Nice Jim, bet your going have some great pics. Dont forget to hit a BBQ shack down there!

Cbot wrote:Nice Jim, bet your going have some great pics. Dont forget to hit a BBQ shack down there!

I might, i had some smoked spares @ cochon that were pretty good. High quality pig, vinegar heavy sauce & pickled watermelon on top.

August for lunch today was great. Magical blue crab app, as well as fried brussel sprouts. Ill go into more detail with pics when i get back.

Crawfish have been tough to find, i think i found a couple spots up by the french market.

Commanders kicked some ass tonight. Great service, great food.

Abitaa rootbeer braised pork belly was pure culinary genius.

Easily one of the best restaurants i have ever eaten at.

I didnt do the chefs tasting, did 2 apps. And a 3 course dinner. Fabu...

Kind of surprised there were some people @ CP wearing jeans, and one guy wearing ratty gym shoes. Different strokes i guess, but i wouldnt go to CP looking like that.

Just got back in the cold Chicago area tonight from NoLa!


My wife and I had a real great time. I'll try to more specific about the places we went to eat and what we thought of them in another post, maybe tomorrow. We went with another couple and ate at at least five different restaurants each day. The other couple loves food as much as my wife and I...and the purpose of this trip was to EAT!..and eat we did. Most places we made our own tasting menus by ordering (usually) seven to eighteen different items (and then sharing them between all four of us).

Some places I was really impressed with were Elizabeth's for breakfast, The Joint for bbq (my gosh is this guy good!), Cochon did pork right, Besh's Domenica had some great rustic Italian food...and one of the most refreshing things was the music on Frenchmen St!!! Unfortunately crawfish aren't in season right now But I loved all the gumbo...gumbo...GUMBO!

Most of the places were real good...some were ok and one, Patois, had served some very poor to mediocre food. Their mixed drinks were great proper mixed drinks! Fabulous! The scallop app was cooked perfect. But the soup was way under seasoned, the roux in the gumbo was way burnt and the pork belly was overcooked to the point of being tough to swallow without a sip of a beverage to help wash it down. This is after the server replaced the first piece of pork belly that was even worse.

But really...that was really the only bad place we ate at. What a great trip! and the food...oh the food. I could go on and on...but we just got in...and I'm tired. Although somehow I don't think I'm going to need to eat for the next week or so

I'll mention again...the music on Frenchmen street was real refreshing. This aint no Bourbon street music...this is hold on to your a$$ jazz and funk! The one night we left after the last band on the street finished for the night, around 0400! The crowd was probably around 99% locals.

dan





enjoy the food all!



dan

Nice quick report dan, i look forward to your full report. I got your texts sat. Night but was already too lit.

5 places per day? I got to kick it in to high gear & try more spots(been getting to 3 or 4 per day)... The toughest thing about nola is finding stomach capacity..

Nice pickled watermelon on the smoked spares....wicked wild!
Whats up with not find the crawdad's down there?

Cbot wrote:Whats up with not find the crawdad's down there?

Too early. It's not season yet.

Cbot wrote:Nice pickled watermelon on the smoked spares....wicked wild!
Whats up with not find the crawdad's down there?

Yep kind of early like steve said.

Today i found 2 or 3 places that have them. Probably hit the one over by the french market that i had some blue crabs at today soon. Either that or a to go sack from big fishermans.

Dinner tonight is @ Boucherie over in carrolton. Small place so a reservation was a necessity.

jimswside wrote:Today i found 2 or 3 places that have them. .

Sadly they are probably Chinese.

iblock9 wrote:

jimswside wrote:Today i found 2 or 3 places that have them. .

Sadly they are probably Chinese.

Nope, local. If i had a car a couple bartenders gave me even more spots outside of the city. Guys said these early season mudbugs were good but small. Probably going back to the place where i had the boiled blue crabs yesterday. Chef told me he was finally getting some live ones today.

Johnnys shrimp po boy with a bottle of Barq's was really nice. Did Cochon Butcher & Mahoneys toda'y. Butcher was great & Chef S. took some time to chat. Their house cured meats are unmatched.
Luke for supper tonight.

If anyone in Louisiana served Chinese crawfish they would be crucified immediately. Seriously, I am not kidding.

The season is starting now as I am ordering a few hundred pounds of live ones for Superbowl Sunday. How are they going to get live crawfish from china? I mean really....
Jim glad you liked Johnny's Po-Boys!! Love that place.

jhawk1 wrote:If anyone in Louisiana served Chinese crawfish they would be crucified immediately. Seriously, I am not kidding.

Hellz yeah my brother......

Luke was excellent, walkin up bourbon to lafitte's after a couple hours @ bourbon house....

Lafittes is a must for any bar fly.

This thread is making me so hungry and so sad I'm not in Nawlins...

<sigh>

have a beignet for me....

Cassamento's as good as advertised... Nice gumbo, crab claws, fried shrimp, & ss crab.
didnt do any oysters, too hung over.

The zoo is top notch.

Back @ luke but for happy hour.($.50 p & j oysters) Chef John Besh(and others) would be "bigger than jesus" in chicago if his restaurants were there.

so glad you enjoyed the zoo--hope you waved to my alma mater for me (across the street )

Can't wait to hear the details when ya'll get back!

Enjoy the rest of the trip!

jhawk1 wrote:If anyone in Louisiana served Chinese crawfish they would be crucified immediately. Seriously, I am not kidding.

Lots of Chinese Crawfish in Lousiana Shocking but true. Ask around and see here ---> http://www1.american.edu/TED/crawfish.htm

boudreaulicious wrote:so glad you enjoyed the zoo--hope you waved to my alma mater for me (across the street )

Can't wait to hear the details when ya'll get back!

Enjoy the rest of the trip!

Thanks jen, this town is great.... Cant imagine what college would be like here..

Jim, did you stop at Sucre, on Magazine St on your way to the zoo? Audubon Park is real nice too. I love the moss on all the Live Oaks.

Here's a couple of pics from The Joint







and one on Frenchmen St. I'm going to see Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten in March...and I've got no problem admitting that these kids kicked some jazz a&&.






We ate at the Chef's food bar at Cochon, the above picture is the view from our table. We ate so much food there...the line was great and knew exactly what we were doing by ordering so many apps and sooo many entrees, and then sharing them all between the four of us. But the server didn't get it at all...we were passing food between all four of us and the waitress, at one point, asked our wives if they were going to order...WHAT! Luckily the line cooks got it, and cooked us more than a few goodies that they just passed to us. The rabbit and dumplin's were good, the rabbit livers with pepper jelly, cracklin', skin on pork loin was great, in fact...everything there was pretty darn good...but perhaps one of the best parts of the dishes (I almost hate to admit) were some greens cooked in a lovely amount of pork fat and wonderfully seasoned.

Domenica, another Besh restaurant, was great. I had the tasting w/wine pairing last time at August, which was good too. At Domenica we got the full charcuterie and cheese plate, octopus carpaccio, wood roasted sardines, stracci, papardelle con ragu, truffles and pancetta risotto, roasted mangalista pork shoulder and roast goat loin (I feel like I'm forgetting something)...all were very well done.

Kpauls...I went in here with very low expectations, just because of the way everyone has spoken about the place. I went there twice and thought it was pretty good. Now, his gumbo does have a little different flavor to it, but I thought it was a welcome change...and still a nice dark roux. The red beans and rice were done nice, nothing fancy...but they shouldn't be. The breaded pork chop for lunch was so so. Dinner we ordered a few more things (like usual) and everything was really nicely done (a bit better than lunch). I was hoping to get a signed menu, but he wasn't there either day.






Elizabeth's for breakfast. This was a small local place a bit out of the way, past the French Market. I loved this place. I walk in and they're playing some older doors (not the popular stuff) and it feels like a local diner. Why in the world this place had the best poached eggs out of all the places we had them I don't know. Even Commanders gave me only one ok poached egg. Both of these were perfectly poached sitting atop a nice cornbeef hash.

When we were finishing up we were asking the server if there were any other great local spots that we may not have heard of, she gave us a few ideas. But while this was happening another couple had heard us talking about food. They quickly through a few questions out and we enthusiastically replied back. They had a house in New York, New Jersey, New Orleans and another vacation spot on Long Island. They were naming off all the top food spots to go all over. They said they started living down in New Orleans some years ago. They seemed to have a decent amount of money (I didn't ask)...but everything seemed to be about the food with them (they were maybe upper 50's). We canceled our taxi ride back to the quarter and the couple gave us a great tour of the expanded New Orleans area. We were jotting down places to eat and listen to music as fast as they were taking us past them. What great people. Only thing they asked in return was that we pass the word on to others about New Orleans. Well, that shouldn't be tough to do!

We hit so many places for gumbo, etoufee, Johnny's for po'boys, more gumbo and more gumbo, Port of Call, Snug...all real good. The cook at the Coffee Pot had made us some special bowls of crab/corn chowder that we had had last time we were in NoLa...great flavor...tons of crab. They weren't serving it on the menu this time...but we just asked if he had it again...and said that he would make it no problem! Blue crab was in season...oysters, LA crawfish weren't in season (but we didn't figure they would be). Hmmmm...GW Fins was actually pretty good. I wasn't going to go there on this trip either just because the name sounded like a chain (don't ask me why). But it was good...plus, Sunday night there isn't too much open for dinner.

I thought The Joint was really spot on. This guy can smoke. It's way out in the middle of nowhere, but it opens at 11:30am. I got the sampler and had to add a side of sausages (why do I always have to add sausage to a sampler plate). Pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and Pouche's smoked chaurice was out of this world.

Sucre on Magazine was a surprise for the sweet tooth. They had real nice and incredibly tasty up scale (type) desserts. Everything was outstanding...and we sampled a lot of what they had. Oh yeah, the hot chocolate is real hot chocolate. There are so many places. We ended up going to Commander's Palace too. The place has such a place in NoLa food...how could we not stop there. The cemetery across the street was open for a nice stroll through a bit of history. The food at Commanders was really good, not great...but good. I thought the service was oddly clumsy. They had all the elements, and bodies, to perform a full service dinner...but it seemed very awkward and clumsy. We still had a wonderful time eating there.

I would say the only two places that weren't real good was The Gumbo Shop, which just makes a so so bowl of gumbo. On the plus side they have a nice variety and a good alligator sausage. Not a bad bowl of gumbo by any means...but so many other places do it nicer. Again, all gumbo is beautiful!

(oh...we also had crab and alligator at either Cochon or Domenica)

The one place that was actually bad, PatiosNola. This was on the clear other side of town and was going to be one of our better dinners planned. The mixed drinks were fabulous..nice and proper! Some of the food we got was way under seasoned and other stuff was just way overcooked. I mean...I would be ashamed to serve two of the dishes that they served us. The roux in the gumbo was burnt. It wasn't sorta burnt...it should have been thrown out and started over. We had plenty of other dark roux gumbo's while we were there...I can't imagine that was what they were going for. The pork belly was so overcooked you needed a drink to keep from chokin' on it while it went down. Keep in mind...this was the better one after we sent one of them back! Off night? perhaps. But this place has such a good reputation...some of that food shouldn't have been served to us.


How can you not go on and on...

The music...Frenchmen St (music) after 0400 the next morning! Even the local art shops are great to go in NoLa. M.S. Rau, at 610 Toulouse) is a must for everyone to go in and look. This is a museum class antique store...they've got so much stuff it's just cool to look. Hmmm...I think this may be one of the few places I didn't bring a beer into.

When I retire I would love for my wife and I to rent a house there for 2 months out of the year. I love the quarter and I believe you need the Quarter in New Orleans. But New Orleans has so much more to offer if you're willing to venture out.

I miss it already!

jimswside wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:so glad you enjoyed the zoo--hope you waved to my alma mater for me (across the street )

Can't wait to hear the details when ya'll get back!

Enjoy the rest of the trip!

Thanks jen, this town is great.... Cant imagine what college would be like here..

I vaguely remember enjoying it

gonefishin, good call on Sucre . . . I wrote about it in this thread and threw in a picture.

And I also agree with you on the Gumbo Shop - pretty mediocre gumbo.

Nice report dan, i made it up to frenchman st. last night after another stop @ lafitte's. Nice music scene for sure. might head back tonight.

No sucre(i am not a sweets guy.

Finally got some mudbugs..... Not too small, really nice. Big fishermans on magazine in the gd. $4.99/lb. Them and 2 nice female crabs($2.00/ea.) that were chock full of roe, made for a great picnic on a sunny 70 degree day.

gonefishin wrote: Here's a couple of pics from The Joint

Smoker looks hugh...extra jumbo. Looks like you can walk in that thing for the side. Nice!

801 Poland Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 949-3232
http://www.alwayssmokin.com/

Cbot wrote:Looks like you can walk in that thing for the side.

That gives new meaning to the term "guest of honor".

Leaving nola in a couple hours. Almost 8 days here, and nola, its food, and people exceeded my sky high expectations. Gonna probaly book a trip back down here for august(here or disney - anyone who knows me knows family & shay are # 1 ).

We stuck to our plans and were glad we made reservations, when i think of the places we hit i am pretty impressed(dragos 2 x, cochon, delmonico, felix, commanders, mahoney's, johhny's 2 x, august, luke, k-paul 2x, galatoire's, big fisherman, cassamento's, central grocery(sucked), cafe du monde 3x, cochon butcher, etc.). I cant remember a better week of eating.

Ill spend tomorrow going through pics, and thoughts/best dishes, which will first hit my blog then here(gotta take care of #1).

jimswside wrote:
Kind of surprised there were some people @ CP wearing jeans, and one guy wearing ratty gym shoes. Different strokes i guess, but i wouldnt go to CP looking like that.

As having been to NOLA many times pre and post Katrina it is not all that surprising. Pre-Katrina no gentleman would think of going to CP without at least a jacket and usually a suit. After Katrina they were happy to get anyone in there who would pay for a meal. Now that things have gotten back to normal it is hard for them to get people to revert to the proper way of dress. I know I will probably get the usual heat about "What is the difference what you wear?", but I am old, and old school. If you look at their website and observe the signs at the door they do say jackets preferred for men at dinner, but there is no enforcement, so people head automatically for the easiest and laziest mode of dress. I still think most people do show the proper decorum but all it takes is one bum to bring down the whole room. I know ... I'm so harsh , but trust me the staff does notice.

WI_Ian wrote:but trust me the staff does notice.

I know i was treated like a vip, comped drink, palate cleansing shot, & lots of attention by servers and management. Not sure if that was the James Bond esque ivory sport coat or the ammount of pictures I snapped, questions about dishes, or comments about evry course. Either way my meal @ Commanders was the best complete meal of the trip.

Cbot wrote: Smoker looks hugh...extra jumbo. Looks like you can walk in that thing for the side. Nice!

801 Poland Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 949-3232
http://www.alwayssmokin.com/

Thanks for posting the link and address, Cbot. This place definitely deserves a mention or two. Besides, he's a previous MIM participant