Jealous Much!!!!

Last weekend just went way to fast. I didn’t end up leaving until Friday morning and had to make the return on Sunday late afternoon. With that being said it’s probably a good thing it worked out the way that it did. It’s not hard to be in New Orleans and over eat every meal. My wife tells me a proper portion size for most foods is the size of your fist. If this is truly the case, let’s put fists to the meals consumed while in New Orleans.

My wife is attending a board meeting for the RBMA and apparently they have more money than most because everyone is staying at the Ritz Carlton on Canal St. No complaints from me, it’s nice to be waited on every once in a while. The unfortunate part of this is my first meal in town is at Ritz with 40 members and spouses of the RBMA board. You would think since most of the people that stay in hotels are from out of town they would have some Cajun fair. Not he case but the food was decent and an open bar. Two fists of New York Steak with 3 fingers of asparagus, one fist of Caesar salad and a so so rendition of a one fist coffee Crème Brule’. It all kind of taste like it came from a hotel if you know what I mean. Oh, I almost forgot the 6 fists of Vodka Tonic.

After dinner (this is where the fun begins) a large group of us head down to Bourbon Street. We make a brief stop at Pat O’Brien’s and the House of Blues but finally find a “resting spot” at the 544 Club. A lot of the bars in N.O. have live bands but on this night, this is the happen’ place. This is a great place for dancing, drinking, people watching or just enjoying the music. Word of caution; don’t get suckered into doing Jaeger shots with the shot waitress!!! This is of course does not apply to those single males. You could be the one making out with her in the corner of the bar after some married guy and his wife buy her half a dozen. Thirty some fists of miscellaneous tonics later we staggered back to the Ritz for some much needed sleep and detox.

Prior to making the trip I had huge plans for Saturday starting first thing in the morning with a nice work out in the gym followed by a relaxing breakfast overlooking the Mississippi river with a cup of coffee and plate of Beignets’ (French Donuts).
So I roll out of bed about the crack of noon feeling nauseous with a splitting headache. Needless to say, I did not even come close the original fairytale plan but am surprisingly hungry and in desperate need of some grease and caffeine.
I saw on the food network, an episode of “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” that featured the “Muffeletta” at a deli named Serio’s. A turn out Serio’s is 2 blocks from the hotel and I thinking this huge historic sandwich will be the cure. Serio’s claims to make the best Muffeletta I town but I may never know because for some reason they aren’t open on the weekends. Yeh, I know, doesn’t make sense to me either.
Lazy River Café is located in the JAX brewery building. The have a fairly simplistic menu featuring the traditional Cajun fare and reasonably priced for the area. Yes, I found my sandwich and pared it with an order of crawfish cakes and a pitcher of diet coke. The crawfish cakes came out within minutes as two giant stuffed rolls (2 fists each) stuffed with a mixture of crawfish, veggies and Cajun seasoning. Hit them with some Tabasco and your off and runnin’. No disappointment on the Muffeletta either. This 2 fist sandwich is filled with Italian meats, cheeses and olive salad served warm in herbed focaccia bread.

A couple hours later after walking around the French Quarter I muster up enough desire to eat again and decide to dine at my original choice for first thing that morning.
Café du Monde’ located at Jackson Square and is known world wide for their coffee and Beignets. Good thing because this is all they have and for good reason, they don’t need anything else. You could visit this place from open to close and they are packed. There is patio dinning, to go line and inside dinning. You will see the to go line at no less that 20 people and the patio dinning is always full. Do what we did and go inside. For some reason, regardless of the lengthily lines outside we walked right in and sat down. What to get? What else, coffee and an order of Beignets per person. The Beignets come three fists per order, hot and covered in powdered sugar. This is a must for all visitors to this area.

Later this same evening the RBMA group is at it again. The lot of us board a bus headed for a Cajun cooking class at the Savvy Gourmet (savvygourmet.com) located on Magazine St. Hands down this was the best experience of the trip. Not only did they provide expert tips on cooking the local cuisine but it’s also a chef shop where you can pick up a few miscellaneous tools you need for your own kitchen. This was a four course meal of sorts that started with a salad that included crab and shrimp tossed in Creole mustard dressing and finished with Bananas Foster that was to die for. Gumbo was the traditional dark rue type but I would have put more of everything in it. Chances are you won’t be in town with enough people to justify booking a class but make sure to stop by the Savvy Gourmet for Sunday brunch from 10:30 to 2:00.
Last but certainly not least was our choice for Sunday brunch prior to leaving for home. We had already done Café du Monde’ this morning (four fists of Beignets for me) and I really wasn’t that hungry. In hind site we should have gone back to the Savvy Gourmet but decided to try the local tradition and dine at Dickey Brennen’s Palace Café. The menu is nicely proportioned and everything smells and looks wonderful. Had I not already eaten this morning it might have been a better experience. Service was great and the food was good but for a $70 breakfast, no thanks. This is the kind of place to sip mimosas and enjoy the white glove service. Next time I’ll find the place with the special on red beers and Muffeletta.