New Orleans
Italian, Seafood and Fried Chicken??
Chicken so good it’ll make you want to slap yo’ mama!
Down on lower Decatur street lies a true conundrum, an Italian restaurant that features seafood but whose claim to fame is Fried Chicken? Well that would be Fiorella’s! And I must say…is it ever finger lickin’ good. The Colonel should bow down to the General of chicken. First…I had long ago heard of the legend of Fiorella’s fried chicken…the name is legendary in the Quarter and surrounding environs. But…there are just so many places and I am a creature of habit and of little pay. I don’t go “out” to eat often. But a friend was in town, we were at the French Market and I suggested Fiorella’s. We perused the menu which served up a panoply of options from Cajun to seafood to traditional Italian and fried chicken. She had the fried shrimp platter which was quite yummy. I ordered the Combo Chicken plate (two pieces white, two pieces dark) which came with a choice of sides. I chose the mashed potatoes with an amazing, savory dark brown gravy, of which I am still dreaming.
Then the chicken! I picked up one chicken breast and it was slightly larger than my fist. But I quickly put it down because I realized the other breast was one-and-a-half times larger! When I bit in to it it was hot, juicy, and the breading used was indescribably delicious. Whatever their “secret recipe” consists of is just that kind of taste that makes you want to take another bite before you’ve swallowed the first. To top it off, the piece I ate was so big I could only finish that one. The other three and half of the potatoes went into a box and were greedily consumed the next day.
The prices there are totally reasonable floating around French Quarter standards. The seating and decor are nautically themed and they also have seating on the sidewalk where you can sit, eat, drink and watch the Quarter go by. They’re on 1136 Decatur Street right on the “front-side” of the French Market. They are currently closed Tuesday and Wednesday but that may only be for summer hours.
If you got a hankerin’ for some amazing down-home fried chicken, beat feet to Fiorella’s.
A Mini Vacation in New Orleans
Just want to get away from the French Quarter and the business of life for a few hours? Soak up some local architecture after a lazy delicious breakfast and some live sounds? I have just the line-up for you.
Jump on the ferry to Algiers Point – it is just across the Mississippi water and runs every half an hour – free for foot passengers. Walk to the passenger terminal on Poydras where the aquarium is and enjoy the 5 minute “cruise” over to the quaint area called “The Point”. Make your way to Tout de Suite Cafe a couple of blocks by foot - a very funky yet very clean and organised operation open 7 days a week 7am-7pm. Fabulous breakfasts and pancakes in all kinds of flavors and options (they even offer REAL maple syrup) in 4 stack and 2 stack portions. Sandwiches, soups and other lunch/deli sundries available all day.
After brekkie take a stroll around the delightful area “The Point” – its like going back to the 1950s and the houses are all a wonderful concotion of New Orleans architecture in a small few blocks space. Real village feel to the place.
Cafe Tout de Suite, 347 Verret Street, New Orleans, LA 70114-1023(504) 362-2264
Toute de Suite (one of Nolas best kept secrets) has live music from 9am Saturdays and Sundays and draws quite the crowd on Sundays. Local art can be bought for an inexpensive price and the whole operation is run from a tiny kitchen with no more than a griddle and an electric stove – incredible work girls!!
Fun and Games
It’s all fun and games… until someone loses an eye. Then it’s entertainment!
Directly across from the world famous Pat O’Brien’s lies the Big Easy version of the Finnegan’s family of bars: Finnegan’s Easy. This small narrow bar is the favourite watering hole for those awaiting the nightly Haunted History Ghost tour. Between the hours of seven and eight it fills up and empties out with people grabbing a frosty beverage to accompany their thrills and chills.
At all other hours they cater to service industry, locals and tourists alike. Good beers range from Guinness and Harp to PBR and High Life. They also have a menu of delicious bar snacks such as fish and chips, and chicken tenders but their more local delicacies include fried mac-n-cheese bites, fried banana’s Foster bites and calamari. This is the place to get your deep fried munchy monster pacified!
While hanging out and enjoying your eat and drink, enjoy sports on one of three TVs, check your email on their free wi-fi connection, or get a buddy and enjoy one those great games you remember from your youth. Such games as Operation!, Connect Four, Fact-or-Crap, Battleship and more.
Every Sunday from 3pm-6pm Finnegan’s invites you to come and kick back, enjoy the courtyard and listen to the soothing tunes of the band Laissez Faire.
They operate under the traditional New Orleans hours: weekdays 3pm-whenever and weekends noon until the party stops!
For more info on this bar and their other locations check out: www.finneganseasy.com
Finnegan’s resides at 717 St. Peter St between Royal and Bourbon.
Good coffee in a real cup on Royal Street…
As a European, there is something just “not quite right” about drinking coffee “to go” in one of these monstrous foam insulated coffee cups. What happened to taking time for a wee chat together over a cup of coffee where you can actually see and enjoy the foam and smell and taste the aromas as they were meant to be. Even better : pair it with a delicious baker-made pastry or a locally made gelato in a small establishment and decide what art you are going to buy on Royal Street.
Newly opened “Antoines Annex” was a needed commodity in the city – real cups and saucers serving perfect coffee and yummy delights in an oasis of calm on Royal. They also have a lovely small side patio for those wanted to enjoy their brekfast or lunch al fresco.
Light lunches salads and paninis, soup, fruit and yoghourts, pastries and locally made (Brocatos) ice-creams and gelatos. Simple and delicious and extended opening hours
Monday – Friday ~ 7:00am – 10pm
Saturday – Sunday ~ 8:00am – 10:00pm
513 Royal Street ~ New Orleans,
A Guilty Pleasure, 3 Times Over
On his show “Bizarre Food” Andrew Zimmern said, “You can’t go to New Orleans without getting a beignet from Café du Monde.” Or in my case, three and a half beignets. Two of my friends from school were the perfect partners in crime for this food adventure during our spring break. Beignets, a type of French doughnut, are a New Orleans staple, and it is only fitting to enjoy them at an establishment like Café du Monde.
With the amount of powdered sugar on the tables and floors of this outdoor café in Jackson Square, you would expect it to be surrounded by a cloud of puffy white smoke. The wait for our late afternoon snack was about fifteen minutes, which seemed to drag on as we watched everyone lick their sugary fingers and enjoy their iced coffee. Each order comes with three huge beignets—a tall order for some, but not for us. The doughnuts were crispy but not too greasy, and were still warm from the fryer. The mess was certainly part of the fun, as you can see in the picture below.
We left feeling immensely satisfied. Any visitor to New Orleans must eat at Café du Monde—even if it’s under the guise of a cultural adventure!
Café du Monde
Locations, Hours, and Phone Numbers: http://www.cafedumonde.com/locations.html
Futbol Fever! and Finn McCool’s
We’re having a party and the whole world is invited!
Well… World Cup mania has arrived in the Big Easy with a hurricane force!
Where might we go to down a cup while watching the cup? Although many bars around town are playing USA v England such as the (aforementioned) Crown and Anchor, the American Sector (soon to be mentioned), Finnegan’s Easy, Storyville, The Three Legged Dog and many many more from what I understand the biggest party atmosphere surrounding Futbol Fever is smack dab in the center of it all: Mid-city’s Finn McCool’s!!!
Now there are many reasons to go to Finn’s. Not only to enjoy the traditional Irish heritage of this wonderful city but because there is always something happening at Finn’s. The bar not only serves up beer and liquor in the traditional pub fashion but entertainment as well. In previous a blog I spoke of their St. Patrick’s Day blow out but on a regular day you can find something going on: sports, trivia, writing contest, head-shaving you name it! Where else can you be served the holy trinity of beers (Guinness, Bass, Harp) by a luscious roller-girl bar maid? If they’re not cooking up a special feast they have amazing toasted sandwiches (ham, turkey, roast beast) and Taytos: Irish potato chips that come in such flavours as pickled-onion and roasted chicken (it really tastes like chicken…freaky!).
Now to get there takes work but is relatively easy: grab the Canal Street Streetcar, pay your $1.25, go to Jefferson Davis, jump off (tuck and roll) and head to the left of the direction you were just going until you reach Banks Street, take a right an in a few blocks BAM! you’re at 3701: Finn McCool’s.
Definitely a neighborhood bar, but their neighborhood spans the city, the parish (we have parishes not counties), hell…whole parts of the world. And if there is an event within the purview of the current zeitgeist you can bet they’ll be doing something about it.
From what I”ve heard they’re playing all world cup games and every day has turned into a version of St. Patricks Day. For the cup they start early, we’re talking groundhog-day-early and go late. There is really so much going on I just can’t post it here. Check out their amazing website for what’s up next: www.finnmccols.com
Sláinte mhaith!
The Best Kept Jazz Brunch secret
On the border of the Quarter— Residing at the corner of Esplanade and Burgundy (that’s: buhr-GUN-dee) Buffa’s Lounge has served the hungry and thirsty alike since the 1930′s. Technically in the Marigny, Buffa’s has seen ‘em come and seen ‘em go: tourists, locals, musicians, artists, the world famous and the barely known. It has been a personal favourite of mine for more than ten years and it seems to just keep getting better and better.
I could speak of their famously delicious Buffa burger. I could speak of the fun characters in front of and behind the bar. But what I really want to emphasize is their amazing Jazz Brunch! Buffa’s back room comes alive 11am-2pm Sunday’s with a Jazz brunch that will have you licking your lips and swinging to the beat without putting a dent in your budget (most items are priced around $10 or less). Each week the menu changes slightly but will always features the classics: omelettes, eggs Benedict, mimosas and bloody Marys. The band is so close you could reach out and touch them. All those classic jazz greats you remember will come alive again as enjoy the good food, great drink and fun atmosphere.
And if you miss it? Don’t worry. Buffa’s is now open 24 hours a day. So remember Esplanade is a street in the Quarter not a drunken list of reasons you missed work. Head on down and check it out as soon as you get a chance and you’ll easily have a new favourite as well.
Check them out at www.buffaslounge.com
Duck you, you duckin’ duck!
The Avenue Pub and J’anita’s Sammiches should probably be placed into two blogs but since they both reside in the same building I’m doing the old two-birds-one-stone thing. Pay your $1.25 and catch the streetcar Uptown to the corner of St. Charles and Polymnia and there you will find The Avenue, a local Uptown bar with one of the most amazing and mercurial selections of import and craft beers in the city. You won’t know what to choose when you see stouts, lagers, weiss, IPA’s and bocks all either domestic craft beers or imported from countries few Americans can locate on a map. But don’t worry, if something
sounds good but you’re not convinced you want the full pint they do offer 4oz. samples (if they’re not too busy). Thursdays through Sundays the upstairs balcony bar is open so you can kick back and watch the world go by from a birds eye view. For those who suffer from acrophobia they also offer a quaint courtyard! Always make sure to check their beer menu as they seem to get a new beer in every week.
And then there’s the food: J’anita’s Sammiches. Now, unfortunately I am going to have to place them in the high-middle range of prices for food considering that their sammiches range from $8-$11.25. But believe me when I tell you you that the food is so delicious expense is entirely justified. Ringing in at $11.25 I ordered the St. Chuck Duck. I had never heard of a duck sandwich and I believe it is unique to this place. I thought, “An eleven dollar sandwich? It had better be damned good.” And was I wrong! It was better than damned good! It was the best thing I’ve put in my mouth second only to something I am not legally allowed to mention. It consists of Cabernet sautéed duck and Granny Smith apples smothered in Cheddar and Bleu cheeses with a currant tapenade served on Sourdough bread. It was heaven. I had mine with a side of curly fries. I cannot recommend this sandwich enough. I am drooling just writing about it. Other items like The Best Fish Sammich Ever, The Sweet Spot, The “not quite” Cuban all sound so tasty you’ll have trouble making up your mind. And all come garnished with an Animal Cracker. 
They have plenty of appetizers and salads as well. I have to mention the Buddha’s Temptation: Bleu cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped, deep fried apricots. You just won’t find food like this anywhere else in the Big Easy…even in restaurants!
Look for them on Facebook and at www.avenuepub.com
Anchors away!
What’s all this then?? An authentically styled British pub, British owned on the West Bank of New Orleans. This is a little place on Algiers point which is full of good neighborhood feelings and fun themed events. I was in attendence for their Dr. Who and curry night. Every Thursday at 8pm is trivia night. And coming up soon (June 12th) will be the England vs. USA World Cup event also with a potluck.
Go to the end of Canal street in the Quarter, take the ferry (free if you’re on foot or bike) to Algiers point and walk about a block to your right, step through the door and you’ll be transported to merry old England. They offer up one of the more eclectic selections of beer in the city with the likes of Tetley’s and Fuller’s London Pride, which is actually a hand-pump poured bitter!
Find out more about their events at their website: http://www.crownanchorpub.com/
For beer, snacks (scampi fries!), and that neighborly feeling far away the hub-bub and craziness of the French Quarter this is the place to go.
Where the River Meets the Road
Stop in and Phil-up. At the end of St. Phillip Street almost to Decatur resides another one of those great local favourites that tourists might not find left to their own druthers. MRB: Mississipi River Bottom. This is truly a place not to be missed for a variety of reasons: great drinks, good food, pool table, barroom shuffleboard, a courtyard, sports always on one of the nine TV screens ( they even have ESPN 8, the Ocho) and a stripper pole! This is truly a locals’ 
hangout except for those couple nightly hours around nine when Haunted History Tours stop in for their mid-tour break. Why do they choose to stop here? Well this building was once New Orleans’ second most popular business: a brothel! It is currently haunted by the broken-hearted spirit of a young lady who ended her own life in the courtyard.
Why would anyone else want to stop here? They have a myriad of beers foreign and domestic 
(many local Louisiana brews), frozen drinks, and it’s the only place in town where a pretty little barmaid named Katrina will make you a Hurricane. And they’re tasty (both of them 
)! Their menu has local dishes, standard favourites (I had a delicious Reuben) plus German fare like Bratwurst and Knackwurst. Few people realize that after the French settled, the Germans were the next ethnic group to emigrate here in any number.
This place is just hands down fun. They’re open early ’til late and reasonably priced. Find the owner of the bar, Charleston, tell him you read this blog, and he’ll purr with enthusiasm!
For more on the famous Haunted History tours go to www.hauntedhistorytours.com or just stop into MRB and pick up a brochure.
