New Orleans Day 5 and 6 - last moments in New Orleans

Alright, last post on New Orleans, which, again, was months ago.

Owen was having quite a headache the next morning, so Patty and I decided to get some breakfast on our own. We headed to the Coffeepot again, as we promised Miss Pearl that we would return and try her bread pudding. Patty was still recovering from her flu, but she was feeling a lot better than she had been a few days ago.

It was raining pretty hard outside, which was nice (I like rain), and we scurried into the restaurant, which was bustling with the same awesome waitresses we had last time. Patty got a simple breakfast of bacon and eggs (I think), so I didn't bother taking a picture.


I got a catfish po'boy, with fries. Corey's catfish plate looked too good last time for me not to try it this time around. It was good. And fried. Like everything else I was eating in New Orleans...

I also got Owen a shrimp po'boy and bread pudding to go, which he inhaled once I got back. The bread pudding truly was something to write home about. An incredible flavor (bourbon?), infused the bread pudding, luscious cream surrounded it, it was just...perfect. Really spot on. I didn't take a picture of it because it was in a humdrum takeout container, but seriously. It was the thing to get there.

We lounged around until Brad arrived (it was supposed to be a surprise, but David accidentally spilled the beans earlier in the week) and we got dressed up to go to the most anticipated meal that we had planned for our whole New Orleans trip - we walked over to Antoine's.

Antoine's Restaurant "has the distinction of being the oldest family run restaurant in the United States", according to Wikipedia. Established in 1840, this place is a legend - it INVENTED Oysters Rockefeller, amongst some other notable dishes. I was super excited to try...
Everything is very formal here. The service was top notch. The dining room was very decorative, and it all reeked of old school bygone days. It was like eating in a piece of history!

Back to the service - our waiter had an eye on us the whole time - but was never creepy or intrusive. He would constantly refill everything we needed - bread, water, even ice, when he carried over an ice bucket and would individually place fresh ice cubs in our glasses. He had forgotten that I ordered a diet coke at one point, profusely apologized when we politely reminded him, and then RAN to the kitchen to get me the diet coke, again with more apologies. That's service. Probably some of the best service I've had. By the way, the bread was awesome - light, crispy on the outside, warm.

Patty ordered a soup - a deep rich Bisque d' Crevette - Louisana shrimp soup. This was a SUPER INTENSE soup, I tried a small bit of it. Patty could only finish about half of it.. I kinda wish I could have frozen the extra, and used it as a base to the next 20 soups I made back home. That's how strong this soup was. By the way, this was ordered instead of an alligator soup that Patty was about to order, and was advised by our waiter that this was the superior soup. Also, he let us in on a secret - the alligator soup they have was actually made out of turtle!

The highlight was ordering what Antoine's is best known for - their Oysters Rockefeller! Our waiter suggested a few other flavors, as well. Oysters Rockefeller (far right), Huitres Thermidor (far left), and Huitres Beinville (closest). Oysters Rockefeller: Oysters baked on the half shell with the original Rockfeller sauce created by Antoine's in 1889. Huitres Thermidor - Fresh Louisiana oysters baked on the half shell with a bacon and tomato sauce. Huitres Beinville - Oyster baked on the half shell with a white wine sauce seasoned withi onions, pimento and fresh peppers. I admnit, the Huitres Thermidor (the red ones) were quite tasty - I mean, everything was AWESOME, but the Thermidores were just out of this world. Even Patty was pretty impressed, and usually she's an oyster hater!

Now, to the main course. Patty, Owen and I ordered the The New York Strip steak. "A Prime New York strip with caramelized onions, mushrooms with a red wine and cracked pepper sauce". This was just...ok. The steak was cooked well, but the sauce was REALLY salty. The gravy was good with bread, enough to mellow it out. I'm not used to this kind of steak. I mean, it was high quality but it already came out pre-cut? Well maybe that's how they did it in the old days...
Patty had ordered a side of potato puffs. These also helped mellow out the intense saltiness of the gravy on our plates. These were fun and tasty, crisp and, well, puffy. They were like potato chips that wanted to be potato skins.

Brad got the Filet de Fruite au Vine Blanc - Filet of trout in a white wine, shrimp and oyster sauce then baked with a light bread crumb and cheese gratinee. I tasted a bite of this, really good, but again, very salty. Do a lot of older recipes require more salt, maybe? In the days before refridgeration, maybe more salt was a good thing, to keep things better preserved? Just a guess.


Another side - asparagus with butter. I didn't try one so I don't know what it tasted like. I'm assuming, asparagus-like!



A decadent chocolate cake slice was part of dessert- Patty ordered this because she wasn't going to partake in what we ordered for dessert - chocolate is one of her favorite things, (same as Owen.) I tasted a bit, it was good...but we were busy tackling...


...a baked alaska! I've actually never had one, so I made sure to order it here, at one of the more famous places to have it. If you don't know what it is, it's an ingenious piece of dessert. It has a ice cream center, atop cake, covered with meringue, then baked at a high temperature to brown the outsides of the meringue. The meringue insulates the ice cream, keeping it cold. Our waiter presented this to us and I was blown away by the huge size of it. He split this monstrosity into 3 portions (one for me, Owen and Brad.)

Here's my slab of it. It was really sugary, but all the vanilla flavor, it was something I enjoyed, especially the cake and ice cream part of it. Owen wasn't too jazzed by it, he admit it wasn't his bag. I think I gave up around half-way. It was just too much. Well, I had to have it at least once!

Our last morning in New Orleans, and we wanted to hit up one of the famous muffaletta shops in the Quarter - Central Market, to get one of their muffalettas to go. On a side note, the person who rang up our order was super indifferent and made it seem like we were bothering him. Wanda, the lady downstairs, noted that they are ALWAYS like this, and it was normal. Funny, really.

So here's our take, as we sat out on the gallery.

Drink Barq's. It's good. Hilarious. Owen got this, sometimes he likes a good root beer.

A bag of Zapp's chips - sour cream and onion chips. They were tasty.

And here's the sandwich, still in its' wrapping, ready to be freed...

And here's a wedge of it, sitting on top of the rest of the sandwich. This truly was a delicious muffaletta. Just thinking about it again makes me hungry for it. What made it perfect was the olive salad, for sure. It mellowed out all the saltier meats on the bottom, and the bread soaked up all the tasty olive oils perfectly. A great way to end our New Orleans trip, as the rest of it kept in our carryon bag, and I polished off the rest of it after we unpacked when we were back home.

New Orleans Day 4 - Heart clogging goodness

Out and about on our second to last day in New Orleans, we awoke to clear skies and humid weather, which I admit, as west coasters we are NOT used to. I had seen a restaurant that had outdoor seating, on one of our walks around the Quarter, and decided that might be a good place to sit down for awhile and enjoy some live music, played by a lively one man band. The restaurant's name was the Market Cafe...

No meal is complete without some hot sauce, in this case, Crystal. This is some great hot sauce, that spiced up our po'boys...

Owen, wanting to try something different, got a roast beef po'boy. Po'boys here come with Ruffles chips.

And here's a close up. This was a sandwich that was really...too salty. I liked how they melted the cheese all over the meat, but it just intensified the saltiness. I can't say that New Orleans is known for their roast beef, so that's probably one of the reasons.

I was trying to go for the true New Orleans experience, and ordered a half shrimp, half oyster po'boy. This was a GREAT po'boy. I don't think I could ever get enough oysters, and in a place famous for seafood, I couldn't resist. These oysters were really really good - crisp outside, gooey oystery crud on the inside, with a simple shredded iceberg lettuce and tomato slices to liven everything up.

Here's a close up of some of the fried-ness. Yeah. That's good eating. Owen had some of the shrimp po'boy, as he is not a fan of oysters - and he was very pleased. Great little lunch spot to hang out and chill.

After more exploring around the quarter, and another nap (I don't think I slept very well at night, those naps were a blessing!) we went on the Haunted History tour, which was top notch. I suggest anyone who visits New Orleans to do that - it was great. Our tour guide was a great storyteller, and it was not at all cheesy, as I thought it was going to be. Afterwards, we asked him for a suggestion for a good take out place, as we wanted to watch Lost...yeah, we're addicted to Lost. He suggested the place right next to our meeting area - a bar called "Yo Mama's". No joke.
The menu to prove it. It is truly..Yo Mama's bar. Great sense of humor around here.

A frozen margarita, to tide Owen over while we wait for our order (which was to-go.) Even though this came from one of those icee-style machines, he said this was really good! Good ratio of alcohol to drink, and really refreshing. Makes me wish I could drink...I just sipped on a diet coke.


Here's my massive burger in its' takeout container. It's just a cheeseburger, but it was massively good. Huge, but good, and definitely hit the spot. The burger came with a baked potato, and I chose chili and chives. It was very decent.

Owen went the whole hog, and took our tour guide's advice - he got the peanut butter and bacon burger. Yes. Peanut butter. And bacon. On a burger. This is a burger that is not joking around. Thing is - I took a small bite, just to try it out - it worked! It was totally overload of intense flavor, but the peanut butter took to all the grease well, and gave it such a great flavor. It enhanced the bacon, even! It was REALLY rich and dense though - I'm amazed Owen tore through it to so quickly. His baked potato had cheese, chives and even more bacon.

Whew! My heart is still trying to recover from that day...

Coming up, more New Orleans, the final round!

New Orleans Day 3 - Dinner at Chartres House

(Day 3, pt 2, of our New Orleans trip. Read the other parts to pick up where I left off..)
Ah, another evening in New Orleans. A sidenote, I love when it is evening in New Orleans, because of the real gaslamps that dot the streets of French Quarter. It gives this old timey feeling when you're walking around, and it's amazing they keep them running day after day. Anyways, back to dinner....

Patty still wasn't feeling too great by dinnertime, so we were still on our own. We wandered around, doing some window shopping and checking out all the cute stores, restaurants, basically, enjoying the ambiance of the French Quarter. We made a few random turns, not really knowing where we were, but enjoying the journey. We ended up choosing Chartres House for dinner - the place we had had pecan pie from the first night, to try their food.

We were seated in an outdoor courtyard, with a very friendly server (I think everyone in this town was extremely friendly). It had been raining earlier in the day, but the lingering humidity made us really thirsty. Owen got a Hurricane drink......which was damn pretty and damn tasty. I got a diet coke, so not very interesting on my part.
We ordered an appetizer of fried stuff. New Orleans really has a hold on this whole frying food thing...we are definitely in the south. This fry bucket (as I like to call appetizers like these - throw everything in a deep fryer and eat from a bucket, then throw up back into the bucket? Ahhhhh, back to the food...), contained some catfish, hush puppies, shrimp, calamari and fries, with dipping sauces. Whoa. Owen is not too much of a fan of catfish, as he found out after the first few bites, so I got to partake in most of the fish. Pretty tasty, and not too oily. Fries could have been crispier, as they soaked up a lot of the oil from the rest of the fried food. A solid start.
Owen got a combo platter - The Taste of New Orleans, which contained red beans and rice, jambalaya, and gumbo file. This was a deceptively small plate, but after Owen started tackling it, he realized it was more than enough to satisfy him. The surprise on the plate was definitely the red beans and rice. It was simply amazing. I never knew red beans and rice could be this good. The jambalaya and the gumbo were alright, definitely edible, but the rice and beans, I will remember for a long time.

As for myself, I ordered the Jambalaya, with chicken. This was just...ok. The rice is not cooked as much as I am used to (like in Chinese and Japanese cooking), and it really just paled in comparison to Owen's red rice and beans.

We also got a dessert to go, but I neglected to take a picture of that, as I completely forgot about it. It was a chocolate...something. Owen inhaled it so I'm assuming it was good.

More posts from New Orleans..? Didn't I go like, 6 months ago? Yes. I did. And yes, there are more posts coming up. Yes. I am extremely far behind...

New Orleans, Day 2 - the good, the bad...

After a bit of a restless night for me (strange to sleep in unfamiliar places...Owen slept like a rock), we got ourselves ready for the day. David, Corey and Patty's mom were headed back to Texas that day, so we wanted to grab a bite before they hit the road. We went to a usual breakfast spot for them - The Coffee Pot.

As we walked in, we got a hearty welcome from the waitresses, who all knew David and Corey and now Patty as well. A quick glance at the menu and we were set to go - Owen's appetite had surprisingly come back even though we had an amazing meal the night before, thanks to Corey's culinary skills. Anyways, we ordered and amazing things started arriving at the table....
Orange juice was the choice of beverage for me - I wanted to avoid the flu that everyone seemed to have. This was an ok juice - no pulp, which I prefer.
Banana pancakes, for the table. I liked how you could really see the banana slices embedded into each pancake. I'm not much of a fan of pancakes but these were great - moist, fluffy, melt in your mouth.
Some "lost bread" for the table - sliced up pieces of leftover bread, fried, covered in powdered sugar, and if you notice, a stream of syrup pouring down covering each piece. I managed to try one of these pieces - decadent. The south seems to have fried food perfected to a T - this is only the beginning of our fried food adventures here.
This omelet is not on the menu - David and Patty ordered it, and was especially made for them. It's an egg white omelet, with jambalaya folded on the inside - reminiscent of japanese style omurice. On the side is a generous helping of grits.
Here's a close up of the rice - coated with all kinds of seasonings, with slices of Louisiana sausage. Not too shabby.
Owen got a full order of the lost bread, with a side of bacon to round out his salty and sweet needs. He rocked this whole plate. It was that good.
I got the Oysters Rockefeller omelet, with the side of grits. Now, about the grits - I know this is a southern thing, but I don't think I like grits very much. The consistency is like grainy porridge, you can salt and pepper it and butter it but in the end, I wish this plate had a side of potatoes instead. Well, you have to try everything once. The omelet was good - the spinach topping was especially flavorful, and there were at least 3-4 good sized oysters in the omelet. I had to get my seafood fix, after all... Cory got a fried catfish plate with a side of jambalaya. A solid looking meal.

David, Corey and Patty's mom had to hit the road, so after some woeful goodbyes on Patty's part, and thanking them again for their generosity, we hit the road to go sightseeing in the Garden District, where many old houses were. We tried to visit the cemetery but they closed extraordinarily early - 2pm on a weekday! We looked in from the outside - creepy enough, as the above ground crypts were eerie and old. We took a self guided walking tour, saw some awesome stuff, and walked back ready to snack on something. It was a bit early to go to the restaurant Patty had in mind for us, so we decided on a snack.

We started walking down Bourbon street, which was full of scandalous bars and clubs (topless AND bottomless bar?) and I saw a Krystal Burger, which Corey had pointed out to us the night before. Having never have tried a mini burger (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle peaked my interest - I had never gone to a White castle before), I decided that there was no better time than now to give it a shot. On hindsight, it was one of the worst decisions of the trip.

First off, horrible mean people were taking our order. When they had forgotten to give Patty her drink cup, the server snapped back at her and practically rolled her eyes out of her head. Not to say that I expect stellar service from fast food joints, but man, doesn't hurt to be a little courteous.

But regardless, the food....what was the food like?
Well, here's the nasty bag that was set upon our table after we got back. I forgot what number combo this was, but it came with 4 mini sliders and 1 cup of fries. Notice the sweat that has gathered in the bag, basically making its' own ecosystem of steamy processed food hell.
Here's a peek inside the biodome - fries, burgers...wait a second, is that burger really made of meat?! It looks like processed gray cardboard! The fries looked and tasted ok, aside from the sogginess from being inside the bag.
Now, the focus is on the sliders. Ok...they're packaged in their own little boxes...that makes them kind of cute...

...but upon closer inspection, this burger really scared the hell out of us. Seriously, meat should never look that pale and gray, not even back in grade school when we would have hot lunches with grade F meat was it ever this bad. We did NOT eat any of the sliders. I think that was a good choice on our part.
Here's Patty's meal - the coke and fries look good...yep, check that horrible cheesy packaging containing her chicken sandwich - "I'm super fly!" Dear god why.
Here's Patty's hand, modeling the chicken sandwich. She was so disgusted by her treatment from Krystal that she didn't even eat it.
And here's the dissection - what are those things sprinkled on top of the mayo? We will never know...
Luckily, our snack wasn't completely ruined, as on our walk back, there was a hot dog vendor (Lucky Dogs!), who was extremely happy for our business, made this concoction of a dog loaded up with all the fixin's. Thank goodness for hot dogs.

Stay tuned for the rest of Day 2 - an amazing meal coming up!