mattohara

i can't believe a less-than-stellar sausage came out of fiorella's. i frickin love their stuff. was it spicy fennel or just regular? i always get the spicy.

XIX and Oceanaire both have great selections and the quality/freshness factor is very high but you'll find the price up there in the clouds as well. I was impressed with the XIX plate of 12. four different varieties and four different accompaniments. I've only been to Oceanaire a couple of times but I know their selection is huge. The best course is probably to start at Ansill, as they will have only one variety (and the deal is at happy hour). Then you can check that off your list and try a few more at the next place. Maybe you could even call ahead to XIX to see what they have so you don't get them at Oceanaire.

i just had the moustachioed guy at APOC suggest one to me (i accepted) the other day. i can't remember what's in it but i think it had about 3 more ingredients than your typical Manhattan.

They must be competing with the Carnegie Deli... http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/12/car...yc-mitosis.html

Well said Bob. I only go there for breakfast; there's obviously a lot that I'm missing. By the way, if you order an everything bagel with lox, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and capers, be prepared to pay 15$. I wasn't prepared on my first visit. It's a very difficult sandwich to tackle as it's about 8 inches high. You kind of have to peck at it like a bird. And just like the meal above, it's really two meals disguised as one.

Andrew that's right in my neck of the woods. I'd be happy to check it out whenever you want. I've only spent time in the other plaza on 7th street. The Korean BBQ place in there is inexpensive, delicious and they load on the food, btw.

ha! eat first, ask questions later!

nutella and raspberry.

warm in manner or temperature?

I bookmarked that too Katie. I work in the Philadelphia Building (aka the Naked Chocolate Building) and there's a dearth of cheap *good* eats right by here. I can always trek up to Chinatown/RTM but that takes too long. Minar is good but not as inexpensive as it could be. I *do* go to Sansom Kebab House (and it is awesome) but maybe now I'll try the sushi place upstairs as well. I don't love on Raw but they have a 10$ lunch box that's not bad for all that you get. Other than that we office drones are forced to the Bellevue food court, Jean's, Citi Marketplace and Bill's. Jean's and Bill's seem to have a special power to suck all of the flavor out of whatever food they're putting together but if you are feeling too skinny Bill's puts some serious scrapple on a roll for not too much money. Citi Marketplace just opened across the street and does nice breakfast sandwiches but doesn't have much else. The Bellevue food court is pretty great as far as American Food Court Fare but it's just not always an appetizing option. Anybody else have suggestions in this area? Also when I have my bike I sometimes go to Govinda's.

fentona recommended "Yes, We Can"

Haha, thanks for the input Chris. Those are some of the same things I was thinking about. In the beginning we would have to reach a group of maybe 12 people. Then the main organizer would start a discussion wherein each person puts in their proposal. A proposal would include estimated costs and estimated output. The group leader would then give it the thumbs up or down. Then the leader has to propose a calendar. Would it make more sense for the members to pay their "dues" up front or to pay as the product is produced?

I just recently had what I think is a really great idea. What if, instead of just a bunch of jars of pickled green beans, some pepper jelly, some tomato jam, my own beer, etc., I could have all of these things PLUS the great stuff that other people are making? My friend Katie makes cordials and syrups for cocktailes, dagordon and rae make chocolate, fentona makes killer cured meats and I'm sure there's lots of other people around who make stuff. What if each person could pick a week or month (depending on how many people I can round up) and make a large quantity of their specialty? And what if they sold it at cost or just above, so they weren't really put out by making it in quantity? Then all of us could share in each other's areas of expertise, not pay too much, learn from each other, and who knows how it could grow in the future? The only problem is that I'm at a loss as to how to start. Does anybody have any experience with anything like this?

Having direct experience with said management I'll just chime in to say "I second that, Katie," and bow out.

ok, thanks for the help everybody. I've decided to not go due to monetary concerns, the car requirement and the weather not being pool weather (it being november and all).

Yes, the Mandalay. I suppose we could get a car for a day. Do you mean we just have to get into Dallas or Fort Worth, or do you mean everything's really spread out and even getting into town won't be enough?

Hey all, my first post here in the Texas forums. My girl works at the Omni hotel and the Omni Mandalay is hosting a training session for some crazy hotel software that they use. I have vacation time that I have to use up, but not tons of money (we just spent a couple of days in New Orleans (Louisiana forums post)for a work thing *I* had to do). So I'm guessing that this trip would edumacate me about tex-mex, barbeque and...? Also what's the weather going to be like there in November? If I go it will be from the 9th to the 14th. Will it be hot enough to sit out at the pool? If so, can I get a tan? Can you tell I'm from the great white pale north? Also also we're going to be in Irving. Is more of the good stuff in Dallas or Ft. Worth? Is there anything killer to eat in Irving? Is transportation to and fro easy? Finally is there non-food stuff that we should be doing if I go? Resources that I should look at online? I basically just have this weekend to figure this out. All help greatly appreciated! Matt

if you're in the warehouse district cochon and herbsaint and MiLa are pretty close to you!

Here goes! The image posting here is a huge pain so I'm limiting the food photos to stand-out dishes or ones that other people have not already posted their photos of. I won't bore you with stories of waking at 4am to head out by 5am to get to the airport, or stories of screaming babies or the Incredibly Snoring Man, who snored through takeoff AND landing. I won't even mention how Dick Cheney arrived at the same time we did and how that caused us, tired and starving, to be stuck in standstill traffic for 45 minutes while his motorcade escorted him from the airport. I won't even bore you by mentioning that Central Grocery is closed on Mondays, right when we got into town and desperately needed a quick bite. Chris McMillian's non-Monday, non-Tuesday schedule (the only nights we were in town) probably doesn't need to be mentioned either. The rain kept us well-watered and we love jumping over curbside puddles. Instead I'll entertain you with all of the things that went right! After I got done spending 4 hours with a client (Karen got a spa day at the Hotel Monteleone's spa. I later got a massage at the same spa, highly recommended.), I came back to the hotel and met Karen. I got out of my ridiculous 3-piece suit and we headed out to Cochon. 1st Meal at Cochon: Chicken Sausage over Sweet Potato (compliments of the house) Wood-Fired Oyster Roast Corn and Okra Fritter with Pickled Corn and Tomato Jam Headcheese with Fried Pig's Ear Fried Rabbit Livers with Mint and Pepper Jelly Boudin with Pickled Peppers Pork Cheeks with Grits Fried Alligator with Chili Sauce The Rabbit Livers were tops in both our books. I haven't had livers deep-fried with a crispy coating before. It gives it a great crunch before you get to the creamy liver texture. There was a hot (but not too hot) thin pepper jelly on the plate and that sweet and spicy component worked with the buttery liver flavor, but the addition of a huge mint leaf on every bite really just made this take off. I would gladly eat a whole plate of this for a meal. I've had a number of different versions of headcheese. Usually some bits and pieces are a little harder or chewier than others and while I always enjoy it very much, it's never been very exciting. This headcheese managed to have a more uniform, smooth, silky, soft texture and just melts in the mouth. There was also a subtle seasoning that I can't put my finger on but that definitely elevated the dish. There was a delicious, perfectly dressed little salad on top with some deep-fried pigs' ears. This was far and away the best headcheese I've ever had. The oysters were really great too. I can't remember how they were spiced/seasoned but they were huge and had a barely-cooked texture that was nice. The next day started with Café du Monde. Then I headed to the spa and Karen walked around. Cochon advertises with my client, Sunshine Pages, and when I mentioned to them that Cochon was our first destination somebody pulled out a gift certificate! So that helped pay for lunch. 2nd Meal at Cochon: The eponymous Cochon Duck and Andouille Gumbo Grilled Ribs with Pickled Watermelon Rind I guess I'm just recently discovering a love for ribs. These weren't the kind that just drips off the bone, and that was fine by me. They had a great crispy outside and a nice beefy texture. I also now know that I'm going to pickle watermelon rind next year. I love how these people throw pickles at everything! We had made reservations for lunch the night before when we were in for dinner. That's when we met Audrey, the awesome manager. Cochon is a relaxed, comfortable restaurant that cares deeply about their food. Audrey kind of epitomizes this with her Fried Chicken tattoo. She came over to say hi and we talked for a while about this and that. She came back a few seconds later with some shots of moonshine to go with our rootbeer float. err...sorry there wasn't anything in the glass there... We had to investigate the rootbeer jelly at the bottom of the glass.. We also had a Bloody Mary (with pickled okra) and a Mulefoot, a Dancing Outlaw, a Mayhaw Lemonade, some wine and some beer (between the two meals). The Dancing Outlaw was my fave. Karen and I have recently made tomato jam and pickled string beans ourselves so it was fun to see those things in the restaurant and to try pickled okra. Thanks Cochon! We then stopped by Herbsaint looking for the spaghetti dish but unfortunately they don't serve it between lunch and dinner. They DO make a mean mint julep though. You'll notice the hand-crushed ice here: and since we later found out that we wouldn't be able to get one from Chris, this drink turned out to be a really good idea. and yes, the Sazerac here is ridunkulous. I'm going to figure out how to make them at home. Melisa (sp?) was really helpful and nice as well. She served up a pretty absinthe fountain to another guest. Then we headed off to 2nd lunch. It was a cochon du lait Po'Boy and Gumbo at Café Masparo, right across the street from the hotel. It really could have been a meal at any restaurant in the city, we just wanted to try something else and it happened to be right across the streeet from the Napoleon House, where we had just sampled the famed Pimms Cups. The drink is one of Karen's standbys, so while we enjoyed this one it didn't make her get all a gigglyagoo. That meal I mentioned above is the only one I don't have pics of. No biggie. For 1st Dinner we went to MiLa (I put the 3-piece back on). We were practically the only guests in the place so I didn't feel bad taking pics, but you'd think I could have gotten a better one of the foie gras terrine with pepper jelly (again with the pepper jelly!). Man this was something else. A dish we hadn't had in a while so we just went for it and were so glad we did. The other star here was the Barbeque Lobster. It was very simply presented with some toast, some spicy sauce that I can't recall and a clove of roasted garlic. It was a slow-hitting dish. After we added the garlic it hit another dimension and just seemed to keep picking up steam while you were eating it and had a really long finish. The deconstructed Oysters Rockefeller was sort of the same way. It doesn't blow you away out of the gates, but the light cream used in the poaching and the licorice jump up and slap you in the face a minute after you've finished one. For 2nd Dinner we went back to Herbsaint for the Spaghetti and philadining's must-have Dirty Rice! So yeah, the spaghetti, with guanciale and deep-fried poached egg. WHAT!? OFF THE HIZZLE! Karen says it's kind of like a carbonara but I can't really say as I know nothing of that kind of Italian food. Let's just say it was rich, creamy and decadent. And the bartender told us they add eggplant to the dirty rice but that can't be what makes it so good. This was our fifth meal of the day and we were stuffed to the gills but managed to make room for the Brown Butter Pecan Pie with Caramelized Bananas. I also tried a traditional Sazerac, made with Brandy instead of Rye and I really enjoyed that but I think Rye is more my speed. At this point we were in physical pain. We wanted to go listen to some music and have a nightcap but we couldn't move when we got back to the hotel to change. The next day was our last and we only had until 3:30 before we had to get to the airport. The sun finally came out and we took a cab up to Elizabeth's. We were the first people there at 11AM and we were starving. Our first course was Fried Oysters with Blue Cheese and Praline Bacon! What a great start! The bacon was not hot, which says to me that their technique is to cook the bacon, let it cool off, then coat it with praline. WHATEVER, it was candy-coated bacon, and we were on vacation. 5$ for four slices. Then we had an oyster/shrimp Po-Boy. Mother's had a huge line when we went by so this was our only real chance beside the cochon du lait version at Masparo's. We really dug it. Throw some hot sauce on that bad boy and you've got it good. These are nice and overstuffed. Good thing we got there early because right after we got our food the place got packed in all of about 20 minutes. We went back to the hotel and didn't have time or room for more food. Until we got to the airport. WHAT UP LUCKY DOG? A nice cap on our too-short trip! So we didn't get to go to one of the classic po'boy shops, but that's ok. I had two pretty good versions. We didn't get to Hansen's, but I used to work at a place like that. We didn't get a Chris McMillian Mint Julep but we did get a great Herbsaint version and a bunch of other great cocktails. We wish we had had more time but we got in what we could when and where we could. I did get a muffaletta that first day but from Café Beignet and I'm sure it's not *that* much different from the Central Grocery Version. Thanks to everybody here for all the help and recommendations, thanks to Daniel for getting this thread going, thanks to everybody in all the restaurants. We had such a short time but we were really happy with how everything turned out and we really really really want to get back there as soon as possible. We found Hové and bought presents, we found Kitchen Witch and bought cookbooks. Thanks Holly Moore for being over at Cajun Kate's (which is still our favorite gumbo) and telling us about gumbo filé! and also I've edited, tagged and titled all of the photos in the set I mentioned in the post above so there's plenty more pics if you want to go and comment. Please do! I have yet to geotag them all but I'll get there...

I'm currently in the process of organizing, arrranging, titling, color-correcting, tagging and describing the 200 odd photos from the trip. You'll be most interested in the food set of course, but the whole collection is here: mattohara's New Orleans photos I'm not going to upload all the food pics here as many of them have been repeats of photos that others have taken better than I could, but there are some new ones, like praline bacon from Elizabeth's... which I will put up here.

we are in pain right now. we can't even muster the energy to put on our (now way too small) clothes and go out and see some nightlife. we can't even get up to change the channel housekeeping put on the tv at 2nd turndown. the funny thing is that it's a soothing "nature" channel and when a duck or crab comes on for a second i go "mmm...food" you guys did us dirty. our minds and bodies are so conflicted about food right now. we're loving on NO but our bodies are saying "what...just...happened..." more this weekend when we're recovered and pics are sorted.

we don't care about anything except the foods! (we went to cochon tonight, we're going back for lunch tomorrow...)

so where to breakfast on wednesday... and thanks for the link katie!

Itinerary updated by recommendations, location and business hours/McMillan hours: monday spa day for karen/work stuff for me lunch for karen? (i'll be at the work thing, hope they feed me) pimms cup at napoleon house, vacation begins! mila for apps (no chris on mondays) vieux carre at carousel bar jacques-imo for dinner (nobody has mentioned this place, why?) tuesday cafe du monde for brekkie market for muffaletta (for to snack on by the pool) massage! mother's po'boy for lunch pool time! mint julep at pere marquette (chris!) cochon for dinner sazerac at herbsaint wednesday breakfast at brennan's (bananas foster) august for lunch hansen's! airport by 3:30PM so i just have the couple of questions bolded above. and if anybody could point me to a good site that shows local events, points of interest and whatnot that would be cool too. any glaring mistakes here? i thought since we're focusing more on the food here than the tourist experience i could skip the commander's palace, antoine's, galatoire's stuff, but i had to go for the bananas foster breakfast! ::edit:: thanks everybody for experience, recommendations and warnings! if anybody wants to meet out for a drink just holler!

Yes, thanks PopsicleToze! I'd like to find a place to get straight unadulterated boudin. Thanks phila, some of your recs match perfectly with katie's.