New Orleans 72hours

[Diann]

I'm headed down to New Orleans for the first time in September and this thread has been very helpful, as eGullet always is...

What do you think of my plan?

Thursday - Arrive, late dinner at Cochon, cocktails at the Lobby Bar at the Pere Marquette if Chris McMillian is around. Other cocktail options - Sazerac Bar, Carousel Bar, Swizzle Stick, Arnaud's. Staying in the French Quarter. Will go check out the bars on Frenchmen St. and the izakaya if we get hungry around 1AM.

Friday - Bread pudding and bananas Foster at Brennan's. A quarter- or half-muffaletta from Central Grocery (to be eaten overlooking the Mississippi... with an Abita). Po'boys from Parkway. Pimms Cups at Napoleon House. More drinks at Cure. Late dinner at Herbsaint.

Should I replace Herbsaint with Brigtsens, Bayona, Gautreau's, Lilette, Green Goddess... others? I feel slightly silly eating at two Donald Link places in two nights, but the menu at Herbsaint looks great. I'm looking for some variety in my dinners...

Saturday - Beignets and cafe au lait at CdM. Po'boys at Parasol's and Domilise... and/or food at Lil' Dizzys... maybe Willie Mae's... Liuzza's... I'm keeping things pretty open here. Dinner is the tasting menu at August.

Sunday - Unfortunately, leaving at the crack of dawn... which just means we're staying up all night Saturday!

I know some of this is touristy, but I've been told even the most insanely touristy things I can imagine (Central Grocery, Cafe du Monde) are worth a stop.

Thanks for all of your feedback, in advance!

[BryanZ]

In order to keep this thread from getting too clogged up and to make sure I don't hijack Diann's requests, I've started a separate thread for my New Orleans trip report. I was in the city for the first time for 2.5 days in the middle of August 2009. Thanks to everyone who helped me out in the planning stages. I hope you'll read my report and take a look at the pictures.

Edited August 25, 2009 by BryanZ (log)

[mattohara]

Diann don't feel silly going to both of Link's restaurants. They're different enough to warrant it and my favorite Sazerac was made at Herbsaint. Also we went to Cochon *twice* on our 2-day trip. You might also want to check out his charcuterie place around the corner from Cochon for some late-night or early-morning hotel snacks.

I'm beginning to think there should be some sort of Philly-New Orleans hostel program set up...

[philadining]

We managed to adhere pretty closely to the original parameters of this thread, and spent 72 hours eating and drinking around New Orleans. The majority of the first couple of days were spent up at Jazzfest (first weekend) as documented here>>

Despite eating constantly during Jazzfest, we felt it was important to visit some other spots around town too.

Saturday, after cleaning the Jazzfest mud off, and changing in to some nicer clothes, we headed uptown to Patois. We waited a few minutes at the bar, and had a couple of cocktails: a "Pickled Patois" that featured Gin and pickle juice garnished with a slice of pickle or two, and an improv of something vaguely like a Pimms Cup. The pickle cocktail was actually quite good, despite what one might expect from those ingredients.

After getting a table in the small, but attractive dining room,

We decided to order several appetizers and one entrée.

Lamb Ribs.

We've had a few lamb ribs, although they're not nearly as common as they ought to be, but these were the best we've had: an assertive rub lent an almost smoky note to the meaty, tender ribs. They retained enough fat to make them indulgent, but not so much that they were sickly rich. The pickled green tomato relish cut through any unctuousness, balancing them out, and making them not only one of the best dishes of the night, but of the whole trip.

Crispy Pigs Feet

This special of the evening navigated the same indulgent waters as the ribs, and showed the same balance, negotiating crisp, fatty, meaty, with the help of an elegant remoulade-like sauce. Very nicely done.

Scallop and Pork Belly

We've eaten quite a bit of pork belly in our days, but both my dining companion and I were blown-away by how good this version was. The perfect texture, proportion of meat and fat, and most importantly, char. Or maybe the mustard/Steen's Cane Syrup glaze had something to do with it... The scallop was perfectly cooked as well, and the two went together even better than we'd imagined. Yet another dish we're going to have to get again next visit.

Smoked Rabbit, Andouille and Greens Gumbo.

One of the best gumbos I've had in New Orleans. It featured a very dark roux, but still let the flavor of the meat through. The spicy kick of the sausage, and unusual note from the greens made for a very complex, and delicious soup. Excellent.

Crabmeat Salad

Because there is nothing so refreshing and fundamentally satisfying as a pile of cold, fresh, sweet crabmeat. Some hearts of palm and a light, herby dressing don't hurt.

Charcuterie platter: Pork Rillettes, Boudin, Hogshead Cheese

In case you were concerned that we weren't getting enough animal fat and offal... All three of these components were very good, especially when combined with their condiments. The pickles balanced the fat of the rillettes, pickled onions brightened the spicy headcheese, grainy mustard complimented the subtle liver flavor of the boudin.

They had just run out of the pheasant which had been recommended to us, so our one main course was a Half Roasted Duck.

The blood orange reduction was a perfect accompaniment, but even on its own, it was just so perfectly cooked, with a crisp skin, yet juicy meat, almost all fat rendered away, just the slightest ribbon remaining to add flavor and moisture. A crisp Chinese Celery and Turnip fritter, enriched with Mascarpone, was an agreeable companion.

We washed this all down with a 2006 Scholium Project Naucratis, which had exactly the right level of minerality, acid and quenching juiciness for all this rich food.

We were too full for dessert, although several looked appealing. All in all an excellent dinner, and a restaurant we look forward to visiting again. Or server was very knowledgeable and helpful, but also very down to earth and just plain friendly, helping make the evening quite enjoyable.

After dinner, we headed back toward the quarter, and had a few cocktails at Bar Tonique, at 820 N. Rampart, near the gates to Louis Armstrong park. It has the vibe of a little neighborhood joint, but keeps a deep selection of good spirits. The cocktail list is interesting, and the bartenders can handle the classics as well as some modern experiments. We especially liked the "Bitter Harvest."

After a couple of hours there, we headed back toward the Marigny, where we were staying, and couldn't resist a pass by Mimi's just to see if anything was up. It was pretty quiet, but then it was pretty late, even for Mimi's... So had one quick drink there, and called it a night.

(More to come...)

Edited May 3, 2010 by philadining (log)

[philadining]

Forgot to add the details:

Patois:

6078 Laurel St (at Webster)

504-895-9441

http://www.patoisnola.com

[saturnbar]

Looks like you all killed Patois, good work. So what is the second cocktail? Anything you wish you had tried from looking around?

[philadining]

The second cocktail was supposed to be a Pimm's Cup, but apparently they had just run out of Pimms, so the bartender improvised something gin and fruit and herb-ish...

We definitely wanted to try the Pheasant, but there's a downside to a late reservation: the last order literally got snatched out from under us. We'd ordered it, but by the time the waiter got back to the kitchen, it was 86ed.

The entire appetizer section looked pretty appetizing, and from spying on neighboring diners, and also from having the menu described in loving detail by an off-duty employee as we sat at the bar, we really did end up wanting one of everything. I would have loved to have been there with more people and just ordered the whole menu, or at least as close as was practical.

[philadining]

Following another great day at Jazzfest, we again cleaned up, dressed up and headed uptown, this time to Commander's Palace.

Started with a truly excellent Sazerac cocktail, and a Pimm's Cup, and perused the menu. We have to admit that part of the motivation for going at this particular moment was that we had recently been reading this list of 100 Best Restaurant Dishes and their description of the rack of lamb at Commander's was very persuasive... So it threw us off a little when there was no rack of lamb on the menu. I'm not sure if it's a seasonal thing, or an occasional special, but it wasn't on the menu. We asked our waiter about it, and he just said no, they don't have it, and offered no more details.

I'd wanted to dine here long before reading about racks of lamb, it's always seemed like one of those places that one should experience, and now seemed as good a time as any, so it wasn't exactly a tragedy that the menu was not as we'd expected. In retrospect, it might not have been ideal timing: Sunday night, during Jazzfest. They were quite busy, but it appeared that the back-up service team had pulled this shift. Everyone comported themselves quite professionally, but in general, the staff was very young, our main waiter in particular, and lacked that certain seasoned style that one expects in these old-school places. There was one exception to that though - I was never completely clear on what his role was, perhaps a Captain, or even a Maitre d' or Sommelier, or some combination of the three. He took a drink order, helped us choose a wonderful bottle of wine when the one we ordered was out of stock, and was just generally gracious and helpful and confidence-inspiring, as we'd hoped-for from the staff at a fine restaurant like this. The young waiter that was mostly taking care of us was a little too rote and pushy, continually volunteering which were his favorite dishes (shocker - the most expensive ones!) not able to answer some questions we had about preparations, and a little perplexed about the wine list. On top of that, there was a second server helping us, and the two of them didn't seem to communicate with one another, so we were frequently asked, or offered, the same things twice.

But we didn't suffer any service gaffes per se, we were just a bit disappointed to not have that confident feeling that our waiter, who has been working there for 100 years, is on top of everything, and has already anticipated our needs.

We started with the trio of soups: small cups of Seafood Gumbo, Soup of the Day, which was Crawfish Bisque, and Turtle Soup. Sadly, the soups were underwhelming, all tasting vaguely thick and brown. Even a dash of sherry couldn't wake-up the turtle soup, which was bordering on brown gravy consistency, with barely discernible granules of what I guess was turtle meat. I guess I'd been hoping for something like the turtle soup at Brennan's, which I thought was spectacular. The gumbo and bisque were better than that, but still surprisingly bland, too thick, blah.

Thankfully, that was the end of the disappointments. Our first appetizer was the Oyster and Absinthe "Dome".

This was elegant and unusual, a ramekin stacked full of tender, poached oysters in an absinthe-spiked cream sauce, topped with flaky puff pastry. I swear there might have been 10 mid-sized oysters in there, all perfectly cooked, and beautifully complimented by artichoke and bacon, and the rich sauce. Classic, old-fashioned, no reason to tweak that.

The other appetizer was Shrimp and Tasso Henican. Large wild white shrimp, spicy tasso ham, a glaze of Crystal hot sauce, and pepper jelly made for a surprisingly assertively spicy dish, but a delicious one. I could eat that pepper jelly spread on toast.

Entrées were Crawfish Maque-Choux with Boudin, and a mammoth Veal Chop with Goat Cheese Grits.

The Maque-Choux consisted of the expected braise of corn and other vegetables, but in this case studded with large, fresh crawfish tails, with a big, crispy house-made boudin sausage in the center. A crawfish bisque was poured around the edges. This had a wonderful range of tastes and textures: spicy, earthy, chewy, crunchy, tender, creamy... Really nice.

The Veal Chop was fairly conventional, but perfectly executed. It was a very high quality product, cooked perfectly. The goat cheese grits were fine, grilled asparagus a pleasant-enough accompaniment, but it was mostly all about the tender, juicy, surprisingly flavorful meat, and the intense green peppercorn sauce.

We were a little too stuffed to go for some of the more elaborate desserts they offer here, like the table-side flamed Bananas Foster, or the Bread Pudding Soufflée, but we couldn't resist the siren call of the Pecan Pie, which was very tasty, even without the melted chocolate and caramel sauce, which we'd asked them to leave off.

We'd been feeling like a light and crisp and resfreshing wine to go with this meal, and ended up, with a little help from our favorite mustachioed staffer, with a 2008 Sancerre from Reverdy, "La Reine Blanche." It was just perfect for our mood, and food, and abstractly a delicious wine, one that I hope to drink more of.

All in all, a very enjoyable meal, marred only slightly by a few moments of vaguely amateurish service. I wouldn't hesitate to go back, but at the same time, I feel that now that I've had the experience, I may turn my attention to some of the other old-guard classic places first.

After dinner, we wandered Frenchmen Street, and absorbed a little apres-Fest giddiness, but didn't encounter anything too profound, so called it a night, and got ready for another day of eating on Monday!

[saturnbar]

I have always wondered the proper name for "those guys" was as well, but they really make the whole Commanders experience. I love the way they swoop in and keep everyone's drinks topped off. When you are at big table and some folks are drinking wine while others are still cocktailing the guys in the suits make sure no one gets out of cink, so I call them "oilers." They are very stealthy too. ch

[philadining]

Monday, we couldn't get motivated for breakfast, so moved directly to lunch. We headed to Mr B's Bistro, to sample their Gumbo Ya Ya. We've eaten a lot of good gumbo in New Orleans, but this particular one has been mentioned as a classic, so we figured we should try it.

And indeed, it's a classic style of gumbo, with full flavor from a dark roux, and generous chunks of chicken and andouille sausage. Sadly the sausage had given up most of its fat and flavor to the soup, so what remained in the bowl was a little dry. It was a decent bowl of gumbo, but not the apex of gumbo-dom that we'd expected. The fresh, warm loaf of french bread was really good, and an excellent partner for the soup, and along with a couple of cocktails, it made a perfectly pleasant lunch, but I wouldn't call it a necessary stop on a culinary tour.

Mr B's Bistro

201 Royal St

www.mrbsbistro.com/

Next we wandered a few blocks over to Johnny's Po Boys.

There was a bit of a line, but it moved fairly quickly. We'd seen their Roast Beef Po Boy mentioned as one of the better ones around town, so we felt obliged to try one of those.

It was, in fact, quite good, very moist and flavorful, but not soaked with dark gravy and debris, as so many of the classic ones are. Perhaps they'll drown it in gravy if you ask for it that way, but I actually liked it like this, it was still plenty wet and messy. If I had a craving for the ultimate roast beef po boy, I'd probably hike out to Parasol's, but if I needed to stick near the Quarter, I wouldn't be disappointed in this one.

The Judge Bosetta po boy took a while on the grill. It's got ground beef, Italian Sausage and Hot Sausage, all smooshed together and crisped-up on the flat-top. Delicious.

We saw a lot of food go by as we were waiting for that second sandwich, and everything looked great, including bowls of seafood gumbo with various claws and shells protruding from the broth, a very credible-looking muffuletta, a bacon egg and cheese po by's Po Boy that made us consider backing-up to breakfast, and lots of enticing fried things.

Johnny's Po Boys

51 St Louis St

open until 3pm weekdays, 4:30 on fri-sat-sun.

www.johnnyspoboy.com/

It was a beautiful, sunny day, so we walked over to the riverbank and ate our sandwiches outside. Afterward, we decided to bike out Magazine St and see what we would discover. We knew that if nothing else, we'd end up at La Divina and Sucré. Good gelato and sorbetto are always powerful motivators.

That's Strawberry-Balsamic Sorbetto and Coconut Sorbetto on the left, Abita Root Beer Gelato and Sweet Potato Pie Gelato on the right. They were all decent, although the flavors were a bit on the subtle side, except for the Sweet Potato Pie, which was fantastic. The coconut-basil sorbetto a few doors up at Sucré was even more vague, just barely a hint of coconut, but it was still pretty refreshing after a bike ride on a sunny day.

La Divina Gelateria

3005 Magazine St

www.ladivinagelateria.com/

Sucré

3025 Magazine St

http://www.shopsucre.com/

It would have made sense to just stay uptown, but we wanted to put on some better clothes for dinner, so we biked back to the Marigny, cleaned up, and hopped a cab back west, for dinner at Clancy's.

The restaurant was very busy, so we were led upstairs to a small room in the library. It was a perfectly pleasant space, but as luck would have it, we were a two-top, squeezed between a table of 8 doctors trying to impress one another with their wine selections, and a table of 12, which seemed to be a family get-together of some sort. This most likely accounted for our feeling that we were getting something less than the service we'd hoped for - nothing egregious - just a general sense that they weren't really all that concerned about us, which is just going to happen when squeezed in-between two tables spending lots of money.

It was a bit like our Commander's experience: nobody was rude to us, but we'd been looking forward to some of that burnished, old fashioned New Orleans service, and we didn't get much of that... Although, also similar to Commander's, we did get a little bit of it. Again, we had tag-team servers, and one of them was an older gentleman who just had everything under control, knew what we wanted before we did, accommodated a few special requests with great elegance - just handled it. Our other server seemed to forget about us most of the evening, poured the last of our bottle of wine without mentioning it or asking of we wanted another, etc.

But that was a minor annoyance, I suspect we would have been happier downstairs in the main dining room, we'll have to remember to ask for that next time. And I do think there will be a next time, because the food was terrific.

We started with a couple of cocktails, including a perfectly balanced Sazerac, one of the best I've ever had, and I've been making a habit of having them anywhere I can get them!

We also knew things were going to be good when the (excellent) bread was accompanied by a huge stick of butter. I'm embarrassed to think about how much of that we actually went through...

We started with another Crabmeat Salad, it always sounds like the right thing, and this one was very good, almost three dishes in one: delicate crab, a nice lettuce salad, and spicy, complex deviled eggs.

I'd been reading about the Fried Oysters with Brie.

It sounded like an odd combination, and it is. It was very nicely done: the oysters were perfectly fried, seated on some sauteed spinach, a piece of brie cheese melted on top. And I enjoyed it, I'm just not completely sure that I love that array of flavors together. I'm glad I tried it, just not sure whether I'd get it again.

One thing I'll certainly get again, in fact I might make a trip back to New Orleans purely to eat this, is the Smoked Duck.

This was almost certainly the best roasted duck I've ever eaten, and I have a hard time resisting duck on any menu. There was an unmistakable, but not overbearing, smoky flavor, and the most incredible texture to both the meat and crisp skin. The fat had rendered down to just a faint whisper of richness, adding flavor and moisture and mouthfeel, but just barely... Both the leg and breast were just mind-bogglingly tender, moist and delicious. I' still dreaming of this duck. The accompaniments, some rather plain noodles and steamed vegetables, were underwhelming, but it really didn't matter, the main attraction was so good.

With Lamb Chops on our mind from the previous night, we decided to try them here.

And they were very good, not as revelatory as the duck, but very flavorful, and well-executed. What knocked us out about this plate was the hash browns. Yes, simple crusty fried shredded potatoes somehow stole the show from beautifully grilled lamb. There's some sort of simple, familiar seasoning in the potatoes that, along with artful griddling to make them so perfectly crisp, turned them into something special.

So, my dream plate is the duck, with hash browns rather than noodles. I'm definitely asking for that next time, I wonder if they'll do that for me?

A bright, clean Grgich Fume Blanc was a nice companion, perhaps a little light for the lamb, but nice with everything else.

I couldn't leave without trying their famous Lemon Icebox Pie.

It lived up to the hype: it's vibrant, tart, sweet, cold, refreshing, yet indulgent. Perfect with a cup of chicory coffee.

I'm already plotting another visit for duck and pie, and anything else will just be a bonus.

Clancy's

6100 Annunciation St.

(504) 895-1111

(warning: www.clancysrestaurant.com is NOT them, although it will come up in Google with their address... )

Edited May 5, 2010 by philadining (log)

[saturnbar]

Clancy's is very indulgent which likely accounts for its continued popularity. The veal and crab meat and the fried softshell topped with more crab meat for good measure being further examples. Its actually a little scary how long they have been serving the oysters and brie, which I was never completely sold on. I would add my dislike of the upstairs dining rooms, they can be loud and small, which makes for a bad combination, and because Clancy's is so clubby, out-of-towners, non regulars, and two tops, frequently end up there. The bar is a better choice if offered. Excellent write ups as usual. ch

[philadining]

After dinner at Clancy's we headed out to Cure for some creative cocktails. Cure's a great spot any night, but we knew that bartender Kirk Estopinal was behind the stick, which means some especially interesting drinks were on the way. Cocktail fans might know Kirk and Maksym Pazuniak from their blog and book, formerly Rogue Cocktails, now Beta Cocktails. Maks has moved to Brooklyn, but Kirk is still at Cure, along with a talented crew.

I started to take notes, but between trying to take pictures, note ingredients, chat with Kirk, and actually try to enjoy the drinks, it got to be too much. So, suffice it to say: the cocktails were delicious. Kirk has a knack for mixing concoctions that are complex and mysterious, yet balanced and approachable. So we just let him make whatever he felt like, with just minimal guidance.

Kirk is all about rum these days, so my friend had a few rum-based drinks, starting with something vaguely like a rum Manhattan, and proceeding through a few variations, into tiki variations...

I started with variations on the classic Sazerac, just riffing on the basic structure, rather than the ingredients. I lost track of specifics, but I do recall that Bonded Applejack and Kummel were employed in there somewhere.

There were a few more that were undocumented as my photography skills deteriorated, but that's an inherent problem...

We finished up with a very interesting and tasty creation by Nick that employed the recently re-released original formula Herbsaint, which I expect to see turning up in drinks more and more.

Somewhere along the line, despite a large dinner, we felt like a snack, and thankfully, Cure's kitchen has some very good offerings. Our favorite is the Crab Roll. At the risk of angering all of New England, I think a crab roll is even better than a lobster roll. It's a classic structure: a toasted hot dog roll, and cool crabmeat with mayo.

In a city where cocktails are ubiquitous, Cure is one of the most creative bars, and totally worth a visit if you're interested in cutting-edge mixology.

Cure

4905 Freret (at Upperline)

504-302-2357

http://www.curenola.com/

[saturnbar]

We went to Patois last night, and the pheasant blew my mind. The other hit for me was the gnochi. I really that place. ch

[philadining]

Good to know about the Patois pheasant - thanks! We were so close...

To bring this visit full-circle, we woke up tuesday, and I hiked over to Central Grocery to stock-up on muffulettas, while my buddy hopped in a cab and headed over to NOLA Grocery and Cochon Butcher.

I bought 6 muffulettas. My friend stocked-up on boudin, andouille, and other sausages that we have a hard time finding back east. We threw those in a duffle bag (a mufful bag?) and brought them on the plane with us. On previous trips, the security people have jokingly threatened to confiscate similar cargo, but they were just hungry, it's not actually a problem to bring sausages and sandwiches on an airplane.

We've found that the Central Grocery muffulettas travel really successfully and they last freaking indefinitely, it's actually kind of weird. They're well-packaged, and the fact that the ingredients are all cured, the meat and cheese and olives, are all pretty durable, and there's something about the bread that lets it stay shockingly fresh. After a couple of days in the refrigerator, the bread benefits from a little heat: we've found that taking a quarter section, and zapping it for about a minute in a microwave, then another minute or two in a toaster over at medium heat brings it right back to life, and hey, a warm muffuletta is a beautiful thing.

Many of the sausages from NOLA Grocery are frozen, so they keep just fine for a few hours on a plane, and actually help keep everything else cool too.

So, not only did we have a great trip, we haven't had to let go quite yet either, we've got sandwiches and sausages to ease the transition. But this visit only stimulated our appetites, so we'll be back...

NOLA Grocery

351 Andrew Higgins Drive

302-9928

http://www.nolagrocery.com/

Cochon Butcher

930 Tchoupitoulas

504-588-PORK

http://www.cochonbutcher.com/

Edited May 7, 2010 by philadining (log)

[fiftydollars]

We are looking at going in late October for somewhere around 72 hours. We'll be arriving late Thursday evening (11pm) and leaving Monday afternoon(5pm). What should I know about visiting this time of year?

[TAPrice]

We are looking at going in late October for somewhere around 72 hours. We'll be arriving late Thursday evening (11pm) and leaving Monday afternoon(5pm). What should I know about visiting this time of year?

The weather is great, oysters are in season, crawfish aren't.

[fiftydollars]

Thanks, Todd. We are very much looking forward to visiting and this is the only time of year that I'll be able to get around to it for quite some time.

And I do love oysters!

[TAPrice]

There are also a whole bunch of new restaurants/high-end bars opening at the moment.

John Harris of Lilette has a new wine bar. A fancy wine bar called Oak opened on Oak Street. An arty lounge on St. Charles with food and drinks by the Iris crew opens this weekend on St. Charles. Feast, a Houston head-to-tail operation, will open its New Orleans outlet this month.

[kayb]

Just got back last night from a few days in New Orleans, so I picked one of the innumerable NOLA threads to post my meals and such. Sadly, there are no photos, as I just didn't deal with taking any.

 

Got in Tuesday night around 5, and I knew I wanted char-grilled oysters for dinner, so we were off to Drago's. Two of us had a dozen (he had a cup of gumbo, I didn't), and then ordered a second dozen. Hit the spot. I love a char-grilled oyster and Drago's does them about as well as anyone.

 

Wednesday morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel (standard hotel breakfast, but decent), and were off to the World War II museum. Stayed there from 10:30 until 5, and got through two of the five exhibits. Should have taken another day. That night we had, for some reason, problems in deciding where we wanted to go, after we waited too long to get reservatons for Mr. B's Bistro. Wound up at Mulate's, down near the Convention Center, where I had Catfish Cecelia -- grilled catfish with a crabmeat stuffing -- which was excellent, and SO had Catfish Mulate, which was grilled catfish covered with shrimp etouffee.

 

Got up Thursday morning with fancy breakfast on my mind, so there was nowhere for that but Brennan's. I know, it's touristy, but I love it. House-cured pastrami hash with a poached egg for me, with a mimosa and coffee, and eggs Hussarde for SO, with a bloody Mary and coffee. Both were excellent. Interesting hash; much more pastrami than potatoes, which had been roughly mashed with some cooked onions, so's to better bind the meat together. Long oval of that, grilled crispy on both sides, egg perched on top and the whole thing covered in Hollandaise. Eggs hussarde is English muffin halves, ham, red wine sauce, a poached egg, and Hollandaise. 

 

I should say a word about the coffee. It's from a local roaster, Congregation Coffee, over in Algiers. Very, good, dark, rich coffee. Their beans are available online.

 

Business dinner that night for SO and me; we went to La Boca, an Argentinian steak place in the Central Business District. I had the flank steak; which they marinated and grilled medium rare; SO had the strip, and business partner had the ribeye. All served with a trio of sauces -- horseradish, green chimichurri, and red chile sauce, and accompanied by truffle-dusted French fries.

 

Quick breakfast at the hotel the next morning (Higgins Hotel, next door to the WWII museum, nice place but bar prices are pretty outrageous. 35 bucks for two glasses of house pinot grigio? I think not.) Dropped SO at the airport, and I headed home. Stopped in Jackson, MS, to get gas and have lunch, and decided on Lou's Full Serv, a nice diner-ish (but bigger and a bit upscale) place in a pretty neighborhood. They have a full menu of sandwiches and salads, plus a blue-plate special every day. Friday was crawfish etouffee over good creamy grits, with a caesar salad. Too rich for me to eat but about half of it.

 

I bought home about half my steak (they do NOT do small steaks), and I'm thinking hash with that for tonight.

 

Hated to miss Mr. B's and Cochon, but that's for another trip.

[heidih]

Thanks so much for your write-up. I've heard good things about Congregation coffee so may order. I'm a fan of the chicory blends. 

[weinoo]

16 hours ago, kayb said:

I knew I wanted char-grilled oysters for dinner, so we were off to Drago's

 

Mmmmmmm...

 

 

Drago's...

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by weinoo (log)