New Orleans 2022: A brief foodblog

[Chris Hennes]

I had no expectation of being able to find decent tea here, so I hedged my bets and packed my own:

 

 

[heidih]

Well now you have to explain the cup

[Chris Hennes]

I got it many years ago when I used to subscribe to Storyville Coffee — I’ve since graduated to roasting my own, but I always liked their logo, as a former aerospace engineer. And I don’t like drinking tea out of paper cups, which is all hotel rooms seem to have these days.

[KennethT]

16 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

I had no expectation of being able to find decent tea here, so I hedged my bets and packed my own:

 

 

That's awesome...  Did you pack your gaiwan also?

[Shelby]

20 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

I had no expectation of being able to find decent tea here, so I hedged my bets and packed my own:

 

 

He brings his own mug.  I like it  

[Chris Hennes]

16 minutes ago, KennethT said:

That's awesome...  Did you pack your gaiwan also?

No, just a little mesh brewing basket.

[Chris Hennes]

When I got that restaurant cancellation notice this morning, at first I thought it was from Cochon -- I had several Resy reservations, and the notice didn't say which restaurant was cancelling: the last message I had in the list was from Cochon, so I thought it was from them. Fortunately it occurred to me eventually to call, since it as sort of ambiguous, and sure enough, they were still open tonight. So, dinner at Cochon:

 

 

Started with a Chablis:

 

And some dinner rolls:

 

Alligator in mustard sauce:

 

Yellowfish dip on housemade crackers:

 

Head cheese with house pickles and mustard:

 

Gumbo (of course):

 

And scallops:

 

Unsurprisingly for a place called "cochon", I thought the real standout was the headcheese, which was superb. Which is not to put down the rest of the meal, of course, everything was delicious. I should eat salads for every meal next week, though. This is sort of exhausting!

 

[heidih]

They used to have a row of their house made pickled things lining the bar. Glad you enjoyed. My favorite is no longer a standard - duck livers wth hot pepper jelly. Carry on

[Honkman]

Just out if curiosity- looking at the different restaurant photos, is anybody wearing a mask inside ?

[Chris Hennes]

No: lots of masks outside, and they’re required on public transit, but all restaurants are vaccine required so it seems most people doff them once their drinks arrive.

[rotuts]

@Chris Hennes 

 

your blog is very uplifting .

 

Ive never been to N.O. , and don't see it happening

 

in the near to medium future.  I did have my chances ...

 

blogs like this and so many others here

 

including fine home Cooking //  Chef-ing

 

posted here on eG 

 

have helped me tremendously 

 

during These Times .

 

the only other option would have been

 

Cheap , but dry WhiteWine   

 

I would have installed a ' Tap ' for efficiency sake.

 

Reds = Migraines .

 

so thank you all.

 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[Kim Shook]

I'm loving this so much.  Reading this has inspired me to go back and read my NOLA report.  We went to Luke and Cochon also and it's nice to see that 11 years later they are still so good!  Thanks so much for sharing your visit.

[Chris Hennes]

It seemed I would be remiss not to eat at one of the "old guard" while I was here, and Galatoire's is just a few blocks from where we are staying. So while I know, it's not "Friday Lunch" (which now takes reservations!!), but I did enjoy a Wednesday lunch at  Galatoire's today. Considerably less boisterous, but the food is still the classics.

 

 

Fresh bread:

 

Garlic bread:

 

Pommes souffle:

 

Oysters Rockefeller:

 

Turtle soup (not gumbo!!):

 

Crabmeat Sardou:

 

And no room for dessert!

 

[heidih]

+The OG does trend heavy. Thanks for taking us there to visit their classics.  I've never been. 

[MaryIsobel]

On 1/4/2022 at 12:49 PM, Chris Hennes said:

The weather is spectacular today, perfect for a walk, so we took the streetcar halfway and walked the rest to Willy Mae's Scotch House (original location, not the new one in the food court).

 

 

Obviously, I had the fried chicken (dark meat). I mean this in the most literal sense: it was perfect. I can't think of anything that could possibly have improved this chicken. Perfectly seasoned, just a little spicy but not so much that you couldn't taste the chicken, moist and tender, with a shatteringly crisp crust. Basically sets the gold standard for fried chicken.

 

 

My wife ordered the red beans:

 

I also ordered the red beans, but the waiter said "why you ordering the same thing she got? Get the butter beans." Yes sir. Butter beans it is:

 

Both beans were excellent: a bit spicy but not over-the-top. Also, cornbread muffins:

 

A little sweeter than I would expect here in the southern US, but still delicious. Finally, an obligatory bread pudding:

 

 

Needed vanilla ice cream. But I definitely did not need anymore food at this point, so I shouldn't complain. We walked really slowly getting back to the streetcar  .

I have never had fried chicken that even approached that level of beauty, just looking at the pictures, it looks perfect. Fried chicken is not a big thing on the west coast of Canada. I'm looking at you KFC, Popeye's et al. Not something I have ever ordered, but you can bet that the next time I get to NOLA, it will be first on my list!

 

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:

I'm looking at you KFC, Popeye's et al. 

Don't get me wrong, I really do love Popeye's. But they aren't in the same league as Willie Mae's. I don't even know if they're playing the same sport.

[Chris Hennes]

I really didn't intend for this trip to become the Chef Donald Link show, but here we are. I've had two cancellations here in NOLA, and in both cases I quite unintentionally replaced the original with one of Donald Link's places. Tonight was supposed to be Bayona, but with the world being what it is, I wasn't able to dine there. All props to the Bayona team for making the hard call to close: for that, I promise to make sure to dine there next time I'm here in New Orleans, and to spend profligately 😃. But that meant a last-minute replacement, and that replacement was Pêche.

 

 

A little splurge on our last night here:

 

We started with some appetizers/small plates (I never have figured out the difference between the two...):

 

Hushpuppies:

 

"Fish sticks":

 

Smoked drum salad:

 

All excellent (that drum salad had cauliflower and broccoli as the principal vegetables, plus sunflower seeds for added crunch -- it was remarkable). For our mains...

 

Baked drum in coconut curry:

 

And I had snapper collars:

 

Again, both excellent. For dessert, sticky toffee pudding with cream cheese ice cream:

 

And they had the cognac I wanted. So, another winner. I know it's almost certainly sacrilege, but I liked the food here better than Cochon. Not that Cochon wasn't excellent! But I really did enjoy Pêche more.

[Martin Fisher]

This is definitely not the kind of thread to read when you're on a diet like me! 

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I never have figured out the difference between the two...

 

Marketing to get you to spend more?

[gfweb]

Stay a couple days longer?

[Shelby]

8 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I really didn't intend for this trip to become the Chef Donald Link show, but here we are. I've had two cancellations here in NOLA, and in both cases I quite unintentionally replaced the original with one of Donald Link's places. Tonight was supposed to be Bayona, but with the world being what it is, I wasn't able to dine there. All props to the Bayona team for making the hard call to close: for that, I promise to make sure to dine there next time I'm here in New Orleans, and to spend profligately 😃. But that meant a last-minute replacement, and that replacement was Pêche.

 

 

A little splurge on our last night here:

 

We started with some appetizers/small plates (I never have figured out the difference between the two...):

 

Hushpuppies:

 

"Fish sticks":

 

Smoked drum salad:

 

All excellent (that drum salad had cauliflower and broccoli as the principal vegetables, plus sunflower seeds for added crunch -- it was remarkable). For our mains...

 

Baked drum in coconut curry:

 

And I had snapper collars:

 

Again, both excellent. For dessert, sticky toffee pudding with cream cheese ice cream:

 

And they had the cognac I wanted. So, another winner. I know it's almost certainly sacrilege, but I liked the food here better than Cochon. Not that Cochon wasn't excellent! But I really did enjoy Pêche more.

We love drum and eat it quite often.  Around here some folks consider it a "trash" fish, but it shouldn't be.  I want to make that salad.  Could you describe the dressing a bit please (insert question mark that doesn't work on my keyboard anymore)

[KennethT]

Thanks for this @Chris Hennes.  I haven't been back to NO in what feels like forever - your trip is giving me the itch to get back there!

[weinoo]

25 minutes ago, Shelby said:

We love drum and eat it quite often.  Around here some folks consider it a "trash" fish, but it shouldn't be.

 

I wonder @Shelby if it's the same drum @Chris Hennes was eating last night. My guess is you're eating freshwater drum, whereas Chris could certainly be eating drum from salt water (which I've caught while fishing the Chesapeake).

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

I wonder @Shelby if it's the same drum @Chris Hennes was eating last night. My guess is you're eating freshwater drum, whereas Chris could certainly be eating drum from salt water (which I've caught while fishing the Chesapeake).

Oh yes, mine is definitely freshwater.  Good point.  

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Could you describe the dressing a bit please

I’d guess it was mayonnaise thinned with fish stock, and hit with a little smoked paprika.