New Orleans!!!

[cjs]

Lost my whole darn post!!!!

We arrived in New Orleans yesterday afternoon and had to take a picture of our turnoff -


But, we drove right by the park - bad, bad neighborhood. Found a KOA and settled in. Beat Roy 2 to 0 in cribbage and then fixed dinner.

The grouper throats are delicious. I didn't want to make a mess in the kitchen, so I heated a skillet of oil on the grill to fry one (2 halves) and grill the other just mashed to make lay flat. But, the oil didn't get hot fast enough to do a good job, so moved the throats to the grill and finished them off that way.





My only disappointment with them was the fins/feathers didn't get crisp enough on the grill to enjoy them. So, will go ahead and make a mess in the kitchen next time!!

The meat is a firm, dense but not stringy or tough, white meat and very sweet. If you get a chance, I recommend trying them.

Tomorrow we have some places to visit in New Orleans, but not going to overdo it - we will be coming back again, we're telling ourselves.

[Gourmet_Mom]

They look great, Jean! It's a shame they didn't fry up for you. Next time...

Enjoy New Orleans!

[Mare749]

The grouper looks delicious, Jean. We love it, but it's hard to come by here. Due to the cost, we rarely see it.

Have a great time in New Orleans and I hope you find a great place to eat. Sorry I couldn't help you with that. Two of the restaurants that we went to don't exist anymore.

[Old Bay]

We like Pascal Menalli's (sp?) BBQ shrimp!!

[cjs]

I'm exhausted - will catch up tomorrow morning when I'm not so stuffed and tired.

[luvnit]

Grouper looks great! Don't think I have ever had it. Brad and I will have to have it on our motorhome journey!

[cjs]

Feb 17th – New Orleans

Driving into Mobile, AL, on Saturday crossing the river, we were surprised to see the cruise *****, Carnival’s Triumph, which had been towed into harbor not too far ahead of us coming thru. Kinda gave me goosebumps. I managed to get some pictures of it on my iPad, but don’t know how to download those anywhere, yet! What a time those folks had.

GPS took us thru an old part on Mobile and I just can not get enough of seeing the big beautiful old homes and the humungous trees canopied over the streets. It’s straight out of all the movies I’ve seen of the south.

We did the French Market and Quarter up in style on Sunday starting with Bloody Marys and Popcorn crawfish at Magnolia Grill and then on to the open stalls that go on for blocks. Picked up two goodies to try – Sweet Potato cookies and Praline Shoe Soles – both were delicious and we were smart enough to just taste them and keep for later snack before bed. The shoe soles reminded me of leftover pie dough that we all make strips with butter, sugar, cinnamon and bake, but they were shaped like the sole of a shoe, about a size 10 or 11.





In one of the stalls, I found Aunt Sally’s Blazin Tequila Glaze that looks delicious, so picked up a bottle of it. For people watching we stopped in at the Market Café and had an order of Crawfish beignets, Roy had a beer and I had a great Strawberry Daquiri – and everyone was right, New Orleans is a great people watching town. Plus sitting and watching the ships and ferries go by on the Mississippi was exciting. And, this old man sitting on an upside down bucket striking his drum to his singing – it was so soulful.



Our only problem was our tour day was Sunday and there were people everywhere being Sunday and the weather was so nice. Plus some places we wanted to stop weren’t open on Sundays and/or Mondays!!

We tried a few places that I had especially wanted to see, but they were either closed or so packed with people/cars no way could we get close to them. Ended the day at Landry’s – WOW what a huge place and incredible views of Lake Pontchartrain. Getting to the restaurant we must have gone thru some of the parishes that Hurricane Rita wreaked havoc on – it was amazing how house after house was fine and then 2 or 4 were being rebuilt and just boarded up, still after all this time.

The food at Landry’s was as good as folks have told us, but I think I still prefer the little hole in the wall places and not so much hoopla. But, got to say the Pimiento cheese grits were outstanding. We each ordered a dish and kept one to bring home and devoured the other. Roy had the Oysters on half shell and I had the boiled shrimp and a Caesar salad for each of us. Ended up ordering our third Key Lime Pie and this was different again from the previous two. It had a layer of sour cream and ?? over the top like would be on a cheesecake. It was very good.








We’ve decided to go back downtown this morning (Monday) early and beat the rush and see if we can visit some of the place we were hoping to – Couchon restaurant and the butcher shop; Jacque-Imo’s Cafe which opens at 5 p.m., so maybe not; Crabby Jack’s owned by the same chef, Jacques Leonardi. Whew, then probably home to enjoy the weather and relax.

[labradors]

Not really into shrimp or oysters, of course, but those crawfish beignets sound amazing. I'd probably alternate between those and crawfish étouffée the whole time I'd be there.

[cjs]

Can anyone handle more food pictures????? (Pardon all the links, but I typed this up for my journal and I wanted to be able to find everything again. )
Feb 18th – Downtown New Orleans

Checking out seafood markets in New Orleans was kind of a bust – most were delis/cooked products, but one we stopped in Orchid Seafood, 1201 N. Broad St. ( here is link to some of the reviews for this wonderful market) http://www.yelp.com/biz/orchid-seafood-new-orleans They don’t sell fresh, but oh the dishes they had prepared in the deli case were just outstanding. They directed me to a restaurant supply place nearby that I would be able to buy fresh, but it is a membership dealer, so they didn’t know if I would be able to shop there. Off we went in search and after a couple of minutes of begging/pleading, they gave me a one day buying pass.

I brought home 1 3/4 lb. fresh octopus, 2 catfish and 1 lb. lump crab meat. We’re ‘staying in’ tomorrow and I’m going to play with these goodies.

After the seafood shopping, we hustled over to check out Cochon restaurant, http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/ and had I think, the best overall meal on the road we have had so far. Of course our server, Vincent, and the folks around us helped with the ambiance of the whole experience.
On one side of us was Chef Stephen Fahy from New York, http://www.bellehavencc.com/Default.aspx...0649&vnf=1
and his wife, who we swapped back and forth what we should order. On the other side was a young couple who wanted to know about the food to order.

Chef Donald Link, http://www.starchefs.com/cook/chefs/bio/donald-link and his partner Stephen Stryjewski, http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/201...ewski.html
are co-owners of Cochon and a handful of other restaurants in the area and they happened to be in Cochon when we were, but I was nice and didn’t disturb them as they were hashing out ingredients for new dishes for the restaurant. But, I would have loved to change tables and sit close enough to eavesdrop.

I would like to go back to the restaurant everyday for a week and just try everything on the menu – it was so hard to choose, but we had to. But, first I had to take a picture to show how close to the restaurant we were able to get today, Yesterday there was not a parking place for a mile or more.



Wood-Fired Oyster Roast – they were very good, but I’m just not an oyster ‘fool’ as Roy is.


Sautéed Shrimp with grit cake and field peas – the shrimp perfectly cooked and the grit cake was also just wonderful. (I’m running out of adjectives!)


Fried Alligator with chili garlic aioli – Roy thought these were much better prepared than the last ones I ordered, but I thought those were great also. But the sauce on these just took them over the top!


Fried Boudin with pickled peppers – outstanding and the pickled peppers were a great addition to the boudin.


This is the inside of the Boudin -


Finished by sharing a piece of Black Velvet Cake with Cream cheese chocolate chip frosting. Whew!!


We cannot top this meal if we tried!!! But, I’ll give it a bloody go tomorrow with my octopus, catfish and crab….

[Gourmet_Mom]

Jean, it all looks so awesome! The gator looked especially good! But were they calling the green things with the shrimp field peas? We call those butter beans. Our field peas look similar to a black eyed pea, but smaller and come fresh rather than dried. Interesting. I can't wait to see what you do with your goodies!