Eating in NOLA:

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.

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?

So I'm going to do a real post tonight but I've been feeling guilty and posting so infrequently...



After graduation I went with Kerry's family to NOLA down in the quarter for lunch. Rather than be the weird guy taking pictures in the restaurant I waited until I was eating left overs at 2 am Saturday night. Here you can see the fried chicken and the potato salad. There were also green onion hush puppies but I ate those up pretty quick.

Maybe the best fried chicken I've ever had. Stay tuned for a post tonight about the thing we are growing and as soon as we have money we will give you some more restaurant posts I promise.


-- Post From My iPhone

Well it has been while since we posted. We have been busy. Mainly with school but also with French Quarter Fest like everyone else. So why not a festival food post? Evey one loves New Orleans festival food and we are no exception. We got a few pretty good things too.

We chose Love at First Bite on Friday when we went to see Soul Rebels on the waterfront. This is what the people that worked there looked like.


And this is what the food looked like. Crawfish Pasta for KM and I had a Cochon de Lait po-boy for me. Maybe the best po-boy I've ever had. There was so much pig in it I almost felt guilty.


Saturday we met up with some fellow MBA's and drank a few drinks and listened to a little music, but also ate some shrimp. Like this shrimp with cheddar and bacon grits from Saltwater Grill.

AND... these "shrimp" skewers from Bubba Gump's. I like that in New Orleans Shrimp Skewers come with Andoullie.

So... sorry for a delayed post but it should be a good warm up for Jazz Fest posts. I'll probably live blog via my phone so that should be really really exciting for everyone. Tell your friends and see you there. And more posts soon I promise.

Thanks to a restaurants.com promo we ended up with a $25 gift certificate for Petunia's for $2. I know what you're thinking - you want to get in on deals like that. If you really want to know how shoot me an email and I'll let you know.

So either way we got to try a place we normally wouldn't because they are a little pricey. It had been a while since we had eaten in the Quarter so it was a nice break from the norm. That on top of some pretty good food made it a nice experience.

I was between the Cajun Pasta and a crepe with broccoli and cheese. The waiter directed me to the pasta. It had at least a pound of butter and was completely covered in Parmesan cheese. There was also an absurd amount of shrimp and andouille sausage on it. I was only able to eat about 1/3 of it. Oh and it was delicious. There were red, green, and yellow bell peppers... so it was the healthiest thing I've eaten all week (don't worry about me, I think we are going to Gott for lunch and I'm heading in the direction of a salad).

Last night we ate at Le Meritage (formerly Dominique's) in the Maison Dupuy on Toulouse in the Quarter for Valentine's. My sister (who I can't thank enough) had gotten me a gift certificate for Christmas and we had been looking forward to it for a while. There was a set Valentine's Day prix-fixe menu but we opted for the normal menu.

Each dish is paired with a glass of wine and you can get large or small plates. We both did a small salad, soup, and entree.

I'll apologize now for not getting a picture of everything and the lighting not being great but we got some good ones I think.

First they sent out a complimentary starter appetizer. It was like a tiny little cheese and egg omelet. Here is an incredibly blurry picture of it!


First course (sorry no picture) was a arugula salad with grapefruit, apples, goat cheese, pine nuts, and a little avocado. Kerry got a glass of Moet-Chandon with it that she drank with her dinner (I got a half glass).

Second course (..... sorry) was a Corn and Crab bisque. It was really good. It wasn't as creamy as a standard bisque but was really good and sweet with lots of crab. And it was good with the rolls that they brought us. I had a glass of Chardonnay with it that I drank with dinner. Now onto something we can show you...

Kerry had the Grouper served over quinoa (I just looked this up on the menu, I think it is kind of like couscous dish, you can see it in the picture below [definition according to dictionary.com]). It was served with three sauces, one of which was a compounded red wine butter sauce (top left in the photo) that was really good. I think she liked it, I had a bite and I liked it.


I had the Flat Iron Steak cooked medium rare and it was good and I ate it all. It came with pickled Louisiana Cucumber and was in a red wine sauce. Here is what it looked like before I ate it.

The half sizes really worked out well, we could try a few different things and still had a little room left for a Valentine's Day Dessert. We went with the Chocolate Pot. It was good and rich and a great way to end a good meal. Plus it came with a gigantic chocolate covered strawberry and some macadamia nuts.


Just in case you were wondering we went to Circle Bar in Lee Circle afterward and took this dark and shadowy picture of us in a nook while we drank an Abita, a PBR, and a incredibly strong Absolut Mandarin and Sprite.


On the whole it was a great night, we had a great dinner and Kerry got compliments on her dress, and I got a book on cooking with beer and Kerry got roses and looked very pretty. I hope everyone else had as good a Valentines Day.