Louisiana Summer :: New Orleans

 

 

Two nights in NOLa with just the mister to celebrate our anniversary...

 

For lodging: Omni Royal Orleans

Perfect location, clean, excellent beds and linens, friendly staff, gorgeous rooftop pool & bar, luxurious

 

For breakfast: Surrey's

Get the shrimp and grits or the banana's foster French toast.

 

For lunch: The American Sector

We love John Besh. The perfect pig poboy was decidedly perfect.

 

For dinner: Borgne

This is an upscale casual Besh restaurant featuring LA seafood. Get the black drum entree, the duck poppers, and the Breaking Cane cocktail. Skip the stuffed flounder.

 

For shopping: Mignon Faget

I went for pieces from The HIVE collection this time. I always get a compliment or comment when I wear a piece from her collection.

 

For cool New Orleans-style jazz: Jeremy Davenport Lounge at the Ritz

The music and setting were phenomenal. The large and boisterous, uppity crowd was not.

 

For coffee: Cafe du Monde; Antoine's Annex

Get a table on the edge of the cafe for great people watching. Antoine's coffee was perfect.

 

For museum hopping: Ogden Museum of Southern Art;

Wow. We were introduced to the prolific Southern artist, William Hollingsworth. I also enjoyed Eudora Welty's photography collection.

Contemporary Arts Center

Check out the quirky, spooky Chalmatia exhibit.

 

For oysters: Royal House Oyster Bar

Belly up to the bar for a dozen raw and an ice cold Abita amber.

 

For Marie Laveau: St. Louis Cemetery #1

Not at night.

 

For mass: St.Louis Cathedral

I never miss the irony of the fortune tellers who set up just outside the doors of the church. There is a beautiful harmony that exists in this city.

 

For live music: It's everywhere, you can't miss it.

 

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There are a thousand other ways to enjoy this city; this is just a bit of how we did it this time.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Louisiana Summer / TOO-Loose

 

I've got my feet on the ground in a city I love. Man is it HOT!

 

Posted with Blogsy

king cake...got it!

I think I have mastered a version of the king cake, and this is how I did it.

I used the recipe for brioche dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking, adding a few teaspoons of cinnamon to the dough. I would have added orange zest as well had I been in possession of an orange or two.

The dough rose for a couple of hours and then I put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I took about half of the dough, rolled it out and filled with a cane syrup, brown sugar mixture from this online recipe. I omitted the Allspice because it's not something available in my pantry. What is Allspice, anyway?

I rolled it as I would for cinnamon rolls and then, forming an oval on my baking stone, connected the two ends.

And...genius...I made the glaze with powdered sugar and Makers Mark whiskey, an idea from the same recipe.

Laissez le bon ton rouler. It's carnival time.

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Steen's is a dark, rich syrup made in Louisiana from pure sugarcane juice.  Did you know that many parts of South Louisiana are covered in sugarcane fields?  It makes a perfect filling for this king cake...amazingly perfect. I brought a couple of cans back with me last summer, so I did have this ingredient in my pantry. I'm looking forward to finding other creative uses for it.

Next Stop, New Orleans

Our first stop in Louisiana was in New Orleans, where we spent an entire weekend in a fancy hotel directly on the streetcar line, a hotel that I was able to book for next to nothing by using this quirky site. Did you know that there is a strategy involved in getting exactly the place you want? Google it. It worked for me. 

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Young One spent the first day and night with us, and then she went out to the country with her grands, leaving the man and I free to roam in search of music until the wee hours.

It rained the entire weekend.

We usually don't seek out famous-name, chef-owned restaurants when we visit. Come on, it's New Orleans, as long as you steer clear of Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company on Decatur, then you are likely going to be okay. This year we did visit both Mondo, of Susan Spicer fame, and Luke, a John Besh restaurant. 

Both were fabulous.

 

But you know... I'd be perfectly happy with oysters, all day, every day. We ate these at Felix's, standing at the bar as the guy shucked them for us. With an ice cold Abita Amber on tap. In heaven. With friends. Everyone in NOLA is your friend. Well. Except for the NOPD. At least they have cool rides. Ahh, the Vespa.

 

 

We happened upon a small place called Mena's Palace on Chartres that served up a mean plate of red beans and rice and a spot-on Greek-inspired Creole tomato salad, with capers, olives, feta, and peppers. Here too, super friendly people. I did chuckle a bit when the lady seated at the table next to me asked for the carb count on the poboy she ordered. She wanted to see the packaging for the bread. This ain't bread from Winn Dixie, Honey!

At Luke I ordered a crabmeat and asparagus omelet for breakfast. Well. What do you think? Worthy of an almost Iron Chef? He was a finalist in season one, you know. I wonder if that is validating for a chef ... this whole Iron Chef business.

What's NOLA without a Lucky Dog?

Finally, we had cafe au lait and beignets and made a trip via streetcar to the Garden District to both Tracey's, for poboys and boudin balls and to Superior, for Tex Mex with a Louisiana twist; I had crawfish enchiladas. We stopped in at Johnny's PoBoys in the Quarter where we had an incredible bowl of seafood gumbo, served in a styrofoam cup, mind you. Yum, nonetheless. For the best Bloody Mary, try The Organic Banana in the French Market. Perfectly spicy.

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We found the music.
It's not really difficult in this city as it's around every corner.
One night we headed down to the Blue Nile on Frenchman Street
and listened to the Brass-a-holics.

We're so damn cool and hip.
Can you dig it?

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