Chow Fest 2012 Day 4

Day 4 in the Crescent City was good to us. However, I decided to start the day a bit healthier. My stomach was mad at me all night the night before. Could've possibly been the 2 lbs of butter that was in my dinner. So if you've ever stayed at an Embassy Suites, you know how good the breakfast is. I love an omelet bar! So I started my day with an egg white omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and a tiny bit of cheese, and a piece of wheat toast. Just the fuel I needed to get me through the day of walking that was ahead of us. We walked for miles and miles, and had the most beautiful day to do it! We made our way to the French Quarter and French Market. On the way, we stopped in Jackson Square mall. There were some very nice folks luring us in with talk of a free sample massage. Well, I'll tell you right now, if you ever stop for a "sample" massage, you can count on it that you are going to pay for the rest of it. We ended up staying for 10 minute chair massages. Best ever. No lie. I will go to the mall for a chinese massage now instead of a fancy $80 spa massage. They get down to business and it was awesome. Anywho, onto the food.

As we strolled through the French Market, I decided it was 5:00 somewhere, and I needed a cocktail. And it was unseasonably warm, so I decided to go with the Louisiana Lemonade.

Tasty little concoction from the Organic Banana Juice Bar made with some fabulous lemonade and rum, and a bunch of other goodness. The bad thing about this drink, is it went too fast! If you are ever in N.O. in the summertime or a warm day, stop by for one of these tasty cocktails!

Day 4 Lunch (Holly): Cafe Beignet

The good thing about eating veggies for breakfast, is you get to eat beignets for lunch! Tadd was supposed to partake in these with me, but had his mind set on boiled shrimp. Now tell me what you would choose if you had the choice?

We always go to Cafe Du Monde when we go to N.O. but saw this one on the Food Network (shocker), and just had to give it a try.

Now, I am a lover of Cafe Du Monde (and my sisters will probably argue this one), but I think Cafe Beignet's are better! Seriously! Crusty on the outside, super soft and steamy hot on the inside, and as you can see, generously doused with powdered sugar. So good! I ate 1 1/2 of these for my lunch and we took them back to the hotel for an afternoon snack! My comparison in the two would be like Starbucks and your local favorite coffee shop. Starbucks is so yummy, but there is one on every corner, and they are inconsistent. I would imagine that if I lived in N.O. Cafe Beignet would be where the locals go. Oh, and they have regular food too, so you can get a sandwich first if you choose to eat real food for lunch unlike myself! Rating: Holly-10...best beignets I've ever had!

Day 4-Lunch (Tadd)-Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House. We made a stop to fulfill Tadd's shrimp craving. He ordered the boiled shrimp and this is what he got...

...just enough shrimp to make you mad...four to be exact!. They were big and fresh though, and I didn't eat them, but Tadd enjoyed them. I did dip a cracker in the remoulade, and it was delicious! Rating: Tadd-9

Day 4-Dinner- The beignets and shrimp served their purpose. They tided us over for the main event (insert big booming voice guy saying "Let's get ready to rumblllllllllle! here). Our plan for dinner was to eat at Commander's Palace. We drove uptown to eat there and you had to have a reservation to get in. So goes the never-ending marital argument of planning vs. just rolling with it. But it all worked out in the end, because we headed over to our second choice, Galatoire's. They don't take reservations, and being just a party of two, we got in pretty quickly, although the place was packed! Men have to wear a jacket there, so I felt like I was in a scene from a John Grisham novel. Very southern chic. The atmosphere was so cool, and our waiter had been working there for 25 years, so it is steeped in tradition as well! I will warn you that this is not the most frugal place to eat, but a perfect place to celebrate a special occasion...such as your 40th birthday! Galatoire's is right smack dab in the middle of Bourbon St. It is so funny that this fancy place is right in the middle of all of those party bars and strip clubs. But people definitely put on their Sunday's best and show up for dinner!

We started with a cup of seafood gumbo each. It was made with a light brown roux, like my dad makes (and my Maw-Maw used to :( ). It had shrimp, crabmeat and oysters (Tadd ate my oysters). It was really good gumbo with the perfect amount of spice. I will say that Tadd makes the best gumbo I've ever had, so this would have to be 2nd or 3rd best I've had.

Next, we split a wedge salad. Here is a picture after Tadd covered his with black pepper. Best blue cheese dressing I've ever had, but Stoney River's wedge salad is better in my very humble opinion.

We shared our main dish. We ordered redfish and au gratin potatoes. The fish was covered in a lemon, butter, caper sauce. It was so fresh and delicious. Good fresh, fish needs very little done to it to make it tasty. The sauce was perfect. Not overpowering at all. The potatoes were tasty as well. I don't think there are too many foods I like out there as much as cheesy potatoes. These were really good!

Redfish (this is a half serving)

Potatoes

Dessert was chosen by Tadd tonight because I got to pick our Nola dessert. He picked pecan pie. We took it back to the hotel because we were stuffed to the gills after dinner. I actually (don't faint) only took 2 bites of it. Pecan pie does not tempt me. I do have a separate stomach for dessert usually, but I was so full that I couldn't do it. If it was chocolate cake, I'd have made room for it. It had an chocolate cookie crust and was drizzled with chocolate sauce. Tadd finished the whole thing. He claims that next to Nola, it is the best pecan pie he's ever had (don't tell his mama). Ratings are going to be hard for this because we ate EVERY COURSE on the menu. We have lots to factor in, so here goes. Based on all of the information we have given you, here are our ratings. Tadd- 7.75 Holly-8