Green Goddess

I was so excited to get to go here.

The Hubby of one of my fave authors is the owner/chef of this establishment.

Green goddess is situated in a lovely little alleway (yes, alleyway) in the French Quarter. There are pots of plants along the tables, growing things like rainbow chard, mint, and tons of other edibles.

There are only 4 tables or so inside, and about 9 outside. We waited 45 minutes for our table, we NEVER wait at a restaurant, but I really really wanted to go here, so we waited. Writing about this I can practically feel the warmth of the sun on my face....



I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with the service. We had a couple screw ups, but the awesomeness of the food made up for that. The dishes that they serve, are simple, but the imaginitive mix of ingredients is what makes this food truly spectacular.

I ordered a mojito, and nathan had a bloody mary. Definitely not from a mix, there was actually tomato skin floating in the drink.




For an entree I had a cuban sandwich. It had pineapple, aioli, pork and more. It was great! What really stood out though, was the bread. It wasn't too thick or thin, too floppy, crumbly, crusty, or soft...it was just.... perfect. ...

Nathan ordered a meatloaf sandwich, and it was quite good. I believe it was bison or buffalo, studded with bacon pieces and smothered in whole grain mustard sauce.

Quite good.

I ended up getting sunburned. I have to say that was less than stellar, but I was so happy to get to experience this restaurant.

They have a ton of fun drinks on the menu as well, I would have liked to try some of the others, but they were a little steep.




I cant find the damn pictures of our entrees. I will try to find them soon

Beignets

One of the most famous foods of New Orleans are the Beignets.

I am still craving them, they are so damn good.

They are little square donuts, fried and coated in powdered sugar (lots of it!) made to order, served HOT.




Cafe du Monde is the most famous place, but since the line was out the door I went to this cute little place instead. You can't go to New Orleans and not have a Beignet.... it is just insane.




I bought a box of mix, and I will try to make them at home... Soon, you will all be covered in powdered sugar!

NOLA

The night that we ended up going to NOLA, we had originally planned on just grabbing some Chinese from a place down the road. We had been to Brennans that day for breakfast, and the amount of alcohol we has consumed that day, was bordering on ridiculous. We walked, and explored cemetaries, so a few hours before our reservation, We asked some of our fellow travellers to join us for dinner, and instead of them joining us, we joined them! They had a reservation at the Famous NOLA restaurant, owned by the famed New Orleans Chef, Emeril Lagasse.

So, we got all spiffed up and drove to NOLA! We may have taken a few detours, thanks to my stellar navigational skills (seriously, don't drink and navigate.)

We arrived and were taken up the elevator to the 3rd floor where we were seated in a small dining room. I don't know what it is about New Orleans and their multiple dining rooms!


We ordered a bottle of wine and pored over the menu. There were so many good options that it was hard to choose! Alicia knew she was getting the Duck... apparently it is to die for.


I ordered the fried green tomaties for App..




and the pork shank for my entree.




Nathan got a ribeye with fingerlings.




My tomatoes had shrimp with them, so I gave them to Nathan, and guess what kind of sauce they had on them?! My new fave, Remoulade!

You will have to forgive the camera work here, it was quite dark in the restaurant.

I asked the waiter where the washroom was, and he actually escorted me there, it was crazy.

Anyhow, I had the trio of creme brulees for dessert, and I can't for the life of me remember what the others had.... it was that good of a night :)

Walking Tour- Part 3

3rd stop- Arnaud's

Food- Shrimp Remoulade




This is another really old restaurant. We went into the Oyster Bar part of the restaurant, and there was a man in there shucking oysters.


It is hard work!


We didn't try any oysters, but had Shrimp Remoulade. And though I can't really eat seafood, I gave it a try. It is served cold with a delicious sauce! I LOVED the sauce, it is a spicy mustard sauce, and I had it sometime long ago and often thought about it. When I took a bite the memory came rushing back, along with an enormous sense of relief that I had found that flavor again!

Of course I purchased a bottle!



After we finished our food, we went for a walk through the rest of the restaurant.

The couple who owned the restaurant had a daughter, Germaine, and she was said to be something of a partier. She was mardi Gras queen more times than anybody in history! The restaurant was eventually taken over by another family, as Germaine wasn't interested. But, the new owners decided to make a Mardi Gras Museum upstairs with many of the ballgowns that she wore, and there are photos of her in most of the dresses as well, here are a few.

Walking Tour- Part 2.

Leahs Pralines- Pralines.
Our next stop was at a praline shop (pronounced Praw-leen.) These confections are world famous, and very sweet and very delicious!



They are made with sugar (brown and white) butter, evaporated milk, vanilla, and lots of pecans! They are a little crumbly and reminded me of Scottish Tablet, or Quebecois Tire d'erable.

You can check out their website here http://www.leahspralines.com/

There are lots of Praline shops in the French quarter!

New Orleans Culinary Walking Tour.

First Stop- Antoine's

Food- Gumbo




The meeting point of our tour was Antoine's. We tried gumbo and had a tour of the restaurant. The guide told us that the Thursday before Mardi Gras, the place sat 1,700 people for lunch! It doesn't look that big from the outside, but it is actually huge! We got to walk through all of the dining rooms (I think there were 13!)




Walls are covered with New Orleans and American History. Pictures of Kings and Queens from Mardi Gras, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, a bottle of wine from the last voyage of the Queen Mary, and even one of the first light bulbs invented by Thomas Edison!




One of the Dining rooms had a giant snail carved into the wall! How cool! Nathan decided to pet it.



To be continued...

Brennans

I had booked this breakfast at Brennan's almost immediately after finalizing plans to go to New Orleans. The food at this place is said to be legendary, and I have to say the grub was pretty damn good.

Nathan and I both ordered the Prix Fixe 3 course menu.

For appetizer, I ordered a baked apple in heavy cream. Very delicious! And Nathan ordered Oyster Soup. I didn't try any, but he ate it all, so It can't have been that bad.




And of Course we ordered Sazaracs for appetizer as well. I didn't really like it, so nathan drank the rest of mine.



A Sazerac is a Drink that originated in New Orleans, if you like Anise flavored drinks, you will probably like to have one. A Sazerac is made with Rye, Herbsaint or absinth, and Peychaud's Bitters (also originated in NOLA)

For the main course I had Eggs Hussarde. Poached eggs on Canadian bacon and holland rusks, with hollandaise and Marchand De Vin Sauce.




Brennans was kind enough to post the recipe Here

Nathan Ordered Eggs Owen
Poached Eggs with beef hash and marchand de vin sauce
Oh gosh, and here is the Recipe for it




There was an elephant in my coffee



But, the main attraction here was the dessert! Brennans actually invented the dish Bananas Foster, so it seemed like we would be silly not to order it. I didn't order it....



But, Nathan did! I ordered the crepes Rockafeller and they were ridiculous! Thin crepes filled with cream cheese and flambeed strawberries. It was soooo good.


We also had a bottle of wine.

We left the place pretty damn happy.

Mardi Gras

We got into New Orleans on Monday evening. As we were checking into the B and B, we could hear the parade passing by about a block away. Fat Tuesday was spent wandering up and down St. Charles street, looking for something to eat other than the ubiquitous hot dogs and elephant ears that were for sale. The food that was not for sale along the street looked amazing. During the Zulu Parade we were standing next to what looked like a 20 gallon pot, where a man was cooking. Over the course of the parade, he proceeded to toss pigs feet, pork necks, and corn cobs into the violently boiling pot.



We ended up getting a delicious cuban sandwich from Eiffel, once for 4 bucks and once for 5.. crazy how the food gets more expensive as the day wears on!

We also had a burger at a dive bar.

And we had lots of beer (Abita) and wine.