crrush wrote:What a drag! I wouldn't count Vicksburg, MS, as much of a sight-seeing destination, .

You mean other than one of the MOST significant Civil War Battlesites in the US? And one of the few remaining preserved Civil War battle ships. In one of the most poorly marketed states (for tourism), Vicksburg and Natchez for that matter are "msut sees".

As fo rthe boudin trail, there are a lot of great places (and very few bad places) to enjoy the local favorite. Do realize that in many cases, if you stop at the local convenience store in SW Louisiana, you are going to be served a boudin that is produced at one of the featured places.

jlawrence01 wrote:

crrush wrote:What a drag! I wouldn't count Vicksburg, MS, as much of a sight-seeing destination, .

You mean other than one of the MOST significant Civil War Battlesites in the US? And one of the few remaining preserved Civil War battle ships. In one of the most poorly marketed states (for tourism), Vicksburg and Natchez for that matter are "msut sees".

Meh. I guess I should've said "I wouldn't count Vicksburg, MS, as much of a sight-seeing destination...unless you're into Civil War battle sites." Me? Not so much. (I'm risking more rancor from C.W. enthusiasts, but it's the truth.)

jlawrence01 wrote:As fo rthe boudin trail, there are a lot of great places (and very few bad places) to enjoy the local favorite. Do realize that in many cases, if you stop at the local convenience store in SW Louisiana, you are going to be served a boudin that is produced at one of the featured places.

Rhetorical question? There is good and bad boudin to be had in SW Louisiana, but what of these "featured places"? (Do you mean from the BoudinLink site?)

I haven't heard of the Boudin Link site, but checking it out now. We've hit a few roadside stops along the way, with today getting us fresh oranges, pecans, and...um, daiquiris. We're now stationed in the French Quarter, and heading to Cochon for dinner.

Ccrush: the hours for Walnut Hills were as usual, must have been MLK day closing them down. and thanks for the tip on Dupuy's - loved it so much I bought a t-shirt. Cafe des Amis was delish as well, and very nice people for being "young whipper-snappers."

We didn't get to Oxford, MS unfortunately...but as soon as we arrived in NoLa and checked into the Richelieu, we decided to stay an extra day - even though the Krew parades don't start until Friday. So much to soak up!

Okay, so we're getting behind at posting, but hey! we're on vacation, yo...anyway, we left New Iberia Wed morning, but stopped first at Brenda's Diner - delish! Even though we were there at 9am for breakfast (sorry to miss the fried chicken) we had a great time. Brenda's daughter waited on us, we were the only ones there at the time so we watched Judge Hatchett while we waited for our first feeding of the day. Great standards, and a very cozy room, full of family photos, a large xmas tree adorned with Mardi Gras decor, etc etc.



On our way toward NoLa, we stopped along Hwy 90 for some delicious Satsuma oranges. The nice man said that they were "just cut yesterday" but I can't be sure of that, since he didn't have any teeth and enunciation wasn't quite there...



After some drive-thru daiquiris (and brain freeze), we arrived in NoLa, checked into our hotel, and headed straight for the Acme Oysterhouse. Never a disappointment, but it looks like Arnaud's is gone, replaced by a "Fire of Brazil" restaurant...sad.

Then we traipsed over to the Napoleon House for Sazeracs.


Dinner was at Cochon, very tasty celebration of the pig!


Pickled Mirlton & Beet Salad w/Deviled Eggs, Fried Alligator, and Fried Chicken Livers with pepper jelly toast.


Louisiana Cochon with cabbage, turnips and cracklins...side of smothered greens


Red Velvet Cake

Quite a good meal, our waiter was enthusiastic, even though he was an admitted wine novice of 22yrs. The interior was spooky-similar to Avec...hmmm.

Brenda's Diner
409 W Pershing
New Iberia, LA

Acme Oyster House
724 Iberville St
New Orleans, LA
www.acmeoyster.com

Napoleon House
500 Chartres St
New Orleans, LA
www.napoleonhouse.com

Cochon
930 Tchoupitoulas St
New Orleans, LA
www.cochonrestaurant.com

So catching up...we're a day behind as to posting, but some things take priority right?

We spent the whole day in NoLa, had a blast...we started with the classic eye-opener: fried dough, powdered sugar and caffeine.


'Nuff Said!

For lunch we went to Liuzza's, in Midtown. Old-school place mixing Creole and Italian, and "home of the frosted mug." So we had to!




Frosted schooners of Abita Amber


Red Beans & Rice, with hot Italian Sausage, and Oyster Po'boy Seafood Gumbo Combo

Yes, we know it was Thursday, not Monday...but those red beans were oh-so-good!

We spent the afternoon walking down Magazine St (we rode the St Charles cable car up) and found La Boulangerie for an authentic French king cake.



Oh, and Josefa got the baby...

The rest of the day was not food-photo ready, we went to a great local bar called the Bridge Lounge, great beers and they specialize in muddled drinks like mojitos.

We were going to have dinner at Dooky Chase, but it was closed. So we went to Gautreau's instead on the recommendation of our waiter at Cochon. Very nice uptown local place. Cream of mushroom soup with fried oysters and pancetta, sauteed shrimp and grits, roast chicken and sauteed grouper were the entrees.

Our maitre'd at Gautreau's explained that Leah Chase was too old to run the place without her help, but most hadn't returned after Katrina...so she was doing Dooky Chase as take-out only.

Okay, so we left NoLa about 11am Friday, but not before hitting CdM again, and getting a Central Grocery muffaletta for the road.


We hit the road, taking 90 down through Gulfport and Biloxi...man, what a scene. All the homes and businesses were either just freshly rebuilt, in the process, or just wiped off the map (literally). We did count FIVE Waffle Houses between those two cities, but at least one of them was leveled to the foundation, and a few were freshly rebuilt.

We had some snacks and the muffaletta along the way.


"Road Soda" and Zapp's Tabasco-flavored chips

We stopped for gas, and went next door to Sonny's BBQ, a local chain that's been around for 40 years...pretty good and cheap too.

When we got to Apalachicola, it was abou 9pm so we checked in to our hotel, the historic Gibson Inn.

The chef in the restaurant, Avenue Sea, is David Carrier, who's done some time at Trio and French Laundry, among others. Unfortunately he was out of town visiting family. We went to the bar and had some good stuff off their tavern menu. We had some Apalachicola oysters, on the half-shell, with a habanero vinegar - awesome! - and fried onion rings (tempura light), as well as "fish and chips" which was local grouper, batter-fried, and some french fries. This was washed down by several glasses of Sinskey Vin Gris - yum!



We finished the night back in our haunted room 309, some more wine and a bath in the claw-foot tub...nice.

oh, yeah...forgot to mention this little creepy-time moment on our way from NoLa to Apalachicola. We stopped along the beach around Biloxi to enjoy our muffaletta and sat by a pier with our feet in the white sand.

Advice: If you are eating a sammich on the beach and seagulls start flocking around you, keep your sammich close. Otherwise, one will dive-bomb you and snatch it right out of your hand. I hope them dang birds get indigestion from the Central Grocery olive salad!!!

wino66 wrote:Then we traipsed over to the Napoleon House for Sazeracs.

Wha-Wha-What? You must mean a Pimms Cup! Napoleon's is one of my favorite places in the Quarter for a drink, followed closely, but in no particular order, by a Bloody Mary at The Olde Absinthe House, a Purple Drink at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop and any bottle of wine my blue blood friends are buying at Antoines (private dining rooms only)

Even though today was rainy and in the 40's and 50's, we had a great time driving around the Forgotten Coast and up to Savannah/Tybee Island. We had a great breakfast at Avenue Sea in our hotel, the Gibson Inn.


Brioche french toast with pecan caramel, and Biscuits with sausage gravy

We were told by our bartender last night that we could get some excellent Apalachicola oysters across the bridge in East Point...damn right we did!

We bought a 1/4 bushel (about 15lbs, 4-5 dozen) for the high price of $6.25, and we splurged $3.50 for a styrofoam cooler since we didn't want oyster gunk all over our cool beverages in the main cooler. Score!


Island View Seafood

We headed around the rest of the coast and then in to Spring Creek, to the Spring Creek Restaurant we read about in one of our books. This was THE highlight of the day, and if you are ever close to Tallahassee, DO NOT MISS THIS PLACE!



They get all their seafood fresh from either their own boats, or from other local fishermen. As this was our last stop in Florida, we had to try the stone crab claws. We also had their house salad, sort of a "wedge" thing, with Mrs. Lovel's house "ranch" dressing, and croutons and bac-O-bits were provided on the table.



We split the "Mate's Platter" which for $19 included 4 fried oysters, 5-6 gulf shrimp, a crabcake, 2 hushpuppies, and fried mullet. AWESOME! They served the mullet back as well, and such great flavor for a little fish...




Yep, even the mullet tail (back) was so tasty I gnawed it down to the fin!

We were told that they bake their own pies: key lime, coconut cream, and chocolate peanut butter...we chose coco-cream and were not disappointed - best coco-cream pie I've had in many years!

And if you find yourself rather messy after all this eatin', just head to the men's room for a bath!



With full bellies (and growing waist lines) we high-tailed it up to Savannah to stay the night. We decided not to dine downtown since we didn't want anything fancy/expensive, so we found this website which led us to Dewey's Dockside in nearby Tybee Island.


If you look closely, to the right of the flag is the mast of their shrimp boat - nice!

We walked in at 9pm (they closed at 10) and were the only folks there beside the owners, Richard and Mike, and the waiter, Matthew. They graciously invited us in, made us a great meal, and chatted with us throughout while we watched the SC primary results pour in and Obama giving his speech. Another great find - hit it if you can. Richard is even featured in John Mellencamps' video "Our Country." You'll see him at about 2:40 into it, holding up a big fish.


Spicy Crab Dip, Seafood Cioppino and Lobster Ravioli

Due to our hectic dining schedule, we decided to not finish our entrees...which made Dewey's adopted cat very happy!




Matthew (our waiter) flanked by owners Richard and Mike

Mark, thank you for making these great posts. My family and I usually hook up once a year over at St. George Island. I'll make a point this year of stopping off at Island View Seafood. Whilst googling about I found that there's a whole series of those great Southern Foodways Alliance interviews with people of the Forgotten Coast, including an employee (as of 2005, anyway) of Island View - Terry Dean.

Ivan wiped out an awful lot of places down there in '04 so it's good to see the few old school places hanging in there, though it's tough going with the dramatic run-up in real estate prices.

I'm frequently near Savannah as well so thanks for the tips!

Great posts!
Oooo...that's a good lookin' hushpuppy!

iblock9 wrote:

wino66 wrote:Then we traipsed over to the Napoleon House for Sazeracs.

Wha-Wha-What? You must mean a Pimms Cup! Napoleon's is one of my favorite places in the Quarter for a drink, followed closely, but in no particular order, by a Bloody Mary at The Olde Absinthe House, a Purple Drink at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop and any bottle of wine my blue blood friends are buying at Antoines (private dining rooms only)

Actually, I have had several Pimms Cups there, but since it was about 45-50 degrees out, we opted for the Sazeracs to warm our insides. I agree tho, that the Pimms Cups are outstanding there.

And Kman, you are more than welcome!

I am not sure if you will be close by while in georgia but i remember stopping at a place called the new perry motel in perry georgia for a nice traditional white table cloth fried chicken and biscuits sunday dinner. If you find yourself nearby it is worth a stop.

http://www.newperryhotel.com/

Actually we're already in Asheville. Having a great time and seeing old friends (I lived here for 3yrs). Day 8 post will be up soon as we get wireless connection...Asheville is a open-wireless city!

Okay, so we looked around Savannah Sunday morning but most everything was closed at 10am (church anyone?). So we left town for Charleston. We stopped at Jestine's Kitchen downtown. We read about it in Southern Belly and we were not disappointed! The restaurant is owned by Dana Berlin Strange, a very nice woman whose parents were raised (and her as well) by their "nursey" Jestine who died in 1997 at the ripe old age of 112. She has dedicated this restaurant to her memory, and serves food that Jestine used to cook.

We were seated and immediately served a portion of cucumber pickles, and our sweet tea was quite tasty. The silverware was rolled in washcloths to let us know we were in for a good meal.




Started with 4 fried green tomato slices, but my camera wasn't fast enough...


Fried pork chops with mac & cheese and red rice, and Fried chicken livers with onions, okra gumbo and smothered greens


Coca-Cola cake with vanilla bean ice cream - oh my!



Jestine's Kitchen
251 Meeting St.
Charleston, SC 29401
843-722-7224

We then headed up to Asheville (I lived there for a few years) and met up with my buddy Joe at his house. We opened up that cooler of Apalachicola oysters and shucked about 4 dozen. We pulled the rest out of the cooler to rinse off and give fresh ice - there must be about 3-4 dozen still left! All those for $6.25...SCORE! And man were they good, creamy and briny.

We went downtown for a drink, and Joe took us to a new place called Asheville Yacht Club, a tiki-style bar and restaurant. One of the owners was our bartender, a nice gentleman named Billy. We started with some cocktails - Jameson for us guys, and Josefa had a "Pain Killer" which is a coconut rum and juice thing with a flaming sugar cube garnish...

We were a little hungry still so ordered some bar snacks off the late-night menu, "pitcher of tater tots" and some nachos. He also brought us (and everyone else at the bar) some "bacon tapas" to enjoy.


Pain Killer


"bucket o' tots" nachos and bacon tapas

Josefa and I remarked that the salsa for the nachos was pretty mild, so Billy brought us some "Tiki Torture" sauce, a bright habanero-spiked salsa that was truly devine.



Thanks Billy!

Asheville Yacht Club
87 Patton Ave
Asheville, NC
(828) 255-TIKI

So we spent all of Monday in Asheville, where I lived for 3 years. Nothing totally new for me, but Josefa was introduced to local "southern lunch" at the Moose Cafe, the WNC Farmer's Market, a tour of the Biltmore House, and nachos and trivia at the Jack of the Wood pub (where I used to manage).

After some coffee and Sunday NY Times at our friend's house, we trucked on up the hill to the Moose Cafe for a true Blue Ridge lunch. It's a local favorite and for good reason: comfort food featuring lots of fried, salty, long-simmered foods and plenty of sweet tea.


Great view of the mountains, and check out the collection of mason jar goodies


Fresh biscuits with housemade apple butter gratis


Fried chicken with pinto beans & chow-chow and mashed potatoes
Chicken & dumplings with collards and glazed carrots

Gotta say, my fried chicken plate was the winner - great S&P seasoned batter, and juicy inside. Her chicken & dumplings was all dumplings with tiny strips of chicken breastmeat...decent enough. Sweet tea was dead-on "southern sweet."

Moose Cafe
570 Brevard Rd
West Ashville, NC 28806
(828) 255-0920

Afterward, we went next door to the WNC Farmer's Market, which is open year-round (they roll up the doors in the summer).

When we walked inside, we were the only customers except for one other guy...kids in a candy store!







The red wheel is "hoop cheese" a local mild cheddar-style. And the nice lady in that last shot runs my favorite section at the market and is (as the locals say) "sweet as pie." As you can see, no shortage of pig here...

We bought a bunch of stuff, and even came back Tues morning on our way out of town to buy a whole country ham, a 16-pounder, for about $40. It'll find a temporary home hanging in our basement until we finish our La Quercia heirloom prosciutto which currently resides in our frig at home.


Our "country ham-baby"

After we toured the Biltmore House (I worked on the estate during my stay in Asheville) we popped into a local wine bar for a rest, some pate and a glass of red...or two. Then we went and played pub trivia, I drank way too many pints of beer, and complimented them with a few (I think) shots of Tullamore Dew. Needless to say, I was one hurting puppy the next morning!

Okay, last full day on vacation, as tomorrow we head back to Chicago...on a side note, we are extremely happy right now, snug in our room at the Hyatt Regency downtown Louisville as opposed to continuing on to Chicago in this crappy storm...more on the local forecast below.

So we got up about 9ish this morning, Josefa pushing coffee under my nose and rousing me out of the whiskey and beer-induced fog. She, Joe (our friend and house-host) and I went to Tupelo Honey Cafe for breakfast. Joe and I both attested to Josefa that this morning was the slowest we've ever seen the place. It's a local favorite, and for good reason.


the real deal


house biscuits with tupelo honey, and Eggs "Betty"

After we were well-fueled on good grub and strong coffee, we hit the road (got that ham tho!) and headed toward Louisville. We stopped in Lexington (actually the community of Athens on the outskirts) and had a late lunch at Cummins & Sons Food Mart. We read about it in our other book, Backroad Buffets & Country Cafes.


Lots of drink choices next to the "dining room," and a collection of regulars fishing and hunting.

Great local market and casual diner/deli with daily specials, but we read that the chili dogs were the thing...washed down with a bottle of Ale-8-One. Quite tasty, and down-home good. Also got a bag of Grippo's potato chips (made in Cincinnati).




The daily specials by the register, and classic roadside exterior

Cummins & Sons Food Mart
6421 Athens-Boonesboro Rd
Lexington, KY
606-263-9427

We were going to tour a bourbon distillery, but since it was 5pm by the time we got to Frankfort we just headed straight into Louisville. We went straight to the Brown Hotel for the classic local favorite: Hot Brown. If you don't know this dish, do yourself a favor and either go to Louisville or look up a recipe - the Brown Hotel chef invented it and as the saying goes, "often imitated, never duplicated." Open-faced turkey sammich with Mornay sauce, topped with crispy bacon.

We walked in at the right time, seated in the Thoroughbred Lounge, since it quickly filled up afterward. We were very casually dressed, but our tuxedo-clad waiter, Ian, was top-notch attentive, friendly and professional. Since we wanted to get some greens into our diet, we each got a house salad, and split one Hot Brown. This picture shows half on each plate, Ian had the kitchen split it for us. Man, that Mornay sauce is a killer...the dining room manager told us that she likes her Hot Brown "with a side of nap."



Since we were in for a penny, we decided to go for the pound.


Derby Pie

While we were waiting for our food, we brought out the iBook and booked our hotel on hotwire.com, got a room at the Hyatt for $90 tax included...nice! And it is only about 4 blocks from where we were parked.

So back to the weather...when we walked into the Brown, it was about 50 outside. As we exited, about 8pm, the wind literally pushed us down the street. About 1/2 way between the hotel and the car, the sky opened up and we were soaked through by the time we reached our car...and then it got cold. Better than being on the road, right my friends?

I've thoroughly enjoyed your well-documented (and well-nourished) travels through the south, wino66. This vicarious vacation is exactly what the doctor ordered for me, stuck in a midwinter-dark and permenantly 40-degree Sweden...

Thank you very much!

I agree. This has been a fascinating thread.

wino66 wrote: we brought out the iBook and booked our hotel on hotwire.com, got a room at the Hyatt for $90 tax included...nice! And it is only about 4 blocks from where we were parked.

Slightly off-topic.

Throughout your trip, did you book your hotels through Priceline/Hotwire? If you did, did you do it a couple of days in advance or the day of? I am just curious as to what you did as I would like to start booking a day or two in advance instead of booking a week in advance which makes my travel plans less flexible.

YourPalWill and Bridgestone: it is my pleasure! I'm very proud to be a contributing member of this forum, and this was an awesome trip so I'm happy to share it with those who also appreciate great local foods and travel.

To answer your question, jlawrence01, yes it was slightly off-topic, but I thought it relevant to the overall Louisville experience with the storm, et al. For the hotels where we stayed during our journey, we only used hotwire for this one stay (and we booked it a half-hour beforehand). We reserved rooms 1-2 weeks before we left for Memphis, New Orleans, and Savannah. I did find the Gibson Inn in Apalachicola on the web and knew that if we were gonna stay there for the night, that would be the place. As for New Iberia, we just stopped there when we got to town, since we originally planned on staying in Vicksburg, MS but pressed on. So as per your last point, hotwire is great for last minute finds to save money. Many hotels have reduced "web-only specials" so even if you're standing in the lobby, you can ask to use their internet connection to book online (either through a site like hotwire or their company site) to have instant savings.

I hope that helps.

Okay, final day (return to Chicago) and summary posts coming up soon!

EDIT: Josefa reminded me that we almost stayed in a "motor inn" to remain unnamed for $20 less, but got a hotel 3x as nice for a bit more. But it doesn't work well on a Blackberry, just an fyi.

Alright, y'all...all good things must come to an end. We woke up late so the remnants of the storm would be cleared up before we hit the road.

We took the advice of one of my Asheville friends who used to live in Louisville, and went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast. Apparently it has quite a following, and I'm thinking it's for the technicolor design as much as for the food.


The main lot was full, so we had to go another block to park

The interior is just as chaotic and wacky, with goofy decor all around, and weird stuff on each table, like these toy animals on the table, and the big tree with toy dinosaurs etc climbing it...



Since our diet has been so...how do we say...rich? we kept it simple.


Bacon, eggs and biscuits. Bacon-blueberry pancakes

Josefa got a nice plate of bacon, eggs, and biscuits with the house sorghum butter, which I liked but she didn't. My pancakes were outstanding, as the sweet-savory mix of blueberries, crispy bacon pieces, and syrup on top was awesome. I couldn't finish them though...please don't hate me.

While on topic, their gift shop had some great stuff and I posted a few here.

So, sated with bacon, we hit the road, but not before stopping at one of the local Liquor Barn stores to stock up on bourbons. I'm a fan of all things bourbon (goes with bacon, right?) and wanted to find some not available at our Sam's and Binny's stores. Got some fine ones, too (more on that later).

Heading north on I-65 we got hungry for lunch just in time for "Indy's oldest and finest drive-in" - The Mug n' Bun.



A great little spot down the road from the Speedway, it has a little of everything but we were there for the Indy specialty: breaded pork tenderloin sammich. Since they are huge (these pics don't do it justice) I got a corndog basket, and we shared both. We washed them down with their homemade rootbeer, creamy and delicious!


The nice lady comes to your car, as the "inside" door is employees only



Here's a shot from the street, so you can see that it is truly a drive-in (with picnic tables in warmer weather).



We got back on the road and headed into Chicago...we toyed with the idea of stopping at the Chick-Fil-A but we had reached our saturation point. So instead, we headed straight home with a quick stop at our local Dominick's to stock up on veggies to make a chicken soup...something healthy and warming now that we're back in single-digit weather.



Oh, and for those of you familiar with our kitty, he was very happy to see us, even though we brought home a ham, and not smoked turkey.

Allllright. We've "broken out the booty" and sorted out all of our purchases for display...well except for a bunch of fridge magnets for our friend Tracey, who watched Kitty for us.

So here's a pic of our dining room table, replete with Southern treasures. I put up a bigger one since there is so much detail, please don't hate me Cathy2!



I'm gonna list what's there from left to right (loosely) for your culinary edu-muh-fuh-cation, y'all.

Old Ezra 7yr bourbon 101 proof
Heaven Hill 6yr - Josefa likes it with Ale-8-One
Henry McKenna 10yr single barrel - quite tasty!
Blanton's single barrel (liquor barn select) - friggin' awesome!
Hancock's President's Reserve single barrel - drinking some now
"Happy Balls" bourbon candy (bought with bourbon)
Ale-8-One (lexington)
Moon Pie, chocolate (SC)
RC & Cheerwine sodas (SC)
Duke mayo (NC)
Cajun Classic 12qt enameled cast-iron pot (breaux bridge, LA)
Avery Isl. kosher salt
Tabasco garlic pepper sauce
West Sopchoppy Tupelo honey (medart, FL)
Hobe's country pork side meat (wncfm)
Mtn. Sunshine Farms country style ham (wncfm)
Camellia red kidneys (new iberia)
Indian River grapefruit (medart, FL)
Satsuma oranges (along I-90 in LA)
Pecans (ditto)
Dried shrimp (new iberia)
Konriko rice (new iberia)
Camellia navy beans (ditto)
Alexander's country ham (16 pounder from wncfm)
King cake crown (NoLa)
Dickie's Pecan Divinity (LA)
Hubig's NoLa style pie, apple (LA)
Kim's country style pork cracklings (clarksdale, MS)
Hoop cheese (wncfm)
Coates Produce hot chow chow (wncfm)
Steen's pure cane syrup (new iberia)
Coates Produce sourwood honey (wncfm)
Kim's BBQ pork skins (clarksdale, MS)
Forge Mtn. "Apricots n' Brandy" (not sure what this is yet...Josefa got it)
Coates Produce sorghum molasses (wncfm)
Daniel Boone stone ground yellow grits (wncfm)
Rex creole mustard (central grocery, NoLa)
Central Grocery's olive salad (duh)
White Lily a/p flour (NC)
Mugs: Cafe du Monde & Sun Studios
Tabasco kitchen towel

we got a few t-shirts also, a keychain, a bunch of pins for Josefa's work bag, etc etc...

Your last photo brought a tear to my eye. Fantastic coverage, and what a bounty of edible booty! I'm very impressed with your purchase of Camellia red beans, Steens and road-side satsumas. You really zeroed in on some good, local Louisiana treats.

The real question is, what'd you (or Josefa) hafta show to get dem beads?

crrush wrote:The real question is, what'd you (or Josefa) hafta show to get dem beads?

What happens in New Orleans...stays in New Orleans!

Just a thank-you note to the authors of these 3 books we purchased for our trip.

Roadfood: Revised Edition
by Jane and Michael Stern

Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover's Companion to the South
by John Edge

Backroad Buffets & Country Cafes: A Southern Guide to Meat-And-Threes & Down-Home Dining
by Don O'Briant

All 3 proved to be great sources for out-of-the-way spots and foodie favorites alike, although a few of the spots in the books were out of business when we tried.

Southern Belly had the most interesting stories and was quite humorous as well, and Roadfood was the only book useful north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Great report. I wonder out loud if there is any way to get these epics -- starting, perhaps, with MikeG's seminal raod trip to DC with LTH as his guide, through the group NYC trips, to the recent astounding Australia travelogue, and now this -- in one place. It's one thing to just do a search for a particular place. That works. However, a library of journals from culinary safaris would be great. I know, it seems like a lot of work.

Lots of things about this thread bring back fond memories of time spent in Louisiana and NC, but the Apalachicola stuff really hits home. As a freshman at UF in nearby Gainesville, I was invited by an ADPi to a winter oyster roast on the docks. Looking at the post, I was back on the charter bus full of hormones heading for that rickety dock with the day's oysters piled head-high and kegs of cheap beer all around. Apalachicola is a very different part of Florida, well-worth the detour. I mean, really, day boat grouper and mullet, besides the oysters.

JeffB wrote:Great report. I wonder out loud if there is any way to get these epics -- starting, perhaps, with MikeG's seminal raod trip to DC with LTH as his guide, through the group NYC trips, to the recent astounding Australia travelogue, and now this -- in one place. It's one thing to just do a search for a particular place. That works. However, a library of journals from culinary safaris would be great. I know, it seems like a lot of work.

Lots of things about this thread bring back fond memories of time spent in Louisiana and NC, but the Apalachicola stuff really hits home. As a freshman at UF in nearby Gainesville, I was invited by an ADPi to a winter oyster roast on the docks. Looking at the post, I was back on the charter bus full of hormones heading for that rickety dock with the day's oysters piled head-high and kegs of cheap beer all around. Apalachicola is a very different part of Florida, well-worth the detour. I mean, really, day boat grouper and mullet, besides the oysters.

Thanks, JeffB! I agree, maybe we can have the admins figure something out like a section of Beyond Chicagoland which is for culinary fieldtrips/roadtrips exclusively.

I must say, LTH suggestions were just as helpful as the reference books we took with us. I put together an Excel workbook with a different sheet for each day, in a "day planner" template. I wrote down LTH and book suggestions and then printed it. As we rode around, I made journal notes on it so we'd have a better recollection. This proved helpful especially since our trip changed course a bit as we went along.

Okay, I thought I'd end this journal with a synopsis of the best memories from our trip (culinary only) and regrets and missed opportunities as well.

Highlights

Stopping for that crawfish stand on the side of Hwy 61 in Mississippi
The Guiding Star, New Iberia, LA
Spring Creek Restaurant, Spring Creek, FL
Dewey's Dock Side Restaurant, Tybee Island, SC
WNC Farmer's Market in Asheville
"Hot Brown" at The Brown Hotel, Louisville
Dupuy's Oyster Shop, Abbeville, LA
Brenda's Diner, New Iberia, LA
Beignets and cafe au lait at you-know-where - great to see them anytime!
the delicious "pub grub" at Gibson Inn, Apalachicola, FL
paying $6.25 for a 1/4 bushel (turned out to be about 8 dz) Apalachicola oysters and then shucking them at my friend Joe's in Asheville the next night
Satsuma oranges along the highway heading into NoLa
Jestine's Kitchen, Charleston, SC

Regrets and Missed Opportunities

Dooky Chase being closed (supposedly take-out only) due to her staff flown town from Katrina
Not getting to meet Gus (of Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken) since he died 7/07, Mason, TN
Gnaw Bone Food & Fuel is out of business, Nashville, IN
La Trouvaille, Chauvin, LA apparently out of business from Katrina still
Walnut Hills Round Table, Vicksburg, MS closed for MLK Day

Total miles travelled: 3266.1 in 11 days

A great time, and I highly recommend it to anyone with a few weeks to kill and some extra room in their jeans!

If you want to see some non-culinary stuff from our trip, you can see our personal blog here. Cheers!