New Orleans I

This was our first full day in New Orleans. The road food festival was already in full swing but we decided to take a very long walk to Elizabeth's for brunch.

Elizabeth's – This is an old style two story house in the Bywater neighborhood. The surrounding area is mostly residential so it's definitely had a neighborhood restaurant feel to it. The upstairs has high ceilings and a bar, while the down stairs has that crowded bustling feeling of a traditional breakfast diner.

I had the fried green tomatoes, poached egg and hollandaise. The hollandaise was great, I wish there was more of it. R had the cajun breakfast which was a mix of pieces of smoked pork with shrimp on a slaw and a poached egg. I loved the smokey pieces of pork in her dish. We each had a helping of grits, which were just normal grits. The service was excellent very casual and friendly. I'd definitely come back. The pralined bacon was fine, I imagine the excitement over it is more from the novelty of it before the candied bacon craze of the last few years.

We lunched at Boucherie, a small place fairly far from the FQ. We were very happy with a bowl of crispy fries topped with garlic and parmesan accompanied by the house vinegar. Onto a bowl of mussels and collards, which was good, though not extraordinary.  I did like the crunchy grit chips that came on top.

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The boudin balls were perfectly fried with a very thin and crispy shell encasing some well seasoned meat. We ordered a scallop dish and were a little surpised at the waulity of the scallops, somewhat of a watery mushy texture -- the type that are stored in brine. At least we enjoyed the well seasoned purple cauliflower underneath them.

After an afternoon of walking, we headed to Dick and Jenny's for dinner. The place was packed but because we were already so far out we waited for a table. We entertained ourselves with a delicious plate of fried oysters. Cornmeal battered fresh and juicy oysters -- a true taste of Louisiana oysters. At the table, we enjoyed the shrimp and tasso cheesecake, sort of a shrimp and tasso pie. Not as spicy or unusual as I was expecting, but very rich worth getting again. On to the mains, R had cioppino soup which she inhaled. H had the crawfish pasta in a creamy sauce that was a little spicy and worked great with the crawfish. So much crawfish in the plate, I kept eating it! Mine was a Seafood BBQ Stew – with a mix of crab, fish, oyster and gulf shrimp. I loved the shrimp and the oyster. The crab was in little bits mixed into the sauce of the stew. The flavors were smokey and savory, slightly creamy with just the right amount of acid to keep it from feeling too heavy and softened with a scoop of rice. Lovely and worth ordering again. Especially for the ultra fresh sweet gulf shrimp and the tender oysters. Dessert was a chocolate pecan chess pie with bourbon sauce. I was afraid this would be overwhelmingly sweet.  It was not, just a good solid chocolate pecan pie. This place will be on the list for my next visit to New Orleans.

Next up Commander's Palace.