Where to pick up provisions in NOLA

[Comfort Me]

My son and I will be accompanying my wife when she presents at a conference in NOLA near the end of January.

I have, in the past, asked friends going to NOLA to pick up red beans for me. (I think they were Magnolia brand, but I might be wrong.)

Where is the best place to pick up provisions such as red beans, rices, spices, etc.

Not fancy. Not touristy. Best.

Also, does the French Market still have the best (and cheapest) bowl of red beans and rice in town? I have a real fondness for street / market food.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to this trip? My six-year-old and I plan to start each day at Cafe du Monde! My wife swears we only want to go for the powdered sugar. I assured her she is wrong. There is also spicy olive salad.

Oh -- another thing. I've yet to figure out -- is it possible to get to Metarie by public transportation? There is a kosher restaurant there, Casablanca, that I want to try out.

The next 48 days are gong to drag!

[Jason Perlow]

Central Grocery is one of the best places to do it overall for stuff like spices. For red beans and rice I'd look at regular supermarkets in the area, like Robert's.

[PopsicleToze]

I'm with your wife on the only reason you want Cafe du Monde is the powdered sugar -- not the olive salad, which you find at Central Grocery for their muffelettas. Definitely go to Central Grocery and buy a muffeletta. They have their big jars of olive salid for sale for about $10. The Napoleon House (not far) supposedly has the best "warmed" muffeletta in the city. This is up for debate. I'm still with Central Grocery on the one, but what the heck -- try both.

Metairie's not so bad for a cab-ride. Maybe a $30 round trip. I haven't been to Casablanca, so I can't tell you if it's worth it or not, but if you want to go, it's worth it. It might be better to rent a car for a day. It will be easy to find Jacobs in LaPlace, and that's a great place for andouille, tasso, etc. They ship, too, so you can order: www.jacobsandouille.com

If you get out of the city, that's where you need to shop for some groceries to take back home. Dorignac's and Langenstein's are the primary shops, but any grocery store has the basics:

The beans you're referring to are Camellia brand red kidney beans;

Community New Orleans Blend Coffee;

Crystal brand hot sauce (all of the flavor ot Tabasco without all of the heat);

Oak Grove jambalaya mix (just trust me -- they're in little plastic bags -- <$1 each, and they make EXCELLENT jambalaya; use chicken and sausage as the meats)

Zapp's Potato Chips;

Zatarain's Creole Mustard;

I'm sure more people can help you continue the list.

[Comfort Me]

The beans you're referring to are Camellia brand red kidney beans;

Community New Orleans Blend Coffee;

Crystal brand hot sauce (all of the flavor ot Tabasco without all of the heat);

Oak Grove jambalaya mix (just trust me -- they're in little plastic bags -- <$1 each, and they make EXCELLENT jambalaya; use chicken and sausage as the meats)

Zapp's Potato Chips;

Zatarain's Creole Mustard;

I'm sure more people can help you continue the list.

Camelia! Thank you! I felt magnolia wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finer on the right brand!

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely put them -- and any others which follow -- to good use!

[Mayhaw Man]

For New Orleans supplies at reasonable prices you might want to try Dorignac's on Veterans Boulevard in Metairie. The place is crammed full (you'll see what I mean) of every New Orleans/Louisiana centric kind of grocery item you could possibly want to buy.

The link that I added for Dorignac's is actually a great site about Kosher availability in New Orleans, but it does have the addresses listed for all of the various spots including Casablanca.

My personal favorite is the Kajun Kosher Deli on Vet's. I always get the J and N or the Reuben, but there is lots of good food available in a wide variety of styles. THere is a link posted on the website I referenced.

You also might want to try Langensteins, in the uptown area. While small, it has been The Place to shop for the Blue Hair set for over eighty years and if you are interested the oldest Jewish Cemetary in New Orleans is across the street. (don't get directions from me, I lived two blocks from there and still managed to give someone some really bad directions recently, although they were polite enough not to say anything about it Thanks J & R)

This site is a list of places that might be of some interest.

You can, in fact, get to Metairie by public transportation. If the streetcar on Canal is up and running by then (who knows if it will be as it is being built by the city on New Orleans time. If you are familiar with the Jamaican term "soon come" or the Latin American usage of "manana" you might understand the concept of New Orleans time. We are, after all, the nothernmost city in the Carribean ) you could take the car out to the end of the line (The Cemetaries) and transfer to the Veterans Blvd. bus. This is much cheaper than a cab, but will involve much patience and a whole bunch of time. I highly reccomend a cab, or better yet, rent a car for a day (actually the whole rental would probably work out cheaper than a cab) and do your shopping and a little exploring. There are lots of great places out of the downtown area you might find of interest and it would be well worth a one day rental. All of the major agencies have spots in the CBD and several of them have pick up and delivery at no charge.

For Red Beans and Rice and other food in that vein there are lots of good spots and since you seem to want to do something not so touristy you might want to try Frankie and Johnny's. An old bar/rest. that serves great beans, boiled seafood (and you will be here right in the middle of Crawfish Season and the Carnival Crankup (Mardi Gras Day this year is on Feb. 24)) and other New Orleans comfort food favorites. It is often overlooked by tourists and I reccomend it. The Praline Connection is dependable, as are Zachary's on Oak St (owned by the Baquet Family, a really old Creole/restaurant owning family in New Orleans. They also own Eddie's on Law St and the now closed Baquet's on Washington Ave). And I know that this may seem like a strange rec, but Popeyes has great beans, some of the best. The recipe was developed by the late Warren LeRuth and they are the real deal (however if yo are keeping Kosher they are not such a good idea, as they are chock full of lardy goodness ).

I hope you have a great trip and keep us posted on planning progress. There are lots of people here who have a great deal of knowledge about "things Gnarlins".

[Lucille]

I was just going to say, any grocery store will do...lol....