Food Fare in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

I read an article recently about eateries in Mississippi with wonderful food and spectacular views.  They may have nice views, but for the places I had been on the list, the food was nothing to write home about; the others I’ve never even heard of, so is the food honestly that great?  Who knows.

I have eaten at a lot of local places and decided I’d share my views on food, because something that I adore is good food.  It’s not just concentrated in Mississippi, though all of the places are the south, as that’s where I’ve found the best food to be.  My sister reviewed my list and said it was nothing but dives.  But, ya know, some of the best food can be found in strip malls and buildings with grungy looking facades.

I’ve decided to break it down by city, allotting each city its own post, as I think that would be easiest.  We’ll start with New Orleans, shall we?  Everyone loves it, or the idea of it, if they’ve never been.

You could spend so much time in this city and still find something new and wonderful to eat every day, from curb side markets and street vendors to a variety of restaurants from posh to local to chain varieties (but chains you don’t have in your town).  However, I won’t be talking about any chain establishments if they have more than two localized locations.

Café du Monde

Café du Monde | 800 Decatur Street

The only reason that this is first on the list, is because I’m starting with coffee and patisseries basically.  Everyone wants to go to the original and historic Café du Monde in The Quarter for beignets (bin-yays) and café au laits.  I completely understand.  It’s très charmant!  The river is right behind it, beautiful Jackson Square with St. Louis Cathedral in front.  There’s the grand Cabildo and Presbytère buildings surrounding the square.  There’s the general melee of tourists and locals, street performers and pigeons that set an entire scene.  It’s a nice spot to simply sit and watch.

Beignets at Café du Monde

I, myself, have many fond memories here and encourage everyone to visit at least once.  But, I also don’t really want to always be bombarded by all of those people when I merely want to have a coffee and some beignets.  Fancy a tip?  Don’t breathe while noshing on beignets, you’ll only get confectioners sugar all over yourself.

Café Beignet

Café Beignet | 334 Royal Street

Café Beignet is still in The Quarter, it is just not immersed in all of the action.  This section of Royal, near Canal is rather quiet.  The streets are filled, not with throngs of people, but lined with parfumeries, governmental buildings, and shops of fine antiques and jewelry.  It is a nice break from the tourist hubs.  Café Beignet also does not hold the historic sway of Café du Monde, but it is still very full of charm.

Café Beignet interior

Look at that interior!  I adore the rounded roof giving this long room a tunnel effect.  The exposed brick and the tropical leaves painted on the ceiling.  Really, however, most of the charm is in the courtyard to the left.  They have cats.  I mean, New Orleans has cats, and several of them have decided that they own the courtyard of Café Beignet.  I’ll take cats any day over noisy tourists and pigeons.  Besides, their beignets and coffee are just as fabulous as they are at Café du Monde.

Le Croissant d’or Patisserie

Le Croissant d’or Patisserie | 617 Ursulines Avenue

It seems a shame to go to New Orleans and not visit un Patisserie.  In another quiet section of The Quarter, this time closer to Esplanade, sits Le Croissant d’or.  While I will admit this place was fantastic and the interior far superior to the patisserie in my home town, C’est La Vie out-ranks this one in taste, but only by a small margin.

Quaint Victorian cake interior of Le Croissant d’or

The coffee was excellent and strong, the croissants that perfect consistency of slightly chewy, very flaky, and the ultimate of buttery goodness.  These people know how to make thousands of folds in their dough correctly!

Almond croissant and cappuccino at Le Croissant d’or

Nirvana Indian Cuisine

Nirvana Indian Cuisine | 4308 Magazine Street

I absolutely crave excellent, non Americanized food and Indian is no exception.  I have had this cuisine in four different cities, but Nirvana is by far my favourite, though they were all wonderful.

Interior of Nirvana

This one, by far, has the best atmosphere.  Poshy, yet also somewhat casual.  But, it’s not atmosphere that I really go somewhere for.

Food at Nirvana

It is always for the food.  Always.  I would recommend, well, everything.  My personal favourites, however, are the lamb korma, the raita, the naan, the samosas, and the saag paneer.  Enjoy.

Moon Wok

Moon Wok | 800 Dauphine Street

It’s nothing to look at, inside or out, but the service was really courteous and prompt.  The portions ample and the prices low.  It was some of the best damn chicken fried rice I’ve ever had in my life.  Everything we ordered from there was perfect, actually.

Food from Moon Wok

I don’t remember if there was room to eat in, all I know is that this is primarily a take-away place.  Which is exactly what we did, since our hotel was only a few blocks away.  We ate our food in the August evening of New Orleans, sharing the courtyard with several roaches and I still couldn’t be pried away from my meal.  Though one can’t be bothered with large tree roaches in the south, especially in New Orleans, or else you’d never get anything done.  But I will admit, even being born and raised in the south, they can be quite off-putting when you’re trying to eat.  What I’m trying to say here is that this food was delicious.

JägerHaus

JägerHaus | 833 Conti Street

I’ll admit that I’ve never really tried German cuisine, unless you count the not so terrific fare served at the local Methodist Church for Oktoberfest, or the canned sauerkraut that my dad will heat up.  But, I have studied German cuisine and have read descriptions of what it should be.  I would say that considering the owners and chef are actually from Germany that it should be pretty perfect, but I’ll also add that it matched all the descriptions.

The atmosphere is too adorable.  As soon as I walked in front of the window it was almost like I wasn’t in the states anymore and inside felt like I was somewhere deep in Germany.  Kudos for the atmosphere there.

Food at JägerHaus

This… is not what I had.  I had the Wienerschnitzel, sauerkraut, spätzle and some beer.  I don’t drink beer.  Ever.  It was absolutely lovely.  Something brewed only in Germany and shipped to this restaurant.  I, of course, detest all sauerkraut that I have eaten… until this.  Of course everything else was wonderful.  I can’t even remember what my sister had, but it was fantastic too!  I sometimes dream about this place, I’m not ashamed to admit.  Next time we go back to the city, we are eating here.  And I might just try whatever all that is pictured in the photo.

Superior Grill

Superior Grill Fabulous Mexican Dining | 3636 St. Charles Avenue

While my sister and I do eat a lot of Americanized Mexican food, as there are agazillion of them in our town, we don’t generally prefer them.  This one, however, is quite delicious.  It’s not Tex-Mex, nor is it by any means authentic, but it’s pretty close as far as just fantastic taste.  Basically, it far surpasses your everyday run of the mill blanded down for Americans, “Mexican” food.

Food at Superior Grill

I highly recommend the black bean soup and anything in flour, fried in butter.  But, I’m thinking there’s not much that would be bad here.

Bennachin

Bennachin | 1212 Royal Street

When I read they had an African restaurant I promptly said to my sister, “WE ARE GOING!”  African cuisine is so far removed from my everyday world that it is something I absolutely had to have.  It is authentic cuisine from the countries of Gambia and Camaroon in West Africa.

Food at Bennachin

I honestly can’t remember what we ate as it was a few years ago that we were there.  Everything was a party in our mouths though.  I do remember the fried plantains and they are also something that I dream about.  Oh, fried plantains, how I love thee!

Clover Grill

Clover Grill | 900 Bourbon Street

The historic Clover Grill has been flipping burgers since 1939.  It’s a quaint, very 50’s pink all night diner.  The burgers are cooked on the grill and covered with old hub caps.  That might turn people off, but I can dig it.

Food at Clover Grill

Don’t expect charm and niceties.  It’s a 24 hour diner… right off the rowdy, touristy section of Bourbon.  The staff can be snarky, but so can a lot of people in New Orleans.  If you’re tender hearted or can’t take a jibe, perhaps this is not the place for you.  But it was a damn good burger.

The Gumbo Shop

The Gumbo Shop | 630 St. Peter Street

I admit that I have not eaten a lot of gumbo in New Orleans proper.  It does not, however, mean that I do not know what gumbo is, or what it should taste like.  It’s just we either have gumbo with locals at their homes or we whip it up ourselves from our cookbook from the 1930’s put out by a local auxiliary club.  But, this is the gumbo that I have tasted in a New Orleans restaurant and it is perfection.  The colour and texture of the roux, the crab claws, the taste, the smell.  I doubt you’d find any yankee-fied chef boyardee tomato heavy, okra/filé (fee-lay) absent “gumbo” in New Orleans, but this is definitely not that… and well… it’s about as authentic of gumbo as you can get, I’d say.

Gumbo from The Gumbo Shop

Please, when you go, just get THE gumbo, as in the seafood gumbo.  It bothers me to no end when someone ends up a restaurant that is famous for something, and yet orders something else and says it wasn’t good.  Well, of course it wasn’t.  They’re not known for that thing, they’re known for/and put ALL of their effort into the thing that you didn’t order, but should have.  Don’t look at the menu, just order the gumbo.

Antoine’s

Antoine’s Restaurant | 713 St. Louis Street

And here, my friends, is an entry that is definitely not a dive.  This is very fine, very high class dining.  High French-Creole cuisine since 1840.  This is a place I couldn’t even hope to dine at, but I have.  Once.  My wealthy aunt who traveled the world and sold only the best Persian carpets to the wealthy of Montreal because she was a world renowned expert, insisted I eat there.  She felt it was imperative that she treat me to something high class and something French related since I was in my first or second year in the language.

Antoine’s sign

I was not going to turn that down.  I have no idea what we ate since this was about twenty years ago, but I do remember the opulence, the dishes, the fact that she had to approve my attire before we even left for the city, and that she did all of the ordering… en Français.  Which I know is not a prerequisite for dining there, but she does love to show off.

Food at Antoine’s

Well, I also remember that the food was divine and that she was pleased that I was graced with manners far above my allotted station of non-wealthy country mouse.  Anyways, I think it’s worth a visit, though I read that they’ve relaxed on their traditional standards.  Is this a good thing?  I don’t know.  You go and let me know, yeah?

Do you have an favourite eateries in New Orleans?  Let me know as I’m always looking for great new places!

My next entry we’ll hit the far northern states of Maryland and North Carolina.  It’s not much I enjoyed from there, but the food I did have was fabulous, so I’ll mention them.

Street Wise in NOLA

Rue de Chartres (Times-Picayune-Nola)

I just came across this very interesting series that The Listening Post & The Times Picayune-NOLA have started putting together; about pronunciation of street names in New Orleans, Louisiana.  They ask people on the streets how to pronounce the word they’ve just spelled and then they have a linguist, from Tulane University’s Anthropology Department, tell you how it’s pronounced in New Orleans, as well as how it would have originally been pronounced.  But I feel like their linguist missed a little on two of the streets.

Chartres: This was the first one I listened to.  A lot of street signs in New Orleans, mainly in the Quarter, are Rue de _______, whatever the name is.  It simply means __________ Street.  So, this would be Chartres Street.  But, it did make me cringe a bit that the people on the streets were saying “roooo day”.  I don’t have audio capability on here, so this is a bit difficult, but the Rue is pronounced roo, but clipped, instead of drawn out (though I’ll accept it & not cringe… too much).  De is never ‘day’, ever; it is a clipped ‘do’.  Also, the guy who pronounces the S at the end, as in ‘shartreys’.  S’s are never pronounced at the end of words in French.  It’s like Corps, as in Marine Corps.  That is a French word and is still pronounced similarly in English; with no S (or no p, but I couldn’t think of another S ending word off-hand besides that one).  Core vs a body of a dead person/corps.

As far as Chartres, it’s Char-ters, as per New Orleans.  The Linguist, I feel clips her French ending a tad too short; just a tad.  In French it is Shar-truh, but the way she pronounces it, it appears to be SHAR-t.  The ‘truh’ is certainly clipped in French & barely there, but it is a little more there than hers.

Burgundy: In New Orleans it is ‘bur-GUN-dee’.  I find that it makes perfect sense that people from New Orleans would pronounce it this way as it is very close to the French, in a way, but I feel the linguist missed the opportunity to explain that.  Yes, she’s correct that the region in France named Burgundy is not pronounced as in English.  Because it is Bourgogne, but it’s pronounced ‘boor-gun-yuh’ & the linguist is missing the ‘yuh’, unless she’s simply over-clipping again.  But New Orleans people are French people who learned to speak English, for the most part.  When French people say burgundy in the English way, they pronounce it ‘behr-gun-DEE’, which is extremely similar to the New Orleans of ‘bur-GUN-dee’.  There is no ‘bur-gen-dee’ as in English.  It is a deep and genuine ‘gun’ in both instances.   As for you proper English speakers, you may be saying ‘gun’, but it is very shallow and more of a gen/gin, as compared to the French or the New Orleans way. That, to me, is a far better explanation than, “Burgundy comes from the French region ‘boor-gun’ (where’s the yuh?) whether that stress on the second syllable in English comes from the French stress pattern or whether it’s something that comes from another dialect of English, we’re not sure.”

Tchoupitoulas: This one I can never spell, but I’m not sure most people can accurately.  There are varied ways to say this in New Orleans, but I think the most common is ‘Chop-uh-too-lus’.  I always figured it was an Indigenous word that the French heard and wrote down the French way.  The linguist comfirms that theory, so that was cool.  If one were to say it the French way it would be ‘chtoo-pih-too-lah’, which is also what I figured.

Melpomene: To my knowledge, I have never driven down Melpomene, but hearing them say it, it does sound familiar.  In New Orleans, as well as originally, it is ‘Mel-po-meen’.  Most people in American pronounce it ‘Mel-paw-muh-nee’, which to me seems like it’s switched, I would think that would be more New Orleans, but oh well.  It was interesting to hear that it’s a Greek Muse and that some people (in New Orleans) pronounce it with a ‘ph’ sound and insist it originally had an ‘H’ in it.

Though I’m writing this blog post, I am in no ways an expert.  I am not from New Orleans, nor have I ever lived in New Orleans.  I am, however, close enough to it that it has been my stomping grounds all of my life.  Though I know to a New Orleanians this doesn’t mean a thing.

I also am not of French heritage (sadly, as that would be spectacular, I think), nor have I ever lived in France.  I do, however, have five years of the French language under my belt so to speak.  I’m on a children’s conversation level, at best, but have remarkable recalling capabilities when reading.  So, that’s always nice, I think.  I’ve also been told by many peoples of many different nations that I have superb pronunciation skills.  I like that.  I do, I think it’s awesome.  I’m not tooting my own horn, I’m just trying to say, I do have an inkling about what I’m talking about here.

And as with other posts I’ve made, I make mention of growing up around French history and ways.  Because of my close proximity and large amounts of time spent in New Orleans, as well as the fact that my region was owned by France.  I’m part of France’s baby in the New World.

Though to note, New Orleans is no longer New France.  They, and their surrounding area’s, are all their own after so many years.  They have become their own version of what it means to have former ties to France.  They have Acadians who came down from the north, old world French, Haitian, & new world French or Creoles.

They also have ties to Spain, as Spain once owned the region as well.  As well as a myriad of other people and cultures that makes New Orleans and the surrounding parishes and area’s its own varied and wonderful entity.

Though the French had a large hand in shaping New Orleans, one can never truly say that it was all the French.  The cuisine is inspired by France, slaves from the Caribbean, and the Spanish.  While the style of housing in the Quarter is very French, the wrought iron railings and courtyards are courtesy of the Spanish.

The Creole language is a mix of French, Indigenous, & African; sometimes with some Spanish.  It is more of a pidgin language.  The Cajun language is what was used by French soldiers and settlers before the Acadians arrived, but is also a mixed with Spanish, English, Indigenous, & African.  Nothing is ever just French there.

Try to relate a sentence or something “French” from New Orleans to a French person and they will have no idea what you are talking about.

I love New Orleans, though it is not my home.  I am rather protective and fond of it, as I am my own home state and town.  It does not bother me that a tourist will go to Bourbon Street.  However, it does bother me when a tourist only visits Bourbon Street, trashes all of southern Louisiana (or Mississippi or the south in general) and exclaim how much they love that city though they’ve not even seen it yet.  Those tourists are abhorrent.  Don’t be that tourist.

I adore the Quarter, because I adore history.  The Quarter is lovely and charming and quirky.  New Orleans people will chide you for even visiting the Quarter.  I understand where they are coming from.  It’s all people ever want to see, but there is more to the city than that one location.  There are lots of places to go and things to do and see in that entire city.  I have not traversed all of it because I have Wal-Mart and petrol stations in my own town.  I’m not going to go out-of-the-way for something so every day.  But I have gone to out-of-the-way places for one thing that seemed awesome.  It was worth going.  It was worth experiencing.  It was certainly not the every day.

But I will still always visit the Quarter because I find something new and quite interesting on each trip.  Something tucked away that only local people will find because tourists are too busy at Cafe Du Monde (which I do love), Bourbon Street or The House of Blues (which I do not love, though I have been to both).

I have found a quirky French Bakery over near Esplanade.  A wonderful little neighbourhood park on the other side called Washington Square, technically not in the Quarter but it’s right there.  I spotted inaccuracies in Russian script at a super hip communist Russian-esque bar.  Sure, it’s a trendy place, but who would be reading the writing on the wall to begin with, much less being able to say, ‘huh, that’s not right.’, when really their just worried with looking ‘cool’.  I have found amazing Gumbo in the Quarter and ate fabulous and authentic German food for the first time ever.  I’ve been into local grocery marts and had New Orleans market food.  I’ve had excellent beignets and cafe au laits with feral cats at a place not often ventured to by tourists, eaten gelato for the first time ever.  I have seen a young Indigenous girl dance an Irish reel.

But beyond the Quarter, I have found more wonderful city parks (not Audubon, though I have been), seen fabulous houses, had authentic Spanish & Indian food, found a cupcakery that made the best cupcakes ever, helped homeless pets by buying a thrifted item, tromped through local neighbourhoods, had coffee in a bank, visited a comic book store on Free Comic Book Day, stayed in an old orphan asylum, helped business owners save for a new ship, “stalked” a celebrity.

I could go on.  The point is that is I try to thoroughly enjoy the city as much as I can on each visit, no matter which part it is.  If you’re only hitting up Bourbon Street and the Hard Rock Cafe, then you don’t know New Orleans at all.  It is a shame.  Get out there and go somewhere different.  Experience something that is really New Orleans, not something that is merely in New Orleans that is catering to what you think you want.

And for heaven’s sake, please don’t say ‘rooooo dey’.