Jacques-Imo's (NOLA)

[Jason Perlow]

Jacques-Imo's Cafe

8324 Oak St, New Orleans, LA 70118

Phone: (504) 861-0886

Click for Jacques-Imo's website

Purple Haze is in my brain

Baby things dont seem the same

I feel funny but I dont know why... scuse me while I eat more pie!

Shrimp and Alligator Sausage Cheesecake

Eggplant Jacques-Imo's - Oyster Dressing and Wild Mushroom Sauce

Corn bread muffin

Chicken Livers on Toast

House Salad with Fried Oyster

Fried Chicken Plate (Jason)

Stuffed Merliton with fried Oysters and Oyster Tasso Hollandaise (Rachel)

Deep Fried Roast Beef Po-Boy (because they can)

Eggplant Pirogue with mixed Seafood and Lemon Cheese Sauce (Mayhaw Man)

Sides dishes of Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Corn Maquechoux

Sides dishes of Butter Beans & Rice and Beets

White chocolate bread pudding with raspberry sauce

Three layer chocolate mousse pie

Cream Brulee (we returned later in the week with JoAnn Clevenger to sample some more desserts)

Dark chocolate flourless torte

Exterior with famous pickup truck

Jacques Leonardi and Austin Leslie

Edited September 29, 2005 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Jason,

That is a great photo of Austin and Jack. Nice work.

On the other hand, I guess those orgasmic chicken livers are better to eat than to look at

Brooks

[Jason Perlow]

What does one say about Jacques-imos. The place is overwhelming to all of the senses -- its loud, noisy, and a cacaphony of color, its packed with people, its hot as hell in there, and the food is awesome.

Jack Leonardi is not afraid of going over the top. I mean, this is a guy who took a roast beef po-boy sandwich and thought that it could be improved by DEEP FRYING it. Sure, it was good, and it was decadent and evil, but shouldn't that be illegal?

As you can see from the pictures, the food at this place is rich. VERY rich. Over the top rich. So check your diet plans at the door and have the Imodium ready.

And yes, Jacques-imos has the best fried chicken in new orleans. Its also the most expensive fried chicken in new orleans, at $14 a plate, which is a tad ridiculous. This of course did not stop us from ordering it and singing its praises the next day.

Everything we ate was fantastic and over the top. There's not much else I can say.

[jhlurie]

Seems like you had to shoot in pretty bad light/cramped conditions this time around. Too bad, 'cause some of that looks pretty damn good.

I know from experience (an attempt at Strouds in Kansas City) how tough it is to shoot good pictures of Fried food.

[sumac]

Thanks to all who have taken such time to post great information and photos. You have made our upcoming trip. We have taken advice from you and also Joanne at UpperLine has been so helpful. We can hardly wait and will be there the last weekend in December. We plan to stand in line at Jacques-Imo's at 5:30. Hopefully that will get us in there, and fortunately, Upper Line takes reservations.

[Mayhaw Man]

Thanks to all who have taken such time to post great information and photos. You have made our upcoming trip. We have taken advice from you and also Joanne at UpperLine has been so helpful. We can hardly wait and will be there the last weekend in December. We plan to stand in line at Jacques-Imo's at 5:30. Hopefully that will get us in there, and fortunately, Upper Line takes reservations.

Actually, standing in line at Jacques Imo's is not that bad. If you tell the hostess what you are going to do, they will send somebody in next door at the Maple Leaf to round you up for your table. It beats standing in the street if you are thirsty (but only slightly, the Maple Leaf, when there is no music going on, is a pretty interesting slice of New Orleans bar and ne'er do well subculture).

Enjoy your trip and let us know if there is anything wlse we can do to help.

[sumac]

We had a great, whirlwind trip last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and wow was the weather wonderful too, specially Saturday. We started with the amazing Muffeletas at Central Grocery for breakfast, then Mr. B's for a great lunch of gumbo and BBQ shrimp, and a mid afternoon snack of the best ever Jambalaya at Coops, but, OHOH.....we took a taxi to Jacques Imo and arrived at 5:00 to be sure not to miss it. A sign in the window let us know they were closed for the Holidays. We ended up at the bar at NOLA with some pretty decent apps and then later, The Blues Club, Dr. John. All in all it was an amazing day in spite of our disappointment in missing Jacques Imo. Oh, well, as my husband always says, it is good to miss something as it gives us a reason to come back. We also enjoyed Brigtsens, but the real highlight was Upperline and JoAnn, that wonderful JoAnn. Thanks "yall" for making this a fabulous trip for a couple of Northerners.

[Rachel Perlow]

Jacques-Imo's NYC opens tonight.

[SobaAddict70]

The restaurant's most troubling element is its design, which tries so hard to make the Southern theme clear as to be patronizing. Diners do not need Spanish moss and swamp murals in Gauguin colors to know that they are being fed authentic Southern cooking. Design themes died in the 1980's.

Just about now, your eyes will begin to glaze over because you have had more than enough food, and enough heat and fat to sate you for a lifetime. You have also begun to realize that there is a lot of repetition in this food: that's because the cooks rely on Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic and Seafood Magic to season many of the dishes, rather than their own blends.

Jacques-Imo's NYC (Amanda Hesser) (from the NYTimes DIGEST update for Wednesday, 19 May 2004. Scroll down for the appropriate link.)

Read and weep.

Soba

[joiei]

makes me wonder if a reviewer should review a new place without ever being in the original. They are reviewing on their own personal preconceived notions instead of what the restaurant really is. Inspite of the review, I will go next time in up that way.

[Mayhaw Man]

If Hesser doesn't like the decor on the UWC she would be appalled at the decor on Oak St. I believe that it could easily be called "early cajuns on acid". I kind of like it, but of course I do not have the impeccable taste of Ms. Hesser. She would also be shocked at the behavior of many of the patrons. They are generally casually dressed and seem to be enjoying themselves-not nearly serious enough about the food.

[fifi]

I have no idea if they use Prudhomme's seasonings but, if they do, that is not exactly a bad thing. Prudhomme is well known as a master at blending spices and peppers to get just the right effect. The interplay of peppers to get the right progression of the different heat sensations overlayed with the other spices is sheer genius. It is not a random process. Maybe Ms. Hesser just "doesn't get" the cuisine. Heat and fat is what it is all about. Jacques-Imo's (New Orleans) is not a place you go to for "healthy" food. It is a place to go over the top.

[Mayhaw Man]

I have no idea if they use Prudhomme's seasonings but, if they do, that is not exactly a bad thing. Prudhomme is well know as a master at blending spices and peppers to get just the right effect. The interplay of peppers to get the right progression of the different heat sensations overlayed with the other spices is sheer genius. It is not a random process. Maybe Ms. Hesser just "doesn't get" the cuisine. Heat and fat is what it is all about. Jacques-Imo's (New Orleans) is not a place you go to for "healthy" food. It is a place to go over the top.

Excellent point by the gentlewoman from Texas. If any of you are interested and are real nice to them on the phone, the nice folks at P. Prudhomme's spice blending facility will be happy to show you around. THe smell of all of those giant bags of various spices will blow you away. It is pretty overwhelming. The place is in an industrial park out by the Huey P. Long Bridge, in Elmwood.

Incidentally, as far as spice blends go, Prudhomme's are the one's that I prefer-as they are not nearly so salty (hence the much smaller containers-just active ingredients-not so much salt).

It's a shame that Baumer Foods doesn't give tours but the plant is such a wreck I think their insurance guys might not be very happy with tours(Crystal Hot Sauce and a million other custom labeled brands of all kinds of stuff). The place is state of the art 1950 and when they dump a truckload of those peppers into the grinding thing, you need a gas mask to be near it (really, they give you one). The mustard making process is pretty odoriphic as well.

[pennbrew]

Brooks--When I was at Dixie we tried to get a tour at Crystal. Kenny knew someone who worked there and we even offered to bring them some beer, but they wouldn't let us in. A worker had keeled over into a vat of mustard a few months previously and they said insurance issues prevented them from allowing visitors. I'd love to see them grinding a truckload of peppers!

---Guy

[Mayhaw Man]

Guy,

I got in because Inkjet had just installed a bunch of line/dating equipment and the sales guy got us a tour (we bought the stuff after that-they do hundreds of line changes per week and if it worked for them I figured it would work for us). Oddly, this was about two months after the two guys got killed in the mustard tank. What happened was that one guy was overwhelmed by the mustard seed gas and fell into the tank and the second guy went in after him, very sad.

That pepper grinding is stunning. They bring in 18 wheeler loads of the things (from Texas, North Louisiana, and Mexico) and just tilt them into this big ass grinder. The effect is absolutely amazing. I will never think that cutting onions is bad again. They give you this beg chemical warfare mask thing, but it doesn't help that much, or maybe it does-I wasn't willing to find out.

The day we were there one of the lines was running Crystal Worcestershire (which I like) and mixing the stuff up in big vats. While I won't say that I saw any fresh stuff going into it, they were using the next best thing-asceptically packed onion, anchovie paste from these huge drums, tamarind paste, clove oil, Steen's mollasses-not at all what I expected from someone who sells their stuff at that price point.

Their label room was pretty cool. THey package God knows how many products and ship them all over the world (they do lots of business with various oil company food service companies and the military branches). They had labels in at least 25 languages for almost everything. Jelly, hot sauce,jam. worcestershire, various mustards, etc. That place is quite a business for a dumpy little plant under the interstate.

I do miss the steam coming out of the sign at Crystal, though. I like old landmark signs. It's nice that they fixed the lights on top of Falstaff, but I would still like to see the cow out at Brown's Velvet in Metairie. Jim and I tried to buy that thing, but they wouldn't sell it. I thought that a giant cow 75 feet in the air might kind of class up the Northshore.

[jess mebane]

we're planning the annual anniversary pilgrimage to NOLA (for every year of marriage you get another dozen of Acme's finest), and we have never made it out JaquesImo way. Thank you for the travelogue and commentary, tho' I think taking fotos of your dinner plates officially makes y'all the phreakiest touristas ever to rattle an empty julep cup in Acadiana.

[ktbear7476]

I went to NO in March and had a fantastic meal & experience at Jacques Imo's. Was THRILLED to see that one opened in NYC. I went about a month ago with a few friends.

My friends thoroughly enjoyed their food, but for me, I was a little disappointed.

I ordered the BBQ Shrimp (the same thing i had in NO) and it was way too buttery. Like overwhelmingly buttery.

Also a big part of what I loved about Jacques in NO was the ambiance. The hustle and bustle and that was definitely lost.

Overall it was a nice time, I think that someone who had never been to NO would enjoy it, for those that love Jacques NO style---well, I'd say wait and have a reason to go back to NO!!!

kt

[Mayhaw Man]

Big news Kids! Austin has left the building.

[Varmint]

Wow. I had the fortune of talking to both Jack and Austin at the SFA Symposium last month and didn't see this coming at all. I'm glad that Austin has found another great institution to join, albeit at a mellower pace.

[rl1856]

We had the great pleasure of eating there during a trip to NO back in '03.

The meal was OUTSTANDING ! Even though we were seated at 10pm, everything was perfectly cooked and as fresh as possible.

I had sauted rabit in a mushroom creme sauce; my wife had a stuffed fish and I don't recall what the others in our group had.

Appetizers were several plates of cornmeal dusted fried oysters. The oysters were shucked, dipped, then quickly fried and dumped on our table still sizzleing.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !

I understand however, that the NYC location has received indifferant reviews- with some siting inconsistant quality and service.

Best,

Ross

[sara]

I was blown away last night by Jack's strawberry shortcake with an awesome balsamic reduction; also by his BBQ shrimp (huge, juicy and spicy) and his fried green tomatoes (again with enormous shrimp on top and a kickin' remoulade). Plus the guy is a complete doll--how I managed to visit NO 4 other times and missed this place then, I dunno...a travesty.

[Amy Eber]

Does anyone know if this restaurant has reopened? It is not on a list of open restaurants that was linked on eGullet but I saw a live radio show was done from there on Fat Tuesday. I cannot find their number to call. Thanks.

[Gifted Gourmet]

According to this, it is!

[Rachel Perlow]

Searching works better if you spell it right!

Here's a link to the Jacques-Imo's thread.

[Amy Eber]

Yes it does!! Fodors had a link spelled the way I had it so I assumed I had been spelling it wrong all of these years. Thanks. Glad to see it is open. Can't wait for Jazz Fest

According to this, it is! 

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