New Orleans - Need Rec's for 8 Dudes

Okay.... I've gone through the threads, but I don't think Commander's Place and August would want our business. We're probably better suited for a louder, less formal environment. This is an annual trip we do in a different city every year for the first couple rounds of the NCAA tournament, and drinks tend to go down a little quicker when you're back with old friends. We typically hit a steak house every year (despite my protests), but we are not looking for that this year. I've finally convinced these guys that we can do a steak house anywhere and that we should enjoy the local cuisine. Right now, I have in mind places such as Bourbon House, Mr. B's (which I've had a fine meal at before), and K-Pauls. Any advice is most appreciated.

Former Tulane student (class of '86) so many of these suggestions have been around a long time but New Orleans is quite European in that the old standards generally endure. I quickly Googled to make sure all are still open post-Katrina and thankfully, they are.

A million people can give you the foodie paradise NOLA rec's (so could I) but if I was a guy going to NOLA with my buddies, these are the places I'd make sure I didn't miss because you won't find places like them anywhere else.

So here goes...
1) Port of Call--838 Esplanade Avenue At the back of the Quarter, GREAT burgers, drinks, down and dirty (not literally) atmosphere--great for a group of guys!
2) Cooter Brown's Tavern-- 509 South Carrollton --fresh oysters in Uptown (were 10 cents a piece on Tuesdays when I was in school--probably not now ) Avoid the tourists in the Quarter at this great hole in the wall--darts, ridiculous beer list (400+), alligator sausage, co-eds and don't forget the OYSTERS!!...need I say more
3) Fat Harry's--4330 Saint Charles Ave--cheese fries and pitchers---open til 5:00 a.m. if I remember correctly...at the corner of St. Charles and Napolean ave. and a streetcar stop...relive your youth
4) Parasol's-2533 Constance St--Po Boy's--the real thing. Roast Beef, fried Oyster, shrimp. They have FRENCH FRY po boys...get 8 different ones and pass them around. You've never had anything like this because they can't be re-created outside NOLA. Not sure why. Many have tried. May want to check out Domilese's as well...similarly stellar. 5240 Annunciation St
5) Mother's-- 401 Poydras --the Ferdi--ham, debris (the pieces of beef that fall into the gravy when they fall off the roast) and gravy (as well as roast beef) and dressed with cabbage, pickles, mayo and a ton of mustard. Need I say more?
6) THe Camelia Grille--the best diner ever--626 S. Carrolton--also on the Streetcar line
7) And, finally, a couple of nicer dinner places--Clancy's, Brightsens and Emerils would be my 3 top picks--none are stuffy (Clancy's and Brightsen's are small and in intimate settings but I thnk still enjoyable in a large group) and I think Emeril's is the best of his empire. Also August gets great reviews but I've never been so can't say.
Last but not least--check out Tipitina's--501 Napoleon Ave and Snug Harbor--626 Frenchmen Street for live music--regardless of who's playing..a great place to go for music post-game!

As for the places you mentioned...not familiar with Boubon House, avoided K-Pauls when I lived there (was considered over-rated then) and Mr. B's is a keeper although I never loved teh atmosphere there--was kinda generic.

PLEASE report back--I haven't been since Katrina and would love to hear how my old haunts are doing!

Have a blast!

Jen

Port of Call or Cochon.

Franky and Johnny's would seem to be a good choice for a larger group of guys. You will be on the front end of crawfish season as well, and that is a great place to hit for crawfish if you're in to that sort of thing.

Franky and Johnny's
Neighborhood Restaurant & Lounge
321 Arabella Street
New Orleans, LA. 70115
(504) 899-9146
http://www.frankyandjohnnys.com/

Matt wrote:Franky and Johnny's would seem to be a good choice for a larger group of guys. You will be on the front end of crawfish season as well, and that is a great place to hit for crawfish if you're in to that sort of thing.

Franky and Johnny's
Neighborhood Restaurant & Lounge
321 Arabella Street
New Orleans, LA. 70115
(504) 899-9146
http://www.frankyandjohnnys.com/

oooh yeah--love Franky & Johnny's !!!!

Matt wrote:Franky and Johnny's would seem to be a good choice for a larger group of guys. You will be on the front end of crawfish season as well, and that is a great place to hit for crawfish if you're in to that sort of thing.

Franky and Johnny's
Neighborhood Restaurant & Lounge
321 Arabella Street
New Orleans, LA. 70115
(504) 899-9146
http://www.frankyandjohnnys.com/

Games will be on in the bar area of Franky & Johnny's. Not a lot of tvs and not a sports bar by any stretch but they always have games on.

I second everything on Boudreaulicious' list. Tulane '95(L)

I agree with the recommendation for Cochon. It has a comfortable atmosphere and lots of awesome deep fried dishes. Check out the menu and you'll know right away if it's for you or not, but we absolutely loved it.

http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/

I love everything on Boudreaulicious report! Cooter Browns is definitely a must spot for a group of guys! Cheap oysters 400 beers and great sandwiches as well! The Radiator special is a favorite of mine! Fried Shrimp and oyster combo topped with melted cheese! They also do a great Muffaletta. As I have gotten older and don't do as many late night shows after a day at Jazzfest I usually end up here for a few dozen oysters and several tasty beverages! They do have tons of TVs and could be an afternoon hang as well.
Cochon is on my to do list and would be a meatcentric joint for a group of guys. Port of Call has great burgers and fun fruity cocktails. I had a bad experince at Franky and Johnnys so I don't recomend that place to enemies but to each his own.
Jacque-Imos would be a fun dinner for a group of guys and is not to far from Cooter Browns! It is also right next door to the Maple Leaf bar so you could check out some great live music after dinner.
A friend and his wife were up this weekend celebrating an Anniversary from Nola and they said if you were to do the steak dinner to definitely go to Dickie Brennan's Steak!
Cheers enjoy and please post back as to your travels!!
Danny

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! Thanks to this amazingly informative thread and this excellent one, some seriously good eating went down this past weekend...some mediocre & lousy eating too, but that was my own damn fault :

Thursday dinner - downright awful fried catfish at Pat O'Brien's. Talk about asking for it...for those who aren't familiar, it's like eating dinner at Leg Room or Mother's on Division. I strenuously voted against, but was overruled with a majority "Come on dude, let's just eat here real quick so we can keep drinking" opinion. My one small consolation was that everyone was displeased with their food and regretted insisting on eating there.

Friday breakfast - beignets and café au lait at Café Beignet. Long line, jam-packed with tourists, but all-in-all, not terrible. I managed to score a table right by the entrance (which opens like a garage door), the previous occupants of the table left me a New York Times, the place itself is cozy, the beignets were fresh from the fryer, and the coffee was pretty good. Considering it was grossly understaffed FOH (one girl working the register, one girl filling coffee orders, one girl restocking sugars, utensils, etc., and one guy running food orders to tables), service was surprisingly smooth & efficient. Overall, no complaints (other than about the long line).

Friday lunch - muffalettas at Central Grocery, which totally lived up to the hype. Loved the sesame-encrusted, focaccia-like bread, and that olive salad really was a thing of beauty. I picked up a jar to bring home, then remembered that I can't carry it on...so a FedEx ground package should be arriving soon The atmosphere there was really cool...it's like if J.P. Graziano were to install makeshift seating area.

Friday "snack" - ice-cold beers from among the 50 taps & too many bottles to count at The Bulldog. After wandering around in the Garden District, we stumbled onto this place & found it to be so laidback & comfortable that we ended up spending the afternoon here drinking bottles of Monty Python's Holy (Gr)ail ale and playing bar trivia.

Friday dinner - Cochon. This place was a unanimous hit. I started with a cocktail of Abita rootbeer and Catdaddy moonshine, followed by an appetizer of fried alligator with a chili garlic aioli, then finally Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage & cracklins.

The cocktail was cool & refreshing at first, but by the end I was kinda tired of the bold flavors and wanted something more mellow (went with a Pimm's-based cocktail for drink #2, was like a Pimm's cup but heavy on the cucumber).

My fried alligator was excellent - nicely fried, perfectly tender, bite-size nuggets with a surprisingly, genuinely spicy aioli. I also go to taste the gator sausage (that day's special app) and the spicy grilled pork ribs with watermelon pickle...both were delicious.

The main dish was spectacular...a "puck" of melt-in-your-mouth pulled cochon de lait on a pile of roasted turnip & cabbage, all sprinkled with miniature cracklin's. The pork was surprisingly tender & juicy, well seasoned, with just the right amount of porkiness. The cracklin's were hot from the fryer but not oily, and the veggies were well cooked.

Saturday brunch - Famous Ferdi Specials at Mother's. Three of us opted for the 2/3 size, and only one guy was able to finish. The fourth guy ordered the full size and an order of fries, and barely got through half of his po' boy and a third of his fries. These things don't look that big, but they're super rich & heavy, with a half-inch layer each of roast beef and roast ham (both carvery style, not cold-cut style), plus a half inch of roast beef "debris", all doused with liberal amounts of gravy (reminiscent of Italian beef "juice")...I'm feeling full just thinking about that sandwich.

Saturday late lunch - oysters at Cooter Brown's. This place was a hike and a half from our hotel the French Quarter. We had no luck getting streetcars (either they were so packed by stop #2 on St. Charles that they wouldn't even stop, or they just wouldn't show up for ages), so we cabbed it over, and even that took about 15 minutes. Cooter Brown's was well worth it though: huge draft beer selection, cheap mixed drinks, and gigantic, plump oysters. They might not measure up to the ones at Neptune Oyster in Boston, but for a neighborhood dive/sports bar, they were most impressive. Took the "when in Rome" route and ate them on saltines with dollops of cocktail sauce & horseradish...made for a great light lunch.

Saturday dinner - crappy bar food at Bruno's Tavern by Tulane campus, not that we cared about food at that point though - we were there to watch the Final Four, play Golden Tee & some Texas Hold 'Em (we bought a couple rolls of quarters off the bar to use as chips ), and drink copious amounts of beer ($15 for big pitchers of Guinness and Harp...cheap!)...mission accomplished. The food may have been so-so, but the service was fast & friendly, the atmosphere was lively, prices were reasonable, the place was clean & well-maintained, plus lots of flatscreen TVs all over the place...from the perspective of fitting our needs at the time, it was perfect.

Saturday late-night snack - we bypassed the sloppy debacle on Bourbon Street with the intention of checking out Port of Call, but it was closed, but we spotted neon lights a block up the street and decided to investigate, which led us to Buffa's Lounge. The front bar was packed with an interesting mix of locals and transplants, who made us promise we wouldn't be as obnoxious as the last group of out-of-towners that had stumbled in that evening.

Technically we broke our promise, but none of the bar's regulars seemed to mind too much...a bunch of them joined us in the "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" drinking game we made up when we saw it was on the bar's TVs (a scene where arrows are fired, drink one; a scene where flaming arrows are fired, drink two; if anyone breaks into song, drink two; any scenes with Dave Chappelle, drink three; any scenes with Mel Brooks, drink five). One of the guys ran next door to his apartment and returned with hot, heaping plates of homemade sausage, gravy & focaccia for us. Our friend returned the favor by buying a round for the house, which resulted in a bunch of rounds being bought for us.

Needless to say, the sun was well on its way up by the time we got back to the hotel.

Sunday brunch - café au lait and beignets at Café du Monde. Overcrowded, terrible service, mediocre coffee...decent beignets though, fortunately. We pretty much went there to check it off the list (and because fried dough sounded mild & inoffensive, which is about all we could handle after the night we had).

Once again, thanks for all the thoughtful & informative posts! Thanks almost wholly to this thread and the other one I linked to, we had a great weekend.

Pat O'Brien's Bar
718 St. Peter Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
Phone: (504) 525-4823
Toll Free: (800) 597-4823
(Restaurant entrance is at 624 Bourbon St., but bypass that & just order a Hurricane to go from the bar side so you can check it off your obligatory-touristy-stuff list)

Café Beignet
334-B Royal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 524-5530
(Other locations at 311 Bourbon St. & 819 Decatur St.)

Central Grocery Co. (Doesn't look like they have a website, link goes to Wikipedia article)
923 Decatur St
New Orleans, LA 70116
(504) 620-0174

The Bulldog
3236 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
(504) 891-1516
(Other locations at 5135 Canal Blvd., plus in Baton Rouge, LA, Jackson, MS, and in Metairie, LA where it's called Lager's Ale House)

Cochon
930 Tchoupitoulas St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 588-2123

Mother's Restaurant
401 Poydras St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 523-9656

Cooter Brown's Tavern
509 South Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118
(504) 866-9104

Bruno's Tavern
7538 Maple St.
New Orleans, LA 70118
(504) 861-7615

Buffa's Restaurant & Lounge
1001 Esplanade Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70116
(504) 949-0038

Café Du Monde
800 Decatur St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
(504) 525-4544
(Another location at 1 Poydras, plus a bunch scattered around in the 'burbs)

Edited to add addresses & URLs

Khaopaat--loved reading your NOLA travelogue Especially your late night experience at the place near POC...that is quintessential New Orleans! Glad you enjoyed Cooter's and Mother's--definitely two of my faves. Hope to get back myself and try Cochon--sounds wonderful!

Khaopaat,

Great review and looks like an awesome guys trip! I will be heading down 3 weeks from today and I am now getting extremely excited!! My first trip in 3 years after a 9 year run at Jazzfest. Glad you liked Cochon and Cooters! Mothers is also an institution. A place I did not mention in the Quarter is Johnnies Po-Boys. It is a good stop for an early morning Fried seafood Po-Boy or amazing egg sandwiches on homemade biscuits. I have shook off a few hangover's there and the crowd is usually mostly locals. Thanks for the report and I don't think I can top it! (but I will try!!)

Now that the hangover has passed & my liver is no longer trying to secede from my body, I'm massively jealous that you're going in three weeks! Not having a fried-seafood po' boy is the one thing I regret...they looked so good at Mother's that I was tempted to get an oyster po' boy instead of the Famous Ferdi, but decided at the last minute that I should probably try what the place is known for.

When you set out to top our trip (which I heartily encourage), do keep in mind that my write-up left off a couple trips to the casino and many visits to *ahem* certain types of adult-oriented establishments

Hope you have a blast!

If ever there was a city that begged for an LTH road trip, NOLA is it...or perhaps an expansion of LTH coverage would be more in order. Can you picture the GNR review process????? Mmmm....