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 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.

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.

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!

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."

So if you're a Twitterer you might already know this but according to Naked Pizza they gave away over $1000 in free large pizzas yesterday. I wonder if they mean $1000 in sales prices or cost of food... Either way I guess I don't care because I got a free large pineapple.

Now I hadn't eaten there since they were still Worlds Healthiest Pizza back when I moved here a year ago. I made up for that yesterday though when it was the only thing I ate all day. It's not bad pizza especially if it really is as healthy as it claims.

So this was a short post look for a longer one on Sunday. Here is a hint it's about clever.

-- Post From My iPhone

So this post is a little late. We have been coming to First Cup for about a month now. It's great here and the people are friendly. I'm sure the coffee is good too but we normally got for tea and bottled drinks or Italian sodas.

First Cup (this is the time when I normally lambaste a place for not having a website but I'm here all the time and I'm not trying to make anyone mad. And really its a community place... If they got a website we might not have a table to study at.) is on Calhoun Street just north of the Tulane Baseball Stadium across from Bud's Broiler.

They have a lot of good drinks and some good snacks plus a whole section of chocolates and other specialty items. Plus its the only place near by that I know that sells bottles of ginger beer for all you Dark and Stormy drinkers.

I could go on about the place but just come by and try it out... Then never come back. Its our spot and we don't need a crowd. Today we are studying for our last final (Process Modeling...awesome) and drinking a Strawberry Lime Jones Soda and a Raspberry Italian Soda.


... Oh and as an added bonus for all of you eating in places other than NOLA here is something for everyone. Subway sells pizzas now. I know what you are thinking but they are pretty good and cheap and since its Subway you can top them with all the fresh toppings you want.

And then by some miracle of science they cook the thing in 90 seconds and it comes out crispy gooey and delicious. Not a bad deal for $5. Be a snob if you want but on that next long drive you have you're going to try it out. When you do just shoot me an email and tell me I was right.

Kerry was off having lunch with a friend so I was left to fend for myself. So I headed down to Slice. They were real nice to me though and I ordered a few slices and a Diet Coke. I got out of there for under $10 so I can't complain. I took the above picture from my car while driving. Impressed?


And this is what I ate. Slice of Roasted Garlic and a slice of Meatball. I was pretty happy with the meatball but the garlic could have been better thought out. It was good but that's a lot of garlic... I ended up picking most of it off.

I've heard good and bad things about Slice but as far as just getting a few slices goes I think its a good option... maybe the best I know of in the city. Plus I saw sign for a Prix Fixe 3 course meal on Wednesdays that comes with 2 glasses of wine and a cup of coffee. So that could be worth checking out.

So this blog is called "Eating in NOLA" not "Eating in Europe".

So here is what we will do. Because I care about you guys, or I guess mostly I care about taking pictures of food awkwardly in restaurants both foreign and domestic, I took a ton of pictures of food from across the pond. So we are going to do one long post with a ton of pictures and short captions. Then we'll get back to what you come here for. Good old NOLA eating.

So... Here we go...

Here is our meal from the top of Montmartre in Paris. Kerry has Coq Au Vin and I had some sort of steak in pepper sauce. We had a real good dessert with cherries and ice cream too.



We drank lots of red wine that night and this is one of the bottles. We went to a cool little place.


Oh so this was in Dijon France. It was suppose to be one of the best restaurants in the country. It was fantastic and they had colorful plates.

We drank Kir. Its a local specialty with white wine and black current syrup.
And we both had the scallops with a vanilla lime infusion.

So Annecy was another stop along the trip. Annecy is at the foot of the alps and offered some pretty incredible views. It also offered some pretty incredible cheese fondue for lunch one day.
oh and some pretty incredible chocolate fondue for dessert one night too.
And one day I bought some things I thought were cookies but were biscuits and I didn't like them much but I took this picture.


On to Rome. We had our first dinner at this restaurant just feet from the Coliseum.
We started with a local favorite... melon and prosciutto.
Kerry had a classic Caprese Salad
And I ate a pasta dish we are going to try at home really soon so keep an eye out. Its just spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, cracked red pepper and cheese.
And all night this guy sang to us...


So this was a place right by the apartment we stayed in. These are crab fritter things.
They made their pasta fresh and this was some pasta and cheese I ate with cracked black pepper.
Kerry had the gnocchi with Italian sausages

Then we went on an awesome walking tour that took us into some really cool Roman squares. In one we got a cannoli and it cost 11 euro. That's like 89 dollars US.


Alright and the last meal we documented over seas is this one at Vitti, an out door cafe. We got a little wine.

I ate a little pizza. Actually the best pizza I have ever eaten.
Kerry had this pasta that was spicy and good too.
and then we had dessert. We ordered gelato. We ordered the flavors we didn't understand. The flavors we ordered were "kiss" and "egg flop." We are pretty sure the flavors were hazelnut and butter scotch.

So that's it. You never have to hear about Europe again. Start reading again. Don't take us off your blog rolls. We will be NOLA through and Through from now on. Hell I could post a Community Coffee post right now if you wanted.

Oh yeah... one last thing though. I had two connecting flights through new york and Atlanta before I got home to the Big Easy. At JFK I went to Chili's. I'm ashamed about it but in the spirit of full disclosure... Bacon Ranch Burger and fries.