daveandrews3 wrote:This request might be an oxymoron, but does anyone know a good sports bar with plenty of TVs in New Orleans that has good authentic food and good drinks? There are 20 of us that are looking to watch the New Orleans Hornets v Los Angeles Lakers Game 6 on Thursday in New Orleans. Thanks!

Checkered Parrot, in the French Quarter is plenty large enough for a big group, and tons of tvs (I watched a Hawks playoff game there last year). As for the food, serviceable bar-style food . . . nothing special. But I was there with a group of 12 and it was the easiest option. If watching the game is important, it's a great place with plenty of big screens.

Cooter Browns, it has been talked about in length above. 400 beers, great oyster bar and good po-boys.

We're in New Orleans right now and we wound up having a great lunch at Mahony's today. Tried to eat at Cassamento's, but apparently they're closed for the season until September.

Anyway, Mahony's is a po boy shop down the street on Magazine and it turned out to be really good (although we did encounter a 35 minute wait for our sandwiches, which seems to be the norm...just be warned). I had a grilled shrimp po boy with fried green tomatoes and remoulade. The wife had a fried shrimp po boy fully dressed. Both were great, with the quality of the shrimp on both sandwiches really blowing me away.

Anyway, seems to be a well regarded spot locally and I haven't seen any mention of it in this thread.

Mahony's Po Boy Shop
3454 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70115-2447
(504) 899-3374

Mahony's is the real deal, and the wait is normal... and obnoxious. But grab a bottle of Barq's (if you've only had it in a can, you have no idea), and enjoy doing nothing for a while;

A couple of other odds and ends from our long weekend.

Friday afternoon we grabbed a drink and a snack in the courtyard at Napoleon House. If it wasn't for the 100+ degree heat index I could have spent hours out there sipping Pimms Cups. Just a great spot to kill an afternoon.

Dinner on Friday night was at MiLa in the Pere Marquette. Very strange experience. The food was very good, with everything executed just about perfectly. Fresh, local ingredients. Some pretty creative preparations (a "deconstructed" oysters Rockefeller was a highlight). However, everything else about this place screamed hotel restaurant. Service was indifferent and lacked any personality. Dishes were dropped off at the table with zero explanation. And the place was almost completely empty at 8pm on a Friday night. I don't see MiLa lasting much longer, but hopefully the husband & wife team who run the kitchen will wind up with a place of their own.

Dinner on Saturday was at Restaurant August. Everything we had their was pretty spectacular. If you're looking for a high end meal that's more on the creative/contemporary side of things (as opposed to "old school" New Orleans) this is pretty much the perfect spot. Probably the best meal I've had in New Orleans.

Ah...Jesteinf.....you've brought me back to some lovely memories of sitting around the Napolean House, eating red beans and rice and drinking cocktail after cocktail in the broad daylight...

<sigh>...

thanks for that...

Meant to do this sooner, but I want to mention Maximo's again. I ate there last year, and again this year during jazzfest. This place across from the french mkt doesnt seem to be on anybody's radar, but it was the best meal of my trip. Three of us sat at the bar in front of the cooking area, and in 3 hours (killing time before the Radiators concert at House of Blues) ordered about a dozen things, as well as 4 bottles of wine. The food was excellent, sort of a NO rift on Italian fare. The habanero shrimp pasta was again the star, but everything was good. It was a lot of fun talking with the chef and his 2 assistants, and we would point to something they were cooking and order it for ourselves. It was a lot busier than my last visit, and it seemed like everyone was a regular. I dont understand why Maximo's doesnt get more recognition, but it is a gem.

-Will


Maximo's Italian Grill
1117 Decatur St
NOLA

WillG wrote:I want to mention Maximo's again. I ate there last year, and again this year during jazzfest. This place across from the french mkt doesnt seem to be on anybody's radar, but it was the best meal of my trip.

I havent been to Maximo's since the mid-90s. I remember it as a typical Brennan's Group establishment, popular with tourists, servicable but unremarkable cuisine. In a city of great restaurant memories, i cant think of much else to say about Maximo's. Sounds like it has changed for the better.

Hadnt heard of Maximo's until last year when my concierge recommended it as a place I could eat by myself and watch the kitchen action. I dont think that there is currently any connection to the Brennan's. it seemed like the opposite of a tourist place since everyone there seemed to know all the staff. I havent seen it written up in any of the guidebooks.

-Will

I was actually taken to Maximo's by born-and-bred New Orleans folks. I didn't get the sense that it was touristy, but the food was not terribly memorable. Nothing was bad, but nothing stood out. My friends live in the French Quarter, so I could see how the walk-in and be-seated, in a relatively calm and tourist-free environment, would make up for the lack of a wow-factor in the food.

This thread is incredibly helpful! I will be in Nola next week for a work trip and had a few additional questions. How is the line at Cochon if you go for lunch without a reservation, does anybody know?
Since my co-worker (and dinning partner) does not like to travel too much for food and does not like seafood, are there any good places not to far away from our hotel (we are staying at the Ritz-Carlton) that are not touristy and have good food, ideally a good oyster bar thats also nonseafood/fish people friendly? Is it asking too much? Any suggestions especially for the second question will be immensely appreciated.

theskinnyduck wrote:This thread is incredibly helpful! I will be in Nola next week for a work trip and had a few additional questions. How is the line at Cochon if you go for lunch without a reservation, does anybody know?
Since my co-worker (and dinning partner) does not like to travel too much for food and does not like seafood, are there any good places not to far away from our hotel (we are staying at the Ritz-Carlton) that are not touristy and have good food, ideally a good oyster bar thats also nonseafood/fish people friendly? Is it asking too much? Any suggestions especially for the second question will be immensely appreciated.

Both Felix's and Acme Oyster bars are a two block walk from your hotel and each has some non-seafood items on their menus. You might want to look at their menus online to see if your friend would find something to his/her liking. I'm partial to Acme, myself, but that's probably more sentimental - it's the place where I had my then-vegetarian wife discover the joy of oysters . . . and cold beer. I really can't speak to how good any of the non-seafood items are as we always pretty much stick to oysters and such.

Felixs
739 Iberville Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-522-4440
http://www.felixs.com/

Acme Oyster House‎
724 Iberville Street
New Orleans, LA 70130-2324
(504) 522-5973
http://www.acmeoyster.com/

Perhaps not exactly what you're looking for as far as seafood/oysters, but Johnny's Po-Boys is in the FQ and you can get a very good seafood poboy there (also non-seafood), as well as some decent gumbo and a very respectable muffaletta. http://www.johnnyspoboy.com/

Can't help with the crowd at Cochon at lunch . . . might want to call and ask. I must say that the crawfish pie I enjoyed there was out of this world and I've yet to find another version that even comes close.

Also, don't forget to check out this other recent New Orleans thread: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23062

theskinnyduck wrote:This thread is incredibly helpful! I will be in Nola next week for a work trip and had a few additional questions. How is the line at Cochon if you go for lunch without a reservation, does anybody know?
Since my co-worker (and dinning partner) does not like to travel too much for food and does not like seafood, are there any good places not to far away from our hotel (we are staying at the Ritz-Carlton) that are not touristy and have good food, ideally a good oyster bar thats also nonseafood/fish people friendly? Is it asking too much? Any suggestions especially for the second question will be immensely appreciated.

I expect Cochon to be pretty mobbed this coming week, as the Tales of the Cocktail convention is in town Wednesday - Sunday, and it's been #1 on the list of places to eat for every bartender I've spoken to recently.

Thanx for all the recommendations. I had plenty of good food (mostly due to Cochon). There was a big brown spot on the floor at Johnny's which prevented me from enjoying the rest of my sandwich. Most of the food in NOLA was good but I thought service was bad in most places, is it just me??

theskinnyduck wrote:Most of the food in NOLA was good but I thought service was bad in most places, is it just me??

Bad? I guess that's in the eye of the diner. If you're expecting fine dining style service, then you will be disappointed outside of a few select establishments. But, to me, no...it's not bad, just different...relaxed, which can be maddening if you're in a hurry or generally high-strung. Knowing what I was getting into and being in the right mindset was key to enjoying my multi-hour lunch at Galatoire's on Friday. I can see someone who didn't know what to expect being very peeved when they hadn't seen the menu 30 minutes after sitting down.

kl1191 wrote:

theskinnyduck wrote:Most of the food in NOLA was good but I thought service was bad in most places, is it just me??

Bad? I guess that's in the eye of the diner. If you're expecting fine dining style service, then you will be disappointed outside of a few select establishments. But, to me, no...it's not bad, just different...relaxed, which can be maddening if you're in a hurry or generally high-strung. Knowing what I was getting into and being in the right mindset was key to enjoying my multi-hour lunch at Galatoire's on Friday. I can see someone who didn't know what to expect being very peeved when they hadn't seen the menu 30 minutes after sitting down.

I don't remember anything negative about the service at Cochon, but that may be because it perfectly suited our pace - we were there to eat, drink, chat, and generally get a little rowdy, and weren't looking to be anywhere in a hurry. We did tell the host that we wanted to order drinks ASAP, so he sent someone over to take our drink order right away...after that, we did wait 30 minutes for menus, but didn't mind at all

For the rest of our meals, we stuck with window/counter service (Central Grocery, Mother's, Cooter Brown's, etc.), which allowed us to sidestep any potential poor service.

I thought the service we got in NOLA was good to great. Places like August, Delmonico, Galatoires, Commanders, Cochon etc. were as good as anywhere I have ever dined, with servers who knew as much about the food and ingredients as I do, and seemed just as excited to talk about them as I was.

Other places like Johnnies, Butcher, Cassamento's, etc were fine as well.

Service industry folks I bumped into were much like the NOLA folks I met, friendly, helpfull, and passionately proud of their beautiful, world class eating city.

theskinnyduck wrote:Thanx for all the recommendations. I had plenty of good food (mostly due to Cochon). There was a big brown spot on the floor at Johnny's which prevented me from enjoying the rest of my sandwich. Most of the food in NOLA was good but I thought service was bad in most places, is it just me??

Can't remember where I read it - here or elsewhere - that following Katrina, a number of the experienced waitpersons had left New Orleans and that restaurants had struggled to find adequate replacements. Maybe that's still the case, or maybe you just had unusually bad experiences. Personally, while I've usually found service in New Orleans to be perhaps a bit more leisurely, I've also always found it to be perfectly fine . . . perhaps with some lowered expectations.

theskinnyduck wrote: There was a big brown spot on the floor at Johnny's which prevented me from enjoying the rest of my sandwich.

Care to elaborate on this? I don't understand.

I realized in my first few hours of getting there that NOLA is a more laid back relaxed kind of town, service was also slow and relaxed but I didnt mind that. At Bourbon house the waiter was visually annoyed when we just ordered water for lunch, dropped what I had ordered (boucherie) in front of me with no explanation of what was what and it took forever to get some more bread or more water. At Cochon (which I absolutely loved the food) the waiter came over to check on us and I told him how much i loved the first dish, he literally turned around and left and cut me mid sentence (and my comment was very brief too). I expect service at both the places to be decent and it wasnt, and because they both happened in the same day i just started to get a bad impression about service there.

Evil Ronnie wrote:

theskinnyduck wrote: There was a big brown spot on the floor at Johnny's which prevented me from enjoying the rest of my sandwich.

Care to elaborate on this? I don't understand.

There was a mysterious sticky brown spot (about 6-8 inches in diameter) on the floor in addition to very sticky tables and trash everywhere. The place was just too dirty for me to enjoy my meal there. I have forced my stomach to suffer for food before, particularly street food in southeast asia, and thats ok when the food is worth it. I just didnt think that the quality of the food made up for everything else you had to endure for it (the line, the heat, the smell of fried food all over your hair, and particularly the lack of cleanness).

theskinnyduck wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:

theskinnyduck wrote: There was a big brown spot on the floor at Johnny's which prevented me from enjoying the rest of my sandwich.

Care to elaborate on this? I don't understand.

There was a mysterious sticky brown spot (about 6-8 inches in diameter) on the floor in addition to very sticky tables and trash everywhere. The place was just too dirty for me to enjoy my meal there. I have forced my stomach to suffer for food before, particularly street food in southeast asia, and thats ok when the food is worth it. I just didnt think that the quality of the food made up for everything else you had to endure for it (the line, the heat, the smell of fried food all over your hair, and particularly the lack of cleanness).

FWIW, I don't think Johnny's food is worth the trouble given the lines of tourists, harried staff, and slapdash assembly of sandwiches. And Johnny's IS a trash heap. From what I can tell from my last visit, they are shortstaffed, and don't have enough people/anyone to clean off tables in peak periods (which is probably all the time), so people pile up old food on unused corners of tables, or attempt to toss the food in overflowing trash baskets. Just a complete hole.

We are going to New Orleans in late August and staying at the Degas House. Antoine's is on the radar along with Lafitte's blacksmith shop. Does anyone have breakfast suggestions?

Thanks!

grandy1970 wrote:We are going to New Orleans in late August and staying at the Degas House. Antoine's is on the radar along with Lafitte's blacksmith shop. Does anyone have breakfast suggestions?

Thanks!

Mother's and Camellia Grill are two of my favorite breakfast spots in New Orleans, of course there's always Café du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait open 24/7.

The Camellia Grill
626 S Carrollton Ave
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
504-866-9573

Mother's
401 Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-523-9656

Café du Monde
800 Decatur Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-587-0831

grandy1970 wrote:Does anyone have breakfast suggestions?

The one day we were awake for breakfast (Tales of the Cocktail does not seem to be for early risers), I had a memorable soft-shell crab Benedict (Eggs Stella) and some of the darkest/richest coffee I've had in my life at Stanley on Jackson Square. We had no problem getting a table at 8 am on a Sunday morning, but by the time we left around 9 it was filling up. There was a decent line when we'd passed by the previous day around noon, so it can definitely get crowded.

Stanley
547 Saint Ann St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
(504) 587-0093
PDF Menu‎

grandy1970 wrote:We are going to New Orleans in late August and staying at the Degas House. Antoine's is on the radar along with Lafitte's blacksmith shop. Does anyone have breakfast suggestions?

Thanks!

Lafitte's is cool, but there's absolutely nothing special about it. It's just a divy bar, with hip-hop playing in the front room (as it was when we stopped in), and huge crowds of "ghost tours" tourists gathered out front. Really nice beer garden, though...and it's refreshing to get away from the more crowded end of Bourbon St. for a bit.

After checking out Lafitte's, keep walking to Esplanade Ave, hang a left, and have a burger at Port of Call. We didn't get to go (was closed by the time we got there), but I've heard good things. After you finish your burger, walk one more block NW on Esplanade, cross the street, and have a few drinks at Buffa's Lounge, a fantastic neighborhood watering hole that I've heard is really popular for brunch. Just don't walk in there shouting "WOOOOO! New Or-LEENS!!!" while swinging Mardi Gras beads over your head, or the mostly-local patrons will let you have it

Khaopaat wrote:

grandy1970 wrote:We are going to New Orleans in late August and staying at the Degas House. Antoine's is on the radar along with Lafitte's blacksmith shop. Does anyone have breakfast suggestions?

Thanks!

Lafitte's is cool, but there's absolutely nothing special about it. It's just a divy bar, with hip-hop playing in the front room (as it was when we stopped in), and huge crowds of "ghost tours" tourists gathered out front. Really nice beer garden, though...and it's refreshing to get away from the more crowded end of Bourbon St. for a bit.

After checking out Lafitte's, keep walking to Esplanade Ave, hang a left, and have a burger at Port of Call. We didn't get to go (was closed by the time we got there), but I've heard good things. After you finish your burger, walk one more block NW on Esplanade, cross the street, and have a few drinks at Buffa's Lounge, a fantastic neighborhood watering hole that I've heard is really popular for brunch. Just don't walk in there shouting "WOOOOO! New Or-LEENS!!!" while swinging Mardi Gras beads over your head, or the mostly-local patrons will let you have it

Port of Call was the quintissential neighborhood hang out when I was in college oh so many years ago. Good burgers and HUGE baked potatoes (definitely not the only thing baked in that place ). I've recommended it to many visitors over the years but I'm not absolutely sure the nostalgia translates...certainly effective for soaking up alcohol (and considering that you really can't/shouldn't do that at the likes of Antoine's or Cochon, there's something to be said for it.)

No nostalgia at Port of Call for me, but I really like the vibe of the place. That being said, I can't say I'm a huge fan of their burgers. Meat's fine, but nothing special and certainly not in the same league as an Edzo's burger. And I've never quite understood the non-melted shredded cheese atop the burger. But for a late night, post-??? stop, it's hard to turn it down.

Khaopaat wrote:Lafitte's is cool, but there's absolutely nothing special about it. It's just a divy bar, with hip-hop playing in the front room (as it was when we stopped in), and huge crowds of "ghost tours" tourists gathered out front. Really nice beer garden, though...and it's refreshing to get away from the more crowded end of Bourbon St. for a bit.

I laughed when I read this and thought that you must be talking about Cafe Lafitte which is a gay dance bar on Bourbon. I reread your post and maybe you were talking about the blacksmith shop. Laffite's is, imho, the greatest bar in the world. It is very small, lit by candlelite, has a piano and looks much like it did in the early 1700s. It is divey, but thats new orleans...the locals who patronize are what make the place interesting. i would never describe it as touristy. To say there is nothing special about it means that you didnt spend much time there. I have to totally disagree with that comment.