Places to eat with children

[skchai]

At long last, I'm going to be able to visit New Orleans. My family and I will be there for 10 days starting this weekend. We will have a car for at part of the time, probably at the beginning. The one qualification is that we have two extremely rambunctious kids, age 4 and 7, and will probably be avoiding places where their presence, noise level, and desire to use the table as a playgym will not detract from other diners' experiences. Part of this time will involve conference attendance by both myself and my wife, so there will be times when one of us will be carrying around two kids. . .

Presumably, then, we should avoid many of the high-end restaurants, but are there particular places, that you think will be especially kid-friendly?

Also, if there are any eGulleters who are planning to be in NOLA at that time and wouldn't be opposed to getting together, just let me know!

[Mayhaw Man]

You won't have any trouble. Although it suprises many people (the same goes for Las Vegans I think) we live here and have kids. Lot's of people do. So, the upshot of that is that there are plenty of kid friendly places to eat (including some of the nicer ones if you are willing to risk it going horribly wrong ).

I will work on a list and get you a couple of handy links that might help.

Brooks

[Rachel Perlow]

Places we visited that seem kid friendly to me:

• Dunbar's Soul Food
  Deenies - not the one in the quarter, the original one
  Elizabeth's - Is it as busy during the week as the weekends? If not then go for lunch on a weekday.
  Liborio - was mostly empty when we went there on a weeknight, I'm sure they wouldn't mind the kiddies. Amazing cuban food.
  

Are you planning on traveling outside of NOLA (Lafayette, for example)?

[skchai]

Thanks, Brooks and Rachel.

We were thinking of Lafayette, but at this point it's all up in the air. The rental car turns out to be real expensive with the $30 / night hotel parking charge. Dunbar is already on the agenda, but will be looking be looking into some of the other places you mentioned as well!

[Mayhaw Man]

I will try to compile a list here. I have two boys who have been raised eating in New Orleans and I am giving you the tried and true, there are certainly others that would probably work out fine.

Deanie's in Bucktown (Rachel's right)

R and O Seafood in Bucktown (I love this place)

Frankie and Johnnie's (Uptown)(boiled seafood-serious neighborhood vibe)

Mike Anderson's Seafood on Bourbon (FQ) (I think this is the most forgotten good place in the Quarter-Get a Guitreau-it's my recipe from many years back)

Central Grocery(FQ) (get a muffeletta and take it to the Moonwalk and let the kids run while you eat. Stock up on Olive mix)

House of Blues for lunch (really, the foods tasty and real-a great plate of red beans-it's kind of a fun place as well)

Praline Connection (Faubourg Marigny) (Great food and they love kids)

Elizabeth's (9th Ward) (Go for lunch-you can't miss the kids will find plenty to eat)

Red Fish Grill (kind of a step up dollar wise, but a nice place and my kids loved it)

Mandina's (Canal Lakeside of Claiborne)-(just go. The vibe there is New Orleans-The food is great (get some crab fingers and feed them to your children-we used to fight over them) and the atmosphere is well....local. You'll dig it)

Bozo's (Metairie-the burbs)-this is one of the Yugoslav seafood places that abound here (the oyster business has been dominated by Yugoslavs for a hundred years-the guy who runs the shrimpers association is named Tee Ben Mahalovich- I love that name-talk about cultural crosses!) and they have great seafood and there will be lots of kids.

Zachary's on Oak St-(Uptown/Carrollton)-this place is one of the last bastions of true creole cooked by true creoles. The Baquet family has been cooking here in three centuries and these guys do it right and real. The place is large, the service is good, and the food is even better. I love the place. (Jacques Imo's is 4 doors down from here on an otherwise unremarkable street)

Upperline (Uptown/Garden District)-Make a reservation-tell Joanne you're bringing kids, and relax. It's not cheap, but it can be stunning and is always above par. Lovely place run by a more lovely woman/ You can't come here and not do it up right at least once. They'll behave, I promise

I will make a longer list as soon as I can talk to my wife-the one in charge of where we used to eat with boys

There are a number of links that you might find useful-Here are three-

100 places to eat

Local Food Guy Tom Fitzmorris has lots of opinions and likes lists -here is a long one

Gambit Archives (click on archives on center-right)

Well, that'll give you something to do. If you want a babysitter, just ask-I have a fully qualified 6'3" 14 year old that can handle the job and is saving for a badass new computer (he loves money and is very motivated).

Also, there are TONS of things for children to do here (and if you do the zoo you might want to think about a combo zoo aquarium if your children are up to it-the boat ride is fun).

And speaking of boat rides, there is a free one and it is really fun. Walk to the foot of Canal St., walk on to the ferry, cross the river, go see the floats and stuff at Blaine Kern and see the city from the West Bank (better than it sounds) and then ride the ferry back. I do it all the time (really, if I've got a few hours to kill and want to walk, sometimes I cross the river and walk the levee over there).

Great Farmers market downtown on Wednesday and Saturday.

Take em on a swamp tour. All kids wanta see a gator. Why not show them show or a hundred?

If you decide to go West, there is lots of info here and you can always give me a call if you need anything. Have a great trip! (dramamine works wonders on making kids more pleasant on long flights-think of it as beer for kids Calms 'em right down.)

[skchai]

Thanks again for the long and learned list of suggestions! Will go through the list and try to digest it all. Hopefully we can all get together and file a report back here. . .

[saturnbar]

Here are a few suggestions:

Pascal Manales, on Napolean, just two blocks up from St. Charles so you can take the streetcar, not far past the Garden District which is great area for a walk. Great raw oyster bar and the bbq shrimp poorboy is to die for.

Uglesich's if you will be here in May, I am pretty sure they close in June. Great for lunch, very rustic dilapidated looking place, but its an institution, great great seafood dishes. All the local chefs eat here for inspiration,a nd to pay homage to old man Uglesich.

Bravo, on St. Charles, a few blocks up from Lee Circle, alright its chain, but it is very very very kid friendly. They have butcher paper tableclothes and provide crayons, great chicken fingers, good pizza, and they hand the kids raw piza dough to play with, and will bake it for you. We eat there all the time. My kids love it. The rosted portobello mushroom app. is good and so is the ravioli.

Voodoo bbq also on St. Charles, very near Bravo, great pulled pork and brisket sandwiches. Low key, inexpensive.

Commanders Palace; that's right, the best value in all New Orleans is Commaders luch special. Three or four course for under $20 and I am sure they can make up something for the kids like fried shrimp. Stuffy palce at night but plenty laid back during the day. Ask if the chef's table is open for lunch and eat in the kitchen.

Just about everywhere in the quarter is pretty kid friendly because they have to be. The Napolean house, Masperos, or Acme would be fine.

If you are near City Park or the Museum, the streetcar goes out there now, Cafe Degas is a good bet. Simple french food, open air on a porch. Very casual. Just a few blocks from the entrance to the museum on Esplanade.

I think Mayhaw Mans suggestion for Mandinas is a fine one. Its on Canal Street, which is now also on the newly opened Canal Street Stretcar line. Nothing haute here, but they know how to fry at Mandinas and it shows.

Of course there is always Camelia Grill which for some reason is very popular with the tourists. Its really just a diner, but very historic, I guess. The chocolate freezes are good though, and they amke a good hamburger.

In the same area (Riverbend, St. Charles and Carrollton)is Dante Kitchen, on Dante Street, nicley prepared lunch ffod, with an open air area.

Sugar Magnolias on Magazine St. has simple well cooked fair. They have a nice balcony. Its in an old buiding and has charachter.

Near the Aquarium is Mothers on Poydras, great breakfast spot and good sandwiches. Home of the Ferdi.

Lastly, Dick and Jenny's on Ttchoupitoulas just down form Tipitinas, a very popular restaurant with the locals. The food is not very kid friendly, but they are very laid back there. Very Casual dress code. Give them a call and see what they can for you.

Enjot your trip. Charlie

Ps, the swamp tour is fun, I went when some friends visited.

[Mayhaw Man]

Well?

Where did ya'll eat today. C'mon! We want to know.

[skchai]

THanks, Saturnbar! And welcome to this thread if not eGullet itself.

Mayhaw - here's what we've been doing so far. Very touristy. Sorry, we'll try better tomorrow! Yesterday we spent the late afternoon walking around the Quarter. We did the Audobon Zoo -> Boat -> Aquarium thing today.

Yesterday:

So we've got that out of the way, and not even for breakfast. The Cafe du Monde beignets were surprisingly chewy. This was the kid's reward at around 4:00 for walking around with us.

Dinner was at the Gumbo Shop - was around a block from where we happened to be walking at the time. Surprisingly cheap - I remember the mention of it from reading Time-Life's Foods of the World, which came out around 1969, so it's been there for a while. The famous chicken-andouille gumbo was just passable - kind of stingy quantity-wise but I guess what's why it's so cheap. Wasn't it supposed to be duck-andouille? The okra-seafood was actually better. . .

Today:

Lunch was at one of the Audobon Zoo restaurants. Catfish was surprisingly O.K. No pictures.

Dinner was at K-Paul's. My wife is a great fan of blackened anything and I told her this was the "pioneer". That was enough. Surprisingly white-tablecloth (and pricey) for dinner, though they let us in wearing shorts.

Wife had "Blackened Yellowfin Tuna". I know the image should be reoriented; sorry. New Orleans must be one of the few places in the country where it's not called ahi (hey!). I read somewhere that they don't serve redfish anymore because it became an endangered species due to Prudhomme's popularity. Actually was excellent - big piece as you can see, managed to cook it to "steak-like" rareness, which is almost impossible with tuna. That is, opaque but still soft inside.

I had a blackened pork chop with Marchand de Vin sauce. Looks pretty good, right? O.K., they get away with charging fine dining prices for what seems like somewhat dressed-up Cajun Food (not that Cajun food doesn't deserve to be expensive - but it usually isn't). And it seems mostly tourists. But we liked the food a lot and didn't feel ripped off at all. But maybe that's cognitive dissonance.

[skchai]

Here's a very specific request for a recommendation tomorrow. We're going to the Children's Museum (Julia nr. Magazine in Warehouse District) tomorrow AM, then take Mayhaw's advice walk down to the Canal Street Ferry to cross the Mighty Mississippi and check out Blaine Kern.

We're looking for lunch somewhere in the vicinity of the walk from the Children's Museum to the Ferry launch. Is Bon Ton Cafe any good? Mulate's? Emeril's requires formal wear, and anyway I don't think we're really up for something like Emeril's for a walk-by lunch. Uglesich unfortunately seems to be quite a walk in the opposite direction.

Dinner will be in the Quarter. Probably kids won't have energy to walk far east of Canal, and we're looking to try out Mike Anderson, Red Fish, or Deanie's (I know we're supposed to go to the original, but given that we're mostly staying around the Quarter and its environs. . .).

Wednesday (the day after tomorrow is Wednesday, right?), we'll probably rent a car, so we'll have a little more mobility to try out different places. . .

[Mayhaw Man]

Bon Ton! I should have thought of it in the first place. Mulate's is what it is. A big cajun place across from the convention center churning out lunches for conventioneers. They do have a pretty good seafood gumbo, and some of the other food is passable, but that's about it. Bon Ton, on the other hand, is kind of an old line place, reasonably priced, and can be really good.

K Pauls, as far as I am concerned, is just as good as the day it opened. THe food is good to great, and while it is a little pricey (prices based on his constant supply of tourists-hence the dearth of locals), it is a fine example of the style that HE STARTED. Nouvelle New Orleans all came out of Commanders Kitchen when Paul was running it based on the recipes and foods that he ate growing up. It is not light fare for dieters, it is full flavored, over the top stuff. Good Choice.

The Gumbo Shop is exactly as you described it. I run in there for red beans (they have very good ones) sometimes early in the morning (11 a.m.) before they get crowded.

Have fun.

Brooks

[Mayhaw Man]

Mike Anderson's, Redfish Grill, or Deanie's.

If you are dragging around tired children I would go with MA's or Deanie's, as they are pretty casual. If they are alert and not so tired, Redfish Grill is great. I love the place. So do my children as there is alot of stuff on the menu that they would eat when they were younger (now they eat just about everything).

[saturnbar]

If you haven't left yet, Mother's is right on the way, mostly sandwiches but good. Bon Ton is good, mid to high price, they do all the old line dishes like crawfish et toufe, great bread pudding, alot of heavty stuff like crabmeat newberg (sic). Mulates would be more of the same as yesterday. Deanies is actually up about two blocks out of your way, blue plate type fair, but good. There is a Pakistani place at 201 N. Peter, very inexpensive and they serve burgers, nuggets and fries as well. Its called Salt n Pepper. Also right in the vicinty is Tommies Cuisine, creole italian medium priced. And there is a new place I haven't been to called the Tchoup Shop I believe, if you pass take a look. charlie ps, I will log in tonight if you have any more questions for tommorrow. ch

Edited May 25, 2004 by saturnbar (log)

[saturnbar]

I see that I am confusing the two Deanies, there is one in the wharehouse district that is only open for lunch. They are not run by the same people. charlie

[Mayhaw Man]

Mother's would be a fine casual lunch choice. Get a debris po boy or a ferdi. It can be very crowded at lunch, but the line moves quickly.

Bon Ton Menu

[skchai]

Amazing - thanks for the great responses! Thanks for the Mother's suggestion; sorry I missed it the first time.

Slight change of plans - sorry! We just woke up. Jet lag and all - everyone except the wife was bouncing around off and and on throughout the night. Will probably try Mother's or Bon Ton depending on how things go. . .

Probably will not be able to post back today; will try to update sometime tomorrow.

Thanks again!

[Mayhaw Man]

Since you guys are tired and have conference committments, you may want to do this later in the week, but later in the week you really should try to get over to the The Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The place is world class. The collection is, in a word, stunning. Everything from old rural oils and primitive art to photos by Birney Imes and some of the exuberant work of the late Ida Kohlmeyer. It's a great way to spend part of a hot New Orleans afternoon in air conditioned comfort.

It's a whole nother museum world, and I know you probably have seen a belly full of this stuff in Hawaii, but the D Day Museum is a pretty amazing place, as well. Well worth a visit.

[skchai]

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Are planning to go to the Ogden Museum, and will try to get to the D-Day Museum as well. . .

Tuesday:

As I mentioned, our plans got a little discombobulated, and we didn't make it out the door until just before noon. No problem, we just saved the Children's Museum for another day (hopefully!) and had a late "brunch" at Mother's before heading out to the ferry and Blaine Kern.

Mother's was a pretty happening place - the line was pretty long but as promised it moved very quickly. . .

I had a debris poor boy. I was deciding between and the Fergi (roast beef, ham, and debris) but thought - hey the debris is what is unique about this place so I might as well have it. Was very tasty - loved the texture - but now I understand why people get the Fergi; there can from some points of view be too much of a good thing. All that delicious pan juice made it super messy, and the bottom roll has disintegrated to the point that it was impossible to actually pick up - not that I'm complaining! Ended up rather daintily eating most of it with knife and fork while making a "mini-po boy" with the top halves of the rolls.

My daughter is a picky eater, but one of the few things she eats is the sausage-and-egg biscuit at McDonalds, so we got some thing called sausage egg biscuit for her. It turned out to be the anti-McDonalds. Instead of that tiny, perfectly square piece of egg product, you got mounds and mounds of scrambled eggs on top of an a huge irregularly shaped "cats-head" type biscuit. Just to show that her taste is developing - she ate nearly the whole thing, including the smoked sausage.

Blaine Kern was a lot of fun, and my son kept on demanding to sample more of the King Cake. ..

After returning, my wife wanted to check out the Riverwalk shopping for a little while, and, well, pretty soon it ended up being dinnertime, so we started to look for someplace to eat around there. . .

Luckily, there was a Mike Anderson's at the food court, and so we ordered a shrimp plate and a "South Louisiana" plate, which is a combo of crawfish etoufee, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, and catfish strips. As you can see, it comes with a hush puppy ball, coleslaw, and fries. Great frying - not a drop of oil on the plate. And the batter-coating on the fried shrimp and catfish was thin, crisp, and "tight" - it clung to the flesh instead of sagging off. Had this interesting ridged texture - I'm not sure exactly how they get this. . .

Unfortunately, the menu at the Riverwalk Mike Anderson's is kind of abbreviated and simplified. No Guitreau at that location - but I was able to pop over later to the original place and get a takeout menu: "grilled fresh fish fillet topped with sauteed crawfish, shrimp, and mushrooms in white wine, butter, and spices." Sounds wonderful . . .

Wednesday:

Today we managed to rent a car, so we ranged far and wide (relatively). We first went to City Park to check out Storyland, which was a real blast with the make-believe pirate ships, dragon tongue slides, and such. Seems however like they could use a donor, however, since about half of the exhibits were under repair. . . We were also planning on going to the Carousel park, but there seemed to about four school bus-fulls of kids on a field trip there already and lines were too long (the kids are not a point where they can tolerate lines). Moved on up to Lake Ponchartrain, where my wife was pretty impressed (intimidated, actually) by the bridge - the fact that you can't see the other end. . .

Anyway, back to food . . . had lunch at Deanie's, the original in Bucktown. Gave us interesting tasty spicy boiled potatoes instead of bread.

Appetizers were crab claws and shrimp Remoulade. The crab claws were nice and small, with sweet flesh and extremely easy to eat. The kids were fighting over them. The shrimp was interesting, with the remoulade sauce in a separate ramekin.

The mains were fried seafood - the combo "mate's platter" of catfish strips, crab, and oysters, as well as the crab-stuffed shrimp, fried. The stuffed shrimp had a huge amount of cf crab stuffing, as you can see by the almost globe-shaped shrimp. We were completely stuffed. . .

Afternoon was at the Audobon Nature Center after which my wife said she had no room for dinner of any kind. This was not acceptable to my son and I! So we compromised by letting me stop by the Central Grocery while she drove around in circles. Got two mufflettas, which was a huge amount, more than enough for four.

Some people say Central Grocery's mufflettas are not stuffed enough compared to some of the newcomers. I think they're filled just right - I like tasting the bread, and this is a good round of bread. Also lets you taste the terrific olive salad. Had it with a couple bags of Zapp's Sweet Potato chips, which my wife loved. Couldn't finish it all for dinner, but I woke up at 3 AM (jet lag and all) and polished off the remaining 3/4.

More tonight (I think). . .

[Mayhaw Man]

Say what you want about this place, but you can't beat waking up at 3 in the morning to a Central Grocery Muffelletta.

If you want a cool carousel, walk over to the Monteleone and check out the Carousel Bar (home of the Sazerac Cocktail). It is very old and very cool. Right across the street from Mr. B's, giant old hotel, lobby bar-you can't miss it.

[Rachel Perlow]

I'm loving this thread. I think we should just call it a vacation blog!

[Mayhaw Man]

Would that be an Abita Amber in that schooner pictured with the crab claws? I happen to know the guys who developed that fine beverage.

And Rachel is right. This is working out to be a fine vacation Blog. Between the Perleaux's vacation and yours, we are getting a nice collection going.

The batter on the shrimp is a single dip in egg wash and into a tub of self rising, spiced flour and done again (2 dips, two flours). The catfish is a single dip in egg wash and into 1/2 fine ground yellow corn flour and 1/2 medium grist yellow corn meal with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. (I ran the kitchen in B.R. for MA's for a few years, so I know how they do it). MA is a freak for clean oil (peanut oil) and between that, proper battering technique and having the oil at the right temp, it usually comes out pretty close to perfect.

Edited to say for those of you frying at home:

The egg wash is cold-ice cold-in fact, in the main restaurants it is often kept in large buckets in a freezer and changed often as the stuff on the line warms up.

The oil is in a fast recovery fryer at 350F for both the shrimp and the catfish.

[skchai]

Mayhaw, thanks for the recipe for the MA shrimp and catfish coatings - another amazing eGullet moment. In one post I'm raving about how great the fried seafood is; a couple posts later, I actually get the recipe.

Yes, you have great vision - that is an Abita Amber. I've also tried the Seasonal Red - your friends have made a great beer.

BTW, sorry for all the misspellings in the earlier (and future) posts - I'm kind of dashing things off and so things get sloppy sometimes. . .

Yesterday (Thursday):

The morning was the Garden district via the St. Charles RTA. Most of the time was spent in the Lafayette #1 Cemetary, where my son was curious how there could be so many dearly departed interred (sometimes more than dozen) in some of the above-ground tombs. My best answer was that they probably didn't mind a lack of elbow room if they could be closer to their loved ones. We also walked around the neighborhood, and my wife declared that the Carroll-Crawford house was her "dream home". Doesn't seem like we'll be joining Mark Twain and his buddies in partying there anytime soon, though.

Tried to drop by Commander's Palace for the lunch special but should have looked it up on the web earlier. The dresscode is "upscale casual", which turns out to mean long pants. We asked if an exception could be made at lunch for a couple clueless tourists with two small kids but somehow that didn't seem so appealing to them. So we headed back to the Quarter and dropped by Mr. B's Bistro, which is owned by Ralph? Dickie? Anyway, somebody on the Ella side of the Brennan family.

The waiters were wearing tuxes, but otherwise the place was pretty informal. Service was pretty attentive - our water glasses never bought below 3/4 full, though the waiter forgot my bloody mary order.

My wife had the blackened tuna "Nicoise" salad. Tuna was very blackened, with thick spice coating. Was also dry when my wife had ordered medium, but she didn't mind it that way and anyway there was dressing to moisten it up.

I had the pecan-encrusted catfish with "creole meuniere" sauce. The pecans lent a sweetness to the sweet catfish flesh, so it was an interesting combination. The creole meuniere seemed in addition to the browned butter and lemon (no almonds given the pecans) to have a little garlic and maybe a microscopic amount of cayenne but I'm probably wrong about that.

The afternoon was a preset tour, a special conference $12 special on the Jean Lafitte swamp tour. Our guide was a very humorous Cajun guy named Joey. Kids did a good job of not crawling over the railing of the boat. . .

Dinner was with some friends of ours from the U of Hawaii. We went to Arnaud's casual offshoot, Remoulade. Ordered a whole bunch of stuff, including the famous Shrimp Arnaud for appetizer.

The Arnaud remoulade sauce is very orange compared to the kind we've had elsewhere, but not particularly spicy. We also shared a bowl of very rich turtle soup with a microscopic splash of sherry in it (though I ended up with most of it). Wasn't sure how turtle was supposed to taste, but it was not gamey at all. And no, not like chicken. In fact the taste was more or less of the roux and spices. . .

For mains I had part of the "taste of Louisiana" set meal, with a Natchitoches meat pie and Crawfish etouffee. The etouffee had a much lighter roux than the ones at Gumbo House or Mike Anderson's, it was very mild and almost creamy. The meat pie was fried and really good - nice and spicy (though not overpowering) ground meat filling. . .

I have a tendency to make superficial comparisons in my mind between new foods I'm trying and those I've had in the past, e.g. beignets -> sopaipillas, "debris" -> machaca, natchitoches meat pie -> samosas. For what it's worth, that helps me to put things in context even though obviously there are going to be major differences. But interesting how certain cooking techniques and combinations find favor across disparate cultures. . .

The conference starts in earnest today, so our freedom to move around will somewhat more constrained as we trade the kids off. So we'll see how that goes. May hear future reports about room service or (excuse me) fast food. . .

[Mayhaw Man]

I do know a little about the beer. For ten years "my friends" were me and one other guy. I would give you the recipe for that too, but I would get my ass sued off by the current ownership.

Have fun at your conference. I spent the night in the quarter last night and met friends for dinner. There are a ton of convention type folks in town. I guess that this is the last hurrah before the summer doldrums set in.

Hope you are staying cool. Pretty hot already.

Thanks for all of the great reports.

Brooks

[skchai]

Thanks, Brooks - for the advice, and for Abita Beer. Had the "Turbodog" a couple nights ago as well. Going through all the varieties before we leave.

Hope we and the other eGullet folks can coordinate to get together sometime before then. . .

As mentioned earlier, we haven't done as much in the last couple days since the conference got going, as we traded the kids off and one person or another attended sessions. Tried to also get my son to do his homework during the off periods but only partially successful - he has a pretty clear cut division in his mind between vacation / non-vacation. . .

Friday: Did manage a quick lunch at the Palace Cafe right across the street from the hotel. This is another Brennan operation; the trademark efficient service was there but we were a more than a bit slow to get our food - other conference people had similar experiences. Anyway, I managed to polish off my entree before rushing off. . .

It was a Pork Loin "Napoleon" which turned to be two broiled pork loin steaks sandwiching mashed sweet potatoes, topped with fried sweet potato shreds, ringed by baked apple slices, and bottomed with a red wine reduction. It's a real stretch to call this a Napoleon, even taking into account the usual kind of semantic leakage typical on contemporary "creative" menus, since there was not an iota of puff or any other kind of other pastry, and only one layer of filling. But that kind of quibbling aside, it was high quality pork, still moist inside though not pink.

My wife had the Shrimp Tchefuncte (?). I couldn't get a copy of the menu, so I'm sure the spelling on this is wrong. Didn't get a chance to taste it either, but it seemed to served with sauteed mushrooms in one of these cajunized meuniere sauces, along with the tuna can-sized rice puck. . .

Late afternoon was spent by the pool with the kids, who had been demanding a visit since the first day here in New Orleans. . . For dinner, we caught up with a group of grad students who were looking to find a place to eat, then wander around Bourbon Street. With about a dozen people and no reservation, it was hard to find anyplace we had heard of with a wait of less than half an hour. So we ended up back at Remoulade . . .

Oh yeah, and I forgot my camera, sorry. Had a light dinner of "Cajun Eggrolls" and "N'awlins Blackened Burger". The Cajun eggrolls were delicately sized, about 4 x 1" each in a dish of three. The filling seemed pretty similar to that in their meat pies. . . The sauce was, surprisingly, not some kind of riff on remoulade, but rather a very gingery soy sauce. Go figure. The blackened burger turned out not to be particularly blackened or spice-encrusted, though as far as ordinary burgers go it was pretty good, especially with plenty of creole mustard. Dessert was a big (4" square) piece of bread pudding (o.k., not such a light dinner), same as the previous day. I just like bread pudding in general, and boozy, buttery, Creole bread pudding in particular.

Didn't join the grad students in their wanderings around Bourbon Street, but nonetheless on the way back to the hotel got bombarded by off-season Mardi Gras beads thrown by the crowd on the balcony. No, (luckily for them) we didn't do anything to earn our loot, but the throwers seemed to be pretty indiscriminate. Of course our kids fought over who got the purple beads and who go the white beads. . .

Saturday: Lunch was . . . nothing. Both wife and I were too busy prepping for presentations. The kids had popcorn shrimp from Popeye's. I tried to pick up something that couldn't be used as WMDs against the hotel room - fried shrimp can be projectiles but at least remain intact. Foods with any kind of wetness are worse. Then I searched through the hotel channels for something for them to watch for a couple hours . . . no Cartoon Network or Nicklelodeon. . . what is this? Looked for a pay-for-view - - - adroitly jumping past "Adult Desires" and "TV Unlimited" ("Blind Date Uncensored Version!") to find a choice of "Brother Bear" or "Looney Tunes: Back in Business", both of which they seen before. But kids being kids, they were more than happy to watch Brother Bear for I think the third time.

Anyway, as if to make up for this, dinner was a semi-splurge at NOLA, along with the wife's fellow Communication Dept. alumni (I guess they live large). About $150 was our share. . . Ended up waiting nearly an hour at restaurant before being seated due to a mixup with the rest of the group, so my son and I had a somewhat decent chance to observe Emeril's "casual" outpost in the Quarter. Partly open kitchen with a wood-burning oven in the center - a bar lined up right in front of the oven - no tapas-type items for people who sit there, but some chances to talk to the rotisseurs (?) who didn't seem particularly rushed even though the restaurant was completely booked. Many of the tables (including ours) are on a separate floor of the restaurant, and guests are brought up using a glass elevator in the center. The menu is not particularly Emeril-ish, no savory cheesecakes, only a very mild Creole-Cajun slant, actually more a survey of contemporary American cuisine buzzwords. . .

I had a "Ancho-Barbecued Pork and Smoked Cheddar Flatbread withn Gulf Shrimp-Creamy Green Onion Slaw" as my appetizer. Basically a pulled pork pizza with several boiled shrimp and a pile of cole slaw on top - very similar to the Kalua Pig pizza that's so common in Hawai`i. Not sure why they don't just give in and call it a pizza; the crust was exactly the same as that for my son's "Pizza of Vine-Ripened Tomatoes, Homemade Mozzarella, Kalamata Olives and Fresh Basil with Reggiano Parmesan and Streaks of Balsamic Vinegar". My son, who is a very good reader for his age, got tired by the time he reached the end of the appetizer list. . .

My main was a "Hickory-Roasted Duck with Whiskey-Caramel Glaze, Buttermilk-Cornbread Pudding, Haricot Vert-Fire Roasted Corn Salad, Natural Jus and Candied Pecans" . A large-sized half-carcass. Duck had very pronounced smoke flavor but this was basically skin-deep - seemed to have been "quick-smoked" like a Szechuan Tea-Smoked Duck, then finished in a conventional oven, though what do I know. Cooked to not-quite-falling-apart stage. The cornbread pudding was stuffed into the duck and was bland, light, and eggy, almost like a souffle; would have liked the "whiskey-caramel glaze" to be spicier to balance this. The haricot verts were crunchy but it was hard to find much of the alleged fire-roasted corn. The very nice candied pecans were buried underneath it all.

Wife had as her main "Cedar Plank-Roasted Fish of the Day (= Black Drum) with Citrus-Horseradish Crust, Lemon-Butter Sauce and Creole Tomato Salad". Just right to for the potlatch. Again, didn't really get to try it. But the crust seemed to be more of a topping, and there were some additional shreddy things on top as well. . .

Kids held up pretty well, but after sitting for about 2 1/2 hours they were getting extremely stir crazy, so I skipped desert and took them back to the hotel, leaving my wife to chat away with her old acquaintances. . .

Table service is also interesting at NOLA in that they seem to make a fetish of serving everyone at exactly the same time. Since we had twelve people in our party, this meant that a team of six waiters suddenly appeared at appetizer and entree time. One guy would bring the plates in a big stack, each with the kind of stackable cover that you find in hospitals. Then each waiter would uncover and hoist two plates, then linger behind their designated victims (often for several minutes, precariously, being pushed and shoved by patrons walking between the tightly-arrange tables) as the other waiters got ready. Then, with an anticlimatic lack of ceremony, they would all simultaneouly plop their plates in front of everyone.

[MindyMoo]

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate all the food detail and pictures in your posts! Even as a local, you definitely showing me how I should be more a tourist in my own hometown! I don't know if your vacation is over yet, but I hope you enjoy the rest of it, and a big THANK YOU!

-Mindy