We traveled to New Orleans this past weekend for my husband’s work conference. Such a hilarious combination, the ultra conservative corporate atmosphere and the raucous party atmosphere that is NOLA at Halloween. I must admit, I had some fun exploiting that combo on social media, see #cpcu13.
On to the food!
First, we discovered that NOLA had no good coffee. Coming from Chicago and Seattle this wreaked havoc on us. We just couldn’t get our minds around it and couldn’t help but take it personally.
Spitfire Coffee was decent, which is far and away better than the siphon fiasco that was Sucre. I had read good things about the coffee truck Brigade Coffee , but we were unfortunately never able to get to them.
Spitfire coffee in The French Quarter
My palette is not one for crawfish, alligator, oysters and po boys, so classic NOLA cuisine was lost on me. We did find a few places that were more our style.
Sylvain was through a tiny alley and had a quaint outdoor area with quite a few tables. We tried a few solidly tasty dishes there and some stellar cocktails. My favorite one of the trip was The Green Bastard which was made with Green Chartreuse, Lime, Egg White, Homericon Mastic, and Bittermens Hellfire.
Green Chartreuse is delicious guys. Get your fix with a Last Word sometime.
The Last Word: gin, lime juice, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur
Domenica was in the Hotel Roosevelt and we definitely overestimated our appetites here.
Ordered a bit too much food as so many things sounded irresistible. You try to fight off the likes of ” Roasted Cauliflower with sea salt and whipped goat feta”,”Burrata with honey roasted pears and arugula”, “Fried Tuscan Kale” or “Roasted carrot pizza with goat cheese, red onion, brussel sprouts and beets”.
Exactly.
Because they are in a hotel, there will be some private events there so just be aware of that if you choose to visit. They have a Happy Hour every day from 3-6 where all their pizzas and many drinks are half price.
Also at the Hotel Roosevelt was Sazerac. History says that the sazerac was the first cocktail and invented in New Orleans, so just about everywhere had one. The one here was heavy on the Peychaud bitters which made it unique and scrumptious.
Arnaud’s French 75 bar was another spot with a very old fashioned feel, a nice respite from the sleazy madness that was Bourbon Street. Of course I had to have a French 75 here. We asked the bartender to make us some whiskey cocktails and he whipped up some brilliantly boozy concoctions.
French 75: Courvoisier VS, Sugar, Lemon Juice, Moet and Chandon Champagne
I know it looks like we just drank cocktails the entire trip , and though we had a fair amount we did , in fact eat. It just was nothing incredible or out of the ordinary.
We took the free Canal Street Ferry one day, across to Algiers, a quaint neighborhood with a few little shops. Tout de Suite provided me with a much needed salad and had some yummy breakfast options.
When I was desperate for some salty fries, St Lawrence came to our rescue with upscale bar food and some craft cocktails.
One place I definitely do not recommend is the Pirates Alley Cafe. Horrific drinks trying to pass as cocktails, I think they bank on their patrons being completely drunk before stopping by. However it did provide me with my favorite picture of the trip:
Toxic Baby Shot
I think my favorite spot was Bar Tonique. They had an extensive menu of classic cocktails and a Happy Hour from 12-5 on weekdays with a few solid $5 drinks. I had a few Aviations and a Corpse Reviver #2.
Corpse Reviver #2
Lastly Mister Gregory’s had some french inspired pastries, soups and sandwiches. Nice little lunch or breakfast spot.
The Happy Food Dance 