ProfessionalHobbit

After a few days of doing the gourmet thing, we decided to have BBQ for dinner tonight, and headed to The Joint. brisket and sausage with baked beans and coleslaw pulled pork with the same sides as above the meat was moist, the sauces not sweet, the slaw interesting, and the beans well-made the downside being not enough smoke flavor was better than average...but not a return destination

We’re resting for a couple of hours before dinner. Stay tuned....

Not a bad haul for $73 I needed this volume to complete the hardcover portion of my FOTW collection

Then we went to a used cookbook store the 1936 edition of TJOC sells for $200

After a jazz history tour, we were famished and ended up at Felix’s instead of Acme because we didn’t want to wait. Bzzt....wrong answer. these were the best thing - giant oysters that were fresh-tasting and sweet, served with lemon, cocktail sauce and horseradish these were subpar and probably were sitting out too long just average red beans and rice needed oomph (and no andouille sausage) oh well...

@gfweb - unfortunately we will have to file August and Cochon under “next time”. rather a pity too since these menus appeal on the way back home, B and I discovered located on the first floor of the Roosevelt hotel which will also have to be for the future

We went to Compere Lapin tonight. left - tequila, aperol, passion fruit, lime right - rose wine, hibiscus, elderflower, honeysuckle vodka chive-bacon biscuits with chive butter and maple butter conch croquettes, pickled pineapple tartar sauce smoked tuna tartare, avocado, crispy bananas hamachi, guava curry, papaya nice balance of sweet and heat, with a lingering “bite” that slowly builds in intensity roasted half chicken with rice and peas curried goat, sweet potato gnocchi, cashews a combination that worked and also had no bones which attests to the kitchen’s attention to detail. roasted banana zeppole, hazelnut, caramel sauce spiced chocolate mousse, lemongrass, cashews there was chocolate “soil” underneath the ice cream and faint notes of chile in the mousse, sort of like a mole with a 20% tip, total for two came out to $190. plus the service was better and more attentive than our experience at Bayona.

Thanks folks After lunch, we took a tour of the Garden District that was bookended by food. First we went to where I bought and incidentally, the other books on offer were: and Then we ogled a bunch of houses, like these: (this and the one immediately below this sentence were once owned by Anne Rice) this was the house where the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was shot then, we finished in front of Commander’s Palace and took a street car back to the French Quarter where I saw which is very likely NOT the same as the classic place We’re resting for a few hours before dinner. More later...

Those oysters were perfectly breaded and fried, and oh so plump. Awesome.

Thanks for the tip re Mother’s left - green beans and tomato right - turnip greens and sausage the beans were garlicky and savory and much better than the greens oyster po’boy with unsweetened iced tea made for a satisfying lunch

B and I are headed to a cemetery tour today but our first stop is a platter of beignets at Cafe du Monde. They were slightly heavy and faintly sweet. Perfect.

Thanks for the tips Some more pix notable for the sticker shock ps. I like to take pictures of restaurant menus so expect to see a lot in addition to the usual food shots nice oyster bar name

Thanks @Smithy and @gfweb. The pistachio ice cream tasted mostly of almond extract until I mixed in some pistachio crumble that was sitting next to it. Here’s a pic of the dessert menu if you’d like: The special ice cream flavor was “birthday cake” - vanilla cake batter mixed into vanilla ice cream and garnished with sprinkles...didn’t sound appealing at all.

Their desserts: guava, coconut and pineapple sorbet lemon olive oil cake with roasted strawberries and pistachio ice cream There was a service snafu where they served my tea without any sweetener, but otherwise was perfect. With a 20% tip, bill came out to $192 for two.

Bayona was outstanding and if I have a regret, it’s that I hadn’t traveled to NOLA sooner. Stormy Morning cocktail - creme de violette, lime juice, St. Germain, champagne Driving Glove cocktail - tres agaves reposado, pamplemousse rose, fluer de Sommer, lime juice Sweet potato brioche, cane juice butter Veal sweetbreads, lemon, capers Seared scallops, plantain chips, pickled slaw, guasacaca Redfish, corn, okra, jalapeño-basil vinaigrette Pork chop, Savoy cabbage, apple relish, spaetzle, mustard jus

Thanks for the tips @kayb - I’ll file that away for future trips as a lot has been reserved, but maybe we can squeeze in some time at Mother’s.

We’re at Bayona tonight for dinner and here are pix of some of their menus.

Then we happened across an art gallery devoted to Modernist Cuisine.

Next, we passed the pink palace (better known as the restaurant Brennan’s) where B had obtained a reservation on Sunday for brunch. We thought we had reserved well at first, except that it turns out that the day of our brunch will fall on one of the worst days of the year with respect to dining out since it will be Mother’s Day. Hopefully the food will be good.... Thoughts on their dinner menu and wine list?

We stopped by Antoine’s Annex for a snack and the apple danish I had ordered was dry and disappointing. Oh well...

Well met! B and I flew to NOLA today for the foodie part of my vacation and here are some pix for your perusal. Think of the next few days as an unofficial eG Foodblog....

I told my hubby that I want to go to Benu for my b'day dinner this year. Major food porn at the link below. https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/top-100-restaurants/ We've been to quite a few: B. Patisserie, Cala, Californios, Chez Panisse, Frances, Gary Danko, Kin Khao, Kokkari Estiatorio, La Ciccia, Lord Stanley, Nopalito, Petit Crenn, Prospect, Yank Sing and Zuni. Maybe this will be of some use to you.

I've been working a lot for the past few weeks, so tonight was the first dinner I've cooked in quite a while. It'll be the last one for the next couple of weeks b/c on Thursday, we fly out to Austin, TX for a week, and then to New Orleans for another week. Tonight, we're having dizi (Iranian lamb stew with cinnamon, chickpeas, sumac and dried lime). Contains a base of olive oil and lamb fat, to which was added lamb, onion, cinnamon, dried lime, sumac, turmeric, salt, water, then chickpeas, white beans, potatoes and crushed tomatoes and stewed for 2 1/2 hours. This was served with an herb plate (parsley, mint, cilantro), pita bread, olives and pickles. Recipe from "Taste of Persia", pages 188-189. I promise I'll have lots of pix when I return in three weeks, so stay tuned...

We went to SPQR for dinner last night. It reminds me of a revamped Babbo, right down to the rock-and-roll blasting from the speakers. Sweet corn and quinoa "frittella", smoked trout, roe and red onion crema fresca. I wanted to like SPQR especially since I'd heard so much about it. Style is "nuevo Italiano" and left much to be desired. Also not every day you're served a dish with a sauce that reminds you of Pepto-Bismol. The "frittella" was fine and the goo inoffensive. Sicilian artichoke, romano bean and kohlrabi salad, smoked wagyu beef, pecorino. Take away three ingredients on that plate and you've got a great salad. BTW the artichokes tasted like they were canned. Wild rice stuffed quail, creamed greens, heirloom apple. Their secondi were a bit more imaginative. The quail was perfectly cooked and the greens in keeping with the season. There was some sort of demi-glace-based sauce poured over the quail. Again, too many elements on the plate. Tasty though, for what it's worth....B liked it. Squid ink spaghetti, red wine braised octopus and mussel "puttanesca", black olive crumb. They redeemed themselves somewhat with the pasta. I suppose if I were to return here, I'd start with their primi instead. Chestnut clafoutis, black truffle gelato, honey ($22). Served with a glass of passito moscato from Cosenza, Calabria ($15). This dessert was the best thing I ate all night, and that says something. Very flavorful and everything complemented each other. Meyer lemon goat yogurt, lime honey, grapefruit sorbetto. Was pretty good. Would I return? Maybe, if I didn't have any other options. You can do better in San Francisco. SPQR 1911 Fillmore Street (Wilmot Street) Pacific Heights

Original post also assumes via implication that food costs are the same throughout the country. I suppose I could make a tasty meal for under $5 here in SF if I had the need to, given that SF is one of, if not *THE* most expensive city to live in the continental U.S. but I would have to look really hard for a store that could fit those parameters. And it would involve a real schlep to/from my house which is not something I'm remotely interested in doing.