The Restaurant Thread... (New Orleans, Sun: home, pre-k, eat)

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by virginia33

I second Boswell's—it is AMAZING. Get the oxtails!

I'm always scared of eating things like that. Any part of the body that I can't readily identify as a piece of meat makes me a little leery.

[hey teach]

The previous two or three times we have eaten at Coop's it has not been good. The service was sloppy and the food just tasted bad. This weekend we didn't even attempt getting a table. There were just too many other good opportunities for delicious, tasty treats. Unfortunately, every weekend can't be French Quarter Festival!

We did eat at a bar called DeJa Vue on Daulphine and I had an amazing cheeseburger there. Very tasty.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

The things I do in service to this thread. Earlier this week, I went to Taqueria Guerrero on Carrollton, a "real" Mexican restaurant. It has all the Central American things you can usually find at a New Orleans Mexican place, along with telenovelas on the tube.

It's incredibly cheap. If you order two tamales for $5, and both get iced tea (free), you can feed two people. That's dining on a budget.

I got two mixed (pork and cheese) pupusas. Pupusas are like a cornmeal "pancacke" that has filling in the middle-similar in construction, but not preparation, to a pocket pita. One of my favorite dishes going back to when I was a kid and my parents would treat me to meals at Pupuseria Divina Corazon on Belle Chasse Hwy... also highly recommended. Also got a mango drink.

4/5

And then yesterday, the real suffering: despite negative reviews, I went to the new Charcoal Burger Bar at Jackson and Magazine. They have all kind of fancy meats-elk, antelope, venison, turkey, veggie, shrimp- I got a Kobe burger which came with Gorgonzola, aioli, bacon, on a "Hawaiian Sweet Bun" - just the house version cost $18. Hell of a lot for a burger, but it was (almost) worth it. I think everybody should have Kobe beef at least once in their life, just to say they did it. Very good burger. They also had Abita root beer. Lost points for the price... no matter what's in it, $18 is still a lot for a burger.

3.5/5

P.S. if anybody loves venison as much as I do, I recommend picking up some Marciante's Venison and Pork sausage from Rouse's... well spiced and delicious. Just make sure you can eat the whole pack (you'll need to share) because once opened it spoils very quickly.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by hey teach

The previous two or three times we have eaten at Coop's it has not been good. The service was sloppy and the food just tasted bad. This weekend we didn't even attempt getting a table. There were just too many other good opportunities for delicious, tasty treats. Unfortunately, every weekend can't be French Quarter Festival!

We did eat at a bar called DeJa Vue on Daulphine and I had an amazing cheeseburger there. Very tasty.

I went to DejaVue once, when I was 22... I was staying in a hostel after the Storm, and one of the fellow residents/space renters was a bartender there... she had to smooth out a situation in which I unwittingly insulted a transvestite... he was pretty angry. Anyway...

[bustaduke]

Originally Posted by Neworleansisprettygood

Ok, so this is a New Orleans board- we should talk more about food.


Here is a list of all the open restaurants in the area:

Listed By Neighborhood

Thought that would be helpful for people looking for new places.

If I rate somewhere, it'll be on a "potential" scale- meaning a hamburger joint could get a 5, and Commander's could get a 1, depending on how well their grasp lines up with their reach.

Saturday I had a "piadina" at Romano Italian Street Food on Veterans. This is a new place that is kind of the Italian equivalent to a burrito shop.

Piadina is a flatbread; I had it filled with a mixture of marinara and alfredo sauce, salumi, onions, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, and tomatoes with an unsweet lemon tea. Total cost around $10.

4/5


------
For Easter lunch I went with the parents to Courtyard Grill on Magazine, which is actually a Mediterranean place owned by Persians who got here via Istanbul.

Wow. Really great place; even the bread that comes out before the meal is fantastic. I had an "adona kabob" with is a hunk of ground chicken cooked on (and the removed from) a skewer. It was excellent. For dessert I had Baklava; my parents had flan and an apricot pear; they ended up switching, but were happy once that was done.

The only reason this place doesn't get a perfect score is the atmosphere. It's nice and all, it just lacked a certain zest. Service was attentive and polite.

4.5/5

----------

Today is the second annual "Dyngus Day" celebration, a traditional Polish festival on "Easter Monday"- kind of a backwards Mardi Gras. I wanted to get lunch, and the fest doesn't start 'til 5, so I headed to Dat Dog for a Polish kielbasa. I ended up at Liberty Cheesesteaks in the old Dat Dog space. I got a "pizzasteak"- the traditional meat with marinara and mozzarella; I added onions and garlic sauce.

It was very good though not exceptional; 3.5/5.

Feel free to add/ jeer/ ignore. I'll keep eating.

Is that your site? The list is OK but some restaurants are missing and some are listed in the wrong neighborhood, but overall a good site.

[Bluesmama]

I love this website. Thank you for posting it.

Well, I know I'm going to sound like the lone pariah here, but when we went to New Orleans last October for 12 days, the only meal I was very disappointed in was at Mandina's. It was a fried shrimp meal. The shrimp was unimpressive ~ more hard crust coating than shrimp, and it just didn't taste good. Plus, it was plopped right on top of the fries which made them limp and greasy (to be fair, a lot of restaurants there do this, and I've learned to ask the server to see that the cook separates them).

But one of my favorite restaurants, Oceana, doesn't have a rating yet. Their bread pudding isn't nearly as good as it used to be, but their meals are SO heavenly!

I also love Adolfo's on Frenchmen.

[bustaduke]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I love this website. Thank you for posting it.

Well, I know I'm going to sound like the lone pariah here, but when we went to New Orleans last October for 12 days, the only meal I was very disappointed in was at Mandina's. It was a fried shrimp meal. The shrimp was unimpressive ~ more hard crust coating than shrimp, and it just didn't taste good. Plus, it was plopped right on top of the fries which made them limp and greasy (to be fair, a lot of restaurants there do this, and I've learned to ask the server to see that the cook separates them).

But one of my favorite restaurants, Oceana, doesn't have a rating yet. Their bread pudding isn't nearly as good as it used to be, but their meals are SO heavenly!

I also love Adolfo's on Frenchmen.

OK I'm going to put my flame pants on before I post this. I was raised here and have to agree with you. A lot of restaurants are not really as good as they used to be. Mandina's, Dicky Brennan's Steakhouse, Commander's Palace, Mothers, Mosca's, are just a few that I feel don't stack up to what they should be.

busta

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Busta- that's Tom Fitzmorris' site.

I finally made it to Rocky and Carlos' today... my mom has been talking about their mac and cheese for years, and she has a cold so I made the trip down to Chalmette to get some for her... this was my first time going in.

The mac and cheese was good... I forgot to get the red sauce, which is apparently an unpardonable sin. I'm going to go ahead and give it a 3/5, which isn't quite fair since I'm the one who forgot the red sauce, but I will definitely be trying it again, the "right" way.

Last night went out with some frineds to Bach Mi? Something like that... it's a new Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of the block where Ciro's is (Maple). Excellent food, this was their soft opening and they have a few kinks to work out... kind of upscale so strange that it was BYOB. Split the 7-beefs dish with a friend, tried 6 of the different preparations, really liked 5 of them. Neat place.

4/5

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by Bluesmama

I love this website. Thank you for posting it.

Well, I know I'm going to sound like the lone pariah here, but when we went to New Orleans last October for 12 days, the only meal I was very disappointed in was at Mandina's. It was a fried shrimp meal. The shrimp was unimpressive ~ more hard crust coating than shrimp, and it just didn't taste good. Plus, it was plopped right on top of the fries which made them limp and greasy (to be fair, a lot of restaurants there do this, and I've learned to ask the server to see that the cook separates them).

But one of my favorite restaurants, Oceana, doesn't have a rating yet. Their bread pudding isn't nearly as good as it used to be, but their meals are SO heavenly!

I also love Adolfo's on Frenchmen.

I've never been to Oceana (I'm actually allergic to fish, so...). Checked out their menu...that Bananas Foster ice cream cake looks amazing...I just ate but my mouth is watering.

I've been hearing about Adolfo's a lot lately...will have to make it one of these days.

Hoping soon to have a review of Ralph's on the park (never been) or La Boca (love). Have a birthday coming up which means carte blanche in choosing a meal.

I still like Mandina's...

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Went to Yummy Yummy Chinese on Carrollton just now. Had heard from several people that it wasn't very good, but I figured it wouldn't be that hard to make a good Mandarin Chicken...I was wrong.

The chicken came dry and cut up into strips, like mini chicken tenders with some of the meat exposed. Instead of the normal brown sauce, I was served a small bowl of dark sauce with some baby corn, mushrooms, etc. in the bowl. There also weren't any of the little green vegetables that usually serve as a garnish.

I really wanted to like this place, but it just didn't do it for me.

2/5