48 Hours in New Orleans: Where We Ate

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ~ I Corinthians 10:31

In case you missed my first blog, 48 Hours in New Orleans: What We Did, you should go read it. This blog is about all of the food...

Where did we Eat?

We wanted to try as much food as we could in 1 ½ days so we usually only ordered a couple things and split them between the four of us so we wouldn’t be too full to eat again when we saw something good. Here’s a rundown of the food we ate, in the order we ate it:

· Napoleon House 500 Chartres St in the French Quarter ~ A 200 year old landmark, whose first occupant, Nicholas Girod (mayor of NOLA from 1812 to 1821), offered refuge to the exiled Napoleon. He never made it but the name stuck. It was a beautiful restaurant with a courtyard inside. We dined by one of the open archways leading to the sidewalk and ordered a Muffaletta to split, which we had heard was a must to eat when in New Orleans. It was really good and we loved the olive salad that was on it. We also ordered a Smoked Gouda grilled cheese which definitely wasn’t anything to brag about. I would recommend eating here for the ambiance and the Muffaletta for sure.

· Crab Cakes from Broussard's ~ if you read my French Quarter Fest blog then you know we got these from one of the food tents set up at the Jackson Square stage. We were thoroughly unimpressed with these crab cakes, they were very bland and not at all what I was expecting from New Orleans crab cakes. Maybe they are better at the restaurant??

· Dry Dock Café 133 Delaronde St, Algiers Point ~ This little place was just a few blocks from our apartment on Algiers Point. The food was really good and the service was great. Curt ordered the Crawfish Maureenica and I ordered the Red Beans and Rice with sausage, they were both really good and we ended up trading meals about halfway through. The kids ordered the fried catfish and chicken tenders (boring but good). I definitely recommend coming here for supper especially if you are staying in Algiers. We were so hungry, we forgot to take any pictures!

· Café du Monde ~ I actually talked about this already so just to recap: You MUST eat here at least once. The experience alone is worth it but the coffee and beignets are really good too!

· Tracey’s 2604 Magazine St in the Garden District – We were actually on our way to Parasol’s a block down the street but everybody liked the looks of this place better. We ordered a Crawfish Sausage Po Boy, an Alligator Sausage Po Boy and a basket of cheese fries. We all liked the Crawfish Po Boy but the Alligator Sausage didn’t have much flavor and kind of had a rubbery texture. The cheese fries weren’t good at all, it was just a big clump of fries with hardened, once melted shredded cheese on top. Probably wouldn’t recommend eating here, I wish we would’ve kept going to Parasol’s.

· Coterie Restaurant & Oyster Bar 135 Decatur St. ~ Connor said he wanted to try Oysters on the half-shell so on our way back to the Ferry, we popped in here so we could all have a couple. The oysters were good if you happen to like them (which none of us do). Connor can now mark that off his list and I don’t think he’ll ever eat them again; he pretty much gagged just looking at them. We also ordered the Cajun eggrolls which were really good. All in all, not a great dining experience but we like getting to try new things so we were happy to give Connor the opportunity to broaden his culinary horizons.

· Tavolino Pizza & Lounge 141 Delaronde, St Algiers ~ None of us were really even hungry for supper but we knew if we didn’t go eat, we’d all be hungry at bedtime so we decided to walk the few blocks to the Pizza place on Algiers Point. Most of the pizzas there were a little out of the ordinary so we decided to try The Odyssey (goat cheese, red onion, pepperoncini, roasted garlic & Kalamata olives). The wait for the pizza was the longest we’ve ever had and the pizza itself was ok. The kalamata olives were a little over powering and overall, it wasn’t that great on the palette. Would probably pass on going back to this place.

· Commander’s Palace * ~ We didn’t eat at the Commander’s Palace because 1) you have to make a reservation 2) there is a dress code 3) it is pricey. None of those things really fit in with our agenda but everyone says it is a “must eat” place. It does look really great and is conveniently located across from Lafayette Cemetery so if it can work with your itinerary than I would say you should try it out. If it had just been Curt and me, we probably would have. Maybe next time??

We didn't get as much great N'Awlins food as I would have liked but the food we did eat was all pretty good. The Beignets were definitely my favorite followed by the Muffaletta (that olive salad was sooo good). Check out my next blog, 48 Hours in New Orleans: Where We Stayed and How We Got Around.