New Orleans 2013

Steve wanted to take a trip to New Orleans to celebrate his birthday so here we are, staying at the Marriott on Canal Street.  We arrived yesterday afternoon and met up with our friends, Mary Ann and Larry Nelon for drinks at 55 Farenheit.  Mary Ann ordered the classic Sazerac made with rye whiskey.  I tasted it and much preferred my cosmo.  Steve's hurricane was a little too sweet.Mary Ann and I walked for about an hour to catch up and get a little exercise in before the evening meal.  We had reservations at NOLA for the kitchen bar.  NOLA is one of Emeril's restaurants and is located on St. Louis Street.  We had a front row seat to the small kitchen and pizza oven where we watched the food being prepared and expedited by the Chef de cuisine Joshua Laskay.  The chef manning the pizza oven, a friendly young woman, was also using the wood burning oven to roast the drum and accompanying potatoes, the entree Steve ordered.  I wanted to try a pizza made in the oven as well, so I ordered an appetizer veggie pizza with the roasted squash, housemade ricotta cheese, curry oil and cilantro.  It was kind of bland.  Steve's barbequed shrimp was a little too sweet, but the NOLA caesar with dijon anchovy vinaigrette was outstanding. Larry had the gumbo of the day--seafood with okra, and it was not as good as the gumbo back home at Gogo Gumbo in Boyd, Texas.   Mary Ann's beet salad looked very appetizing but I didn't try it. For the entree I ordered shrimp and grits (sauteed gulf shrimp, grilled green onions, smoked cheddar grits, apple smoked bacon, crimini mushrooms and red chili-abita butter sauce).

Barbequed Shrimp

Veggie Pizza with House Ricotta

 Steve ordered the Garlic Crusted Drum cooked in the wood burning oven with Brabant potatoes, crimini mushrooms, bacon and sauce beurre rouge.  Larry had the Grilled Pork Chop and Mary Ann had Prince Edward Island Black Mussels in Garlic-Chardonnay Broth with Focaccia Bread.  My shrimp and grits was fair, a little too sweet for my tastes, however the grits were well prepared.  Steve's drum was really the star.  The fish was flaky and flavorful, with crispy potatoes and wine sauce and the wood flavor was subtle. 

Gumbo

Beet Salad

NOLA Caesar Salad

Mussels

 The time spent in the wood burning oven kept the fish extra piping hot the entire time he was eating it.  I had plate envy.  Mary Ann's mussels were in a broth filled with corn, bacon, and herbs and tasted really fresh.

Shrimp and Grits

Garlic Crusted Drum

Watching all the orders coming out was so interesting!  For dessert we had the Creme Brulee trio, vanilla bean with fresh berries, coconut with coconut truffle, mocha with chocolate almond biscotti.

Creme Brulee Trio

All three were equally delicious, a wonderful finish to an enjoyable dinner with friends.
We walked over to Frenchmen Street, an area known for good music, and heard some street music.  I heard some singing from Vaso, a small club.  We enjoyed a few songs there before heading back to the hotel.

Mary Ann and Larry were done for the night, but we decided to visit Bourbon Street.  Our favorite club from our last visit, Fat Catz, had a lively band playing "Carry on My Wayward Son" so we stopped in for a bit.  We stood around for awhile in the courtyard of Cafe Beignet and listened to some music, but there were no tables so we didn't hang around.  The usual rowdy crowd was staggering down the street with their giant fish aquarium drinks in hand, so we got out of there pretty quickly and back to the hotel.
Our plan for Saturday morning was a trip to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and Cafe Au Lait.  When we got there we waited a few minutes before getting a table.  Our beignets and coffee were welcome after the long walk.  As we left the line for a table stretched out quite a long way--always a good idea to get there early.

Cafe Au Lait and Beignets!

We met up with our friends again and wandered over to Royal Street.   That has to be my favorite street in New Orleans.  Lots of beautiful old buildings, art galleries, shops, and musicians always.

Mary Ann wanted us to see the gallery featuring the artist who paints the blue dog, George Rodrigue.   Imagine, you can get a simple painting of a blue dog for thousands of dollars.  Even a little print will set you back at least $800.00.  I will go back tomorrow to do some more shopping in the little kitchen stores.

Lunch at Central Grocery was a treat.  The famous muffaletta was just as good as I remembered from our last trip.  We ordered one sandwich and shared it, but it was still way more than we could finish.

The "whole" muffuletta is big enough for 4

 We walked over to the French Market, an outdoor market filled with vendors selling mostly cheap gifts.  The food stalls were popular, selling everything from alligator to classic Creole and Cajun dishes, pralines, and local products.  The Cupcake Fairies were there selling their plastic cups of layered cupcakes with fillings meant to be eaten with a fork.  I wanted to try one but I resisted.
We did try a local pecan praline though.  Although it was good I prefer my recipe for pecan brittle.
We walked for another hour enjoying the sunshine on a cold day and finally made it back to the hotel.
This is a vacation so a little resting was in order.  There is something about walking for hours in the cold that really makes you tired!
We didn't have solid dinner plans other than stopping at Acme Oyster House to try the famous oysters. Acme Oyster House has been open since 1910 and is known for its oyster challenges.  The top winner put away 43 dozen oysters!  I noticed long lines everytime we walked by the place on the last trip and this one so I figured it was either a good restaurant or just popular because of so much exposure on Travel Channel with Man Vs. Food, etc.

 We walked over to Iberville St. to stand in line.  Fortunately, our wait was over in less than an hour. It was a lot larger inside than I thought it would be and seating was communal.  We were seated next to strangers in a table for eight.  I can't remember where I read about chargrilled oysters but they were on my list of dishes to try on the trip so we ordered a half dozen.  We also ordered a fried seafood platter with catfish, shrimp, and oysters to share.  I don't usually eat fried seafood but I'm pretty sure that Acme is not known for healthy grilled seafood.  The fried catfish was really better than any I've had in a long time and the shrimp and oysters were quite tasty too.  Nothing was greasy.  There were plenty of lemons, spicy, spicy cocktail sauce and tartar sauce.

 The oysters were something else!  So hot you can barely touch them, bubbling with some type of buttery sauce, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and delicious with a squeeze of lemon and dash of Tabasco sauce with some crusty French bread.  We ended up ordering another half dozen.  Now I know why the long lines are there!

We waddled out of there full of fried food and rich oysters and I did not even want to think about the number of calories I consumed. I usually avoid all fried foods so when I posted a photo of our fried seafood on Facebook my daughter asked Steve, "Did mom eat really eat that?"  The bill for this meal was $58.00, about a hundred dollars less than our NOLA dinner! We walked out and noticed the line was stretched down to the next block, but I can understand now that people want their oysters!

Line waiting to get in Acme Oyster House

A trip to the Harrah's casino for a few minutes sounded like a good end to the evening.  The smoke filled place was a little off putting so I knew we would be out of there quickly.  I put $20 in a quarter slot machine and figured it would be gone in minutes, as usually is the case.  The machine malfunctioned and a technician came over to fix it.  After he left the machine started paying off constantly.  Within a short time I had $200 in credit.  I cashed out when it went back down to $150 and gave the credit receipt to Steve to cash in.  After all, it's his birthday trip.
I was just glad to get out of the smoke filled noisy casino.

Sunday morning arrived and our plan to walk to Sucre, at 3025 Magazine St., was still on.  I added another stop to this plan, breakfast at the Surrey Juice Bar and Cafe at 1418 Magazine, about half way.  I read about the Surrey Juice Bar and Cafe in Yelp or Trip Advisor when looking for good breakfast spots.

Way too many things I would like to try

on our way out--line has formed

There was a clip on Youtube where it was visited by DDD that showed how they make their own bagels in house and cure their own salmon.  After all the local fare a bagels and lox breakfast sounded really good.  Our entire walk would be over six miles, but after all the heavy eating I was all for extra walking.  We set out about 8:00 and enjoyed our walked down Magazine Street.  This is an area in which old homes are being restored so there were some really cute two story traditional New Orleans style houses along the way as well as little shops and businesses.  We noticed azaleas and other flowers already blooming, early to us.  The Surrey Juice Bar and Cafe is a small building that looks like an old house.  Fortunately there was only a brief wait and we were seated.  A very quirky place with lots of art work on the falls and decoupaged table tops.  Ours happened to be covered with Bible verses.

The menu had a nice selection of organic vegetables and fruit juices--now this was my kind of place, finally!  I enjoyed a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange, apple, and carrot juice.  Steve had orange juice. All was very sweet and fresh.  My bagel and lox arrived and was just as good as I hoped.  The bagel was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside and the salmon was thinly sliced and flavorful.  I made little bagel/cream cheese/red onion/caper bites and savored each bite.  Steve had a huge bagel, egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich along with a big bowl of cheese grits.  The grits were made with stone ground grits and had a wonderful texture and taste, nothing like the instant grits usually served.

Looking at the menu I wished I lived in New Orleans so I could come back and try other items like the Costa Rican Breakfast with black beans, brown rice and avocado slices.

House made bagel and lox

We continued our walk on to Sucre.  A little rest was in order and a nice cup of dark hot chocolate was all I needed.  We selected a couple of gift boxes of authentic macarons, French style, to take back to Fort Worth.  Letty Thome from GoGo Gumbo told us about Sucre so we are taking a box to her and our daughter, Alexandra, requested some as well.

The walk back was very long and tiring.  We took a different street, a big mistake, and ended up on

Tchoupitoulas St., a busy, loud, industrial road which made it seem even longer.  Back at the room we had to collapse for awhile to recover from the cold, wind, and long, long walk at a brisk pace.

After a little rest we headed out to Royal Street to do a little shopping and just to enjoy the street music.

The weather had warmed up and we didn't have to bundle up with so many layers.  There were street performers all along Royal Street including an excellent violin player, bluegrass, country and others.

I really enjoy this aspect of New Orleans and it's one of the reasons we wanted to come back.

Smiling and trying not to think about the weight I've gained so far on this trip

Luke Dining Room

We had dinner reservations for 7:00 at August, a John Besh restaurant.  We had been there before and Steve wanted to return for his birthday.  We were seated in a rather dark section of the restaurant, so dark Steve couldn't read the menu even with his bifocals.  I had to switch seats with him and then he was able to see better.

Amuse Bouche

  We started with a champagne cocktail, and had appetizers of blue crab and black truffle hand-made potato gnocchi for Steve and the Plaquemines's parish citrus and jumbo lump crab salad with Benton's bacon, fennel and blood orange vinaigrette for me.

Jumbo lumb crab salad

Gnocchi

  Steve selected the Breaded Trout Pontchartrain with  lump crabmeat, wild mushrooms, and sauce hollandaise for his entree.  I had the Rebessa Lirette's Berkshire Duroc Pork, slow cooked belly, crispy pied, and tenderloin crepinette.  

Berkshire Duroc Pork

Trout Ponchartrain

We had Sauvingnon Blanc and Cabernet blend from Stag's Leap for wines.  Each of our entrees was small, plated beautifully, and a taste explosion unlike anything else we ever try.  For dessert Steve selected the dessert that won the Southern Living best dessert of the south award, Banana pudding with peanut butter, marshmallow and "nilla wafer" ice cream.  I had the Napoleon of nougatine with Valrhona chocolate bavarois, and salted toffee ice cream.  The desserts were out of this world, each taste bursting with unique flavors.

Nougatine

Banana Pudding

Complimentary truffles

We were tired of walking so after dinner we went to the Canal Street movie tavern and saw the movie, Side Effects.

Our last meal in New Orleans, Luke, another John Besh Restaurant.  It was a short walk from the hotel on St. Charles Ave.  I had planned to have the "eggs in a jar", soft shell crab with poached eggs and cheese grits but they were "out" of that item.  Steve ordered the fried chicken biscuit ($14.00) and I ordered the omelet of local crab ($22.00).  Rather expensive breakfast items, particularly the chicken biscuit, since a really good chicken biscuit at Chick Fil A costs about $3.00.  We had freshly squeezed orange juice which was great but when the food arrived after a really long wait Steve's chicken was cold and my omelet was barely warm. 



I don't enjoy cold eggs so I sent it back and asked for it to be brought to me hot.  The manager came over to our table to apologize and said she would take care of the meal.

 

Not expected, but that was fine.  My next omelet was piping hot and tasted OK, but really nothing more than pale eggs with pieces of crab inside.

 I could not detect the house made fromage blanc.  The "herb pistou" was nothing more than a few pieces of spring mix.  Steve's McEwen grits were quite good, though.  I'm tempted to look on line and order some.  Luke was a beautiful place, lots of hype, but the food did not live up to the descriptions and it was overpriced.  I am not thinking we will come back here on our next visit.  Breakfast at Brennan's may be the choice.

Back to the room to pack and on to the airport.  We'll probably grab something to eat on the plane, but not New Orleans fare.

Back at home we celebrated again at Gogo Gumbo--where we had better gumbo than New Orleans and Steve was treated with their famous banana cream pie.

 

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Healthier Holiday Sides

Thanksgiving has come and gone and this year I made some different side dishes that were much healthier than the really rich ones I made in years past.  I'm sure you know the ones--sweet potato casserole with tons of butter, sugar, and topped with marshmallows or mashed potatoes loaded with heavy cream and butter, and green bean casserole with cream sauce, cheese and topped with fried onions, just to name a few.  Then there were the "salads", which are not really salad at all--think "pink stuff" such as cool whip mixed with canned cherries and chopped nuts with jello, and other such fruity, sweet salads.  With four children each one had a favorite that couldn't be omitted.  My oldest daughter, Helen, has to have homemade yeast rolls (but she has the recipe now and makes them for her family), Glenn always wants the green bean casserole, John David only wanted canned jellied cranberry sauce, and Alexandra had to have the sweet potato casserole and "pink stuff" (cherry salad).  Steve has to have mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, and gravy, but ham instead of turkey.

I grew up eating a traditional Thanksgiving dinner a la Army mess hall style.  My father was an Army food service manager, former Army cook, who was in charge of planning Thanksgiving for hundreds.  At home he liked to cook the same meal for our family, starting with a massive turkey rubbed with butter, stuffed with a very rich bread stuffing and roasted with frequest basting using a big spoon.  He worked on the gravy for hours, making his own stock, saving the giblets and adding them to his dark, salty gravy.  My mother could be heard in the background saying, "Zack-san, don't put so much salt and pepper in everything!", because his Army-style cooking tended toward overseasoned food since he was used to cooking in gigantic quantities.  My mother insisted on having canned candied yams covered with brown sugar and dotted with a little butter.  Vegetables were more of an afterthought, generally canned green beans or corn.  There was always a big relish tray filled with raw vegetables, black olives, pickles, and pickled hot peppers and another dish of sliced jellied cranberry.  Rolls were the kind you buy and "heat and serve".  Dessert was always pumpkin pie and sometimes mincemeat pie (I never ate it--yuk). 

I enjoyed the Thanksgiving feasts of my childhood, particularly the leftovers, turkey sandwiches, and even my mother's turkey noodle soup made with stock using the turkey carcass.  Now, however, I can't really eat like that or soon I will expand back to my former 20+ pound body, not to mention loading my aging bloodstream with cholesterol and fat.  I also enjoy food in its natural form much more now.  Several years ago I had Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter, Helen's house in Bryan, Texas.  She made a simple meal of roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, steamed green beans and rolls.  Nothing was too fatty or rich and everything tasted wonderful.  Recently, I recalled that dinner and knew that I would have that type of Thanksgiving dinner this year.

My menu would have a mix of the usual Thanksgiving foods such as cornbread stuffing with sausage, glazed ham, and mashed potatoes, but I changed a couple dishes and added brussel sprouts as one of the vegetables.  So, in addition to traditional mashed potatoes I made Rosemary Garlic smashed potatoes, instead of a sweet potato casserole I made Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and the Shaved Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts and Parmesan Cheese for a vegetable side.

Rosemary Garlic Smashed Potatoes

2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon canola oil (can omit this and use Pam)
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup Earth Balance (dairy free margarine) (can reduce this to 2 T)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground dry rosemary (get it in the bulk section at Central Market)

In a skillet on medium-low heat, heat the oil and add the garlic.  Saute being careful not to burn the garlich, cooking just long enough to infuse the oil with garlic.  Set aside.
Boil the potatoes in a pot filled with water just above the potatoes.  Add a teaspoon of salt.
Bring the water to a boil, reduce to medium heat ans simmer for about 15 minutes, or until soft.
When potatoes are done boiling, drain and place in a large bowl.  Add all the ingredients and mash either by hand or with a hand mixer.

These potatoes were very popular with my 9 year old granddaughter, who preferred them to the traditional mashed potatoes. 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes, washed and pricked with a fork
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup organic dark brown cane sugar
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste

Roast sweet potatoes on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray at 425 degrees for 1 hour or until tender.  Cool slightly, then remove skins and place the cooked potato in a bowl.  Add the Earth Balance and sugar and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place mixture in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Shaved Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts and Parmesan Cheese

40 whole brussel sprouts, cut as thinly as possible with a sharp knife
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
sea salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons toasted walnuts  (Place walnuts in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, then chop small)

Mix the shaved brussel sprouts with the oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Roast in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning at 10 minutes to ensure brown edges.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and walnuts.  Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.

By the way, this is so delicious!

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