So, on to the food! Long post, so settle in with some coffee. New Orleans is pretty famous for its food. Honestly, you don’t go here thinking in any way that you are going to be able to find salads and fat free dressing. This is one of those times that you eat good food, enjoy it, feel no guilt and move on once you get home. Plus you do a lot of walking, so that helps.

This is a compilation of what the 3 of us ate. Not every meal, but the most interesting ones.

 Of course, you cannot go to New Orleans and not have beignets at Cafe du Monde!

These are a French style donut. It’s square and thick – kind of like fried dough and not really like a donut. Plenty of powdered sugar on these. Please do not wear dark colored clothes when eating these.  I lost count of how many we ate.  Okay, I know how many we ate, but that will be kept secret 😉

Bourbon Street is hit or miss with food from cheap bar food to upscale eateries. We went mid level with Remoulade, which is an offshoot of Arnaud’s. I actually had a drink and it was really good, so I will share that. It’s called a Pearl Diver.  It had rum, coconut, pineapple and melon liqueur.

I enjoyed my meal of crawfish pies, which are filled with a spicy crawfish mixture.

Note, when eating in New Orleans, don’t waste stomach space on things like fries or stuff you can get at home.

We also love Croissant D’Or on Ursuline. This place is beautiful inside.

My mother and I had a frangipani, which has layers of pastry and and almond filling.

John had a Napoleon.

 

When we took the streetcar, we went way out of the Quarter into Riverbend and stumbled on the Milk Bar.

What a little gem this place is! I had an unusual sandwich called Yam I Am.  It had sweet potato, sun dried tomato, pesto, feta cheese, spring greens and a balsamic dressing on it (I left off the onions and olives…ewww).  This was a delicious sandwich!

You know I had to find cupcakes, right?  We happened upon the Kupcake Factory and I couldn’t resist.  They had good prices on the cuppies at $2.50 each. Here is John’s Boston Cream cupcake.

Our ‘fanciest’ meal we had was at Eat Nola, which is a newer restaurant in the more residential part of the Quarter. It’s a renovated old home.

 

We started with a bleu cheese and fig compote appetizer. The bleu cheese was very mild and I quite liked this.

My entree was chocon with mustard greens and a side of mac and cheese (made with spaghetti noodles).

It’s basically a barbecue pulled pork. I have never tried mustard greens before. I was expecting a very strong flavor, but they were milder than collard greens, or so they seemed to me. I would not go out of my way to eat them again, but it was fun to try.

John had a crawfish pie with a side of red beans and rice.

He really liked this. The pie actually had cheese on top, which was unusual – and very rich. He also said their red beans and rice were excellent.

 My mother had the barbecue shrimp. Now BBQ shrimp in New Orleans is something different. It is a buttery worchestershire sauce that is pretty spicy. It comes with french bread to soak up the sauce and also a wet towel for cleaning your hands. The shrimp are not peeled. Normally the heads are left on, but Eat served them in shell minus the head.

For an inexpensive and good meal in the Quarter, try The Grill Nola , which is kind of a classic diner. I loved the inside, but maybe because I am partial to the marble countertops.

 

I had a cheese omelet – good for protein in a city that loves its carbs.

John had a catfish Po’boy, which is really a sub, but they call them po’boys.

Really good meal here.

 One of my very, very favorite things is a praline!  We tested a lot of different ones and the 2 top standouts in my opinion are Southern Candy Makers and Loretta’s.  Super fresh:

Yum!!

Another new place to us this trip was Stanley’s.  A companion restaurant to, of course, Stella’s. (Stellaaaaaa!!!!)  It is very affordable and really good!  I loved the atmosphere, too.

I had an eggs benedict Po’boy.

Simple and delicious!

My mom’s dish was a shrimp and crawfish etouffe:

So, I think that gives you a good idea of the cuisine.  Not that it is all cajun/creole since you can find pretty much any cuisine in this city, but you can’t go wrong with these. Now I am still dreaming of the pralines and will have to wait for the next trip there!