NOLA

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Going to "Luke" for b-fast this AM...    Matt Regen is the chef and promised us a wonderful break from our fast.

http://www.lukeneworleans.com/

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[biskuit]

good place. the white stripes were eating at the next table last time we were there, so has to be good, right?

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

good place. the white stripes were eating at the next table last time we were there, so has to be good, right?

Matt Regan cooked on our show yesterday, the way he pulled it off as young as he is convinced us that in this restaurant rich town to choose his place for b-fast today.  Besh's own pigs, stone ground local grits and seafood hours out of the water, how bad could it get?

"in house charcuterie" has caught on in this town of late and Matt at Luke does it all.  heading out in 15 minutes.

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[jimmy]

Stanley for brunch I hope!

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Stanley for brunch I hope!

We had b-fast at Stanley on Fri.   Wonderful, just wonderful.  

Dinner at Dominica, also quite a treat, chef Alon Shaya is in South  Beach, but he left word that we would be there.  Wonderful Salumi, very trick rotating wood fired pizza oven from Italy, fabulous food. We all had small plates, and shared them around the table.  More on the details later.  We did tour the kitchen and talk to the chef on duty, IMHO this is a must-do place.  

We have a bunch of suggestions for brunch tomorrow, Brennen's, Court of the Two Sisters, Sylvain...

http://www.brennansneworleans.com/

http://www.courtoftwosisters.com/

http://www.sylvainnola.com/

We just got done catching beads and fighting the crowds, we are back "home" and cruising.

.

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Just got a text from someone we met here this week. She said "Elizabeths" or the "Green Goddess" is what is happening for Brunch.

<<< Thanks Grace >>>


http://www.elizabeths-restaurant.com/home.html

http://www.greengoddessnola.com/

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Ya gotta love it.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

We are back, with stories to tell and a truly wonderful few days with only a few nitteling things that did not go as smooth as silk.

We had quite a day today, with b'fast at The court of two sisters (who was it that mentioned that place? )..  Expensive but really worth it with a Jazz band playing in the courtyard and white coated waiter doing the impossible things that make a GREAT place really rock.  Many things cooked to order, but the buffet (don't give me that mess about buffets being just-wrong), but really good things in the "boats" that make up the buffet.  Good crawfish (really spicy and good served cold), a huge salad bar with fresh everything available on it.  Even the steam table bananas foster was fairly good (but I did miss the blue flames and the applause).

I took some pictures and I'll add them to the thread about our adventures in NOLA as the week goes by, I'm dog tired, not hung over, but wrung out from shouting across the street and up to the floats as they went by.  I guess we are going down a couple more times during the summer, we really had fun, did some culinary experimenting and met some movers and shakers with the marketing and restaurant community there in the Big Easy.

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[bettylouski]

Just got a text from someone we met here this week. She said "Elizabeths" or the "Green Goddess" is what is happening for Brunch.

<<< Thanks Grace >>>


http://www.elizabeths-restaurant.com/home.html

http://www.greengoddessnola.com/

....

Definitely need to hit Elizabeth's on your next trip for an awesome breakfast and local color outside the FQ.  We were there a few months before Katrina, walking along the river to get there and noticing how the river was up to our heads beyond the wall. . .was glad to hear they reopened shortly thereafter.

[KoPP]

Casamentos for oysters (in season), Commander's Palace for lunch (and men, make sure to bring a jacket, and don't wear shorts), and Clover Grill for a great breakfast (and a lotta attitude).

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Just got a text from someone we met here this week. She said "Elizabeths" or the "Green Goddess" is what is happening for Brunch.

<<< Thanks Grace >>>


http://www.elizabeths-restaurant.com/home.html

http://www.greengoddessnola.com/

....

Definitely need to hit Elizabeth's on your next trip for an awesome breakfast and local color outside the FQ.  We were there a few months before Katrina, walking along the river to get there and noticing how the river was up to our heads beyond the wall. . .was glad to hear they reopened shortly thereafter.

Thanks, it is on our "go-to" list.  Though Chefandthefatman have been doing 4 shows a year from NOLA, we had not tagged along because we go other places burning valuable vacation time each place we go anywhere.  We are thinking to add at least one more or two more trip to NO with the gang.  French Quarter Fest sounds like a good time, as well as Tales of the Cocktail,  we sure did enjoy ourselves this trip.

Faux Dolly and Me





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[The_Scientist]

I'll be in NO this week for a conference. Most of the 2 days will be spent on conferencing, but I should be able to have at least one meal out. I'm staying at the Doubletree, and since I've never been to this town, I have no idea what's in the neighborhood. Wherever it is will have to be close since I'm not going to have a car. Any suggestions?

[The_Scientist]

As I feared most of the trip was spent confined to a hotel conference room, networking and leveraging synergies. The one meal I had outside was at Mother's, a little lunch counter place established in 1935 couple of blocks from the hotel. Apparently this place is quite popular since the security guard at the door gave us no-nonsense instructions on grabbing a menu, deciding what to order while in line, and not wasting time at the counter placing the order.

I went with a roast beef po-boy and file gumbo. The gumbo was first-rate, lots of protein mixed in with the thick, not too salty broth and a pleasing sasafrass note from the file. The po-boy was just okay, a rather large serving size with a creamy mustard dressing and a side of au jus for dipping which was needed for the too dry bread. My dining companion had crawfish etouffe which he enjoyed as well.

We went for dinner when it was doing steady but not overwhelming business; we only waited 2-3 minutes in line and found a table right away. As I left Friday afternoon I saw a line stretched down the block at the entrance. It looked to be as many locals as tourists, a good sign for a return visit. It seems like every restaurant in town puts "authentic New Orleans" on its door, but this really is.

[omnivorous]

Way late reply, but I have to affirm the choice of the Green Goddess.  We've been to many many places in NOLA, and we've resolved we'll always visit Green Goddess on any trip we take to the Big Easy from here on out.

[Lorenzo]

My wife and I checked out the Louisiana Seafood Festival this past weekend, which was part of a super-festival that included the Creole Tomato Festival and the Zydeco Festival.  There's always some kind of festival going on, it seems.

The cooking demos were dull and uninformative.  The seafood vendors were the highlight for us, though what they offered was almost exclusively the usual fried standards. Softshell poboy that a vendor whipped up in five seconds from a tall stack of crabs that had been fried a few minutes earlier was better and cheaper than the one I ate the next day for comparison at Felix's (Acme Oyster House's rival across the street)--better frying/coating, better bread, better remoulade.

"Creole Tomatoes" looked like any ol' grocery store tomato to me.  I have to admit that I did not taste one by itself, the way I prefer to eat a tomato, so I'm not in a position to judge.  Some Googling reveals that it's not a cultivar but rather a marketing or, at most, a terroir thing, like a Hatch chile or--perhaps a better comparison--a Jersey Tomato. Didn't find many interesting offerings from the vendors selling items made with Creole Tomatoes.  Ooh, a crab-stuffed tomato.

Notable meals included brunch at Elizabeth's (gotta love a place with a breakfast cocktail menu that goes way beyond bloodies and mimosas) and dinner at Luke (great, but expensive, and plays up the French country brasserie thing a little too much for our taste).  Many oysters were consumed in various forms, and we thought they were plump and delicious for any time of the year, let alone early summer.