Recently Daniel and I traveled to New Orleans for a wedding (hubs was a groomsman). Doesn't he look handsome in his tux? It was a nice excuse to visit a city we probably never would have gone to on our own...and it was a nice excuse to have a weekend without kids. My parents watched the boys, which of course they all loved. Who wouldn't enjoy being spoiled by Nana and Pop-E? Daniel and I were excited to walk around the French Quarter (I love all things French) but most of all we were excited to try all the yummy food. I of course need to post about it now.
Thursday night we had the wonderful pleasure of eating at the Chop House. Our very sweet friends, and Daniel's clients, set up the reservations for us and, gulp, treated us. It was THE BEST I've ever had! My filet literally melted in my mouth.
For our appetizer we enjoyed a seafood platter that included garlic shrimp, lobster, lump crabmeat and crab bisque (four different items, not all together). I could eat the bisque for days on end, every meal. It was that good. I always like a ceasar salad so we split one of those as well. For dinner we opted for the filet mignon and split it because I was already getting full. We also tried the onion rings you see in the picture. DELISH. Dessert? That huge chocolate cake you see in the picture. Did I say that this was one of the best meals we've had?
I'd like to say I slept well that night but my body was still accustomed to getting up with the baby so I woke up at 3am and then again at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. Afterall, that's my normal schedule back home, which is an hour ahead!
We were told that we had to go have beignets at Cafe Du Monde. For those of you who don't know what those are, they are a French doughnut. Basically like fried dough with powdered sugar but better. The Cafe was established in 1862 and serves the original coffee that includes chicory as well as regular coffee served regular or au lait (with steamed milk). We opted for beignets and cafe au lait and ate them in the courtyard. Wonderful start to a lovely morning!
We strolled around the French Quarter that day before we had to head off to the rehearsal dinner. Our next big meal that's noteworthy was on Saturday at Red Fish. Of course it was going to be our last meal in the French Quarter so we got the full she-bang. We started with a trio appetizer of fried oysters, crab claws and seafood crustinis. The wonderful part is that they bring you a hot french baguette so we could sop up the sauce from the crab claws. I'm sure it was healthy. Butter, butter, butter with a few other ingredients mixed in. Daniel followed with the alligator and sausage gumbo. I had a bite and it had such wonderful flavor. We each had a poboy (me = oyster, Daniel = shrimp). I was so full that I just ate the oysters off of mine and left the bread. We also enjoyed the chocolate bread pudding for dessert. I made a point to take a picture of the menu with the Grilled Cheese Vegetable Sandwich. Daniel really wanted to order that too so I thought maybe I could make one similar at home.
By the time we finished that meal, I was toast. I couldn't eat anything else that had heavy cream, butter, fried or any note of richness to it. Even at the wedding reception, which had a tremendous amount of local food, I barely ate. The food was heavenly but I couldn't eat like that on a regular basis. Speaking of wedding receptions, somehow Daniel was roped in to having the bride sit in his lap while the garter was removed. He didn't know what hit him since he was literally grabbed at the last minute. Traditionally the best man is supposed to have this duty but it was the groom's father. Can we say awkward? So Daniel it was.
My one purcahse was a cookbook that looks to have some yummy seafood recipes that I want to try once the boys can have shellfish. I'll be sure to post any good ones.
New Orleans verdict: definitely a place to visit for a weekend but not somewhere I'd recommend for a lengthy stay and definitely not a place for kids. We came, we saw and now we can check it off our list.
Anyone else taken any fun weekend trips where the local fare was delicious?
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