Eating in NOLA:

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 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.

Before I start this post let me address one thing. So, almost as a rule, some of the posts that we have that should be the most interesting (ie the ones at nicer restaurants) come up a little short by our high Eating in NOLA standards. The reason is that the pictures never quite come out how we would like. Some might blame iPhone camera quality and lack of a flash. I like to blame mood lighting. Either way if anyone would like to buy us a nice expensive camera I'm sure we can get our readership up from 8 readers to a readership like the guys over at Blackened Out and Appetites.

Well, Friday night after filling up on crawfish we decided to keep up the seafood theme at Cafe Atchafalaya on Louisiana in the Lower Garden District.

Kerry had been there with some of her sorority for the debut of the restaurant under new management back in November. She thought it was a good place to take Jordan for a meal where you didn't have to use your hands. She was right.

Both Kerry and Jordan started with the Caesar Salad. The romaine lettuce was so big you had to cut it with a knife, and it came with some parmesan and crostini on top.

I had a beer, cheese, and potato soup. I will eat a potato soup any chance I get. This one was particularly good. This picture makes it look like it was an alien space ship full of soup but it was just a bowl's worth.


For our main courses Kerry went with the Shrimp and Grits. It has a little more of a broth to it than some shimp and grits meals I've seen in the past. It was good though and I know because I had a bite of it. There was some sausage in there too I believe. By the way, we started eating before we remembered to take pictures... so, sorry about that, but we were ready to get started.


I had the Red Fish with Lump Crab over top and served with spinach and green onion rice (I think thats right but when I type it, it sounds kinda weird). It was more food than I expected and I didn't quite finish it, which is something I can rarely say. It was good though.


Jordan had two appetizers, the crab cake and the fried oysters. I assume they were good, though I don't really know because I didn't ask. I guess I'm a bad host. Oh actually, I know both of the sauces that they came with were good 'cause I dipped my bread into them. I guess I'm a host with bad table manners.


We headed to Monkey Hill afterward for some drinks. That's not really relevant but it is a great bar and a good next stop after a great meal.

My buddy Jordan was in town for a few days (you can blame him for the delayed posts) and the one thing he really wanted to do while he was down from Charlottesville, Virginia was drive across the world's longest bridge, which crosses Lake Pontchartrain between New Orleans and Mandeville.

We figured if we were going to do it we might as well take him to the Abita Brewery on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. Abita is the brewery that makes beers like Purple Haze, Turbodog, and Amber. For a (very) little bit more info you can check out the Tulane MBA Blog post I did on our first trip back in January.

Well we went and it was fun and free and we drank as much beer as we could in the one hour free-for-all they give you. Here is a picture of Jordan and Kerry enjoying the tour. Looks like Kerry caught me taking it.

Afterward we decided to hit up the Brew Pub for some lunch before we braved the bridge again. Jordan didn't eat anything but he had an oatmeal stout beer that you can see in this picture of the fried chicken salad I got. I'm normally a pretty big fan of fried chicken salads but this one was not too good. It had the kind of honey mustard dressing I don't like. You know what I mean, the one that's less creamy and more neon yellow for some reason. Actually I guess Jordan did eat some of my salad after I discarded it.

Kerry had the crab claws. I had never seen a bowl of crab claws before. I didn't know it existed. Or I guess I knew crabs have claws but I didn't know it was a meal. I ate a few and they were good and Kerry liked them and she liked to dunk the bread in the sauce that it came in and I did it and I liked it too.

So Justin and I have been on a bit of a frozen pizza kick lately... possibly because one of our MBA finals last month involved a case study of a "restaurant-quality frozen pizza" manufacturer. They're also inexpensive and pretty tasty if you buy the right kind. Last night we opted for a Digiorno four-cheese brick oven style pizza. Nice crunchy crust and we can thank J for the Roma tomatoes on top.