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FunnyJohn

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I'll be in NOLA for most of next week, starting on Monday. If anyone else is there and wants to try to meet up, let me know.

Also...a colleague is going there with her husband in March. She wants to know what the most romantic restaurants in the city are. Suggestions?

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We also spent the weekend in New Orleans, but not for the BCS, although we enjoyed watching the festive LSU and Ohio State fans in the French Quarter.

After one obligatory stop at Cafe du Monde, we subsequently had our morning beignets at the aptly-named Cafe Beignet, where they were warmer and fresher and not accompanied by a half pound of powdered sugar.

Our favorite restaurant turned out to be Cochon. Friendly, casual atmosphere; good service, and fantastic food. We were not all that familiar with Cajun-style foods, and really enjoyed small plates of oyster pie, smoked sausage and grits, spicy grilled shrimp with chow-chow, and a selection of dried sausages. We also tried an off-menu special of a huge, tender, juicy pork chop (Cochon says they butcher their own) that had been slathered in pastrami before cooking. Wish I had access to that quality pork.

The second night we tried Emeril's NOLA Restaurant. With all the BCS fans in town, it was packed and noisy, but the food was excellent and the service incredibly attentive, especially considering the crowd. We shared an appetizer of duck pizza (a small pie topped with duck confit and drizzled with truffle oil), and had a delectable shrimp and grits (more complex than expected, with grilled green onions, smoked cheddar grits, apple smoked bacon, crimini mushrooms, creole tomato glaze and red chili-Abita butter sauce) and a plate of tender, smoky ribs. (Oh, on the way to Cochon, we had walked by Emeril's flagship restaurant on the same street, and through the large windows could see him quite involved in running the kitchen; nice to see the over-exposed TV chefs actually working their restaurants.)

The final evening we splurged on almost-iron-chef Besh's August. The dinner was remarkable for its quality and consistency from start to finish, with no shortcomings. A first course of tender pillows of gnocchi and lumps of crab, generously topped with truffle shavings, was both ethereal and earthy; an order of roasted oysters was bursting with wet, salty, smoky flavor in each bite. For mains we had a parmesan-encrusted redfish that proved one can mix fish and cheese, and a roasted chicken with winter vegetables. Dessert was a pear trio - pear panne cotta, poached seckle pear stuffed with gorgonzola, and a roll of genoise stuffed with sautéed pear chunks and spices.

We'd certainly look for another opportunity to return to the city for more eats.

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Here I am in New Orleans, looking for a cafe in which I can work. Wifi not a must, just a place with good coffee and a staff tolerant enough to let me sit for an hour or so (two max and I'll spend money during that time). Suggestions?

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Any CC's will do. If you're where you normally are, I think there's one at Girod and Camp or thereabouts, and one on Poydras (at Magazine, west side?).

If you're toward uptown, Cooter Brown's in the Riverbend may not have coffee, but it's got scads of draft beers. And wifi. And very good oysters and decent po-boys and pub grub.

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Any CC's will do. If you're where you normally are, I think there's one at Girod and Camp or thereabouts, and one on Poydras (at Magazine, west side?).

If you're toward uptown, Cooter Brown's in the Riverbend may not have coffee, but it's got scads of draft beers. And wifi. And very good oysters and decent po-boys and pub grub.

CC's sounds better for this purpose than Cooter Brown's. I'm not looking for food so much as coffee (no need for beer either, alas), and wifi isn't necessary.

I think I'm flying solo for dinner tonight. The weather is turning bad quickly so my clients are staying close to home. I am deciding between a return to Herbsaint (where I ordered badly during my sole visit) or Cuvee. I walked by August today and wasn't impressed with the menu (it overlaps with the menu at Besh in the casino to a surprising degree and neither dinner at Besh bowled me over).

First, though, I need a nap as I spent the afternoon at the amazing Preservation Hall.

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Herbsaint's bar is much more welcoming for dining than Cuvee's, if that matters. Delmonico's bar is also quite inviting. Remember than in Louisiana, you can take an open bottle of wine with you from a restaurant, if the by-the-glass offerings don't bowl you over. Some local friends of mine also say Luke is quite good, and it's in that area.

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Herbsaint's bar is very welcoming, as are the staff and the food. I enjoyed my dinner there Tuesday night tremendously. Outside, New Orleans was chillier than I had ever experienced and windy too. I sat at the bar near a lamp emanating golden light by which I read my novel between courses, enjoying the music (The Verve on this night) and a bit of quiet time to myself.

The menu features a lot of interesting sounding cocktails, including absenthe, however I stuck with the familiar and ordered a caipirinha from my friendly, but not intrusive, bartender.

There were plenty of things on the menu that appealed to me, however I was most strongly drawn to three of the small plates so I chose two leaving room for dessert. My starter was a delicious beef short rib served atop a crispy potato cake and sauced with a horseradish cream. The rib may have been braised for awhile, but ultimately it was served crispy like the potato cake. I wish the cake had been slightly softer, but all together, the dish was wonderful.

My second course was somehow richer than the first! The dish, described as spaghetti with guanciale and poached-fried egg, was a luscious take on pasta carbonara. Like I said, it was rich, but somehow I managed to clean this plate too.

For dessert, I couldn't help but return to the amazing banana brown butter tart I had enjoyed during my only other meal at Herbsaint. It did not disappoint.

The meal definitely raised my cholesterol count, but I enjoyed every minute.

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Trip in progress report one. We headed directly from the airport to lunch at Willie Mae's Scotch House, which reopened last April following a lengthy fundraising and reconstruction led by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Inside the small and humble dining room, ten bucks will still get you a big "side" plate of beans and rice, and three pieces of bone-sucking-delicious fried chicken. Like early Mozart pieces, it's really such a simple thing - the chicken is fried in an ordinary restaurant-type basket fryer, no mountains of ancient cast iron or secret antebellum contraptions - but execution is everything. You have to wait for your chicken to fry, because that's the way it's always been done, but then your reward looks like this:

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lunch, 24 January 2008

Next up was a visit to Celebration Distillation, makers of Old New Orleans Rum. Owned by local artist James Michalopoulos, Celebration lost all of its equipment to the flooding, but amazingly only six barrels of aging rum, because most of its barrel racks are high on a loft to maximize clear floor space for the tanks and such. "Elvis", one of the two head distillers since the reopening, took us on a tour of their functional if unglitzy plant, and a tasting of their products. Their offerings have seen several revamps over the years, with only the clear and 3-year-old rums carrying over to the present. Added to these are a distinctive "cajun" spiced rum ("we got tired of seeing that Captain Morgan crap all over the place"), and a special barrelling of 10-year-old rum sold only at the factory. There are more than a few experiments underway, and some interesting things the distillers would like to branch into to satisfy their cocktail-geek hearts, but for now this is a small operation with some big dreams.

That evening, Paul Sanchez was hanging out at d.b.a. and listening to Alex McMurray belt out a great set with his latest ensemble, the Piss Cup All-Stars(?). After fortifying ourselves with a few beers, we ducked into Praline Connection (sans Paul) for some po' boys (good, but not spectacular) and some sweets to go (coconut praline might be too sweet, but their regular praline was dead-on great...must get more to bring home).

This morning started out with slurping and chewing oysters on the half-shell at Felix's, in the French Quarter. Farmed in Louisiana, these were big, meaty suckers, but with really good flavor...only mildly briny, but far from bland. I thought the slightly smaller ones were the best; most of the bigger ones had grown fairly flat shells that held too little liquor.

I'm tempted to ramble on for pages about the visit to Galatoire's, but for some reason my fingers are unable to find the right words. It's old-school, as only a century-old restaurant can be. The upstairs bar is tiny, forcing the genteel to mingle while they wait, although they seem predisposed to anyway. There's a dress code. There are many regulars - generations of them. If you're looking for food creativity, this is not the place to go. Actually, if you were just looking for a good place to eat, this would still not be a good choice, but not because the food is bad or anything like that...the hungry simply have better options nearby at which they would spend far less time waiting for a table or waiting for food. That said, after the longest (4.5+ hours) and most obscenely filling meal of my entire life, Galatoire's won a permanent place in my heart today. It's an eddy in the space-time continuum, an artifact from a time and place where dining was about much more than the food, a restaurant that could exist no where else in the US than New Orleans. OldEbbittMeetsEyesWideShutMeetsRaysTheCajun, maybe. I don't think I can attribute any of that to my dining companions, either.

Oh yeah, and try the banana bread pudding with caramel sauce for dessert.

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lunch, 25 January 2008

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Day three. New Orleans still has a Saturday farmers' market, located on Magazine St. in the Central Business District, but moved indoors this day on account of the cold. Maybe 20-25ish tables of items, mainly produce, plus some baked goods. They're crazy for satsumas here, and one enterprising juice lady sold expensive but delicious little pints of absolutely fresh-squeezed satsuma juice. She also made a curious beet/lemon drink, which naturally got appropriated as an experimental mixer.

As the saying goes, everybody loves a parade (or two). Especially when you're fortifying yourself by drinking improvised cocktails in public (perfectly legally!), and chomping on a piece of a muffuletta sandwich from Central Grocery.

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Recognizing that three out of four of us had been weakened by the sheer effort of digesting Friday's feast, for dinner later we snagged some passably mediocre grub at Fiorella's, located toward the east end of the French Quarter.

Day four. Sunday started off with foolish optimism, as we downed breakfast biscuits of ham, black ham, and debris from Mother's, on Poydras St., before leaving the house on a pilgrimage to Elizabeth's, home of praline bacon and other breakfast delights. Darn good poached eggs, too.

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clockwise from foreground: boudin balls with mustard sauce, fried grits with tasso gravy, praline bacon

Dinner consisted of surprisingly good Thai food at SukhoThai, a husband-and-wife restaurant in the Marigny. In this case, it's she who lords over the kitchen, and if you ask for Thai hot, you get Thai hot and not some dumbed-down facsimile. I wouldn't have minded a bit more liberal use of Thai basil, but otherwise the flavors were spot-on, including a som tam that's almost as good as Gubeen's (heh). Jparrott was meeting up with a friend of his and the owners for a bit of mutual wine geeking, so we ate and drank and swished and spit a variety of interesting and not-too-expensive bottles, all the while trying not to burn out our taste buds on the hotter curries. There were some freakish wines on the table, but my particular favorites of the evening were the Gravner "Anfora" ribolla gialla (I suspect concocted to frustrate blind tastings), and Olivier Lemasson's "Poivre et Sel" vin de pays. Delicious.

~

And now an obligatory message. Hurricane Katrina left a lot of marks on the city, but chiefly in the areas away from the downtown and tourist areas, although many of the shopkeepers we spoke to had stories of their temporary evacuation to distant cities. We randomly drove through a part of the lower ninth ward on Sunday afternoon to observe both the destruction and recovery. Today, nearly 2.5 years after the flooding, the ward shows some signs of progress, with construction and demolition company signs in various yards, and piles of construction scraps pointing to a few people incrementally rebuilding their homes. But that remains the exception to the rule. In one neighborhood alone, hundreds of boarded, overgrown homes - left but not necessarily abandoned - line the desolate and weedy streets. No more than a third appear to have been reoccupied. Almost every structure bears a hastily sprayed search and rescue marking prominently on its facade, like a cattle brand. Neighborhood retail chains, their last inventory spoiled and/or looted, still have not returned. We saw enough indicators, including a fair number of defiant "do not demolish" and "this building is not abandoned" signs, to suggest that one day these will be functioning communities again. But not this year, nor the next. There is no coordinated rebuilding effort in evidence, other than big-box hardware stores opening new branches. As the Fed slashes rates to move foolishly overproduced housing elsewhere, the absence of a latter-day domestic Marshall Plan here, as it were, remains both astonishing and shameful.

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Just wanted to add a sunshinier note to Dave's epigraph. This trip warmed my heart in so many ways, not the least of which was meeting a half-dozen folks who had moved to New Orleans after the storm. The progress is there. But Dave's right.

Go. God Dammit. Go. Then go again.

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This week, Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" visits New Orleans (and its eateries) with a post-Katrina focus.
Thank you. The Travel Channel website has a list of resources from this trip, but forgot Herbsaint. If you've missed this episode, it'll be available for download on iTunes.

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal ran Jeffrey Trachtenberg's interview with Southern Foodways Alliance board of directors member Sara Roahen. She spoke about New Orleans post-Katrina and her new book.

"Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table," makes you want to spend a week -- immediately -- in New Orleans. This collection of essays, which W.W. Norton & Co. publishes on Monday, would wreck any diet if it had recipes. Ms. Roahen charitably refrains.

<snip>

As she eats her way through New Orleans, she also cites many older New Orleans cookbooks whose authors present their own interpretations of favorite dishes.

The article ends with several of her recipes: Sazerac, Gumbo Z'Herbes, Crawfish Bisque and Turkey Bone Gumbo.

Edit to add: Besides seeing locales and restaurants that still live in my memory from a visit in March 2007, the Bourdain show is remarkable because Tony makes peace with Emeril [due to Emeril's immediate relief efforts for restaurant folk post-Katrina and feedback from Emeril's former employees]. I'm still haunted by the pragmatic hopefulness of the population and a streetcar ride up to the Museum of Art that revealed the city's tragic beauty.

Yes, go. Go now and tip heavy. Sig: Repeat PRN until Crescent City recovers

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Besides seeing locales and restaurants that still live in my memory from a visit in March 2007, the Bourdain show is remarkable because Tony makes peace with Emeril [due to Emeril's immediate relief efforts for restaurant folk post-Katrina and feedback from Emeril's former employees].

I'm fond of Tony Bourdain, and love his show, but I think he always was unfair to Emeril, suggesting he was merely a shallow TV type with no real kitchen skills. Fact is, Emeril, who was made executive chef of Commander's Palace at the age of 24, could doubtless cook rings around Bourdain, and totally outclasses him as an entrepreneur. Both of them made it big on TV, with very different personas, but neither tells us much about their contributions to the culinary arts. In the end, under the skins, they are a lot alike.

I did like how Tony was moved to point out that, while he finally decided (had to concede that) Emeril is OK, Rachel Ray still sucks. Sorry Dan.

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I second that. I thought Acadiana's were great--as was just about everything I had there, but it sure is hard to get the same experience without feeling the building you're in should be condemned. I always like Domilise's in New Orleans.
Mmm. Domilise's. Oh man, I just remember a ridiculous road trip to NO last fall, rolling into town after 9 hours on the road, only to see a sign--"Domilise's is closed Thursday and Sunday"

Parasol's did OK in a pinch ;).

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Those little old ladies need rest.

Mmm. Domilise's. Oh man, I just remember a ridiculous road trip to NO last fall, rolling into town after 9 hours on the road, only to see a sign--"Domilise's is closed Thursday and Sunday"

Parasol's did OK in a pinch ;).

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Heading back to NOLA for the first time in about two years ... can those of you who've been there more recently than I help a girl out? I'm looking for one meal that shows a Yankee what New Orleans cooking is (at any level of casual-ness to fancy-ness), and one nice meal (think Cuvee, August, etc.). Not necessarily mutually exclusive. Also, any can't-misses for drinks, music, people-watching, etc. I'm afraid my New Orleans knowledge has become dated ;)

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Heading back to NOLA for the first time in about two years ... can those of you who've been there more recently than I help a girl out? I'm looking for one meal that shows a Yankee what New Orleans cooking is (at any level of casual-ness to fancy-ness), and one nice meal (think Cuvee, August, etc.). Not necessarily mutually exclusive. Also, any can't-misses for drinks, music, people-watching, etc. I'm afraid my New Orleans knowledge has become dated ;)
Do not miss Cochon.
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MBK, I think that in this thread, post #108 down will give you a good grip on what's happening in NOLA food, drink and music right now. Go to Mother's on Poydras for a Famous Ferdie and to Arnaud's French 75 on Bienville for a great Sazerac.

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Do not miss Cochon.

I second that - one of my 2 or 3 best meals of 2007 . and I went for lunch!!

And for the nice meal I found Donald Link's other (and more upscale) restaurant, Herbsaint, to be considerably more exciting than August.

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Heading back to NOLA for the first time in about two years ... can those of you who've been there more recently than I help a girl out? I'm looking for one meal that shows a Yankee what New Orleans cooking is (at any level of casual-ness to fancy-ness), and one nice meal (think Cuvee, August, etc.). Not necessarily mutually exclusive. Also, any can't-misses for drinks, music, people-watching, etc. I'm afraid my New Orleans knowledge has become dated ;)
Tujague's for Paul on Fri., Sat. and Mon. nights. He's not exactly Mr. Customer Service, but he's an honest guy and makes a mean Pimm's cup. (He used to be at Napoleon). He also makes a great Sazerac. Although he tends to stick with Herbsaint though he will serve it with Lucid absinthe if prompted. He does not guarantee its quality with the absinthe, but I really enjoyed it. If his friend William is there, who looks a bit like a Vermeer/Santa Claus ask him questions. He's got some great stories.

Acme Oyster had a solid poboy. Monday nights at Ramparts (across from Louis Armstrong park) for music and red beans and rice with BBQ-sauced chicken between sets is a great experience. I'll probably have a few remarks after a few more days here.

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Riche @ Harrah's has closed. I'd say "no great loss" but it's about to be replaced by Ruth's Chris. Disappointing. I am surprised that the powers that be agreed to the switch given that there's already The Besh Steakhouse (not my favorite) in the casino.

In other meals...Cochon was excellent. Truly the spot for the pig conniseur, right down to the wall art. The only pig part I didn't see on the menu was the tail (and perhaps that was being saved for the dinner menu!).

I selected Cochon for a lunch with two colleagues who have become friends, not realizing that one doesn't eat red meat. She was totally cool about it, ordering fish and even sampling the alligator appetizer my other friend ordered for us to share. I liked the chili garlic aioli that came with it more than the too-chewy tastes-like-chicken alligator, but it was an interesting new taste.

Had I been on my own or ready for a larger meal, I would have ordered the hot sausage appetizer, served with grits, roasted peppers and creole cream cheese. Instead, I got a side of grits with our entrees which we all shared.

After first considering the beef brisket entrée, I ordered the ham hock with lima bean hoppin john & mustard onion jus ($17). Wow! I'm sure the brisket would have been great too, but having never seen a ham hock outside of my mother's pea soup (much less on a menu), this dish was a treat. I was very glad I ordered it.

For dessert, we shared the strawberry cobbler and I have craved it ever since. Biscuits, sweet-but-not-too-sweet fruit and fresh whipped cream - perfection.

Our service was truly spectacular. We asked a lot of questions about the menu and our server was informed in a way that showed that she hadn't just memorized its details, but knew its nuances and was passionate about them.

After such a good meal at Cochon, dinner with four friends and colleagues at NOLA was quite a letdown, at least for me. The rest of the group isn't too serious about food and didn't complain, but my baby arugula salad looked and tasted a whole lot like spinach and featured just three small pieces of [delicious] bacon and pretty much no dressing. I agree that too many salads arrive overdressed, but this one was pretty much naked. I mentioned to the server that I was pretty sure it was spinach; he addressed it with the kitchen and returned saying "I assure you it's not spinach.

My entrée was barbecued pork ribs with mac & cheese and a side of white beans. The offering of two starchy sides struck me as odd, but didn't bother me too much. The fact that the mac & cheese arrived congealed did, and sadly it didn't taste nearly as good as the description. But the ribs were tasty so I focused on them. And what a portion - huge!

I only sampled one of our two desserts, the fried apple pie, and it was as delicious as it sounds.

All of us thought the service was weird from the moment our server greeted us, shaking my hand (I was the only woman at the table, and the person to make the res). Our main server was a little too personal with us, I thought, and the team serving approach meant that we ended up answering the same questions a more than once such as "Yes, we are drinking bottled still water and would like more."

Fortunately this was an expense account meal because I imagine it was close to $100 per person with drinks. Had I been paying out of my own pocket, I would have spoken up more about the less-than great food.

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Soft-shell-crab po boy, quail/pheasant/andouille gumbo, crawfish strudel, crawfish sack, Natchitoches meat pie, crawfish Monica, crawfish bisque (with stuffed heads), cochon-de-lait po boy, crawfish sausage po boy, hot sausage po boy, raw oysters, chocolate covered strawberries, snowballs, iced cafe au lait, strawberry ice, crawfish bread. What did you eat at your last festival?

I'll ask it again. Where YOU at?

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Cochon is surprisingly big, bright and unfunky for new Orleans, a nine block or so trudge from canal street near its Mississippi end past a quiet mix of commercial and residential buildings, a few restaurants, including emeril's, with a horizontal feel inside despite high warehouse ceilings. Tables and chairs are the same thick blocky blonde wood running more gracefully along the far wall, the opposite side is a lengthy banquette up against brick. A realistic painting depicting the middle of rural nowhere easily imaginable only a short drive from where you are sitting runs on expansively for several panels without making much of a dent. The bar is to the left of the entrance and there are several stools and places set for diners at the right bar end of the open kitchen in the back. I was able to waltz in without a reservation on a Monday night around 7:00 and after that diners funneled in quickly without ever quite getting up to capacity. There are a few tables on the front sidewalk, as well, but nobody was at them, in this fairly lonely neighborhood where traffic is the main thing. Pedestrians definitely are down in new Orleans these days, but there are enough cars on the road to watch out for, and even traffic jams heading west on 10, due to construction, but I wondered where they were all driving to and if they weren't somehow way more than was necessary.

Snippets of pig ear are fried up so deep in their batter you might almost get by feeding a few bites to a blindfolded vegetarian with a stuffed-up nose. Lay on some of the grainy mustard it's wallowing in, hot enough to get the wax out, and soon enough that's at least half the fun of this small plate. If you've ever peeled the insulation off an electric cord down to the wire you'll know how to check out the stranded meat, which leaves only the mildest impression of gelatin on the tongue. I finished almost as hazy about what makes a good fried ear as what makes a comely pig's trotter after I'm done with the rolled up version at central. Both dishes seem to have Chinese leanings.

By this time I had switched over from an outstanding sazerac to a glass of 2005 bobal mustiguillo mesitzaje from an assured list of wines by the glass and in the bottle. I don't know what they ordered, but at the table to my right one person didn't like the dark mound of what he had ordered and was fussing with it, and to the left they were sucking and licking on bones until the only way they could stop was to ask if they could take them home. My server, half self-made bald, was out on the middle of the floor, lifting and pushing heavy furniture in preparation for a big group, working hard, calling on strength it wasn't apparent he had, but he did.

The blt they serve at cochon for $14 made me sad that my wife had to stay back home because nobody loves the blt as much as she does, and that's without knowing that all these years hers have been missing the special ingredient - fried oysters. It wasn't wonder bread, but the lightly toasted thin sandwich bread did a reasonably competent job of holding the whole thing together. As you might expect in a restaurant with a porcine theme, the bacon was a cut above and even the tomato was surprisingly good. They even managed to tuck a little lemon zest into the package. Coleslaw was better than just an accompaniment, and a crisp and delicious pickle seemed to be keeping a secret, a waitress speculating that maybe there was brown sugar in the brine.

Chocolate parfait was served swirl-it-yourself style in a glass jar, cinnamon-dusted whipped cream on top of a soft pudding with contrasting graininess. (only because it brought it to mind, I liked this much more than central's mousse the last time I tasted it; cherry was tempting out some sour notes in the chocolate and while I am a fan of opposing textures in this dessert, cocoa puffs take a sludge hammer to the idea.) a good cookie is provided. You can just eat it, or you can use it as a paddle to stir your dessert.

On my last day in town, I woke up with the sun hungry and thirsty so thought I would see what was going on at café du monde these days. It was about the same as I remembered it, though my enthusiasm for beignets had died down. Three of them with enough sugar for a dozen and a cup of café au lait served by a highly efficient crew of Vietnamese waitresses works near-miraculously out to an even $4. the swirls of powdered sugar forming circles on the floor are a nice touch, but watch out what you are doing when eating your doughnuts if you don't want your fingers to start sticking annoyingly to your newspaper. Afterwards, you can walk the short distance up to the river and spend some time on the bench watching the tall cargo boats duck under the bridge.

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Using an upcoming wedding as an opportunity to explore the South for the first time, we will be travelling to Birmingham, parts of MS & the gulf shore near Mobile/Fairhope, AL but the trip is culminating with the raison d'étre of a 4-5 night stay in New Orleans. We will be staying at Windsor Court which seems centrally located and luckily close to many of the restaurants mentioned. As of now, I have Cochon, August, Cuvee & Herbsaint on my list, along with at least a look-see at Galatoire's since I just sometimes like being a wide-eyed tourist wink.gif. If there are any other recommendations/hidden gems worth a trip please let me know. We will have a car so short trips are possible. Thanks for your help!

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"If there was ever a city that needed one [an official cocktail] it's New Orleans" -Lu Brow, bar chef at the Swizzle Stick Bar. Listen to the six minute radio piece if only for the sound of the swirling ice as the layers of flavor build.

The Louisiana House of Representatives made a historic decision Monday: In a 62-33 vote, legislators proclaimed the Sazerac - the famed mix of rye whiskey, bitters and absinthe that originated in the bayou - New Orleans' official cocktail.
Gin Fizz...
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Using an upcoming wedding as an opportunity to explore the South for the first time, we will be travelling to Birmingham, parts of MS & the gulf shore near Mobile/Fairhope, AL but the trip is culminating with the raison d'étre of a 4-5 night stay in New Orleans. We will be staying at Windsor Court which seems centrally located and luckily close to many of the restaurants mentioned. As of now, I have Cochon, August, Cuvee & Herbsaint on my list, along with at least a look-see at Galatoire's since I just sometimes like being a wide-eyed tourist wink.gif. If there are any other recommendations/hidden gems worth a trip please let me know. We will have a car so short trips are possible. Thanks for your help!

This isn't New Orleans, but you should go to Wintzell's Oyster House while in Mobile. Very fine bi-valves. Fairhope is very pretty and reeks of money, but I can't say anything about places to eat, since we only drove through and marveled at the display of wealth (Wintzells has a location there too, but I can't vouch for it).
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I am trying to help a client in New Orleans find a personal chef for an ongoing gig. It could take the form of coming in and cooking meals to be served immediately several times per week OR someone who comes in only once or twice a week to prepare several days' worth of meals. Know anyone? If so, please PM me. Thanks!

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Heading to NOLA for a few days next week. I lived there for years (moved to DC in late 2001), but I haven't been back since Katrina.

It looks like most of my favorite places are still there - the only two that I could find that didn't return were Gabrielle (one of the best dishes experienced during my six years there was had at Gabrielle) and Bella Luna. So I am determined to get back to my favorite (Bayona) and a few other places that made some great memories.

My question, though, is what's new? What's particularly good these days?

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Just back from another long weekend, and it seems I've forgotten to list a few more of my favorites.

Cure--at 4905 Freret (Upperline) near Tulane. NOLA's new serious cocktail bar, a short cab ride (up onto I-10, Claiborne, left on Napoleon, right on Freret from downtown/FQ. If your cabbie starts wending down Magazine St, kindly correct him or ask him to use his GPS). Very chill on non-Friday/Saturday nights, with a bunch of NOLA's finest cocktailians holding forth in their disparate styles. Good food, too--paninis, crostinis, soups, salads. This place has definitely cut into my non-music d.b.a. time.

Verti Marte--1201 Royal in the lower Quarter. 24 hours, excellent po-boys and prepared foods, plus a wide selection of NOLA snacks like Zapp's and Hubig's pies.

Farmers Markets--Mid-City on Thursday afternoon at 3700 Orleans Ave (check out Cork&Bottle for good wine/booze and Clever Wines for b-t-g/cocktails while you're there). CBD on Saturday morning at Girod & Magazine. Shrimp! These markets are the single best argument for shunning hotels, going here and finding a condo with a kitchen.

Arnaud's French 75 Bar--the shaven-head Chris Hannah is one of the two-headed Chris-monster that defines tip-top downtown cocktailing, along with throwback julep savant Chris McMillian at Bar UnCommon in the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel (also recommended). Mr. Hannah makes a mean Seelbach. Enough said.

Mandina's--The story of their comeback is here. Onion rings, turtle soup, Old-Fashioneds, anything seafood, fried chicken all tip-top. Cash only.

So, just a few more to throw on the pile. Frenchmen Street was ROLLING Sunday night with a rollicking combo of locals and Lindy Hoppers in for some competition. It felt just a little bit more like before the flood. Keep it comin'.

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The tip came from a friend who runs sound for a couple clubs in NOLA and for a few musicians. Be at the Gentilly Baptist Church, Sunday night at 7:30.

So I did what I was told.

Driving up Franklin Avenue past houses in all stages of rebirth, I noticed that I was able to park directly in front of the door to the church. Seemed odd. Then I saw the buses. One, two, three of them, teeming with kids from some of the Northeast's finest universities, spilling out and into the newly reopened sanctuary. There, scant blocks from where he lived until August 29, 2005, Paul Sanchez and his friends Susan Cowsill and Russ Broussard sang, danced, told stories, and inspired these young skulls full of mush, who had given of their spring breaks to hammer nails and raise walls. And the songs they sang and the stories they told, combined with my experiences of the weekend, all gelled into one key point.

New Orleans is alive. Oh, is it ever. And now it's starting to kick it.

Cure, the Uptown neighborhood bar with a craft cocktail focus, is building the kind of steady off-hours clientele that keeps the till ticking over, in addition to the thumping loungey weekend nights that drive the numbers game of running many bars in that area of town. Another boffo bar may be going in down the street. Monthly community markets are helping to gel the once-burgeoning Freret Street community once again.

Cochon and Cochon Butcher, the porcine temples that prompted the Levee, the local version of the Onion, to clain that they had abducted Miss Piggy and put her on the menu, are storming along. DC doesn't have a place like either of them. Insane charcuterie, creative beverage programs, casual-but-effective service, and happy-happy prices all make you proud to have walked those few extra blocks down Tchoupitoulas Street.

And Galatoire's about which I have absolutely no objectivity, remains one of my favorite places to drink wine in the world. And even though an unprecedented shortage meant no jumbo lump crabmeat and no crabmeat Yvonne to top the local drum and pompano, the food remains timeless in a good way.

New Orleans has been a seven-day music town forever. But since the flood, midweek days seemed to be drying up ever so much. No more. Clubs like the Spotted Cat were putting on music from 6pm to 3am, and the eclectic street scenes that make Frenchmen Street and Oak Street the subjects of so many daydreams by those of us who live Elsewhere are better than ever. Every Sunday, two different clubs offer swing lessons and music to dance to afterwards. Street food is available on Frenchmen in better selection and quantity than ever before. You haven't lived until you've bought and scarfed a delicious tamale, prepared and sold on the street by a young lady far too thin to have enjoyed too many for comparison.

The next generation is well-served as well. Phil Frazier's Roots of Music COalition filled the Howlin' Wolf Saturday night. Brass bands bashed our brains in for three hours, all for a measly fifteen bucks for teaching kids to play.

Sunday night was Oscar night, and that's a big deal in New Orleans. Louisiana has some of the most aggressive tax incentives for filmmakers, and plenty of locals are in the movie biz, as set dressers and costumers and sound guys. So plenty of folks gathered at local hangouts like Finn McCool's or the delightful bohemian/epicurean Bacchanal to see the results announced. But at the quintessential small New Orleans bar, the Circle Bar on Lee Circle, a tiny cadre of nonconformists gathered just as the big awards went down.

At the front of the room sat Beth Patterson, a blonde bouzouki bombshell with an Irish voice and smoldering gaze, and Jimmy Robinson, the frazzy-haired high prince of New Orleans prog rock, and a man who makes six strings sound like twelve and twelve sound like a million. And as they rollicked through their back repertoires and a few well-known tunes, we sat mesmerised. They closed with Gimme Shelter, with Jimmy's fingers zinging up and down his twelve-string like so many twitching snakes. Only myself and wunderkind barkeep Rhiannon Enlil from Cure and Loa were left in the room, and Jimmy was only too happy to oblige us for a bit of chat afterwards, us struggling to find the right questions and him opening up to us like we were paying for long term lessons of life, love, and picking.

I guess I haven't put a lot of food or drink content in here. Suffice it to say, the drinks are good where they've been good, the eats are excellent where they've been excellent. A wave of new fine-dining restaurants are opening, and I'm eagerly awaiting the return of Aleks Jovanovic to the ranks of NOLA tastevin-wearers.

It's a great time to be alive in New Orleans. You should try it some time.

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I'll be heading to NOLA for a bachelor party from Thur, April 1- Sun, April 4. Trying to keep it cheap to moderate. No car. Will be staying in the CBD, and probably spending a lot of time in the FQ. I have a long list from both DR.com and chow, but was wondering what you all think.

I know I will be stopping by the Cochon Butcher. I know I will be picking up a Muffuletta from the Central Grocery. I know I'm going to pick up a Po boy from one of the handful of places in the FQ or CBD (any suggestions?) Any must visits that are affordable? Thx all.

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Po-boys in the Quarter and CBD are mostly mediocre...better than mediocre (in no particular order of preference) are Serio's (weekday lunch only), Mothers, NOLA Grocery (next to Cochon Butcher), Johnny's (late breakfast and lunch only), Coop's (seafood only, I think, but don't quote me on that), Verti Mart (24 hours).

I'll throw in a special plug for the hot sausage po-boys at Geno's at St. Claude and Elysian Fields.

Cheapish, good food in the Quarter is tougher than you think. Coop's is pretty good. Felix's for raw oysters only and standing at the oyster bar ONLY.

And just remember to keep on walking through the FQ to Frenchmen Street for great music. There used to be an awesome taco truck, but it got shut down. The cooks from that truck are now set up inside Cafe Negril in the 600blk of Frenchmen, however.

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Po-boys in the Quarter and CBD are mostly mediocre...better than mediocre (in no particular order of preference) are Serio's (weekday lunch only), Mothers, NOLA Grocery (next to Cochon Butcher), Johnny's (late breakfast and lunch only), Coop's (seafood only, I think, but don't quote me on that), Verti Mart (24 hours).

I'll throw in a special plug for the hot sausage po-boys at Geno's at St. Claude and Elysian Fields.

Cheapish, good food in the Quarter is tougher than you think. Coop's is pretty good. Felix's for raw oysters only and standing at the oyster bar ONLY.

And just remember to keep on walking through the FQ to Frenchmen Street for great music. There used to be an awesome taco truck, but it got shut down. The cooks from that truck are now set up inside Cafe Negril in the 600blk of Frenchmen, however.

Thx Jake, this is really helpful! I'll let you all know how I do.

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Well I'm back from NO, and had a great time. I knew the evenings would be restricted not only to the FQ but Bourbon st, and that's pretty much what happened. During the day I was lucky enough to have fellow foodie and DR member gabiamr with me so I didn't have to do it all on my own. Also jparrett put together a great list of things to do that I am dissapointed I was unable to do much of. I did make a little google map of places to visit in the FQ and the CBD. I'm sure it will grow as I visit again, which I am anxious to do under circumstances other than a bachelor party.

One problem I found the first night was that I could not have many drinks. The antibiotics I am taking for a bug I have been unable to shake, didn't react well with liquor. Unfortunately, I only managed a few cocktails the whole weekend. On that first night gabiamr and a few of us checked out the Napoleon House. Had the Pimm's cup cocktail which was awesome, and a tasty warmed muffaletta. That was the end of the night for me.

The next day gabiamr and I ventured out for breakfast, did the Cafe du Monde thing, which was good, and Mother's which was good as well. We really liked the black ham biscuit at Mother's. At lunch we got out to Cochon, which was amazing as advertised. It is a must visit. Tip: get the deep fried head cheese. That evening we had Bon Ton Cafe which had great cajun fare. The crawfish jumbalaya and crawfish etouffee were spectacular.

The next morning I was on my own. I decided to venture out into the FQ since I had not been out there in the daytime. Cafe du Monde was packed as was Croissant D'Or Patisserie. At the latter John Malkovich stood in line, or I guess tried to cut in line. At neither I felt like waiting in line, and ended up at the Coffee Pot, which wasn't bad, but I don't know if I would go back. I picked up a muffaletta at Central Grocery on the way back to the CBD and before I went back to the hotel, I stopped by the Cochon Butcher for a Pork Belly sandwich and a Mexican Coke, which as reported, is awesome. In the meantime gabiamr reported that Luke, a more casual John Besh establishment served a great rendition of Shrimp and Grits. We agreed to meet there at 3pm for the best happy hour special ever, 25 cent raw oysters and half price drinks. We ended up sharing 36 oysters with some of the guys, and the fries there were great. Definitely go if just for the happy hour. Finally for our last dinner in NOLA we went to Emeril's Delmonico as the bachelor wanted steak. The steak was really good, but nothing life changing. The charcuterie plate was really great.

Finally on my way home this morning I broke out that Muffaletta from the Central Grocery. Awesome. Not a bad way to end the trip and clearly way better than the airport food everybody else was eating.

Can't wait to go again!

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Janet and I spent 6 days in NOLA recently. These were the very best dishes we had. We obviously focused our choices on seafood.

Note that because we had our two large dogs (Irish Wolfhounds) with us at all times (they stayed in the truck while we ate), we really couldn't dine in the French Quarter or Central Business Districe since it would have been impossible to park nearby. Thus our range of restaurant choice didn't include any in those areas, and we dined only in "outlying" neighborhoods, which does have the advantage of getting one up close to where the locals are dining.

Crawfish Tasso Cheesecake -- Dick and Jenny's

Charbroiled Oysters -- Drago's (Metairie)

Shrimp and Tasso Henican -- Commander's Palace

Butternut Shrimp Bisque -- Brigsten's

Praline Bacon -- Elizabeth's

Apple Pie -- Steak Knife

Thin Sliced Catfish -- Middendorf's

Shrimp and Fried Green Tomato Po' Boy -- Mahony's

Any of these restaurants is well worth a visit IMO.

Greatest disappointments were Mosca's (overpriced and past its prime) and Cassamento's (not overpriced but past its prime, but still does a decent oyster stew). We also tried the local Vietnamese scene including Hoa Hong 9 and Dong Phuong, both well worth a trip.

Heads up--Susan Spicer of Bayona is putting up a neighborhood bistro (Mondo) directly across the street from Steak Knife, on Harrison in the Lakeview neighborhood. It should be open by early June sometime. I was sorry we didn't have the opportunity to try it.

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Spent this past weekend down in New Orleans. There were a fair number of tourists walking around, but all the locals expressed their concern about how the BP oil spill is going to harm the tourism industry. They remind everyone that New Orleans is open for business!

Dining

We took an early flight down, so kicked off the weekend with a late breakfast of coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

Late Friday lunch at the bar of Cochon (fried rabbit livers with pepper jam, crawfish pie - think crawfish etouffe stuffed empanada, roast oysters, boucherie platter). This place should be on everyone's hit list.

Late night dinner at the taco counter at the back of Cafe Negril (pineapple pork taco, a tamale made with "real meat")...nothing amazing but cheap!

Greasy slice of pizza on Bourbon Street while walking back to the hotel.

Saturday went Uptown for dinner at Jacques-Imo (an amazing shrimp and alligator boudin with creole mustard sauce. We then took on Godzilla Meets Fried Green Tomatoes, a massive platter of oyster dressing, topped with fried green tomatoes, topped with a deep fried soft shell crab stuffed with crab, dressed with remoulade). This place does not take reservations and waits can be over an hour for a table.

Sunday brunch at Elizabeth's (praline bacon, cajun bubble and squeak). I really loved the vibe here, but the portion sizes are massive and everything we had was rather greasey. After the previous night's Godzilla incident, it was just a little too much to handle!

Monday lunch at John Besh's August. Monday-Friday from 11am-2pm August offers a $20 3-course prix-fixe menu, each course has 3 selection (beware the drink prices are hefty, $13 for a mimosa!). The lunch itself was excellent. Amuse of truffled seafood custard with caviar served in an egg shell (a tad heavy on the truffle oil). Tempura soft shell crab with vietnamese garnish (Nuoc Mam, pickled carrot and daikon). Squid ink spaghettini with grilled baby octopus, fava beans, tiny tiny cherry tomatoes, morels, and lardons. Chocolate crepes with chocolate ice cream. If you want to try one of the "celebrity chef" fancy restaurants on the cheap, I recommend.

Music

Spent most of Friday night on Frenchman Street, hit Cafe Negril for some reggae and The Spotted Cat (for those that care, scene from HBO's Treme have been shot here) for some old New Orleans jazz (apparently there is a vibrant Lindy Hop scene in New Olreans!)...Skip Bourbon Street and hit Frenchman Street.

After Saturday's dinner at Jacques-Imo, we went next door to the Maple Leaf Bar...love this place! Complete dive but insanely good music. This is a trek from the French Quarter area (although reachable by street car or about a $20 cab ride), but well worth it for some late night music!

Other

If you enjoy art galleries, spend an afternoon wandering along Julia Street in the Warehouse/Arts District, block after block of galleries.

Platter of cured pork at Cochon

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New Orleans is alive. Oh, is it ever. And now it's starting to kick it.

It's a great time to be alive in New Orleans. You should try it some time.

Oh yes it is, and yes you should.

Taste plate and Abita beer at Coop's, oyster and perdi special po boys at Mother's, obligatory stop at Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait, crawfish po boy (for breakfast) at Johnny's, broiled crawfish, char-grilled oysters, corn maque choux, alligator sausage on a stick, pork taco from the taco truck on Frenchman.

Wandering through the Garden District, shopping on Magazine, St. Louis cemetary, obligatory walk down Bourbon Street drinking a frozen hurricane, wandering through the French Quarter after beignets checking out street/performance artists, in and out of art galleries throughout FQ and art district, sitting on a bench near the French Market listening to live music mid-afternoon, wine tasting at W.I.N.O., great jazz at the Spotted Cat Saturday night, and a blues-y band at Cafe Negril that played until 1:30 on Sunday.

2 nice meals out:

John Besh's August - My friend ordered the 4-course tasting menu with wine pairings for $85 (I'll let him tell you about his dishes), I made my own tasting menu out of 2 full-size apps and an entree. The organic greens with pumpkin seed brittle and pumpkin oil vinaigrette was good, if not proportioned properly (too much brittle, not enough greens for me). The salad came out undressed, but that was quickly rectified. My next course was phenomenal - the amazingly textured potato gnocchi with lump meat crab, shaved cheese and fresh truffle in a rich cream sauce that a previous poster described. One of the best dishes I've eaten. My main course, an incredibly moist rabbit loin wrapped in bacon, served with broiled (?) tomatoes stuffed with a white bean puree and a rich sauce. The tomatoes provided a nice contrasting acidity to the otherwise rich dish - my only complain is that the bacon was very smoky, which overpowered the rabbit meat at times. A shared dessert (from the tasting menu) of a vanilla bean cake with fresh blackberries and peaches, sliced almonds, and an almond ice cream was amazing although we would have been happy with just a bowl of the fruit and ice cream - the peaches were again some of the best I've eaten. Wine pairings were spot on (I just decided to go with our server's recs). A prosecco to start, followed by the Ancien chardonnay with the gnocchi, and a Ridge zinfandel with the rabbit. The dessert was paired with a Moscato d'asti, which in my book you can't go wrong with.

I do have to note one thing - the AC system is not set up to keep up with this old brick building with very high ceilings and large windows. It's an absolutely gorgeous space, but it was HOT when we ate our meal, and we were seated at 8 after the sun was pretty much down. It was hot enough that it affected our experience negatively - not enough that we didn't enjoy the restaurant, but enough that I would not go back if it were warm outside. I would think that given the money you spend there, they could upgrade their system or at least install fans in the dining room like they had in the bar area (we were told the system was set at 60, but just couldn't do it's job given the space). That's really my only complaint. Otherwise, the food and wine were excellent, as was the service.

"Lunch" at Cochon - I say lunch because we ate at lunch time as they were closed on Sunday and our plane left at 5 on Monday, but what we ate was no mere lunch. Instead we feasted on a selection of appetizers, a shared entree, and a dessert with plenty of alcohol to go with it. We started with the wood-fired oyster roast and the rabbit livers with pepper jelly. The oyster roast was delicious - 5 oysters just barely cooked (perfect) and topped with a not-overly hot hot sauce, really delicious - I can't do this dish justice. Rabbit livers were fried and served on toast with pepper jelly, shaved onion, and fresh herbs. I am not a huge fan of liver, but I enjoyed this dish - I didn't find the livers too strongly flavored, even when tasted on their own, although the texture was coarser than I expected. Those dishes were followed by 2 more appetizers. First, the paneed pork cheeks with baked peanuts & radish-turnip salad. This dish was excellent as well, the sauce incredibly rich and the pork cheeks incredibly flavorful, tender chunks of meat that shredded apart but held together initially with an incredibly seared crust. The radish-turnip salad that was tossed iwth fresh herbs added a nice contrast to the rich dish - the peanuts went surprisingly well too but neither of us would have cared if they were missing. Next the deep fried head cheese. This dish is not to be missed. A generous slab of deep-fried head cheese (have never eaten head cheese before, but expected something much more gelatinous, this was incredibly meaty and reminded us of a country pate), served on a generous portion of ravigote (glorified tartar sauce as we learned but oh so glorified) and topped with lima beans and black-eyed peas and fresh herbs (parsley and mint seemed to be the chef's herbs of choice that day). Our shared entree was the Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage & cracklins. The cochon is a pulled pork that has been formed into a patty, seared, then finished in the oven, served on a healthy bed of cabbage and turnips and topped with the pork cracklin. The entire dish was served with a sauce that involved some sort of pickling liquid and reminded me of a vinegar based bbq sauce although I neglected to ask for details. I think this dish is not to be missed as well. Finally, dessert was the pineapple upside down cake, which was really a rather large ice cream scoop shaped cake made of cornmeal that I believe had been deep fried, or at least pan fried, served on a caramel sauce with a scoop of coconut lime sorbet (and yes, it all worked together amazingly well). I had good wine pairings throughout - a really nice rose in particular earlier in the meal and we finished with tastes of the Catdaddy moonshine, which we are now searching for up here. Overall, I think Cochon has a wonderful vibe, everything is done smartly including wine and beer choices, cocktails, the menu, and the decor and the food was outstanding and so reasonably priced. I also have to give special mention to our bartender, Tyler. We had originally reserved a table but after seeing his enthusiasm for the food when we sat for a pre-meal drink, we opted to stay there. He was friendly, enthusiastic about the food, willing to let us take our time working our way through the menu (we had 3 hours to blow before heading to the airport), great with recommendations, and attentive. He really did an EXCELLENT job and anyone who's read any of my reviews knows I can be damn picky. There wasn't a single thing to pick about in this entire experience - my only complaint is that it's not in my neighborhood. :D

I have to also recommend that if you're down there, you check out the Wine Institute of New Orleans (W.I.N.O.). They have over 100 wines available for tasting in 1/2/4 oz pours using the preservation systems like Proof has, except that in this case, you either put a pre-determined amt of money on a card or start a tab and serve yourself. They have an excellent selection of wines, most of what we tasted was really good wine, and they also have a really nice selection of cheeses available (we only had one, a triple-creme from France, but it was deliciously creamy with a slightly pungent rind). The woman who was working when we went on Saturday was incredibly helpful and gave great recommendations. We liked it so much we stopped by the following day for a glass of wine before heading to August, which is only 3 blocks away. We both left wanting to start our own version of a wine bar like this here, until we learned that the 8-bottle preservation system is $18K. Anyone want to invest? :)

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