OK, here's my journal of our New Orleans Trip, May 21-28, 2005.
In the early days of this journal post, I just list what we ate, we’ve already talked about most of it in other posts. Later on, I get more chatty.
I’ve numbered the “book experiences” in bold, including page number references for restaurants and experiences, I also included address/phone for the places that aren’t “in the book.”
The book being,
Eating New Orleans by Pableaux Johnson.
A note about water: Any time of year, it’s going to be hot in New Orleans. To us northerners at least. The locals may think it’s cool, but it’s probably 20 degrees warmer and more humid than where you live. So stock up on water and always carry some with you. We bought a case of
Abita Springs Water in liter bottles at the local Robert’s Supermarket before we even got to our room. At home we get Poland Spring delivered, I wish they offered Abita Springs, it’s even better. And, yes, it’s that Abita Springs, home of our beloved Mayhaw Man, as Brooks said, “the water that goes through my (plumbing) sells for $1 a gallon at the store!”
Saturday, May 21, 2005 – Arrived in New Orleans around 11 AM.
Lunch
(1) Bozo’s (p 153)
Chicken, Sauasage and Okra Gumbo
Salad
Raw Oysters (p 131, Sauce Yourself)
Butter drenched Toasted French Bread
Fried Seafood Platter (p 153)
Iced Tea
Afternoon cooler of
(2) iced café au lait (p 188) at
Café du Monde (p 184, but at the Lakeside Mall location, we went shopping for sandals while waiting for our check in time).
Dinner
(3) Drago’s (p 130) for appetizers
Charbroiled Oysters
(4) Sid-Mar’s (p 158)
Marinated crab fingers
Corn & Crab Soup
Hushpuppies
Salad with Grilled Shrimp & Remoulade
Crawfish Boil (it wasn’t good, but at least it was cheap, market price=$6.25/2 lbs) (p 233)
Iced Tea, Jason had a Sazerac (p 49)
Dessert
(5) Angelo Brocato’s Gelato (p 192)
Baci and Statchiatella gelato
Sunday, May 22
Brunch
(6) Ye Olde College Inn (p 69), Zydaco Brunch
Oyster Loaf
Grillades & Grits (p 174)
Onion Rings
Iced Tea, Bloody Mary (p 95)
Snack We tried to go to Hansen’s, but not open for season yet, so
(7) Creole Creamery (p 195)
Apricot Sorbet
Nectar Soda
Dinner
(8) Upperline (p 79)
Most of the menu, but we ordered:
Cane River Shrimp
Field Greens Salad
Roast Duck with both sauces (Peach and Port/Garlic)
Spice Shrimp with Jalapeno Cornbread
Water, Iced Tea
Monday, May 23
Lunch
(9) Willie Mae’s (p 177)
Fried Chicken (see p 171)
Fried Pork Chop
Smothered Veal
Red and Butter Beans & Rice
Lemonade, no iced tea
(with TAPrice and friend)
Dessert – back to Brocato’s
Spumoni, Praline Gelato
After dessert, we picked up some
(10) boiled shrimp (p 66) from K-Jean, a seafood take-away shop, which is conveniently located about two doors down from Brocato. We had the shrimp for Tuesday’s breakfast.
Dinner
(11) Parkway Bakery and Tavern (p 139)
Po-Boys: Roast Beef, Hot Sausage, Shrimp
Garden Salad (surprisingly good)
Iced Tea, Barq’s Root Beer in the Blue Bottle
(12) Hubig Blueberry Pie (pp 167, 244)
Dessert
(13) William’s Plum Street Snowballs (p 203)
Mango with Condensed Milk
(can’t recall what Jason got)
Tuesday, May 24
Breakfast – Shrimp Boil (see above)
(14) Crescent City Farmer’s Market (p 204)
We bought:
Tomatoes: Creole, Louisiana, Heirloom
Berries: Strawberries (last of the season), Blueberries, Blackberries
Granola
Creole Cream Cheese, Yogurt, Hard Ricotta Cheese
Tamales, Tortilla Chips, Salsa Verde
Spinach and Artichoke Bread
Peach Iced Tea
These became snacks and breakfast foods for the rest of the week.
Lunch
(15) Crabby Jack’s (p 154)
Po-Boys: Un-Fergie (ham and roast beef), Slow Cooked Duck, Paneed Rabbit with Mustard Sauce
Oyster Platter with Jambalaya and salad
Cole Slaw, heavy on the red cabbage, excellent with the duck po-boy
Iced Tea
I went shopping while Jason fiddled with pictures.
Dinner
Pre-dinner
snack at Pampy’s, but more about that later (see Friday lunch, and p 171)
(16) Brigtsen’s (p 71)
Amuse: Smoked Salmon with Potato Cake and Red Pepper Sour Cream
Appetizers: Oyster gratin, Fried Soft Shell Crab (p 106 with (heavily) Worcestershire spiked meuniere sauce with pecans, Baby Spinach Caesar Salad with Oysters & Applewood Bacon en Brochette & Roasted Peppers
Mains: Pork Tenderloin with debris sauce, sweet potato dirty rice, jalapeno coleslaw, sautéed veggies; Seafood Platter: small portions of various crab, shrimp, crawfish, oyster and fish preparations; Beef Tournedos with Pecan and Blue Cheese quenelles, mashed potatoes, veggies, coleslaw (we felt the coleslaw made sense on the pork dish, but not on the beef)
Dessert: Pecan Pie with Caramel Sauce, Tres Leches cake (special), Trio of Homemade Sorbets with Honeydew Melon Puree (this was everyone’s favorite after that big meal)
Wednesday, May 25
Breakfast – granola, yogurt and berries; tomatoes & creole cream cheese on toast (from yesterday’s visit to the farmer’s market
Lunch
(17) Vietnamese in Gretna (p 181)
Tan Dinh (not in the book, but many others are, so I’m counting it, as there’s a blurb about Vietnamese immigration to the area). Tan Dinh was recommended to us by TAPrice), 1705 Lafayette St, Gretna, LA 70053, 504-361-8008
After the past few day’s indulgences, we needed some cleansing pho soup, accompanied by Spring Rolls (what I call summer rolls, the cold kind), and some grilled lemongrass chicken, etc.
Lemonade Soda
Shopping:
(18) Martin’s Wine Cellar (p 204) – the book emphasizes the deli counter lunch options (a good choice for a mid-week leafy green fix), but it is also a gourmet shop and excellent wine and liquor merchant. Jason bought some hard to find bourbon to bring home for himself and jhlurie (the dogsitter). I got some luscious locally produced drained yogurt at the cheese counter. We were looking for andouille, but they didn’t have any and neither did Langenstein’s (1330 Arabella, NO, 504-899-9283), which is a great local grocery recommended to us on a previous trip by JoAnn Clevenger and Mayhaw Man.
Snack
(19) Sophie's Ice Cream
We had an assortment of mini-scoops. Favorite flavors included the lemon ice, carrot cake, peanut butter, chocolate and strawberry.
Dinner –
(20) Barbecue Shrimp (p 149) Comparison
First:
(21) Liuzza’s by the Track (p 164)
Oyster Rockafeller Soup – oysters and spinach in a creamy broth. Good, but not worth finishing when there were better things to come, so we didn’t.
Barbecue Shrimp PoBoy – to quote Pableaux, their “hollowed-out section of soft French bread filled with tiny sautéed shrimp and a gooshy overdose of thick, garlicky gravy. If you’re a fan of lemon pepper and want to perfect your elbow-licking technique, here’s your chance.” The bread is only opened on one end, not sliced open, so you eat from the top down. I swear it actually got hotter towards the bottom of the loaf. Really, really good. I would have been happy to order another or something else and stay at this cute neighborhood spot for dinner. But eGullet must be served…
Second:
(22) Deanies (Metairie) (p 155) – the French Quarter Deanie’s has drawn the majority of tourists away from the Bucktown original, so that’s where we went, since we had a car and a GPS. We originally went to Deanies on our first trip to New Orleans (pre-eGullet), and it definitely had fewer tourists, heck, there was no wait!
Barbecue Shrimp – as we remember it, shell and head on, plenty of huge shrimp among some smaller, but still big ones. Nice peppery sauce.
Fried Seafood Platter (half, still too much, the bellman at our hotel are getting fat from our leftovers! See p 153)
Iced tea (should I bother adding this line anymore? Just assume it, OK?)
Thursday, May 26
Breakfast/Lunch: Stayed in the room to relax for a while. Jason was kind of ill from the previous nights buttery shrimp fest. (Advice: Bring immodium, alka seltzer, pepto bismal, whatever keeps you going, or plan on a late night stop at Walgreens).
Granola, Fruit, Tomato on Toast, leftover Vietnamese (pho, grilled chicken sandwich)
Afternoon Snack
First:
Croissant D'Or Patisserie (617 Ursulines Av, NO (French Quarter), 504-524-4663)
Not in the book, but we passed it while going to a gallery we were checking out on Royal. Pretty store, OK filled croissants. More interesting because it was the original location of Angelo Brocato’s Gelato, the tiled entry spelled that out, I think Jason got a picture of it.
Second:
(23) Tee-Eva’s (p 175)
Lemonade Snowball (more like a snowcone this time, more crunchy than snowy ice) – I asked her to go easy on the syrup and it was the perfect amount for me. We ordered some bite sized pralines for Saturday pickup. Her regular pralines are $2 each, and you can get them by the box (dozen for $24) as well. However, you can also get a 2 lb gift basket of bite-sized pralines (individually wrapped) for $18, but you have to pre-order them. These impeccably fresh pralines are a perfect gift for the guy watching your dogs or picking up your mail back home.
Dinner
(24) Bayona (p 82)
JoAnn Clevenger made a comment earlier in the week about which of Susan Spicer’s restaurants to go to, she said that we should “go to Herb Saint, as Bayona doesn’t really have New Orleans food, and Herb Saint does.” By Thursday we were ready for some non-New Orleans food, so we decided to go to Bayona, and we were glad we did. The food has a fabulous Southern flair without being too heavy, and perfectly attentive service.
Appetizers: Crispy Smoked Quail Salad with Bourbon Molasses Vinaigrette, Seared Scallops with Corn, Poblano, Crawfish and Tomatillo sauce.
Mains: Buttermilk Fried Rabbit Leg and Tenderloin with Creole Mustard Tasso Sauce and Stoneground Grits, Double-cut Niman Ranch Pork Chop with Cheddar Spoonbread.
Dessert: Chocolate Mousse and gelato with cinnamon churros and lemon tart. They were both great, but I think I should have ordered the fruit special dessert (rhubarb and blueberry pannacotta), it looked really good at our neighbors table. Jason also ordered a dessert wine that went very well with the rich chocolate mousse.
I actually ordered a cocktail! Tropical Splash (mostly pineapple juice and rum), Jason got a Negroni Cooler. Then we stuck to water.
Friday, May 27
Breakfast – we aren’t getting tired of those fab tomatoes yet
Lunch –
(25) Pampy’s (OK, it’s not in the book (address: 2005 N. Broad Ave, NO), but Austin Leslie is mentioned within in the context of his previous kitchen (Jacques-Imo’s Café, p 65) for his “renowned fried chicken.” He’s been making his fried chicken since October 2004 at Pampy’s, which opened in July 2000. We stopped in on
Tuesday night to sample the chicken, it was good, but not as good as Willie Mae’s. We learned later that it was supposed to have a garnish of chopped raw garlic and parsley, and ours definitely did not have that. Apparently, when the hostess gave Austin our card (he wasn’t in when were there on Tuesday), he recalled us from when we went to Jacques-Imo’s in 2003, and he and Pampy invited us back to sample more of the menu and, of course, photograph the food for eGullet.
Disclosure, yes, this meal was complementary. We knew there’s be too much food for just the two of us, so we made sure that Brooks Hamaker, aka Mayhaw Man, joined us for the tasting.
Some highlights: The properly garnished fried chicken (make sure yours has the parsley & garlic on top), Stuffed Speckled Trout Meuniere (special), Barbecued Shrimp, Crab & Corn Bisque, Stuffed Bell Pepper, Deep-fried Cornish Hen (perfectly moist and served with terrific and meaty collard greens, and yams). I didn’t care as much for the Buffalo Shrimp, it was way hot and seems out of place in NO, or the okra gumbo, but Brooks loved it!
On a Mission: We needed to get some andouille (p 119) to restock our freezer back home. We were heading to “Jacob’s” in LaPlace “Andouille Capital of the World” Louisiana. Our GPS directed us to Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse and Restaurant (769 W 5th St, La Place, 985-652-9990), which is not in the book. Jason took a boatload of pictures, while I headed over to Walmart (my first time in a Walmart, BTW) to by a Styrofoam cooler. We picked up andouille, smoked sausage, tasso, jerky, and some bones for the dogs. They produce a fabulous, artisinal product, but it is not USDA inspected, so they can’t ship out of state. It’s less than an hour drive out of NO, so it’s worth the trip when you’re here.
When heading back to the highway, we saw a sign for the place that apparently was
supposed to be our original destination,
(26) Jacob’s World Famous Andouille (p 246). They are able to ship out of state and have a
website. We’d already bought a full cooler’s worth at WJ’s, so we just got one pork and one chicken andouille so we could compare. We used a piece of the pork andouille this week when cooking up some greens. It was quite good, but a little drier and had smaller pieces of meat than WJ’s.
Snack
(27) Hansen’s Sno-Bliz (p 196)
We were lucky enough to be there on their opening day for the season (about a month late due to a death in the family). Orangeade with condensed milk for me (easy on the syrup, but still pretty drenched), Nectar and Chocolate combo for Jason (as per Judge Gerry’s recommendation). What a great summer treat.
Dinner
Intended: The Greek Festival
(28) “Nearly every community celebrates . . . during an annual free-for-all festival. Any time of year, you’re never too far from a celebration, cultural fair, street dance or world championship cookoff of some local specialty--all you need to do is wait for the next weekend.” Pableaux Johnson (p 242).
So we dutifully went to the current local festival, in this case, Greek Fest 2005, at the Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity Cathedral,
website (checking the website, I see why there were so many people in togas, it was the “Friday Night Toga Contest: Wear a Toga, Get in Free.”) We arrived around 7:30 PM on opening day, and I haven’t seen such a sea of humanity since the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta. It was crazy. We paid our entrance fee ($5 each), did a quick walkthrough, bought some baklava at the “Pastry Express” booth (the only line that wasn’t at least 100 people long) and high-tailed it out of there. On the way back to the car, the shuttle driver (same one that got us there) said, “what are you doing back so soon?!” A nice lady in the van with us suggested an alternative place with a similar cuisine, since we were in the mood for middle-eastern food at that point, hence:
Actual:
Lebanon’s Café, 1506 S. Carrolton, 504-862-6200
Chef’s Special Appetizer, what we’d call a mezze platter, spinach pie, roasted vegetable filo (excellent), Chicken Shawarma, Grilled Chicken Salad. Plenty of warm pita bread, iced tea, very nice waitress. What more can Greek Fest refugees ask for?
Saturday, May 28
Breakfast: Finished off the tomatoes with some leftover hummus and pita from Lebanon’s. Mmm, mmm.
Lunch
(28 redux, as it is another local festival not specifically mentioned in The Book (as we came to refer to it)
Plaquemines Parrish Heritage Festival. For a county fair it didn’t seem that big to us, but the food sure was good. We had some grilled oysters, then some boiled seafood (crawfish and shrimp), both served with spicy sausage and corn on the cob, with some remoullade sauce for the shrimp, finished off with a strawberry milkshake (thankfully there was softserve ice cream vendor in the 95 degree heat!) and some kettle corn for dessert. That was the best crawfish of the week, btw, probably the best we’d ever had. Thanks Plaquemines Parrish!
We stopped back at Tee Eva’s to pick up our praline order and grab a couple more SnowBalls, lemonade again for me, which Jason got the (very very green) lime. He looked like he was freezing when we went to the pool afterwards, because his lips were so blue/green.
Lunch at the festival was actually in the mid-afternoon (we slept pretty late Saturday morning), so thinking we wouldn’t want much dinner, we picked up some Summer Rolls to eat in the room at Tan Dinh, since we were passing by. Although Jason did go out for a take out burger at Igor’s Laundromat & Bar, next to our hotel, later on. Sorry there was no big last night/Saturday night blowout to report, but we had to get up at 4 AM Sunday morning to get to the airport for early morning flight. Oh yeah, we stopped at a Denny’s by the car rental return for a quick breakfast. The eggs were OK, but the hash browns suck. Good waiter though, quite cheery and quick for 5 AM.
Epilogue
So, last week we had at least 28 of Pableaux Johnson’s 100+ recommended eating experiences, and we’ve been to more than a dozen other places he recommends on our previous trips (Tujague’s, Camellia Grill, Elizabeth’s, Jacques-Imo’s Café, Mother’s, Uglesich’s, Emeril’s, Brennan’s, Commander’s Palace, Mr. B’s, Palace Café (he conveniently groups all the Brennan’s into one chapter), Mosca’s, Pascal’s Manale, Dunbar’s, Café du Monde, Aunt Sally’s, French Market, Zara’s Lil Giant, Poche’s, and New Iberia), so I think we did pretty good for a spontaneous, no weeks in advance reservations, trip to the Big Easy, oops, I mean the Crescent City (p 10).
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