Category: Louisiana

I was very excited to get back to New Orleans. I had a list of new places I wanted to try plus a few repeat visits to places I loved. Café Du Monde was one of those must visits repeats. I could not leave New Orleans without enjoying a fresh made beignet.

Since I had been to the café before I did not need to eat the beignets there. Good thing too because there were absolutely no seats anywhere, There were lines just to get a seat.

   

I headed over to their take-out window. There was also a really long line but it moved pretty fast.

  

I got up to the window and ordered my beignets. Before I could even hand over my money the bag of piping hot goodness was in my hand.

I could not wait to dive in. I felt like a little kid.

I ended up finding a chair so I could sit down and eat the beignets while they were still hot. There is about a pound of powdered sugar in the bag. It is definitely more than what you get on the plate.

They tasted just like I remembered. The dough was soft and tender. I could taste a slight hint of yeast in the dough but it was over powered by the powdered sugar. It is ok because a beignet would not be a beignet without all the powdered sugar.

I tired really hard not to make a mess but I still ended up getting sugar all over myself.

I got to watch them make the beignets outside one of their windows. They do this all day, every day, 24/7. It is so fun to stand there watch.

  

  

I took a few videos to share with everyone that can be seen on my twitter account.

It may always be crowded but if you are visiting New Orleans please stop by Café Du Monde. It is a city tradition and must be experienced. Check out their history at http://www.cafedumonde.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

I had just finished having lunch at Joey K’s on Magazine Street when I came across the dessert shop Sucré. They were bustling with customers, so I knew it must be good.

 

As soon as I walked in I could smell chocolate. They had every type of dessert you could want: chocolate candies, pastries, rainbow colored macarons, cupcakes, and several gelato choices.

 

 

I noticed a sign hanging proudly on their wall that says their éclairs have been voted “World’s Best” for the last 2 years. Naturally, I knew I was going to try one of those.

The éclair was very pretty to look at. It had this iridescent edible glitter on top. The decorative pearls were little crunchy candies.

The pastry dough was light and puffy, exactly what an éclair should be. It was filled with a sweet vanilla cream. They used a ton of filling which was great because this ensured that each bite got cream and not just pastry. The chocolate glaze they used on top was semi-sweet and they used a lot of that too. The dough was not sweet which was good since it balanced out the sweetness that came from the cream and glaze.

I wanted to try another dessert so I went for their Devil’s Food. It was layers of chocolate with those crunchy decorative pearls on top.

If I could re-name this dessert I would call it “Death by Chocolate”. There were 4 different forms of chocolate in this creation. It starts with the moist chocolate cake which was layered with a thick chocolate fudge, like a ganache. Then the cake was covered in a homemade chocolate shell. To decorate the top they used a chocolate buttercream icing.

This dessert was SWEET. If you love chocolate this is a must try. Every component was great but this dessert was overwhelmingly rich. I ended up having to share it because there was no way I could eat it by myself. My favorite part of this was the cake itself. It was light and not as sweet as the other chocolate parts. The sweetness all came from the fudge and icing.

Finding Sucré helped make my visit to New Orleans a little sweeter. They have a few locations around town so check out their website at http://www.shopsucre.com/

If you cannot make it to one of their stores you can buy some of their sweets on their website.

Enjoy!

T

 

Located in the heart of the French Quarter is a little old fashioned grocery store / deli. This 110 year old store is called Central Grocery. Here tourist and locals alike can buy Italian imported pastas and olive oils along with cheeses and Italian cured meats. However, the main reason people flock to Central Grocery is for their muffuletta.

      

Central Grocery is considered the home and creators of the muffuletta. A muffuletta is a sandwich that contains layers of salami, ham, provolone cheese and mozzarella cheese topped with olive tapenade on fresh Sicilian bread.

People line up all day to have one of these muffulettas. I too waited in line, but it moved fast. The folks behind the counter know how to prepare them quickly.

I got half a sandwich because I did not think I could have eaten a whole one.

The bread that they use for this sandwich is freshly made. It did not fall apart when I took a bite, even with all the layers of meat and cheese. The cheese was cut into nice thick slices. Its creaminess went perfectly with the salty meats. Those elements of the sandwich were great but what elevated the muffuletta to the next level was the olive tapenade. They make if from scratch there. It was the best olive tapenade I have ever had. The olives were cut up into chunky pieces. Now I understand why they sell it in jars. I could have eaten this by itself. This was the best sandwich I have ever had. I ended up regretting not ordering a whole one.

If you are in New Orleans, make time to stop by Central Grocery. Make sure to order their famous muffuletta and don’t worry about the wait, it is totally worth it. You can get it to go or enjoy it there.

Learn about their history at http://centralgrocery.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

In the Garden District of New Orleans, on the corner of Magazine Street and 7th sits a local restaurant called Joey K’s. You can’t miss the sign hanging above the door. You also can’t miss the sign in the window that says “Sorry We’re Open”. It really made me laugh.

Based on the position of the entrance, as soon as I walked in I realized that back in the day, this space must have been an old pharmacy. The restaurant was cute inside with New Orleans artwork decorating the walls.

 

I took a seat at the bar and took a look at their drink menu. What my eyes fell to was their sangria. As I have written about many times before, sangrias are one of my favorite cocktails. I love trying each restaurants versions. At Joey K’s they make a homemade one however, what was interesting is they only serve the white during the Spring/Summer and the red during Fall/Winter. So since I fell into the Spring time frame I was thrilled to try the white. It was light tasting with fruity accents. It was not overly sweet. It was refreshing.

The menu had many great sounding dishes. It was hard for me to make a decision of what to order. So I asked my bartender what she recommended. She said there were two items that customers are always ordering.

The first is a New Orleans classic – red beans and rice. It was the perfect size in a small bowl. The beans were huge and mixed with pieces of sausage. The sauce had a nice smoky taste. It was not too heavy even when I mixed the rice and scallions. It was the perfect starter.

The second item that was recommended was the eggplant napoleon. The dish had a beautiful presentation, it was almost a shame I had to take it apart to eat it.

There were eggplant slices that were breaded and fried, then stacked with fried shrimp in between the layers. Then it was topped with a generous portion of crawfish cream sauce.

Breaking this dish down, each component was perfect on their own. The eggplant was sliced just right so that it became crispy after being fried. The shrimp were coated in a thicker batter than the eggplant. I could tell the shrimp were fresh because they were very tender.

The crawfish cream sauce was my favorite part of this dish. This is where all the flavor was located. The sauce reminded me of a sausage gravy that is served on top of biscuits for breakfast.

The salty taste from the fried portions was balanced out thanks to the sweetness of the cream sauce. They all worked well together.

If your hanging out on Magazine Street stop into Joey K’s. The staff is extremely friendly and the place is loaded with regular customers. However, do not plan on visiting them on Sunday’s because they are closed.

Check out their menu at http://joeyksrestaurant.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

There are so many places to eat in New Orleans. To say it’s overwhelming would be an understatement. For this most recent visit I decided to head to Magazine Street and explore this growing area.

Mahony’s was the first restaurant I came to. From the outside it looks like an old house that has been converted into a neighborhood hang out. It blends into the neighborhood nicely.

  

As I walked in I was greeted right away and told to sit anywhere I wanted. It was like being invited into someone’s home.

I was excited to see that Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives had visited. I saw Guy Fieri’s  spray painted signature on the wall.

I started off with the loaded fries. They hand cut the potatoes to make their French fries. Then they smother them with cheddar cheese and tons of roast beef gravy.

They call it debris gravy and it is truly loaded with meat from cooking homemade roast beef. The gravy was full of flavor. There is no way the fries can be eaten without a fork. It would be too messy.

I really wanted to try the crawfish etoufee but they had sold out of it already for the day. So I ordered their gumbo. Apparently the gumbo changes daily. On today’s visit the gumbo was shrimp and andouille sausage.

The shrimp were tender and fresh. The sausage was chopped up into great bite size pieces. The rice added a thickness. The gumbo was full of flavor.

Mahony’s is known for their po’boys, so I will definitely need to make another trip to try those. If you are in the area you should check them out. Visit their website at: http://mahonyspoboys.com/

Enjoy!

T

As I have mentioned in previous posts, New Orleans has amazing choices when it comes to food. I was having a great conversation with some locals and I revealed to them how much I love the charbroiled oysters in New Orleans. They mentioned that before I could leave New Orleans I had to try one more place – Drago’s. This is the home of the “Original Charbroiled Oyster”. Well once they said that I knew I had to go.

What I love about Drago’s is when you walk in you can see directly into the kitchen area where the grills are located. You can watch them shuck the fresh oysters (they go so fast, it’s amazing).

You can see exactly how they cook their oysters. As soon as they drop the Parmesan & Romano cheese on top, the flame on the grill gets higher.

 

The oysters at Drago’s are similar to others that I have tried. However, they seem to use a little more garlic which is wonderful and always welcome. Plus you get just a little more of the grilled flavor in each bite.

My suggestion is to order them a dozen at a time. You want to make sure you eat the oysters while they are hot because they just don’t taste as good when they are cold.

I went to Drago’s specifically for their charbroiled oysters but realized that they have a full menu of other seafood specialties. I have them on my list to revisit since they have a lot more to try.

Get hungry by visiting their website at: www.dragosrestaurant.com

Enjoy!

T

I remember visiting Café Du Monde when I was a kid. It was the only thing I remembered about New Orleans. Now going back as an adult I have a completely different perspective of the city. However, seeing Café Du Monde and thinking about their beignets made me feel like a kid all over again.

The original coffee stand opened in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market. They are open 24/7, which means whenever you get hungry for something sweet, they are there for you. Their world famous coffee is served Black or Au Lait (half and half with hot milk) although if you truly want to feel like a kid, then get a chocolate milk.

Some people might not be familiar with what beignets are, so for a little background, they are square French donuts that are covered with powdered sugar. You might think they would be heavy, but they really are not; they are light and the dough has a sweet taste, even without adding the powdered sugar. Despite that, eating them with powdered sugar is a MUST. You get 3 per order but be prepared not to share, you will want each one!

There is always a crowd, so be prepared to wait in line. Part of the fun is eating the beignets there in the outdoor café, though if you are in a hurry, you can always get them to go. They are perfect for breakfast or as dessert after eating some awesome Cajun jumbo.

If you want to have a little New Orleans at home you can buy the beignet mix and coffee there to take with you. Depending on where you live, you might be lucky enough to find the mix and coffee at your local grocery store.

If you want a taste the sweet side of New Orleans, check out Café Du Monde. www.cafedumonde.com

Enjoy!

T

Fat Tuesday is a New Orleans tradition. People flock there to party all night long. If crowds are not your thing it’s ok. New Orleans is a food lover’s destination. There are a variety of choices: Cajun, seafood, Italian, sweets – all you have to decide is what you have a taste for.

One of the most famous places in New Orleans is Acme Oyster House right there in the French Quarter. Naturally they have the classic raw oysters or fried oysters but in New Orleans they do something special; they have chargrilled oysters. This is the ONLY way I will eat them.

 

The way they are cooked on the grill and topped with garlic butter and parmesan cheese, these tasty treats go down easy. Just when you think one dozen will be enough, you end up ordering another 12. Absolutely wonderful! If you have avoided oysters in the past because you don’t want to eat them raw, then I suggest trying them chargrilled.

While you are at Acme, try a few of their other specialties. The Boo Fries are a must have – French fries topped with beef gravy and cheese. Perfect in the evening after enjoying the sights and sounds of Bourbon Street.

While you wait for your oysters to arrive try their fried crawfish tails. You get to taste the sweet meat of the crawfish without out all the work of getting out of the tail yourself.

Acme is busy all the time but they are worth the wait. www.acmeoyster.com

Enjoy!

T