesterday's post, which highlighted a ham shop as a healthy dining option, I figured I better find a real healthy restaurant for today's post. But don't thank me yet.

I had a meeting downtown yesterday so I figured it would be a good opportunity to try Back to the Garden in the CBD, which I had been told might fit the bill for this series.

Look I rarely say anything bad about a place. That's because, quite honestly, I rarely come across a place that doesn't have at least a few redeeming qualities. All I can think of, that's nice to say about Back to the Garden, is that the food was served quickly. I wanted to say it was cheap too, but really what does that matter if you don't want to eat the food?

So I got the Veggie Stir-fry. What you see above is actually the half order. Its a medley of vegetables served over some brown rice. I'll be honest even looking at the picture is making me a little queasy (for the full effect give the picture a click). It just wasn't good. It was pretty heavy on the garlic. And I'm pretty sure it was the kind of garlic that comes out of a jar and not out of a clove.

And I don't know a lot about brown rice... I feel like it probably makes for a good substitute in a dish or a recipe, but when you are just serving it straight up its kinda like eating... well its kinda like eating brown rice I guess.

Now there are sandwiches and salads on the menu that might be better, but I saw a few of them on other tables and nothing looked too stellar. So I wouldn't recommend Back to the Garden... even if you looking for a healthy option. From my experience, chances are you will only eat a few bites and then grab a McDouble on the way to your meeting... and in the end how healthy is that really?

Healthy Eating Series: #1 Heavenly Ham

2009-12-29T09:15:00.001-06:00

How was your Christmas? Mine was... filling. So this week we are going to look at four healthier eating options in the city. Hopefully you all provide me with some good ideas on places to hit. I've been here for a little more than a year and a half now and I can't think of any particularly healthy spots... which might be appernent in this post. So comment please and let me know the places you think have some good healthy options. So lets go...

Healthy Eating? Heavenly Ham? Hilarious.

Let me explain. I had every intention of starting this series out with a place that was healthy and sounded healthy but things went awry. First Il Posto was closed and then I was gonna go to Surrey's but it was just so far away and I was so hungry. But believe it or not Heavenly Ham has some good healthy options.

Now don't get me wrong they have plenty of butter croissant stuffed with bacon and American cheese options too... but show a little self control and you can walk out of there with a fresh sandwich that doesn't sit like a brick in your stomach.

I went with the chicken salad. Now normally it comes on a croissant but I got it on sliced wheat bead which is one of the healthiest of the sliced breads. Now I planned on getting it without cheese, but just by looking at me they could tell I love cheese and put it on without me asking. Nothing I can do about that.

I've just recently become a chicken salad convert so I'm by no means an expert, but I'm pretty sure they have pretty good chicken salad. It would have been great with bacon on it. I bet the bacon there is awesome.

So to wrap up. Heavenly Ham - not my first choice of healthy spots but definitely can be healthy if you want it to be- and good sandwiches either way. So go there... just don't get the ham... or do... either way.

Eating In Places Other Than NOLA: Atlanta - Quick Service Food

2009-12-28T11:05:00.002-06:00

Its good to be home. But that doesn't mean I can't force one more Atlanta post on you.

We are only a few weeks away from the unveiling of the "Fattest States 2010" list. Now both Louisiana and Georgia are bound to be on it but these states' fat strategies are very different. What Louisianans manage to do with fried seafood in cream sauce, Georgians do with delicious, delicious quick service food.

Georgia must have the best quick service food in the country. Just drive down any road in metro Atlanta and you'll find a Mecca of quick service food options. Woven in among McDonald's and Burger King and Wendy's and Taco Bell you find Chick-fil-a, and Waffle House, and Nathans and Firehouse Subs and Bruster's and Steak 'n' Shake and tons and tons of other options.

Today we look at three. One fast food, one independent quick service and one glorious super market.

Zaxby's

Above is Zaxby's chicken finger sandwich. I hear a lot of people (one guy, once) talking about who reigns superior when it comes to Zaxby's and Cane's. Both are chicken finger spots but really they are pretty different. Zaxby's offers a lot more options than Cane's, with a bunch of different salads and sandwiches. Zaxby's is also a little cheaper I think. Cane's has better chicken though so i guess that's probably what actually matters.

Dacula Dogs

Even more impressive than the chains, metro Atlanta is laden with great independently run quick service places that, for the most part, reside in little strip malls. I counted 4 independent pizza places in less than a mile just driving around. Dacula Dogs is a hot dog place pretty close to my house. I can only think of one good hot dog place in the city (Coney Island Dogs up on Airline), but when me and my dad wanted to grab one the day after Christmas we had something like 5 options. This place was great. Fresh Vienna hot dogs on warm poppy seed buns... great stuff.

Publix

When I was a little kid I remember people protesting outside of Publix all the time. Now I don't know what they were protesting about but I like to think it was people from other places protesting how good Publix Subs are. These are the best grocery store subs I have ever had and in my top 3 sandwiches anywhere. And I have made it clear in the past I think, that I love sandwiches. Publix subs are fresh and substantial, and come on bread that is soft and chewy and amazing.

So Louisianans... If you are interested in getting fat and you want to do it faster and cheaper than you can here... head on up to Atlanta. Its delicious there.

Holiday Cooking

2009-12-26T08:00:00.003-06:00

The Holiday's are great. They mean I can watch History Channel specials on Ancient Aliens (for the second time) and write blog posts without worrying that I'm neglecting something more important. In recent years they have become a little greater with the addition of these two guys into the family.

There are lots of perks to having nephews. One nice thing about them is they are a great tool for enacting revenge on my sister for years of sisterly torment. For example every time I see them, I try to convince them that their shoes make their feet hot and they should take them off whenever they feel the need. Ha! Take that Sis. As much as I enjoy using them as miniature saboteurs, the best thing about them is they open up opportunities for multiple Christmas meals.

This year, my sister and her family traveled down from Charlotte, while I traveled up from New Orleans, to converge at my parents house in Atlanta for a few days. We did the Christmas thing early in Atlanta, then I followed them back home to prolong the holiday festivities... namely the holiday eating.

The Atlanta meal included what is now becoming my mother's famous herb roasted turkey breast.

It was served with all the classic sides - mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, biscuits, stuffing and green beans a few different ways. I enjoyed the meal with my mother and father, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law, and my nephews. I actually don't think I helped with the meal at all. But I ate it pretty good and I drank the wine so I feel like I did my part.

The holiday meal in Charlotte was a slightly different experience. With a 5 year old and a 3 year old around extra help in the kitchen always seems appreciated. So I spent the a few hours prepping some of the dishes. Above are some of the dished in their early stages. You're looking at the "before" of some pepper crusted pork tenderloin with a molasses glaze and pears and apples, and herb and garlic roasted potatoes.

I forgot to get a picture of dessert but it was a Bananas Foster bread pudding. These things where in it.

And the dinner table looked like this. I was lucky enough to share it with my sister and her family and my brother-in-law's sister and her family... which included two more toddlers for a grand total of 4 kids 5 and under. Not quite the quietest Christmas ever.

Look and here is a picture of me and my sister, just to prove we have no problem getting along now. I hope everyone had a great holiday. There might be one or two more non-New Orleans posts in the future but then back to the grind of Eating In NOLA. It's a tough life.

I'm thinking after the Christmas gluttony, a series on the healthy side on New Orleans eating might be in order. If you have any ideas please comment here or shoot me an email.

Eating in Places Other Than NOLA - Atlanta: Urban Flats

2009-12-24T11:02:00.001-06:00

Forgive the pictures I forgot my camera.

For all of its dining options there is a type of restaurant that just doesn't exist in New Orleans or even Metairie for that matter.

I'm not really sure how to classify these restaurants but I'm pretty sure the following fake adjectives describe them: semi-regional, urban upscale, quasi-franchise modern, trendyish concept...

They are the types of places that only exist in upscale walking shopping centers (for those of you in Baton Rouge think Perkins Row). There were lots of these types of places in Arlington, Virginia when I lived there and there are plenty near my parent's house in Atlanta and my sister's home in Charlotte.

They aren't really something I miss when I'm in New Orleans but they are definitely places I enjoy eating at a few times a year when I'm back for the holidays. They always have a good service, good food, and a concept that works. Urban Flats is one of these places in Atlanta.

Looking at the website they describe themselves as a "Modern-Urban Casual Experience." The concept at Urban Flats is pretty simple. Flatbeard covered with a variety of high quality toppings. Its a pretty simple idea but it works and it really was pretty tasty. I went with my mother a few days ago before heading to the craziness that is late December shopping the the Mall of Georgia which I think is the largest mall in the South. I would describe the lunch as an unquestionable success.

My mom got the "Black and Blue" which was what you would expect. Steak and bleu cheese, with peppers, roma tomatoes, and spinach, topped with mozzarella and a balsamic glaze. Or maybe that's not what you would expect. I don't know you... It was pretty good though and it looked like this, but less fuzzy.

And I got the "Fig and Prosciutto" Fresh made fig jam with prosciutto and bleu cheese topped with mozzarella and chives. Its hard to screw up the sweetness of fig and the saltiness of prosciutto together. And they didn't get anywhere close to screwing it up. It was great. Here it is.

I think its the bread that really made them good. They are crispy and fresh and stone oven baked. The whole restaurant is a simple concept but its a good simple concept.

So like I said. If keeping high end shopping centers out of the city means missing out on places like this, I'm okay with it. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good Modern-Urban Casual Experience a few times a year while I'm visiting family.

The Grill Room Meet-up

2009-12-21T10:55:00.004-06:00

So this blog has been around for about a year now. Somewhere around 140 post have been written and posted. Until this point everything you have seen on this blog has been paid for with either mine or Kerry's hard earned school loan money. That all changes today.

Last week The Grill Room at the Windsor Court Hotel was foolish enough to to invite Eating In NOLA to a social networking meet-up where they offered us some new wines and dishes that Chef Drew Dzejak has come up with. I'm just kidding. It wasn't foolish. We are very very important. We are pretty much the voice of the the New Orleans, Graduate Student, under 26, restauranting population.

So, there might not be any such thing as a free lunch but free dinners at Mobil Four Star/AAA Four Diamond restaurants are delicious. Especially when paired with 10 different wines... And I'm talking about the kinda wines I can't afford to drink.

I had planned to talk about each wine pairing as well but I misplaced my notes... and really I have no idea what I'm talking about then it comes to wine anyway so just take a look at the picture above and if you ever see see any of them anywhere buy them... they were all great.

So lets get started.

Course one - Pork Belly

Now this pork belly came with Parmesan gnocchi, mushrooms, and ham-hock truffle broth. It was crispy and savory. The gnocchi were pretty great too and made in house by Chef Dzejak. It was great and really set the bar for the rest of the meal.

Next up - Pho Noodle Soup

This take on pho came with shaved raw beef tenderloin, foie gras, and came in a ginger broth. There was some question at the table about whether the ginger was too strong but I thought it was just right. It was paired with a couple Rieslings and it made for a good combination of sweet, tart, salt and... ginger I guess.

Course three - Scallops

I think this was the best thing of the night. The scallops were from Maine and they were seared and they came with a fennel purée, chanterelles, and sherry vinegar. Now I really want to say that it was the chanterelles that made the dish but I have no idea what chanterelles even are. I thought about looking it up but I bet they are those mushrooms and actually those mushrooms were pretty good... they kinda made the dish.

Course four - Venison

Now the venison was the fan favorite. It was perfectly cooked and came with potato purée, red swiss chard, and a bacon port reduction (hey I know what all those things are). It was really good and I think it would make a good addition to the menu at The Grill Room. I feel like you don't see a lot of venison on menus in New Orleans and it really is a shame. I think venison is a hugely underrated meat.

After four great entrees pastry chef Shun Li whipped up a few desserts. Forgive the pictures. I by the time I finished my tour of the wine cellar my esteemed dining companions had already started digging in. Scavengers.

Starting at the left, you are looking at pumpkin cheesecake, New Orleans style fried pie, and at least the reminiscence of some deconstructed apple pie. All good but the cheesecake was the standout for me.

So that's that. It really was a great experience. Good food and great company. I got a chance to meet a lot of interesting people who I'm sure I'll continue to run into. If you have been wondering about whats been going on at The Grill Room you should go give it a try. There really are some cool things going on there. They seem to have a creative staff committed to not only offering a great dining experience but also an exciting one. No joke, I'm not saying it. This here is an honest blog... I'm like the Abraham Lincoln of talking about food.

Oh, and people really should invite Eating In NOLA over for free food more often. Our company is delightful.

Cheap Lunch Series: #5 Gott Gourmet

2009-12-18T08:00:00.024-06:00

I've consumed a lot of food this week. Going from Vietnamese to Latin to barbecue to Po boys, all I wanted today was a nice crisp, refreshing salad. Dylan (who you can find over at Blackened Out occasionally) reminded me that I probably wanted some fried cheese on it too. So I went with her suggestion and secured a Gott Salad from Gott Gourmet.

Since Gott is just only kinda cheap and not super cheap I had to find a way to cut some costs. So I went with the to-go order and saved a few bucks on tip. It ended up running $10.70 after tax but I'm still under on the week so I figured it was ok. It came in the brown bag with this sticker on it. Look how flustered that little guy on the sticker looks. Whats the rush buddy?

So here is the storied Gott Salad. It's organtic greens topped with Panko fried brie, berries, candied pecans and grape tomatoes. It comes with a raspberry vinaigrette but I'm not a big raspberry vinaigrette guy skipped that and went with the honey balsamic which I think was a great call. All their dressings are homemade and this one was pretty incredible.

It really is a superior salad. The cheese is really what makes it. It gives you a little bit of savory but you still feel like you ate healthy(ish) afterward.

So that brings us to the end of the Cheap Lunches Series. I really expected to come across some bad lunches, but I guess when you ask people in the know for suggestions, chances are you aren't going to be steered wrong. Hopefully if gave you one or two places to try out. If not please don't tell me. I'm not sure I could live with the guilt.

We will get back to fancy eatin' on Monday with a post about The Grill Room and a sneak peak at some of the new things Chef Drew Dzejak is turning out of his kitchen of wonders down on Poydras.

Cheap Lunch Series: #4 Koz's

2009-12-17T04:01:00.005-06:00

Hey look a new web page. Moving on -

Day four of our journey brings us to Lakeview for a poboy. A Koz's poboy to be exact. Koz's doesn't play around. They sell their poboys by the loaf, and to the best of my knowledge they don't give you a t-shirt or anything if you finish it.

Now it was recommended I get the the BBQ beef poboy. After the Joint yesterday I wasn't sure I could handle it so I want with the 8 inch Cheeseburger poboy. They also sell a french fry poboy at Koz's but when I asked for some french fries on my cheeseburger poboy I was looked at like I should get the hell out. Whatever though because it was delicious. And after I took a few bite of it I took this picture. I took it with my phone... just for old times sake.

Though I skipped the BBQ beef, my roommate had it and gave it his seal of approval. He's going to be a doctor one day so I feel like he can be trusted.

An 8 inch poboy at Koz'swill run you $7.50 or so depending on the type.

After 4 days of stuffing myself on lunch specials I think I'm going to have to track down a salad for tomorrow's post. If you know of good place post a comment or use the information under the nifty new Contact tab up there on the left.

Koz sounds like a killer clown. Just saying.

Cheap Lunch Series: #3 The Joint

2009-12-16T08:30:00.005-06:00

So lately, with the city looking a little less like New Orleans and a little more like Venice, there hadn't been a lot of reasons leave the safety of my second floor apartment. But if anything gives me a false sense of bravado its EPMD and barbecue so yesterday I braved the roads down to the Bywater for lunch at The Joint.

Now there is a thing about barbecue and that thing is that anytime you have barbecue that isn't terrible you tend to think its the best barbecue in the world. I think there is an even greater danger of that in New Orleans which has pretty limited barbecue options (at least for a city with such a strong food tradition). So instead of saying the Joint has the best barbecue around I'm just going to say that its damn good barbecue.

The menu has all the staples you would expect to find, including pork, ribs and local Cajun sausage. They also have some great sides that are served up in (un)healthy sized portions.

Now since the Joint isn't a place that requires tippin' I decided I would really make the most of my $10 limit. I went with the pulled pork sandwich topped with slaw, the mac and cheese, and an a la carte single rib since I heard they were excellent. When it was all said and done the register showed $10.18 so we are just going to make that the new Cheap Lunch Series Limit.

As you probably expect, the food was great. The rib was tender more substantial than it looks in the picture. The sandwich was as substantial as if looks in the picture. They offer two sauces on the table, one vinegar based and one tomato based. Both were pretty good but I suggest a mixture of both together.

One of my dining companions got the brisket sandwich. I've never been a big brisket fan but he seemed to enjoy it and the little piece I tried was as good as any other brisket I've ever had. But, like anything else, I expect it would taste better if it was made out of a pig.

So again, besides going $0.18 over budget, it was a very successful venture out to the Bywater. The only issue is that there are plenty of delicious options that would be hard to pass up that will run you a few dollars over $10. Someone like you can probably afford it though.

Cheap Lunch Series: #2 Sarita's Grill

2009-12-15T08:00:00.011-06:00

So, on day two of my quest for cheap lunches in New Orleans I headed to Sarita's grill at the suggestion of an anonymous commenter... making this the spookiest post in Eating In NOLA's history.

Sarita's bills itself as "Latin Fusion." Alright I'll buy that. I'm gonna bill it as a La Macarena with better prices and more options.

It's a pretty neat little spot. The inside is bright and full of New Orleans art which is never a bad idea. Actually there is an weird amount of paintings of sno-balls but hey whatever. Most important is that the food is cheap and pretty good too.

I sat down and the server came over and walked through the whole menu and brought me some cheese dip and chips.

Who doesn't like cheese dip? This cheese dip was the bright orange kind that is probably far from authentic, but only snobs wouldn't admit is delicious. It was a pretty extensive menu so being walked through the menu was nice.

I went with three tacos.

Now I figured tacos where the way to go because I could try a few different meats (pork, chicken, and rib eye). Ms. Lorin Gaudin tells me a mistake by skipping the flautas and maybe shes right but the tacos weren't too shabby. After the orange cheese dip I figured I might as well get cheese and sour cream on the tacos (except for the pork where I went with the recommended tomatoes and onions).

So authentic? No, probably not. At least not the cheese dip and tacos. But it was definitely good and the menu is big enough for everyone to find something they like. Oh and it was super cheap. Under $6 before tip (though I did get a 20% discount for being a student).

I recommend it though. Like I said its a better/cheaper La Macarena in my opinion. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Cheap Lunch Series: #1 Jazmine Cafe

2009-12-14T08:00:00.003-06:00

So I think this might come as a surprise to a lot of you. Not every New Orleans food blogger is a "lawyer" who has a lot of "disposable income" and can "afford" to eat in restaurants. Some of us are struggling Tulane MBA students who are coming to the end of our loan money and can't afford to eat in restaurants all the time... but do it anyway.

So in hopes of being at least slightly more responsible, this week I am going to focus on places that offer a cheap noontime meal. I figured a fair limit was $10 (including tax and tip) so that's what I'll be aiming for. I'll give you the good along with he bad. We all know that there are places out there were you can get a plate full of awful for under $10. If that's what I find I'll let you know so you don't make the same mistake. Thanks to everyone that gave suggestions via Twitta. I'm looking forward to trying them all out.

So first on the list is the Vietnamese spot, Jazmine Cafe on Carrollton. Jazmine was a good place to start. If you decide to stop reading this post right now, stop knowing that Jazmine's lunch special is a pretty good bet.

They offer a 10am-3pm lunch special Tuesday through Saturday and all under $10 including tax and tip (assuming you don't mind drinking water, and you really shouldn't). They offer ten lunch special options that you can check out here.

Kerry got the Bun Ga Nuong (Grilled Chicken Breast Noodle Salad Bowl).

They start you off with a bowl of soup and then bring this out to you. You're looking at Grilled chicken breast strips with vermicelli noodles, shredded cucumber, lettuce, pickled carrots, and cilantro. The cucumber, lettuce, carrots and cilantro are kinda hidden but you can trust that they are there. It comes with some sweet chili sauce too. I'm not sure you can tell how much food is there but its a good amount. Much more than expected.

I had the Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong (Grilled Sliced Pork and Summer Roll Noodle Salad Bowl).

As I'm sure you can tell its pretty much the same thing except with pork and a summer roll thrown on top. I'm telling you, these pictures don't do it justice. Its a lot of food. Those are bowls not plates.

So like I said it was a good jumping off point for the series. Huge success. It was good enough I wanted it for dinner the next day. Alright that's it. Go eat now.

Check in tomorrow for the next post in the series. I think it is going to be a Sarita's Grill... but I make you no promises.

Mimi's in the Marigny

2009-12-13T09:00:00.003-06:00

Mimi's is great. There is a reason is consistently named the best neighborhood bar in New Orleans. Besides some pretty incredible tapas, the bartenders are always friendly and the clientele is always entertaining.

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.

One Restaurant and Lounge

2009-12-12T12:54:00.000-06:00

** This is be the last post that makes use of my trusty iPhone camera. It didn't always take the best pictures or the clearest pictures, but I like to think it really gave this blog the gritty, tough, hardcore persona you have all come to love. That being said moving forward all pictures on this blog will actually look like food.

We went to One Restaurant yesterday. Kerry had been a few times before but it was my first time. I wasn't disappointed.

It's nice having a few nice places in the River Bend neighborhood. One is a pretty good lunch spot. Prices are fairly reasonable and not at the expense of quality or portions.

Kerry started with the char-grilled oysters with Roquefort and red wine vinaigrette. I'm not really into oysters (gasp) but I am into Roquefort and they were great.

I had the tomatoes three ways to start. The three ways were marinated, raw and stewed. All were good. The marinate was a balsamic one which was pretty good. I think my favorite was the raw though. Cant beat a little salt and pepper on some raw tomatoes.

Kerry had the BBQ shrimp and grits. Again, it was just really well prepared. The BBQ had what tasted like a ginger soy base which was surprising but worked really well with the grits.

And I had the pulled pork sandwich because I love pulled pork. It wasn't bad. It wasn't quite what I expected. I was expecting bbq even though there was nothing on the menu that indicated that would be the case. Also it came on forcaccia which I think might have been a little better had it been grilled up. All of that aside the pork was really tasty and it came with a mound of shoestring fries which is always going to win me over. No joke, if me and you got into a shoestring french fry eating contest I'd probably eat a million and chances are you would eat like 3 or 4.

We got dessert too and we got it to go. Deserts to go always look terrible but look at this. This is how it looked when I opened it after just kind tossing it around in my car and throwing it on the table. Not too shabby. It was a flourless chocolate cake and thats what it tasted like. It was good and a good way to finish off a solid lunch.

Taco San Miguel

2009-12-11T10:57:00.001-06:00

So who knows what is ironic about the picture below?

That's right! This place isn't open at all. The Taco San Miguel on North Claiborne closed a few months ago which means two things. One, I've run out of material so I've gone back to old pictures I never posted on... and two, the good people of Taco San Miguel are looking to open a new location.

Now Taco San Miguel turns out the most authentic tacos that I know about. That's probably doesn't mean a whole lot coming from a guy that grew up in Georgia but I am half Mexican so it probably means more coming from me than it would someone like you...

Enough about how authentic I am though. After this location closed I started going to the one in Metairie on 20th. Last time we went, one of the owners was saying they didn't renew the lease on Claiborne because there was some concern about the safety of the location. So now they are looking to open up a location in the (relative) safety of Uptown.

It will be nice to have something Uptown that isn't Felipe's. The nice thing about San Miguel is it's simple and cheap. This plate of food below will run you about $6.50. Looks like I got the pastor, barbacoa, and the asada. I actually have no idea what I got. Made that all up. Looks like I got double rice though... pretty genius move.

I for one am looking forward to good tacos that don't require me jumping on I-10.

**Keep an eye out for my series on cheap lunch spots in the city starting on Monday. I'll be looking at places to get a good lunch under $10. If you have any suggestions on places that fit the bill post a comment or shoot me an mail at jvillega@tulane.edu.

Cafe Reconcile

2009-12-09T09:54:00.002-06:00

It took me longer than it should have to get to Cafe Reconcile. It really is a pretty innovative place. Here is a post in honor of them breaking ground on their space.

For those of you that don't know about Cafe Reconcile it is a program that allows at risk New Orleans teens to learn valuable life skills in a classroom and work setting. The program starts with three weeks of life skills and then brings then into a restaurant setting to for six weeks where they rotate to different jobs (server, busser, back of the house, etc.) and then concludes with an internship placement.

The Tulane Entrepreneurs Association set up a dinner there a few weeks ago. I'm rarely that inspired by things but just seeing the pride these kids took in their work was pretty impressive. I could write all day about what a great program it is but this is a food blog so I'll move onto that.

We paid a set price for a 4 course meal - soup, salad, entree and dessert.

First up was a bowl of andouille and chicken gumbo. It was pretty good. I didn't get a picture of the salad but it was a pretty standard side salad with caesar dressing.

Entree was catfish with a crawfish butter sauce with whipped sweet potatoes and green beans. I'm not normally a big catfish fan but it was good but I didn't have any problem finishing it all.

Dessert was good enough to go back for. Bananas Foster Bread Pudding. One of the best bread puddings I have ever had. Maybe the best.

So if you find yourself in Central City around lunch time stop in and support a good cause. Really even if you don't spend a lot of time in Central City make the trip. Its some pretty decent food for a great cause. Don't skip the bread pudding.

Theo's Neighborhood Pizza

2009-12-08T09:30:00.002-06:00

So in doing a little research for this post I found out that there are 13 other pizza posts on this blog. That's like ten more then I realized and made me think that maybe it was a good idea to hit the abort button on this post.

But that would be doing a pretty big disservice to both you and Theo's. They make a superb pie and maybe my favorite in the city. They have found a way to make a gourmet pizza that doesn't make me feel like I ate a bowl full of dough after consuming two pieces. The crust is thin so they can load on the toppings while keeping it pretty light. I ate all my entire half and didn't feel all too guilty or bloated about it. And its "neighborhood pizza" so when you finish you really feel like you're part of something.

We got the Expert (olive oil, minced garlic, spinach, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, purple onion and crumbled bacon) except we got it with artichoke hearts instead of purple onions because purple onions are a really dumb thing to put on a pizza.

Theo's offers a selection of salads, sides, and sandwiches as well but trust me- skip those things and just cram as much of the pizza into your stomach as you can. Wasting space on those other things would be like going to Disney World and deciding that Epcot was the place to spend your time.

The American Sector

2009-12-07T08:09:00.002-06:00

We tried out Besh's newest offering, The American Sector a few nights ago. Now I'm a pretty big fan of Luke so this place had a little bit of living up to do.

Now, we showed up on a Thursday night and I assume the majority of their business must be done around lunch and during the hours the WWII Museum is open. But we were one one of only three tables in what is a pretty large space. In all fairness it could be because everyone in their right mind has spent the last 4 days hiding from the cold indoors but either way its always a little weird having a full staff waiting on you in an empty restaurant.That being said the service was very good and you got the feeling that even if the place had been a little more hopping we sill would have gotten good service.

The food was pretty excellent as well. The menu was what I would call upscale Americana with things like Spicy garlic glazed fried chicken with watermelon pickles and Daube of beef with roasted root vegetables and egg noodles.

Kerry had the Chicken and Dumplings which came in its own cast iron dish. Everything was really fresh and well seasoned and filling.

I had the Short rib “Sloppy Joe” on an onion Kaiser roll. It was a little messy but also really good. And it came with fried onions on it which is was fine with me... I would be fine eating fried onions out of the French's can as long as no one was looking.

These were the sides. French fried potatoes, homemade kettle chips, and jalapeno cheese grits. All really good. The fries are similar (if not the same) as the ones you get a Luke and the grits were as tasty as I was hoping they would be.

Dessert really capped off a great meal. We ordered the Cane-sugar and bacon iced cupcake. Above is what we got - the advertised cupcake, another pumpkin cupcake which we were told was the seasonal selection, and a mound of vanilla ice cream. It was all pretty amazing.

So The American Sector was a pretty big success. There are a few other things on the menu I wouldn't mind having an opinion on so there might be a good reason to go back soon.

Cafe Granada

2009-12-03T10:52:00.004-06:00

After the cheese and wine pairing at St. James a few weeks ago we headed over to Cafe Granada for some slightly more substantial food. A friend had suggested it and since its in Kerry's neck of the woods we figured it was worth a try. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great either but after a lack luster experience at St. James our bar wasn't set all that high.

We stuck with tapas and just got three things so we probably didn't get a full range of the menu but I feel like we got a pretty good idea of how they roll at Cafe Granada.

We started with the Croquettas de Gambas which were by far the best thing we got. Shrimp and crab fried up and in a sauce with a little bit of spice in it. They were a good size and pretty filling too.

Next were these meatballs. They tasted exactly how they look in the picture. They were pretty par, and compared to the Croquettas they were also pretty insubstantial.

And we finished with the beef empanada. Again, it was just kinda ok, though in all fairness we had just gotten back from Argentina where the empanadas flow like wine and taste like... angels. Unlike the meatballs there was a good amount of heft to it so at least we left full.

So, it was all alright. Kerry got a pretty reasonably priced glass of Sangria too.

I don't know, I always feel like you get ripped off with tapas. Either way there are definitely better restaurant options in the neighborhood and there are better tapas places worth the drive. If you do go, try the Croquettas but skip the other two.

Big Bowl of Comfort

2009-12-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

This Monday night, the New Orleans Saints crushed the New England Patriots in a game that put us one step closer to a black and gold Superbowl. The next day, the Patriots exacted revenge by sending their crappy Boston weather down here, in the form of freezing temperatures and all-day rain. Ugh.

On days like that, the only thing I want to eat is comfort food. To me, comfort is served best in a bowl of steaming hot pasta, so that's what I made. I should mention that I left town for five days for Thanksgiving, and the weather was absolutely not encouraging me to make the trek to Rouses. I got to work with what I had around the kitchen: orzo (small, rice-like pasta), a few vegetables, staples like chicken broth/garlic/seasoning, and -- always -- bacon.

Sounded like the makings of a carbonara to me. I didn't have eggs, but you could certainly try the recipe below with egg mixed in to create more of a true carbonara. The result I got was filling, hot and delicious, and managed to be exactly what I wanted on a freezing day. It was also pretty simple.

What I used: half an onion; 1.5 tsp pre-chopped garlic (or 1-2 cloves); 2 tbs olive oil; 3 cups chicken broth; 1 cup orzo (uncooked); 4-5 slices bacon; half a cup of Romano cheese (Parmesan would be excellent as well); 1 cup broccoli florets (steamed); salt and pepper.

What I did:

Heat olive oil in a pan (one that will eventually need to fit 3 cups of liquid and 1 cup of pasta).
Chop up the onion and garlic (unless you've discovered the miracle of pre-chopped garlic) and throw into pan w/ hot olive oil.
Sauté until onion is soft, three to five minutes.
Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil, covered.
Once the broth is boiling, add the orzo. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, until pasta is al dente.
While orzo is cooking, steam or boil your broccoli. I only had frozen broccoli on hand, but it worked well. Drain and set aside.
Also take a minute to cook your bacon in a skillet, or microwave it. This was lunch, not a fancy dinner, so I didn't feel terribly guilty about microwaving mine. Peter & Rene would likely kill me for this.
When the pasta is done, drain off any excess liquid (if necessary). Return to original pot; stir in Romano or Parmesan cheese. It should get nice and gooey. Then add broccoli and bacon and stir well.
Serve it up and top with salt and pepper to taste. Crushed red pepper would also be a tasty addition.

Bon Appetit! Let's hope this awful weather goes right back where it came from, stat.

Cochon at Crescent City Farmers Market

2009-12-01T12:49:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago someone from Market Umbrella (the group that runs the Crescent City Farmers Market) came and spoke as part of a panel at Tulane. It was an interesting panel that discussed the importance of the availability of fresh organic foods to all socio-economic groups. It was interesting and informative and just inspiring enough to make me feel guilty for having skipped it the last... 20 weeks or so.

So when Kerry wanted to go this morning I tagged along even though its pouring rain and about 50 degrees outside. I'm actually still soaking wet while I write this post. I picked up a few things for dinner tonight but the best thing I picked up was this roasted pork and cucumber sandwich that was the Green Plate Special from Cochon.

Man was it good. So good I didn't mind standing in the rain to eat it. I had never really has the pork/cucumber combination before and I was a pretty big fan. Plus you got to appreciate the guys being out there in this weather. Though I'm not proud of it lots of time its the Green Light Special that gets me out to the market before the fresh produce and meats. So its good to see Cochon making the commitment in miserable weather.

Between the Bread

2009-11-30T13:26:00.001-06:00

There are very few things I miss about living in D.C. But one thing that I miss is having about 10 good delis within 4 blocks of work.

Now New Orleans has some great placed to get a sandwich. You have Cochon, St. James, Stein's, and the list goes on. But I haven't known of a ton of places to get a good club sandwich. Oh but did I find one.

Between the Bread is pretty great and it has a decent sized selection of sandwiches. Look how much thought this guy was putting into his choice.

Like I said I got the club. It was a classic triple decker with three meats and two cheeses and I looked like an idiot trying to take a bite out of it but I looked like a satisfied idiot.

And it was a pretty cool little cafe. I went in expecting to get it to go, but instead I sat up on the balcony on a couch and read New Orleans society magazines while I chowed down on this mammoth sandwich. I don't spend a lot of time in the working man's section of the CBD but I assume one day I will have to. Its good to know I won't have to go hungry.

Two Thanksgivings

2009-11-29T09:57:00.000-06:00

I really believe that if you only have one Thanksgiving dinner you aren't taking advantage of the season. I was lucky enough to sneak in two last week. One in New Orleans with my MBA classmates and friends and one up in Atlanta with my parents and grandmother.

Obviously, they were two very different different kinds of meals but I like to think that both captured the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

NOLA Thanksgiving 2009 included 30 dishes from 30 participants and a 30 pound turkey. Also about 30 bottles of wine and a handle of Crown Royal. I don't need to tell you that those things all add up to 121 units of good times.

Seriously look at this plate. That's Chicken Parmesan on there next to the stuffing, cheese mashed potatoes and turkey. "Why?" you ask?

You ask too many questions.

The Villegas' had a more traditional spread. Look there is my mom and grandmother! We went a little more gourmet than usual this year. Check out the menu below.

Appetizers

Hot Tomato, Jack and Crab Dip

with Toast Points

Salad

Pear Salad with Rasberry Cream

Entrees

Herbed Roasted Turkey Breast

Brown Butter Mash Potatoes

Roasted Broccolini with Crushed Red Pepper and Bacon

Orange, Gingered, Glazed Carrots

Cornbread, Wild Mushroom, and Pecan Stuffing

Old Fashioned Apple Cranberry Sauce

Desserts

Spiced Pumpkin and Apple Pie

with Whipped Cream

And that's what it looked like on the plate. It was delicious and well executed by two talented chefs if I do say so myself.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

St. James Cheese and Wine Pairing

2009-11-25T18:12:00.000-06:00

Just for full disclosure before I write this post...

I have an issue with St. James. Don't get me wrong. They have great cheeses and great sandwiches and I even like the over priced knick-knacks that litter the place.

But one time I gave them a $20 and they gave me change for a $5 and when I went back to let them know they looked at me like I was trying to steal from them and didn't make amends.

After that I was pretty committed to never going back but their cheese and wine pairing last week peaked Kerry's interest enough that I made an exception.

Now we don't go to a lot of pairings, actually we don't ever go to pairings. But I think we appreciate good wine and good cheese as long as it doesn't taste like feet.

This event was a little of a disappointment though. It had all the right ingredients to be good with three pretty good wines and 6 cheeses and an expert in each field, but there was just a lot left to be desired. The cheeses were plated out of order that caused a lot of confusion for everyone and the explanations were a lot more preachy and uptight then I like (though let it be known I'm a super laid back dude).

I'll be honest these are probably all things I could forgive if the place hadn't stolen 15 bucks from me.

Seriously though, I think this was their first pairing in some time and maybe they are just working out the kinks. If that's the case It might be worth checking out in the future... it just wasn't there yet.

Oh and one of the cheeses did taste like feet.

Po Boy Fest

2009-11-23T16:22:00.000-06:00

There aren't enough festivals in Uptown. I know it. You know it.

But what we lack in numbers we make up in Po Boys. There is no better festival to have to have down the street than one dedicated to the classic New Orleans sandwich. Who doesn't love sandwiches? I know I do. No joke I have a DVD called "Sandwiches that you will Like." And I like them all.

So here are some other sandwiches I like:

Stuffed Louisiana Crab with Creole Tomato Dressing from BOZO's Restaurant. Now I've never been to BOZO's but this wasn't a bad place to start. Now, it doesn't look like much and I don't know what it was stuffed with it but there was a good amount of tasty in there.

Kerry started with this Shrimp Caminada po boy from Grand Isle. It was getting pretty rave reviews next to the booth. It wasn't quite what we expected but it was great... and messy.

Redfish Grill offered a nice little half and half deal with half a Cochon de Lait and half a BBQ Oyster. Both were pretty good but I'll be honest you throw some coleslaw on some pork and you have me pretty much won over.

Alright this was the winner of the day for us I think. Emeril's Bacon Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato with Shrimp Remoulade was pretty incredable. It was the one po boy I was looking forward to for a few days before PBPF and it was worth looking forward to.

Last stop was Boucherie. Kerry got the BBQ shrimp with french fries (second only to Delachaise's) and a smile. Pretty good but the shrimp were a little less BBQ and a little more... something other than BBQ but still good.

And I got two servings for the 12 hour Roast Beef because I had been craving it since they ran out at the Magazine Street Blues Festival a few weeks back. And it was good. Actually maybe better than Emeril's BLFGT but I did have to wait something like 25 minutes for it... and I'm a busy guy.

So there you go. Po Boy Fest is 7 Po Boys. It was a good time. We had some good Po Boys, Met these Guys and this dude (all delightful) in person for the first time and then watched the Saints march at Squeal. 364 days till next year.

Well actually probably more... or maybe less. I'm not sure its been scheduled yet. So I'm sure going to say 250 days till the next one and hope for the best.

The Boot, The Dough Bowl, Sliders, 9-0

2009-11-16T16:22:00.000-06:00

Oh man.

Look, it's a rarity that you find me at The Boot over by Tulane's campus. BUT it was a pretty good place to watch a little football on Sunday. $4 pictures, plenty of seating, TV's (even some standard def ones!), oh yeah and a window to cheap bar food paradise.

The best thing that the Boot has going for it is its connection with the Dough Bowl. Until recently I had only partaken in their slices of pizza. Its good pizza, if you don't believe me give it a try... plus anything is better when its ordered and served from a window in a shack.

But obviously this isn't a pizza post. It's a sliders post and I'll be honest I'm ashamed its the first. I love sliders, all sorts, hell - I've even eaten a few Burger King Burger Shots in my time.

But Dough Bowl ain't no Burger King. These suckers cost me $5 - well $6.10 with cheese - but the cheese was blue and the rolls were pretzel bread and the beef was beef (to the best of my knowledge). Oh yeah and they came with fries. And ketchup packets.

Either way, they were a great accompaniment to cheep beer and undefeated football. I'll be there next Sunday for sure. You should come too. We can party it up.

Jackson

2009-11-13T17:06:00.000-06:00

So we went to Jackson last night which re-opened three weeks ago. I've only been here since July 2008 so I never got a chance to visit its original incarnation before it closed. From what I hear there wasn't much of a reason to make the trek down to the one-way section of Magazine for the old Jackson.

I want to start this post saying one thing. The food was very good. I'll get into specifics about the food in a second but I want to make it clear that it was good. That doesn't mean the restaurant wasn't without its issues.

You are looking at issue one. The menu lacked a coherent theme. There was some Latin Fusion, some French, some Cajun and some good old American. The decor of the restaurant had a very similar problem. Again really nice and really comfortable but kind of a mixed bag.

Problem two was this. We got a pretty good bottle of Malbec. And we were happy with it but it was not corked in front of us and we didn't get a chance to taste it before the glasses were filled. Again it's a small thing but its probably the type of thing that bothers people more refined than me.

So we started with this Diablo Dip. Actually some pretty good stuff. Pretty much a glorified 7 layer dip but really good still. Even better were the chips that it came with warm and fresh. Oh and good the next day too... left overs are going to be a reoccurring theme in this post.

So Kerry had this. Not the best picture but probably the best thing we ordered. It's the Gnudi or Spinach ricotta dumplings with fresh sage & brown butter sauce. So good. She had leftovers. No way I would have had leftovers.

This is what I ordered. The Blackened Seared Tuna. It came with a Strawberry Jalapeno butter that I was a little worried about but I was wrong to be worried. It was a good. It was also a lot of tuna and made for a good lunch today. I picked the truffle french fries and grilled veggies to go with it. A good selection I think.

So this was dessert. The stuffed cookies. Two with hazelnut and two with chocolate ganache. Again. They were great. Probably worth going back for.

Alright so like I said everything was great if not a little disjointed. The last concern is that we were the only people in the restaurant. Not a great sign for a resturant that I think really does show some good promise. They make good food. If they can get their i's dotted and t's crossed it could do really well. If they are around long enough to fix a few things it could be a really good addition to the area.

Buenos Aires

2009-11-09T15:22:00.000-06:00

Alright so I think a mistake was made when we did a bunch of posts from France. So this is how this is going to go. One post, 15 pictures and short captions. I figure there is one or two of you who have been to Buenos Aires or will go sometime in the future. But I dont want to waste everyone else's time. So here it is, quick and dirty and then we wont ever discuss it again...

Here is Banchero... Pizza Place in near the hotel we stayed in the the middle of the city. It was good and you knew it would be because it was in a book. A tourism book.

Here is the pizza. Hey look unexpected green olives. So that's weird. And it came with a spoon to serve it. Alright!

After a day of walking around we came across Florida Garden (In the book!), a bar/cafe which is a common set up in Buenos Aires.

Alright here was a drink from Florida Garden. Its a Bailey's on the rocks. Why Bailey's? Because getting drinks you can get at home at South American import prices is the bomb.

So here is a place called Cumana. You can tell from the outside that the light is going to be too low for good pictures of the food right? Right!

Nonetheless, look Kerry got a tamale and an empanada. The empanadas were 3 pesos. That's like $0.80. So the devaluation of money isn't all bad.

And I had this. It was called something but I forget and I can't find it on Google. It was a casserole with pumpkin, corn, cheese and honey. It was pretty amazing. It was almost like dessert.

And and we could draw on the table cloths (always classy). I drew this. And then two hours later they did Go... and beat the Falcons.

Okay, here was an Italian place we ate at. It was called something I can't find on Google. It was great though. Homeafes pastas and baked cheeses are something I don't eat enough of.

Alright the next pictures are from a pretty good dinner at a Steakhouse in San Telmo... so real quick...

Skirt Steak

Beif de Chorizo (cut from the back of the cow).

Rib Eye

Loaded baked potato.

Rosemary Potatoes
Oh man and bread pudding. It was all pretty great.

Okay last one. Club Zarate in La Boca. La Boca is a pretty cool little 'hood. We stopped at this place for a snack.

Empanadas, Coffee, Pepsi, and a cookie. It was so good Kerry's head popped off.

Alright thats it. No more Argentina. Obviously I was too lazy took up the details about a lot of the places and there were places that were just too darn dark to take pictures. So if you have an impending trip and want any suggestions from someone with a fairly limited experience let me know. What we did do was eat in most of the neighborhoods so I have some tiny idea about a few different places.

Oh and I'm not going to proofread. HA!

Bacco Lunch

2009-11-01T21:19:00.001-06:00

What better place to eat a New Orleans lunch before leaving for Buenos Aires than Bacco? What's ironic is that I'm writing this post sitting in the Miami airport where apparently every possible place to get food closes at 9 on Sundays. But back to Bacco.

Hey look at that salad up there! It was mine and It was the market salad and the market salad was greens with a warm bacon vinaigrette, seasonal tomatoes, Gorgonzola, and candied pecans. Best bacon vinaigrette I've eva had.

This one was Kerry's. That's goat cheese on there and pine nuts over greens tossed in sun dried tomato vinaigrette.

Alright I'm on my iPhone so I'm just gonna move it along. Up there? Oh that's my pasta with garlic, garden vegetables, and herbs. I might have made the herbs up... I mean I'm sure there are some in there.

And that's Kerry's lobster and gulf shrimp ravioli with caviar. It was real good too.

OK. Next post will be from Argentina... After a 10 hour flight.

- Post From My iPhone

Cochon Butcher, Twitter and $25

2009-10-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

'Hot Roast Beef Monday', bacon friends! We serve it with White Gravy + Provolone on a French Roll. And we got an Egg Salad on White.
11:03 AM Oct 26th from web
-Cochon Butcher
And that is how Cochon Butcher extracted $25 dollars from my wallet.

After a Twitter post like that how do you not make the trip to the Warehouse District for lunch?

I headed over and picked up the best sandwich I've had in a few weeks. Seriously, just look at the picture. Savory beef with bacon incorporated, cheese, soft chewy bread... No joke, those are probably 4 of my top 10 favorite things. Not favorite foods... favorite things.

But this post isn't just about a good sandwich. It's about a pound of Kurabuta Bacon too. On the way out after contemplating it for the forth time, I finally took the plunge and forked over the $12 for a pound of what I am sure is going to be delicious bacon.

So that's how one twitter post turned into $25 for Cochon Butcher. They really are one of the few establishments around that I think really use Twitter the right way. Not too much, not too little... they are the baby bear of Twittering restaurants. And I have to imagine it pays off for them.

There are plenty of NOLA restaurants I follow but don't read because they bombard me with 20 posts a day. Cochon does it right so when they post I read it- and often it leads to them making a few extra bucks and me drinking a Mexican Coke.

Magazine Street Blues Festival

2009-10-24T18:14:00.000-05:00

So no more of those catch up posts. This post is going up before the Magazine Street Blues Fest is even over.

Obviously we have a festival or two here every weekend but this really was a good one. If you happen to be reading this right after it is posted (I know you stay glued to your laptops waiting for the nest EIN post) then go catch the last few hours.

On to the important part though. First Butter Chicken from from Nirvana. This was go good I went right home and looked for Butter Chicken recipies to make tomorrow.

And some fresh cut fries from Boucherie. Topped with some spicy vinegar... these were pretty incredible too. I was too full to try it, but I got a look at the 12 hour beef brisket po-boy... it looked so good I can't even talk about it.

Hey and Soul Rebels were there. I love Soul Rebels.

Taqueros

2009-10-24T14:04:00.000-05:00

So Taqueros on St. Charles opened back up last month. And we went the first day they were open. Now I've only been her for a year and a half so I don't know the while history of the place... but these people do so check it out for the story.

Long story short they are open again and focusing on small plates. You sit down and grab a sushi-like menu to fill out and take to the bar. Then you pick up your food at the counter. I like that. I mostly like it because it means I don't have to tip (wait... I don't have to tip right?).

So it looks like we has something with corn. I'm 100% sure this wasn't just called "corn" on the menu but I 100% can;t remember. It was good though and sweet and it went well with the fried corn tortillas it came with.

Now when you hear about a menu you fill out and no tipping you might think its not a fancy place. Wrong. Check it out these gambas have heads.

Hey look here are some tacos. Know what they are filled with? Yeah, me neither... it was awhile back. I'll tell you one thing though if they aren't filled with some sort of pork I made a mistake. because pork is delicious.

It was a good meal and reasonably priced. It was so good I tried to go for lunch the next day. And they weren't open. So that was a disappointment but give it a try sometime after 6pm.

Yo Mama's Bar and Grill

2009-10-23T13:23:00.000-05:00

New Orleans had some great burger joints. Rather than get into the whole "Best Burger in New Orleans" debate, where Port of Call and Bulldog supporters often come to blows, let me just say this- Yo Mama's was the most surprised I had ever been about how good a burger was.

A few weeks back, after rushing out to the Guerrilla Radio show at HOB and missing dinner, some friends directed us to Yo Mama's. Needless to say we were fairly ravenous bu the time we left the show and slipped into Yo Mama's. We sat down ordered a few more cold ones and put in our orders. And then the order came.

And it was so good.

When I ordered my Roquefort Blue Cheese burger at 1am I really was expecting something St. Charles Tavern-esque to come out. And I would have been fine with that. I would have been excited with that actually. But no. This burger was juicy and medium rare and the Roquefort was creamy and blue cheesy. Seriously look at it. It was go good that my camera couldn't even take a clear picture of it.

And look I got a salad instead of baked potato. Hilarious! Why would I do that?

Long story short. Get there. If you're downtown its close by. If you're uptown its worth the trip. If you're in Metairie... wait why are you in Metairie?

The Rum House

2009-10-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

So again, this is from a while back. We stopped by the Rum House down on Magazine a few days after they opened.

The Rum House seems like a pretty good idea. I always tend to think of Caribbean themed anything as a little hokey but I'm not really above hokey things - so why not you know? The food was pretty good. We both got a trio of tacos and them came out looking like this on a little three taco stand.

Like I said It was a while back but it looks like I went with a fish taco, their rib taco and the calypso beef taco (Island marinated steak with guacamole and a drizzle of cilantro lime sour cream). The fish taco was pretty good but I'm not really that into fish tacos. The rib taco was pretty great though. Like really great. Besides the fact that I feel like an idiot eating something called calypso beef, that one was pretty good too.

All and all they where some pretty high quality tacos. Only real complaint about Rum House? The tacos are pretty tiny, almost like they are made for some sort of superbly palated child. It would have cost me about $20 to leave the place full. Pretty hefty when you consider the $2.50 price tag on the tacos.

It was good though and worth trying out. Especially if you're some sort of dwarf or pixie.

Willie Mae' Scotch House

2009-10-23T11:14:00.000-05:00

So it took a while for us to get to Willie Mae's. A big part of the reason was it never quite seemed to be open when we went. We finally went a few months ago though (that's right, there is a huge back log) and I think I learned a little bit about myself.

As you probably know Willie Mae's is touted at the best fried chicken in America (or the World? Probably the World I guess). Now I have friends that swear by Coop's down on Decatur but I've never been there so we are just going to pretend like it doesn't exist. So the purposes of this post Willie Mae's has the best fried chicken going.

Look, I know people love fried chicken but after eating at Willie Mae's I can confidently say I'm just not a fried chicken guy. For 25 years I have just been assuming that there was better chicken out there and as soon as I had it I would know. Turns out I'd rather just have a cheese burger.

Either way if you are into fried chicken then Willie Mae's is the spot. Its crispy, its moist, and its New Orleans. And the red beans and rice was pretty fantastic.

Is anybody out there? Rambla!

2009-09-29T17:24:00.000-05:00

So, I'm just going to pretend it hasn't been as long as it has.

Rambla!
So no joke this was so long ago that I barely remember it. I have a general idea of what we had though so well go with that.

Look at that menu. It was rectangular and made of paper. Hey look I do remember!

If it wasn't so blurry and dark you could tell this was a lamb sausage with a fresh chutney. This was really good. Best thing we ordered I think.

So this cheese plate wasn't as sparse as it looks... I just forgot to take a picture until we had eaten most of it. OK this wasn't a very good post but Rambla was really good and you should eat there more often than you do.

Luke

2009-08-10T10:41:00.001-05:00

Hey who doesn't like Luke?

We went with a few friends after White Linen. It seemed like a better idea than eating the over priced street food.

The nice thing about Luke is you can do it for pretty cheap if you want. Kerry wasn't all that hungry so she got some soup and some fries.

I was kinda hungry so I got a Cochon de Lait sandwich. Seriously though check out these fries. They are like the second best fries in the city after Delachaise.

Either way we both got out for under $15 bucks which isn't bad considering its a John Besh restaurant

Walkers BBQ

2009-08-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

I went to Walker's BBQ the other day. Walker's is in the EAST. Now, I know all you namby pamby Uptowners are thinking..."The the...East? My word!"

Look I spend very little (no) time in the East. But if I know anything about anything, things from the East are authentic. One example is all of Eastern Europe. Another is Snoop Doggy Dogg the Dogg Father from the East Side of Long Beach... or LA... I'm not really sure.

Either way Walker's BBQ kicks ass. Its good as Hell. So good it makes me use profanity for the first time on the blog. I got the Three Rib Plate with potato salad and baked beans. I think they gave me an extra rib too because they could tell I was a cool guy. It was enough for lunch the next day.

It was good and smokey and BBQ and I'm going to go back again one day. One day soon. You go too. I'll see you there.

Coquette

2009-08-03T16:20:00.001-05:00

Coquette is so good it doesn't even have a website.

Coquette doesn't have enough time for websites. They spend all their time making incredible food. I'm not kidding around. It's my favorite restaurant. Not my favorite new restaurant or my favorite restaurant in New Orleans. Its my favorite restaurant period. (This isn't a new realization to me its just that the other times we have eaten there I have been too busy enjoying my food to take pictures of it.)

On top of that they have no corkage fee AND I have a stock pile of $25 Coquette gift certificates I bought for $2 on restaurant dot com.

So after a Happy Hour Drink at Le Cote we snuck into the business center there in the hotel to print off one of these 23 dollar bills. Then off to Breux Mart to grab a bottle of Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir. It was a red wine?

Like I said getting it from the bottle into two of Coquette's wine glasses cost us $0. And here is what it looked like.

So as is often the case we started with some soup. This soup was the corn kind with crab on top. It was also the hot kind which I prefer to the cold kind. It was a good way to start. It got something in our stomachs but it wasn't too heavy and we really didn't want to be too full before what were two incredible main courses.

I had the short rib. It came on some fingerling potatoes. The thing about potatoes is they are really hard to screw up. But this was the first time in my life that I enjoyed a potato to much I would have been happy with just a plate of them.

The good news is the short rib was on there too and it was one of the most satisfying pieces of beef I have ever had. Just look at how good it looks.

Kerry had the veal. It came in a neat little pile. If i remember right they came with grits. It was really good as well. I'm not a huge veal fan but it was fantastic.

Look and here is dessert! Blueberries and cream. Nice and refreshing after a great meal. We were almost tempted to get the chocolate cream beignts but I think we made the right choice.

I know I'm never very descriptive of the actual food. I'm trying to get better but it seems to be a slow process. Either way don't let Coquette the the victim of my poor descriptive abilities. It is a fantastic restaurant with a good menu a helpful staff and a pretty good venue. Eat there. Eat there everyday.

Quick Post 2: La Cote Happy Hour

2009-07-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

Did you know all Abita bottles are $2 5-7pm on weekdays at La Cote Brasserie? They are! Here is the proof. Check it out. Come on they have Jockamo and Turbo Dog.

Stay turned for homemade risotto and Coquette in the next few days.

Quick Post 1: Kupcake Factory

2009-07-30T20:07:00.000-05:00

SO... we have a back log of posts. I'm going to do two super fast quick post right now just so the work ahead is less daunting.

So post one here is the Kupcake Factory. This place opened up right on Claibore and Calhoun. pictured below is the Goin' Bananas Cupcake. It is incredible. The icing is an amazing cream cheese and banana frosting and the cake of the cupcake is moist and good. This is my favorite cupcake in the world.

Frostop

2009-07-27T13:05:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I meant to do a post on Frostop. Before I moved I lived about 100 feet from it and felt bad that I had never given it a shout out it being a New Orleans classic and all. Well I forgot to post it but here you go.

I got a few castle burgers and they were great. Real great. I know it's not a popular stance but I like Frostop better than Bud's Broiler. I'm not ashamed to say it. Not ashamed at all. Though I am a little ashamed about the mess in the background of this picture. Whatever I was moving at the time.

Cochon Butcher

2009-07-26T15:17:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't like fancy smancy deli's?

I know a post about Cochon Butcher isn't exactly breaking new ground. This place is written up more than Sucre.

But I hadn't been there yet (gasp!) and was looking for an excuse. Today nothing sounded better than sitting down with superior pork sandwich and watching some NASCAR.

After twitter requesting a twitter suggestion, the one NOLA Food Blog that actually follows us on twitter gave me the excuse I was looking for (I'm sure Blackenedout or Appetites would have responded with the same suggestion if they followed eatinginnola on twitter...).

So I went (has anyone tried the kurabuta bacon from there?) and got the BBQ Pork sandwich. It was awesome and it came with some potato salad which was awesome too and I'm not normally a potato salad guy.

The big this is this filled me up... more than filled me up really and all for less than Stein's... and you know how we feel about Steins on this blog.

St. James Cheese Shop is next on the list of sandwich places I need to try. I'm hoping its as good because I really need a good sandwich place that is Uptown.

OH OH, and I got a Mexican Coke. I love Mexican Coke.

Olive Branch Cafe

2009-07-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

So I've been spending a little more time in Mid City then I had been in the past. Kerry and I met for lunch last Saturday at the Olive Branch Cafe on Orleans right near Clever.

I don't have a ton to say about it but I especially don't have anything bad to say about it. It was pretty reasonably priced. That Citrus Salad with candied walnuts and feta you are looking at is actually the small size and was something like $4.99.

Kerry's pizza with artichoke was under $11 I think. Everything tasted about how you would expect but nothing was a disappointment.

We don't rate restaurants on this site with any fancy standardized grading system but if we did I think this would be a "Not Bad."

Cochon

2009-07-12T02:17:00.000-05:00

Hey you know what? This is our 101st post! 100 happened without me realizing... so lets celebrate with some Cochon.

Look i know you already know this but we don't take lots of fancy pictures. We take iphone pictures and iphone pictures don't have a flash. So for this post what we lack in quality I'm going to try to make up for in quantity. I took quite a few pictures which is impressive considering I took them without others noticing ( are aren't braggart bloggers you know).

So I got a good amount of food. I mean its a restaurant... so we got some bread. I don't know what to say about it? It came in roll form and above is a picture of it. I ate mine with butter. I can't be sure about Kerry but I assume she did the same.

So I started with the spicy ribs. They were pretty spicy but I didn't hold it against them. I ate them all and they were good.

My main course was the brisket with horseradish potato salad. I felt pretty unadventurous ordering it but it was so good. Though I never would want to have horseradish potato salad on its own. It was awesome.

Kerry had these things. Of of there things is a craw fish pie. She said it was ok. The other thing was heirloom tomatoes on some sort of corn cake thing. Pretty good. Really good actually. Really Really good.

Oh and we shared this Macaroni and Cheese. It was ok. Alright thats all for this poorly thought out post post!