2012 Trip - Day 3 - October 5

Since we didn't make it to Dorignac's yesterday, I wanted to go today early and get back early, so we had a light breakfast at Croissant D'Or - 2 raspberry croissants and we split a coke (tab - $6.00)

Then we were off to Dorignac's to make some groceries - well mostly to get some items from their bakery.

 

I can't imagine there's a better grocery store bakery anywhere else. Standing in front of the counter is Roy the bakery manager and red shirt guy who complained his cherry pie didn't have enough cherries. He said he should have brought it back, but he ate it anyway. This all translated to I want a free pie! He 

got one too.

We stocked up on some goodies - a slice each of orange cake & lemon cake, a Napoleon, and 2 lemon and 2 chocolate doberge squares. We ate the orange and lemon cake slices earlier for snack, the orange one was good, but the lemon one was sort of dry. Guess you can't get a winner every time.

For lunch we headed to Yo Mama's for a burger. I didn't get a shot of the outside, but here's a view of the inside taken from our table. The fellow to the right was a hoot and entertained the people he was with and also us. He sort of talked and looked a little bit like Max Baer as Jethro Bodine.

We split a cheeseburger and got an extra baked potato. Peggy had two Blue Moon beers and I had two Miller High Lifes. The beers were way to expensive (tourist rip off prices $4.50 and $4.00 each respective) and this made our total tab here $37.00. While Peggy says this is a "damn fine burger", I actually preferred the one we had last night at Camellia Grill.

Went to DBA and caught Hot Club of New Orleans - not really our cup of tea. It was what I like to call Woody Allen music. We had a couple of beers and left right before their first set ended. Since we were pretty stuffed from lunch and our afternoon cake snacks, we wanted something light for supper. We walked way back down to the other end of the FQ to eat at Felipe's Taqueria. 

We had three tacos (char-grilled chicken for Peggy, pork for me, and we split a marinated pork), with 2 root beers our tab was only $12.00. Not only was this a good meal, but cheap also.

2009 Trip Day 23 - June 4

We started the day at Croissant D'Or, since we were having and early lunch with Bill at K-Paul's.

We met up with Bill at noon and walked down to K-Paul's. Bill had Mirliton Crawfish and Beef Casserole (Fried Mirliton Slices Covered with Beef, Crawfish, Onions, Peppers, Garlic and Seasonings, then Baked. Served with a Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Smoked Gouda Cheese Sauce). Zack had the K-Paul's In House Made Hot Sausage Po Boy (Fresh Ground Pork Mixed with Caramelized Veggies, Made Into Two (2) Patties, Fried and Served on 8" Buttered French Bread) and sweet potato fries. I had 1/2 of an Oyster Po Boy with onion rings and Peggy had the other 1/2 of the Po Boy and Onion rings. Below is a photo of my half. Everything was good and everyone seemed satisfied and best of all, it was Bill's treat!

We drove out to Magazine Street and checked out Funky Monkey and Fun Rockin' and then we drove over to Williams Plum Street Snoballs, whose actual address is on Burdette St (they are on the corner of Plum St and you actually enter on Plum). Peggy had a nectar cream and I had a strawberry shortcake cream, both were tasty. We then headed back into the FQ.

We went to DBA to see Paul Sanchez. Tonight he was accompanied by Jason Butler. Very talented and as always a great night of entertainment.

After we left DBA, we went to La Peniche. Zack had eggs, bacon, grits and toast. I had a roast beef sandwich (they have great tasting sliced roast beef) and Peggy was able to get her banana, peanut butter waffle.

2009 Trip Day 22 - June 3

We started the day at Croissant D'Or. Peggy and I had our usual raspberry croissants and split a coke. Zack had a cheese danish and a coffee. This is a great cheap breakfast, just barely over 8.00 for the 3 of us.

We got to go to lunch at The Green Goddess with John and Karl, our favorite New Orleans dining companions. I had the New Orleans Bangers and Mash. Peggy had the Louisiana Blue Crab Melt. These two dishes are described in another post from a previous Green Goddess visit. Karl had the Cuban Luau Sandwich (Artisanal salame, pulled pork, manchego, pickled banana peppers & roasted pineapple on pressed ciabatta). John had The Crawfish Boil Salad (Warm crawfish, corn & artichokes, with spicy crab-boiled potatoes and roasted garlic aioli over arugula.). Zack had a special of the day Boudin patties topped with crawfish etoufee). The we all split a strawberry creme brulee (which the waitress was nice enough to comp us). What a great meal.

I think the places I will miss the most are Croissant D'or, The Green Goddess, Yo Mama's, Acme, Joey K's, Napoleon House, Mona Lisa......OH HELL....about everywhere we have eaten.

We went to Lafayette Square for the Wednesday music, but no Paul Sanchez and NO snoball....they ran out of ice....and we went early. Zack had a piece of pizza and a couple of beers and I had a cochon du lait poboy and Peggy took a few bites of it.

So after the long walk down and the long walk back, we then walked to DBA to see the Tin Men, but tonight they called themselves the Slim Men....Alex McMurray was missing tonight and they had St. Louis Slim....he was ok....but no Alex McMurray.

After leaving there, we went by El Gato Negro, but they were closed for repairs, so we swung around a couple of blocks and ate at Mona Lisa. We had our regular 2 salads and a white pizza. Zack had spinach artichoke dip with bruschetta....it was on the menu as a special appetizer and it was huge.

2009 Trip Day 17 - May 29

We ate a couple of pieces of the Cajun Kringle (which didn't seem to have as much filling as last year) for breakfast and then washed a few clothes at the corner washerette.

I got hungry around 1pm and we wanted to eat a little something light. We decided on either K-Pauls and split a dish or The Green Goddess since they would be "small plates". We decided to go by The Green Goddess first and see if we could get a seat inside, since we're not much for eating at outside tables. They had some tables inside and as we went in, someone was saying "Peggy, Peggy". Since most of the people we knew have moved away, it was a complete and nice surprise to see Marrus. She and Peggy have been emailing back and forth to see if Marrus was going to set up anywhere while we were here and we could get another print (unfortunately, we can't afford the real thing).

Peggy had the Acadian Country Breakfast (2 boudin patties inside sweet potato biscuits with pepper jelly and Steens Cane Syrup and Grits on the side).

I had the Da Meatloaf Sandwich (bison and bacon meatloaf dressed with Creole mustard, arugula, tomatoes, and roasted garlic aioli, and Nueske’s bacon).

To drink we had 1 Abita Root Beer and 1 Lychee Ginger Mint “Julep” made with Lychee puree, ginger syrup, ginger beer & muddled mint. Non-alcoholic since Chris has not received his liquor license yet. However, I had a hard time convincing myself that it wasn't alcoholic, since it left a slight burn in your throat.

So the "small plates" were not so small and we were stuffed when we finished. Chef Paul, who works the lunch shift, did an excellent job on both dishes.

We went to DBA and caught Ingrid Lucia's first set and on the way back to the apartment we watched saw Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham and the movie crew for the Expendables. The best thing we saw was Stallone leaving in a fancy red sports car and driving just like you would think Stallone would drive - all out.

After a brief stop at the apartment, we went to Mona Lisa for the Mona Lisa Special Sandwich, with a couple of sodas, our bill was only 13.00. One of the cheapest meals we have eaten.

After dinner, we went back to Esplanade and hung out and watched the movie people some more. Stallone was walking around with his cigar and giving directions. We finally did get to see a little action, when Jason Statham rode a motorcycle up the street a couple of times.

2009 Trip Day 15 - May 27

We left out early to go to The Bridge House Thrift Store on Airline Highway. It's a pretty good thrift store, with everything marked up and then 1/2 off....must work for them. Plus, we found that today, some things were 75 per cent off and if you were over 55, books, videos, cds were 25 per cent off. With all of our discounts we got two bags full, plus a Twitty City plate for 36.00.

We drove back into the city and went to Cafe Reconcile for lunch. There weren't as many people eating there today, plus not as many workers. And the workers that they did have, looked like they thought they were prisoners! Didn't see many of the workers that looked like they would every make it in the service industry. I had the catfish poboy again with potato salad. Peggy had catfish with green beans and garlic mashed potatoes. Plus we had their award winning bananas foster bread pudding. Our tab with 2 drinks was 26.00.

After an afternoon rest we went to the Wednesday Music at Lafayette Square. We went primarily to get Peggy her Nectar Sno Ball, but once we got there we had white beans with tasso, andouille sausage and rice and a strawberry kiwi tea from Between the Bread. Both of these were really good.

I saw that the restaurant Zoe had fish tacos and I always wanted to try one. Well, now I can say I had one and while it wasn't bad it was just ok, just not really to my taste. But they had fancy plastic plates to serve them on.

Then we got our nectar sno ball and went around front to watch a local cover/party band - Bag of Donuts.They really put on a great show.

After a very brief stop back at the apartment, we went to DBA to check out The Tin Men. I always thought this was going to be some type of all horn jazz band, but when I checked earlier today, I saw that it was Alex McMurray, Washboard Chaz, and Matt Perine. We have seen all of these at one time or the other but never together in one band. They say that they are the #1 sousaphone, washboard, guitar trio in the World :-)

So, not only did I discover another favorite band, but this was a full and fun day in New Orleans.

2009 Trip Day 9 - May 21

A couple of odds and ends to include before I start today's post:

Peggy wanted to include the fact that she got some New Orleans Ice Cream Co. Ponchatoula Strawberry and teases the fate of her stomach with a couple of spoonfuls a day.

Things that amuse me:

When we were right off Magazine Street the other day, I saw a sign on a church that said "For Sale By Owner".

Overheard conversations:

1st person "What should we do now?" Second person " I think we should get more beer"

Overheard from someone on cell phone "I've had you know... like too much too drink already"

Now on to today's post:

Over the river and through the woods.....ok, just over the river and through Terry Town to Thrift City's 1/2 price clothing sale. As I was looking in the books, some old guy (probably about my age) was bragging to me about all of the valuable books he had found in Thrift City. He pointed to the bottom shelf and said he just didn't feel like stooping down for the low ones. I took a look and lo and behold a copy of Teen Cuisine with the Peter Max cover. I pulled it out and said " you're right, here's a 25.00 book." He just got a sick look on his face and walked away.

We were going to try to find another thrift store, but traffic was snarled due to road work and we got in the wrong lane, so just made it back to 90 and crossed back into New Orleans over the toll road.

Since we had that not so good bbq sandwich yesterday, I decided that it would be nice to go to The Joint for some real bbq.

We both had chopped pork sandwiches with slaw, plus I had a side of bake macaroni. Peggy had the Green Salad with smoked tomato & onion dressing. With a coke and a tea, our bill was 18.00. The Joint has bbq that is like what we have back home and finding good bbq in New Orleans is not easy. The Joint is the only place we have ever found in New Orleans that has good bbq.

We went back to the Napoleon House for dinner and split a 1/2 of muffuletta, plus their tap was working, so we had 3 amber bocks - 18.00

We went to DBA to see Paul Sanchez. He had Matt Perrine (tuba player) and Alex McMurray (sort of like Randy Newman but with guitar instead of piano) with him.

We finished out the night with the rest of the doberge squares from Dorignac's.