I'm Walkin' to New Orleans

With all due respect to Fats Domino, I'm actually flying to New Orleans on 1/11 thanks to a generous Christmas/Early Birthday present from the Chow Poodle. She booked the trip, now it's time for me to figure out where we are going to eat.

Before Katrina, we were regular visitors to the Crescent City, but this will be my first time back since the storm. I've already booked dinner at the newly re-constructed Commander's Palace for Saturday the 12th and am looking forward to that as our "blow out meal" for the trip. Now I am looking for some other recommendations for places that are up and running and shouldn't be missed. If you've been to N.O. recently, let me know what's not to be missed these days. Anyone been to Camilia Grill since they re-openied?

I have not been, but Cochon very much appeals to me. Dick & Jenny's has also gotten a lot of good press.

Last spring, we had great dinners at Bayona and K-Paul's.

And Johnny's in the Quarter, makes a heck of a great po' boy.

From what I've heard, definitely Cochon over Herbsaint (both Donald Link restaurants, but Cochon gets consistently better reviews).

I always recommend Jacques-Imo's Cafe. Weather permitting, call and see if you can book the table in the bed of the truck parked out front. Seriously.

8324 Oak Street
New Orleans, LA 70118
504-861-0886
Monday - Thursday, 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Friday and Saturday, 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Sunday - closed

Willie Mae's Scotch House has supposedly re-opened, although a cousin said it was closed a few days over the holiday--definitely call before heading there.

2401 Saint Ann St
New Orleans, LA 70119-3405
(504) 822-9503

For breakfast/lunch, the Camellia Grill is a no-brainer.

626 S Carrollton Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
(504) 309-2679

Vital Information wrote:I have not been, but Cochon very much appeals to me. Dick & Jenny's has also gotten a lot of good press.

Cochon is one of my favorites anywhere in the country. Absolutely incredible. Also owned by the same folks, Herbsaint is simply excellent.

Steve,

Definitely hit Cochon, Dick & Jenny's, and Camellia Grill.

I have been returning time & again to Cochon, the deep fried Chicken Livers w/ Pepper Jelly are fantastic, as is the Boucherie Plate. Last time I also had the Ham Hocks & the time before that the Rabbit & Dumplings - both delicious as well. The only weak spot in the menu that I have found seems to be the soups.

Cochon is a really unique place, focusing on Cajun fare in a city best known for its Creole food. They are damn serious about their pigs, purchasing whole animals & processing them in house. They also stay open between lunch & dinner, so a good time to go to avoid the crowds is for a late lunch, say 2:00 p.m. or so.

Steve,

Have you tried this thread?

I also heartily suggest Cochon. One of the best meals I've ever had was there.

I was at Jacques-Imo's pre-Katrina and it was outstanding! We're heading down there in 2 weeks, just made a reservation at Cochon based on recommendations on this thread.

Enjoy your trip!

i realy enjoyed franky and johnny's. i was there in march a few years back and had the crawfish boil! it was a fun locals type place away from the quarter and downtown, and cheap.

http://www.frankyandjohnnys.com/index.html

bmwr65ls wrote:i realy enjoyed franky and johnny's. i was there in march a few years back and had the crawfish boil! it was a fun locals type place away from the quarter and downtown, and cheap.

http://www.frankyandjohnnys.com/index.html

Boy that's a blast from the past. I assume Franky and Johnnie's has survived the Katrina ok (that part of town was less affected).

When I lived in New Orleans, in the late 1980's, this was one of my absolute favorite places, a place I would visit near weekly. It was the exemplar of what New Orleans dining was all about, at least the non-fancy end. The standard meal, as mentioned, was the crawfish, but I liked everything I ever ordered there.

There was red beans on Monday and white beans another day and even lima beans on some days. The beans and rice were served with your choice of meat, like New Orleans "hot sausage", a kinda of regulated boudin that I have never seen outside of the Crescent City. And I never understood why/how New Orleans restaurants outside of New Orleans (that's you Mr. Banos) never served the meat with the beans and rice. Ditto the fried chicken, ditto the boiled shrimps or crabs (in their short season). Ditto the poor boys, the stuffed artichokes, the onion rings and rings of battered green peppers, and especially ditto the bread pudding with canned fruit (!). You could drink beer in long neck bottles or Barqs in similiar bottles, and yes, the Barqs never tastes the same.

I have no idea if Franky and Johnie's lives up to my memories, but if it's close, it's a great suggestion. Note, back in the day (at least), the neighborhood around was not the best. I would not necessarily walk there.

Vital Information wrote:[ And I never understood why/how New Orleans restaurants outside of New Orleans (that's you Mr. Banos) never served the meat with the beans and rice.

When I lived in New Orleans, Mid-90s, my friends who were locals would never order red beans in a restaurant. Red beans were something strictly made by your mama. I only remember meat as a side to the red beans and not an actual part of the dish at Dunbars on Freret which I have heard did not survive the storm, but i am not sure. (IMHO if you are gonna order red beans at a restaurant in NO Dunbars was the place to do it and you could get either andouille or gumbo crabs as your meat choice)

In reference to the OP, F & J is crawfish central now until around may. It was still as good as you can get in orleans parish the last time i ate there. Also try the artichokes.

Some other ideas for culinary pit stops around town, have a PoBoy at Domilises, oysters at Casamentos, trout almondine at Mandinas, cheese fries at F & M, purple drinks at Lafites Blacksmith Shop, Pimms cup at Napoleon house, grab a bloody mary at the olde absinthe, a late night burger at the clover grill, and dream about paul's fantasy at Uglesich (RIP) while eating at Dick & Jenny or Jauques-Imos.

wino66 wrote:We're heading down there in 2 weeks, just made a reservation at Cochon based on recommendations on this thread.

Another fantastic place that I dine at often & recommend very highly is Brigtsen's - I skipped it for Steve b/c he stated that he already had his big "blow out" meal planned, but on reflection I think I'd be remiss not to mention it.

Brigtsen's is a great New Orleans restaurant. Chef Frank is a life long New Orleanian who apprenticed under Paul Prudhomme, an avid fisherman, and a very knowledgeable guy w.r.t. local ingredients. The restaurant is a family operation, with Frank's wife Marna running the front of the house.

http://www.brigtsens.com/

ChiNOLA wrote:Another fantastic place that I dine at often & recommend very highly is Brigtsen's - I skipped it for Steve b/c he stated that he already had his big "blow out" meal planned, but on reflection I think I'd be remiss not to mention it.

I've been to Brigtsen's many times and it is a great place! We may even end up there this time as well. I don't consider Brigtsen's to be a "blow out" meal in the sense that Commander's is. IIRC, Brigtsen's is at least one, or maybe even two, rungs down the cost/fancy ladder from Commander's, while still serving excellent food.

stevez wrote:

ChiNOLA wrote:Another fantastic place that I dine at often & recommend very highly is Brigtsen's - I skipped it for Steve b/c he stated that he already had his big "blow out" meal planned, but on reflection I think I'd be remiss not to mention it.

I've been to Brigtsen's many times and it is a great place! We may even end up there this time as well. I don't consider Brigtsen's to be a "blow out" meal in the sense that Commander's is. IIRC, Brigtsen's is at least one, or maybe even two, rungs down the cost/fancy ladder from Commander's, while still serving excellent food.

I'd say your analysis is correct. Brigtsen's is ALL about the food - the dishes, flatware, and stemware are all serviceable but not ultra high end, and I think the prices are quite reasonable considering the very high quality of the food. That said, it's still quite a bit more expensive than, say, Dick & Jenny's.

Brigstens used to have an early bird special with a set menu that was a favorite of mine when i was in law school and barely had two nickels to rub together. It consists of a starter main and desert for something absurd like 19.95 and was available between 5:30-6:30 during the week. If they still do this i would highly recommend the same.

ammendment I just called Brigstens and they stopped offering the early bird when the re-opened after the storm.

Better late than never, I would recommend Elizabeth's in Bywater, which is an artsy dive for traditional southern cooking. Very good, inexpensive.

I would recommend Dooky Chase, but they're currently only open for take-out since Ms. Chase's full staff hasn't returned after Katrina.

2301 Orleans Ave
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504) 821-0600

Don't forget breakfast at Mothers!

I hope all is well. I've been waiting for stevez's trip report for a while now, mostly because my wife and I are also [flying] to New Orleans in a few weeks.

gus wrote:I hope all is well. I've been waiting for stevez's trip report for a while now, mostly because my wife and I are also [flying] to New Orleans in a few weeks.

I'm having a hard time putting my experience into words. Almost all of the food we had was great, but the reality of the living conditions (or lack thereof) outside of the main tourist areas is almost too depressing for me to put into words. I promise a full post with pictures eventually.

stevez wrote:

gus wrote:I hope all is well. I've been waiting for stevez's trip report for a while now, mostly because my wife and I are also [flying] to New Orleans in a few weeks.

I'm having a hard time putting my experience into words. Almost all of the food we had was great, but the reality of the living conditions (or lack thereof) outside of the main tourist areas is almost too depressing for me to put into words. I promise a full post with pictures eventually.

We're thinking of going next week -- I'd appreciate some pointers (aside from tip heavily)

I've just returned from NO, my first trip post-Katrina -- one day for work, so I didn't get up to see my friends and see the destruction on the North Shore.

Anyway, thanks much to crrush, ChiNOLA and the others above for the info. Cochon was great for dinner. I had the pig, grits and sausage, and oyster roast. Just about perfect. Otherwise I only had time for a po' boy and gumbo at Johnny's in the Quarter, and way too many Sazeracs at various watering holes. (Great bar town, NOLA, as is Chicago.) There had been a very negative mention here of Johnny's some months back, but I found it to be quite good. A bustling place with a great mix of locals, despite the neighborhood.

My wife and I also recently were in New Orleans, March 22-25, 2008.

This ended up being a much longer post than I anticipated, so I didn't bother to go back and proofread.

Here is an exhaustive look at four days of gluttony:


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Galatoire’s for lunch, 3/22/08:

Sazeracs at the bar.

Sweetbreads with beurre blanc. The beurre blanc was (maybe not) surprisingly roux-based. Although relatively light for a roux, I felt it slight overkill given the fact that sweetbreads themselves are relatively rich, which is compounded by the light breading added before pan frying. The sweetbreads were cooked perfectly, and the capers added a nice salty tang to the dish. Not my favorite preparation, but still a winner for a sweetbread lover.

Fried eggplant with béarnaise, powdered sugar and Tabasco. The key to the dish is mixing the Tabasco with the powdered sugar which adds a needed acidity to the béarnaise. I absolutely love this dish.

Pompano meuniere amandine. The fish was lightly breaded and pan-fried and had firm yet flaky flesh. It tasted of the Gulf, in a good way. The sauce was buttery and the crunchy almond slices were a nice textural component.

Oysters en brochette -- What’s not to like about oysters wrapped in bacon?

Café Brulot

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Brigtsen’s for dinner, 3/22/08


Crawfish shortcake, aka crawfish etouffee served over black pepper-basil biscuit. Rich dark roux with a hearty portion of plump crawfish tails on a firm, yet moist, buttery biscuit made slightly spicy by the black pepper. Not much basil flavor, but very comforting. Two whole boiled crawfish on the side.

Pulled pork on johnnycake with pepper jelly. Tender, braised pork. Not smoked, but not advertised as so. The pepper jelly was a nice mix of sweet, tart and spicy. This was right up my wife’s alley.

Roasted boned half duck with crispy skin, cornbread dressing and tart cherries. Came with steamed veggies and mashed potatoes. The duck was succulent with wonderful crispy skin. The cornbread dressing was homey and went well with the tart cherries. The side dishes were a bit hotel banquet-like in that they were just placed on the side rather awkwardly. The steamed veggies were not memorable, although the mashed potatoes were wonderfully rich and creamy.

Sauteed veal with oysters and creamed spinach with brie. Pan-fried veal scallopine with perfectly cooked plump oysters. The brie really added depth to the creamed spinach.

Very good coffee. Mild with fragrant caramel flavors.

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Brennan’s for breakfast, Easter Sunday, 3/23/08

Gin fizzes -- Brennan’s offers a “New Orleans gin fizz,” which is actually a Ramos gin fizz. Not sure of the reasoning behind it. This batch was a little flat. Brennan's blends their gin fizzes, and I believe there was simply too much ice in the blender.

Baked apple with double cream. The cinnamon and nutmeg in the cream begged to be noticed, but were unfortunately drowned out by the bland under-ripe apples.

Bottle of Schramsberg Sparkling Rose.

Eggs Portuguese -- Poached eggs in puff pastry shells with a tomato sauce. When you make your living with variations of eggs benedict, there’s a good chance the eggs are perfectly cooked.

Eggs Hussarde -- The marchand de vin sauce adds a hearty and savory component to classic eggs benedict.

Chocolate suicide cake -- Straightforward, as advertised. Enough to satisfy my wife’s chocolate craving.

Chocolate pecan pie -- A rather skimpy serving size, and not much chocolate. Somewhat disappointing, and the vanilla ice cream remained rock-hard during the entire dessert service, despite being placed directly on the hot slice of pie.

Small serving of Bananas Foster as “lagniappe”
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Luke for dinner, 3/23/08

Ojen Frappe and Absinthe Suisse

Wild boar pate, and duck and rabbit liver pate; both served with watermelon pickle, fennel marmalade, mustard and cornichons. The wild boar pate was rather straightforward and could really have been any meat with no discernible gamey flavor as I had hoped. The duck and rabbit liver was more of a mousse than pate, and had a subtle sweetness which reminded me of maraschino liqueur. The watermelon pickle provided a tart acidity to complement the fennel marmalade.

Pied de cochon “croustillants” with sauce gribiche. A little heavy on the filler, but had a savory pork flavor. The sauce gribiche had a noticeable anchovy presence.

Local crabmeat ravioli with roasted cherry tomatoes, herbs and fish stock. A simple preparation in which the freshness of the crabmeat was enhanced by the sweetness of the tomatoes and subtle sea-air notes of the stock. A wonderful dish.

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Cochon for lunch, 3/24/08

Fried rabbit livers on pepper jelly toast. Deliciously crunchy with a fresh liver flavor. Finely sliced pickled white onion and a sweet yet piquant pepper jelly glaze made for a divine small bite.

Pork cheeks with cornbread bean cake and mustard cream. Rich pork flavor with a lima bean flecked corn cake. The mustard cream was subdued which really allowed the porkiness to shine.

Hot sausage with grits, roasted peppers and creole cream cheese. The sausage had a bit of spice and a generous fat-to-meat ratio. The grits were firm yet creamy, and the whole dish was accented by a generous pour of the house made hot sauces: Piquant red pepper, acidic green chili, and pickled hot pepper juice.

Fried pig’s ears with spicy honey mustard. Panko (I believe) crusted, toothsome strips of pig cartilage had a mild sweetness yet not much discernible pig flavor. The breading may have overwhelmed the subtlety of flavor.

Rabbit and dumplings. Served in a cast iron skillet and topped with biscuit-style dumplings. This was a minor disappointment. Outside of a strong sage presence (which I appreciated), there was nothing else to have prevented me from thinking it was made with chicken. At Luby’s (no offense to fan’s of Luby’s).



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Restaurant August for dinner, 3/24/08

Degustation menu. The menu was handwritten for us by our very attentive, friendly and knowledgeable server, so I apologize for any mistakes as I didn't have time to confirm any of the spellings:

Amuse bouche: Seafood sabayon in an eggshell with caviar. A strong white truffle presence. Not much in the way of seafood, though. That didn’t bother me, but given the name, I was expecting more fishiness.

First: Beet salad with local crabmeat, mizuna and Benton’s bacon in sugar cane vinaigrette. Moet and Chandon White Star. Lump crabmeat with a light mix of mayonnaise, peppery mizuna, roasted heirloom beets, hard-boiled quail eggs and thick chunks of deliciously salty and smoky bacon. Each ingredient was a vibrant example of its species, and there was synergism in the combination of flavors.

Second: Brandade beignets with piquillo peppers and haricot verts. Chateau de Sancarre. The salt cod was mild compared to the majority of times I’ve had it, but this was a fun dish. The savory brandade-filled beignets were extremely light and crunchy.

Third: French crawfish boil with truffled brandy cream. Chateau Talmard Chardonnay. A big bowl of whole boiled crawfish in a luxurious brandy cream fulled of sliced black truffle. The best part was sucking out the tomalley, which had absorbed lots of the brandy cream.

Fourth: Crispy-seared rouget on sunchoke puree with fried artichokes and paprika foam. Mersault-Bruchard Pere and Fils “Les Clous.” This was a solid dish with prevailing Mediterranean flavors. A fine dice of meyer lemon and orange on top of the fish lightened this up nicely.

Fifth: Seared scallop with herbed squid ink risotto and truffle foam. Treana Viognier/Marsanne. I’m not a scallop fan, nor is my wife. The squid ink risotto was toothsome, which added needed texture to the scallops. A small dollop of aioli provided a strong punch of raw garlic which went well with the sweetness of the scallop.

Sixth: Lamb sweetbread over turnip puree with paprika reduction. Cotes du Rhone St. Espirit. The disappointment of the evening. The breadcrumb-crusted sweetbread itself was (a.) bland, (b.) predominantly mushy, and (c.) incompletely stripped of connective tissue. All in all, one of the worst sweetbread dishses I’ve had. My wife liked this dish. The paprika reduction tasted of cranberry, although I didn’t confirm this.

Seventh: Sugar and spice duck with cherry reduction, foie gras and grits. Sauvigney Les Beaure Cote de Beaure. One of their signature dishes, we were told. Essentially a five-spice crusted duck breast, cooked rare-medium rare was well balanced by the cherry reduction. A long lost friend, foie gras, added a luscious richness.

Eighth: Seared Vache Sante cheese over Benton’s ham with 30 year balsamic. Nivole Moscato d’Asti, Michelle Ciorolo. One of the most savory cheese courses I have had. The caramelized cheese melded harmoniously with the boldly flavored country ham and the sweet balsamic.

Ninth: Strawberry-rhubarb tart. Honig late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. I was puzzled by this. I didn’t see the full dessert menu, so I’m not sure if all the offerings are as simple as this one. While it was a perfectly fine example of its genre, it had no creative touches and really left us scratching our heads as to why something so ordinary was included on the tasting menu.

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Galatoire’s for lunch, 3/25/08


Fried eggplant and soufflé potatoes with béarnaise, powdered sugar, and Tabasco. Mmmm.

Half-bottle Taittinger

Crabmeat Maison. A light mayonnaise-based dressing with capers and green onions folded into lump crabmeat makes for a fine lunch salad.

Crabmeat canapé Lorenzo. An enormous crabcake topped with two anchovies. This was a fine example of a crabcake with minimal binder, especially given how large it was. The anchovies gave it a salty kick, and blended well with the succulent and sweet crabmeat.

Half-Bottle Ridge Geyserville, 2004

Sweetbreads with Mushroom bordelaise. Thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms sautéed in a (non-roux based) beurre blanc. This preparation allows the lightly breaded and sautéed sweetbreads to shine. Maybe my favorite rendition of sweetbreads.

Fried Oysters -- Perfectly cooked plump oysters with a crunchy coating.

Brabant Potatoes -- Crispily fried diced potatoes are a nice cross-breed of potato chip and French fry.

Banana bread pudding -- A reliable standard. Nothing exceptional, but perfectly satisfying.

Café Brulot

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That's a lot of food, and we're glad to be back to such a boring food town as Chicago


A few notes:

Eating downstairs at Galatoire's is simply one of my favorite things in the whole world. The atmosphere (even/especially) at lunch, along with world-class servers and consistently wonderful food is about as good as it gets for my money.

Cochon lived up to its billing, and we could have eaten there daily, I believe.

Luke was solid. I would definitely go back, but in a town with so many options, I probably won't.

Brigtsen's is a charming restaurant with well executed food. The small rooms are cozy and charming, and the food is well done. There is nothing fancy about the decor, the service or the ingredients, but we had an enjoyable and satisfying evening. The place was filled with locals (evidenced by the fact Chef Frank spent a long time in the dining room speaking with several tables).

August was very good, but a few things bothered me:

a.) The degustation menu (the components of which were not listed on the menu) was half-composed of dishes listed on the regular menu. Given the fact that we had never dined here before and that the included courses were ones we probably would have ordered had we done a la carte, I have a real issue with degustations described as "let the chef create a special menu for you," which end up being a greatest hits of existing items. I'm partially paying for a "special" experience. If you want to do a greatest hits, then give me a full list of the options and let me pick the nine things I want.

b.) The wine pours were small. During the crawfish boil (which was labor intensive), I not surprisingly ran out of wine halfway through. My glass was taken away without asking if I wanted more. When I finally asked for more, it didn't arrive until I was eating my last mudbug. When we got the bill, I was charged extra for the additional glass. Granted it was only four dollars, but I got the sense I was being nickled and dimed.

c.) The portion sizes were large. I'm not complaining about having too much food, but how can I know ahead of time if I should eat all or half of my salad as course number one. I expect a restaurant with as high a profile to take care of that for me. It would be silly to only eat half of each dish if you're still going to be full at the end. I feel that large portions are unfair to the second half of the tasting menu, which is typically more savory and may be difficult to appreciate given a certain satiety level.

These are small gripes, and not problems unique to August. And I'm sure many of you will disagree with some of these assessments. And I must admit that the entire experience was great. It was fine dining with a New Orleans flair, and I'm glad we went.

Overall, we had a great trip and look forward to returning soon.

gus wrote:Eating downstairs at Galatoire's is simply one of my favorite things in the whole world. The atmosphere (even/especially) at lunch, along with world-class servers and consistently wonderful food is about as good as it gets for my money.

I have to second this statement. There is simply no better place in the world for a friday afternoon lunch then Galatoire's. Arrive early and stay until your dinner reservation. Anyone who is anbody in New Orleans is there every friday and the place is seated in a completely democratic manner. I had the pleasure of dining with a member of the extended "Galatoire" family on my last visit and we had to wait in line for a table just like everyone else. The classic creole preparations, attentive yet old school service and insane cocktail party atmosphere (in a blue blood kinda way) are an unbeatable combination. 5 bottles of Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc and the "special" coffee at my last lunch there made for the single most memorable lunch of my life.

I always laugh when people poo poo Galatoire's and Antoine's as being too touristy. If you know where and when to go (at Antoine's that means absolutely refusing to sit in the main dining room and allowing your waiter to order for you) you will be treated like a local and have a local's experience.

MsRev and I drove from Louis Armstrong airport in New Orleans thru the beautiful spanish moss strung oak trees to our friends' house in Franklin, La. It had been years before Katrina since our last visit. We were excited!

Our friends live on Bayou Teche, deep in the heart of cajun country. They were gracious enough to throw a party, inviting friends and neighbors, including the ex-governor of Louisiana, in our honor. Everyone was most interesting and friendly-Southern hospitality is not dead. Their next door neighbor, Lamon, the Dr. of BBQ in Franklin, drove over his Klose pit barbeque, the altar of our feast.

Dick & Jeanette our hosts put on an incredible spread of hors d'oeuvres and drinks including a 3 liter bottle of Pedroncelli Mother Clone Zinfandel. The ribs were delicious, with some fight to the meat. The andouille was great, along with the boudin, made by another neighbor in his butcher shop. Lana loved the ribeyes.

Lamon, Franklin's Dr. of BBQ


St. Louis Ribs


Grilled Boudin and Ribeyes-Oh yeah!


Andouille hot off the smoker


New Orleans is still beautiful and fun, at least the Garden District and Vieux Carre. Those areas were untouched by Katrina and intact except for vacancies in shopping centers like Jax Brewery and Canal Place. There seem to be fewer galleries in the quarter and more sex shops and shows on Bourbon Street. We took a Katrina tour and the destruction is more evident in the areas outside of the tourist centers. We went thru the upper and lower 9th ward, which were basically underwater and are now barren, overgrown fields except for some scattered homes that didn't float away or were rebuilt. The water marks, some 20 feet tall, are still evident on buildings. New Orleans needs and welcomes tourists. We visited the musicians rebuilt homes, funded by Harry Connick Jr., which had beautifully colored exteriors.

Upon arrival in the city we headed to our the French Market Restaurant for our favorite boiled crawfish. We also decided to try some fried crawfish tails, just to help the local economy.




Dinner was at Tommy's, famous for duck, recommended by our friends from Franklin. Irene's is a very popular restaurant in the quarter. Irene and Tommy, her husband, divorced a few years ago. Tommy borrowed the recipes and opened his own restaurant in Midtown, with basically the same menu. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. We started with Oysters Tommy-baked in it's shell with Romano cheese, pancetta and roasted red peppers. We also had trio of seafood salad. Entrees were soft-shell crab, lightly battered and fried, served with linguini pasta tossed with fresh basil and roma tomatoes in a reggiano crawfish sauce, and Duck Tchoupitoulas-roasted crispy and glazed with raspberry demi, served over wild rice and fresh spinach. Outstanding! Dessert was pecan praline bread pudding with bananas in a classic foster sauce with vanilla ice cream.

Breakfast our first morning needn't be described.



Lunch at Napolean House, was our favorite warm Muffaleta and Roast Beef Po Boy, washed down with Pimm's Cups.




We dined at Herbsaint for our final dinner, Chef Donald Link's restaurant. Incredible! We started with a dark chicken gumbo and great fried frog legs with fresh fines herbs. Next, very smokey smothered kurabuta pork belly with rice, black-eyed peas and collard greens, and muscovy duck leg confit with dirty rice and citrus gastrique. This was the best dirty rice since Chez Helene. The banana brown butter tart with fleur de sel caramel was fabulous dessert.

After beignets our last morning we had our final meal at Cochon for lunch, Donald Link's sister restaurant. It's currently THE hot restaurant in New Orleans, well deserving of all it's accolades.

Wonderful rolls with a melted butter infused crust for lunch.



Andouille and pheasant gumbo, better than the chicken gumbo from Herbsaint.



Fried boudin with pickled peppers rivaled the boudin links Gwiv and I made before I left Chicago.



Wood-fired oyster roast, smokey, briny, buttery, incredible.



Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage & cracklins-pig at it's finest.



My only disappointment was rabbit and dumplings. The rabbit was bland and the sauce had too much sage.


Coconut tart with frozen almond custard.



We love New Orleans! Andy & Lana

RevrendAndy wrote:Grilled Boudin and Ribeyes-Oh yeah!

Drool!

Andy,

Terrific series of pictures, looks to be a wonderful time. Love the Klose pit and grilled boudin, which I am just starting to realize the joys of.

Enjoy,
Gary

Great pics, Bro! I'm a little disappointed that you seem to have moderated a bit on this trip from your usual consumption.

By the way, I thought that all living former governors of Louisiana were in jail. Was the one at your party out on work/eat release?

Andy's Better Brother wrote:
By the way, I thought that all living former governors of Louisiana were in jail. Was the one at your party out on work/eat release?

You may be mistaking Illinois from Louisiana. When you think about it, the 2 states have alot in common.