Eating our way through New Orleans

I’m finally getting around to finishing this post about our food experiences on our recent trip to New Orleans. There are SO MANY fabulous restaurants there. It is a foodie’s dream world. Below are pictures of some of the great meals we enjoyed.

Enchiladas and a margarita at Maggie Rita’s on Magazine. This restaurant happens to be across the street from our condo and therefore a convenient place for our first meal in New Orleans following a long drive.

BBQ shrimp at the Oceana Grill. We discovered this restaurant just off Bourbon Street on our first trip back after the storm. At that time there were relatively few visitors to the beleaguered city and we were treated like royalty almost everywhere we went. This is where we met our favorite waitress, Tina. She is one of those rare treasures who loves her job and makes her customers feel important. We always request her as our waitress and we always receive hugs and excellent service. Oh, and the food’s not bad, either. 😉

 

 

We’ve now eaten at Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse twice and the food has been delicious both times. David orders steak while I opt for seafood. This time I ordered the grilled Gulf fish “served over golden corn maque choux and crab boil rissole potatoes, touched with a lobster beurre blanc”. Wow. Oh, wow! The fish was well-seasoned, the maque choux was a little sweet and the potatoes a little spicy. The flavors were perfectly balanced. Okay, I’m hungry now just thinking about it!

 

And for dessert: Bananas Foster Bread Pudding

 

I’d long heard about the fried chicken at Willie Mae’s Scotch House and since fried chicken is one of my very favorite things when done right, I was eager to try it. We ate there the first time back in October and both of us loved it so we went back again. The chicken is truly superb. The crust is thin, crispy and well-seasoned while the meat is tender and juicy.

Here is a video about Willie Mae’s:

 

Tuesday afternoon at Cafe du Monde.

 

Another restaurant I’d been dying to try is Galatoire’s. The 100+ year old restaurant has quite a reputation but since they require men to wear a coat and tie, we had not previously been there. We usually fly and David doesn’t bring his suit. This time, since we were driving, I figured it was the perfect time to pack the suit and give it a try. It did not disappoint. I could feel the history of the place as I sat at our linen covered table, eating with sterling silver utensils and gazing about the lovely dining room. I chose the rich and fantastic Crab au Gratin and asparagus.

My new favorite drink, “Sweet Tea”:

Made with Sweet Tea Vodka:

One of our new favorite places for lunch is Stanley’s, conveniently located in Jackson Square. In this photo I’ve ordered the club sandwich while David is enjoying their famous Reuben sandwich.

One day we met some of David’s business associates who were in town for a fishing trip with customers. We met at Felix’s for lunch where I was able to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time – try raw oysters. David is totally not interested in this experience and I was always hesitant to order a plate of them for myself in case I didn’t care for them. However, they ordered some for the table as an appetizer so I had the perfect opportunity. I was a little nervous but they were delicious!

 

Unfortunately I wasn’t quite as thrilled with the soft shell crab po boy I ordered. I’ve had delicious soft shell crab before but I found this to be a little “fishy” for my taste. Still, it looked pretty impressive:

You can find good food in rather unlikely places in New Orleans. Turtle Bay is a bar on Decatur which has surprisingly good food. Their hamburgers and sweet potato fries are quite tasty. Here is a picture of the food provided during our Shore Leave pirate “meet and greet” night. David and I provided the veggie platter which was purchased at Whole Foods but the pizzas and meat pies were courtesy of Turtle Bay. They also do boiled crawfish in the courtyard but since they boil mushrooms as one of the veggies, I couldn’t partake (allergic to mushrooms!).

One thing we like to do is to ask locals for restaurant recommendations. This time we received the suggestion to have breakfast at Surrey’s.

It was excellent. I had their breakfast sandwich on a homemade bagel.

 

Another place we eat fairly often is The Gumbo Shop. The service is good and the food usually is, too. I ordered the crawfish pasta with tasso and it was amazing.

 

Another local recommendation was The Royal Street Deli, a fairly new place. I was told to try the Black and Bleu sandwich which I did. I can honestly say it was the BEST sandwich I have ever tasted in my entire life. Tender pieces of steak are marinated in a garlic sauce, cooked and then served in a crusty French roll and topped with fresh spinach, caramelized onions, sweet red peppers, bleu cheese crumbles and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Sigh…

 

This last photo wasn’t taken in New Orleans but at the Shreveport location of Ralph and Kacoo’s. We ate there on our way home. I had the grilled fish over crabmeat stuffing topped with crab and hollandaise sauce.