Author Archive
Sucre….sweet!!
There is only one “sweet talk” word for this classy establishment on Magazine Street – sugar topped “perfection”.
Executive Pastry Chef Tariq Hanna and his team make fresh French pastries, tarts, cakes and bon-bons. Not to mention the delicious gelatos and sorbets and lunches. This man makes magical things and his craft will render you speechless.
Sucre attracts quite the crowd on weekend evenings of Uptown locals wanting an after dinner coffee and gelato – very Italian interior.
The King cake for Mardi Gras is a metallic colored ”bling” ring you wouldn’t want to miss….almost TOO good to eat!!
The delightful Madison Curry left New York not long after Katrina to return to her hometown and set up her dream cafe business in a residential area on Dryades nearby Napoleon and St Charles Avenue. The emphasis is on fresh simple Italian deli ingredients which conjure themselves into yummy full and pure tasting paninis and salads. A lovely change to the spicy and heavy butter and cream dishes elsewhere in the city. Her pesto is all made fresh on a daily basis (and you can buy jars to take home) and her salad dressings are perfectly tangy - lemon juice, EV olive oil and some salt and pepper. Milky mozzerellas, salty proscuittos and other Italian faves. The coffees are excellent with a slab of homemade cake of the day.
The interior and ambiance are simple and clean, yet cosy and European. I love to sit outside on the bench with a coffee and enjoy the quietness of the street.
Madison’s family is a talented one – her cousins Sasha and Martin Masakowski perform in a jazz trio once a month in Madison’s Jazz brunch. A lovely a relaxed way to pass a sleepy Sunday in New Orleans.
Il Posto Cafe 4607 Dryades StNew Orleans, LA 70115
(504) 895-2620
Tue-Fri. 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sun. 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
A small lunch and very casual dinner place on the bustling Magazine Street near Napoleon Avenue. An old dark grocery style interior with open shelves proudly presenting all things “N’Awlins” from Zapps potato chips to Barq’s Root Beer. A little contrived, but nevertheless we love it for its red beans and rice, gumbo, crawfish etoufee and po-boys. Po-boy bread with butter served in a paper bag BEFORE your po-boy (with the famous Leidenheimer bread bien sur!!). Locals and young hipsters frequent this joint and they have ample seating outside when weather allows. Fast, easy, inexpensive and new New Orleans!!
Ignatius Eatery. 4200 Magazine Street, 70115 Tel : 504-8962225
Open Mon-Sun 11am-9pm
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There is yet to be a Vietnamese restaurant on the East Bank that really impresses me, but a very short trip over the Mississippi river bridge to the West bank (yes it is only a bridge with a $1 toll) will give you about 6 great and authentic Vietnamese restaurants all close to eachother that all have wonderful eats.
My favorite is Nine Roses and it is really easy to get to from the expressway. Great food, fairly fast, affordable and generous portions. It serves Chinese and Vietnamese but the Vietnamese specialities are recommended especially the shrimp paste on sugar cane sticks grilled and served with fresh herbs, noodles and lettuce leaves. Build your own!! Bo Nuong Vi (sizzling beef) is another such dish where you cook your meat on a portable burner at your table and build your wrap with rice paper and all the usual healthy fixings.
They have a number of large tables with the proverbial carousel in the middle where you can take 8 friends and all order something different. You definitely feel full but in a healthy way after leaving Nine Roses.
If you are alone a big bowl of steaming Pho is also recommended. For a healthy and quick veggie fix try their sauteed watergrass with garlic and ask for brown rice. Yum!!
Hoa Hong 9 – Nine Roses, 1100 Stephen St, Gretna, La 70053. Tel 504-3667665.
Open for lunch and dinner
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Seared Scallops with Vietnamese Greens and Shitake Mushrooms
The fabulous Restaurant Iris has a light green almost art nouveau feeling interior and is newly housed next to the Bienville Hotel in the French Quarter (recently moved from uptown Jeanette Street).
The menu is mostly French with an oriental twist. I loved the place when it was uptown but enjoy the feeling even more in the French Quarter. The food is always excellent and the service is efficient and a little sassy in a good way.
This place is definitely more for an upmarket crowd, so don’t turn up in your sneakers. Prices are very fair, however, and the quality is consistently good. A lovely treat; you can hit the town afterwards for some more beverages or live music or just a stroll through the historical French Quarter.
I enjoyed a wonderful skirt steak with truffle marrow and parmesan home-made fries washed down with a great Scholium Project Petit Syrah wine which was quite remarkable and recommended by our very friendly waiter.
With Jazz Fest coming up last weekend April first weekend May its advisable to start booking these better restaurants up in advance if you want to tantalise your tastebuds as well as your eardrums….
Open Mon-Sat 6pm-10pm. Dinner only.
321 N. Peters Street, 70130 Tel. 504. 299 3944
Dim Sum @ Royal China, Metairie
The only Dim Sum in town, I am afraid AND its just out of town in the burbs…..(can you believe it?). Well worth the trip though if you need a real Chinese fix – best place in town they say. Dim Sums are served for lunch and dinner and Royal China is open every day except Monday. I went there Tuesday night and ordered quite a few different things – the fried stuffed eggplant shrimp was delectable and the Fun Gow and Fun Gow with peanut was very surprising…lots of textures and fresh herbs. Dim Sums range in price here from $2.95 to $4.25 and are all made from scratch. The seame shrimnp toast was really decadent and my fave is always the white carrot cake (made with rettich, rice powder and pork)
A scruffy little place, but very popular. A dark interior with very retro 60s carpeting and the proverbial fish tank. Tres Chinese but the staff are actually very friendly and the atmosphere local and buzzing.
Take the I10 toward the airport and get off at West End boulevard just a mile or so out of town. Take a left at Veterans Blvd and Royal China is right there on the left next door to the local supermarket Dorignacs.
Royal China, 600, Veterans Memorial Blvd. Metairie, Louisiana 70005 Tel 504-831 9633
Open every day except Monday. Lunch 11.30-2.30 Dinner 5.00-9pm (10pm Fri and Sat)
Eat a ”world’s largest” filled crepe here at the oldy worldy Petunia’s in the French Quarter. It will certainly set you up for the rest of the afternoon while you take a leisurely afternoon stroll through the array of galleries, boutiques and other New Orlean’s attractions.
This fabulous 1830′s Creole townhouse serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in the old double parlour with all original details and woodwork. Relax in the “Big Easy” and take a step back in time.
Petunia’s has all the Creole and Cajun fave’s – gumbo, jumbalaya, shrimp creole, crawfish etoufee and po-boys and have a full bar and cocktails. The crepes certainly seem to be the speciality – sweet and savory. Try the St. Francis crepe for some French-New Orleans flavor – shrimp, crabmeat, ratatouille and cheese sauce – simply delectable.
Open 7 days a week from 8am-3pm for breakfast and lunch and 5 evenings a week for dinner Wednesday thru Sunday 5pm-10pm for dinner.
817 St Louis St, 70119 New Orleans. Tel 504-522 6440
The Napoleon House – just has to be my all-time favorite joint in town. Its ambiance and laid back atmosphere is just unbeatable. The interior has been the same for generations and it has a series of spaces including a lovely Spanish style courtyard where you can spend a lazy hour drinking reasonably priced cocktails (Bloody Mary’s and Pimm’s Cup are their speciality) and eating something half decent, with fair prices.
The vintage staff serve you in their scruffy black and whites with opera music oozing out of the seductively intimate interior. They ain’t making this kind of place anymore, folks.
Local foods seafood gumbo, po-boys, muffaletta, jambalaya star on the menu as well as brushetta and salads. The best Reubens sandwich in the French Quarter.
Open 7 days a week. Monday 11am-5pm. Tues-Thurs 11am-10pm. Fri-Sat 11am-11pm.
Closed for vacation last 2 weeks July 2009. Reception room available upstairs for special occasions.
Creole Creamery…creative, yet old-fashioned
A few ice cream joints have sprouted up around town in the past 2 years, but the Creole Creamery beats the lot with no less than 8 renditions of chocolate icecream alone. 1950s style Ice cream parlour. Not hip, just honest and with matching price-portion ratio. Everything is home-made. Their speciality is the red velvet cake icream. I had the Mexican hot chocolate ice-cream which was laced with cinnamon and cayenne powder to bring a triage of flavors which really tickle the tastebuds. Saffron and pistachio? Rather curious as well.
Uptown and nearby Crepe Nanou (for inexpensive Moules Frites or filled crepes), St James Cheese Shop (for cheese and charcuterie lunch plates and byo wines from the wine shop next door) this little uptown “pocket” of shops gives a real sense of local.
www.creolecreamery.com 4924 Prytania Street 70115 New Orleans. 504-894 8680
