48 Hours in NOLA

It's punishment getting sent to New Orleans for two days of work training and meetings; I mean who really wants to go NOLA?!?! (Well, I can name a couple of ladies ;) ).  I flew out to NOLA Monday night and with 48 hours in town, I needed to maximize my culinary game plan.

 I took the 7:20 p.m. flight out of Houston and arrived at Louis Armstrong Airport at 8:15 p.m., so I knew that by the time I got a cab and headed into the city, got to my hotel, and was ready to hit the town, it would be after 9 p.m., so that ruled out a visit to Acme Oyster House or Dragos as both close at 10 p.m.


Luckily though, I was staying at the Hilton St. Charles where one of Chef John Besh's restaurants is attached and stays open to 11 p.m.  Luke is a tribute to "the Franco-German brassieres that used to liter the city."  While I'm not familiar with that culinary cuisine, the restaurant served late, had the oversight of a top chef, and affordable prices, so it was a win for me!

While I pursued the menu, a futile act since I had done so online 2 times during my wait at the airport, I sipped on a local beer, Abita's Turbodog, a dark brown ale brewed with chocalate malts.  Abita has a brewery in Abita Springs, LA, a small town about 45 minutes across Lake Pontchatrain.  Abita puts out a number of not only great tasting beers, but also great names, including Purple Haze, Jockamo, Restoration, and SOS-Save Our Shore, a charitable pilsner brewed after the BP oil rig explosion.

First things first, I started with a dozen oysters, an act that would be repeated twice during my visit.  I grew up watching my dad eat oysters in New Orleans, and like him, follow the standardized process of placing the oyster on a saltine cracker, topping it with prepared horseradish & cocktail sauce, and consuming in one bite.

The Midwestern chili institution Steak-N-Shake boasts the motto "Insight Must Be Right" to refer to their practice of positioning their kitchen in view of their customers.  Luke (and most other NOLA restaurants for that matter) embody that mantra and position their oyster bars in view of their clientele, most likely to entice customers to take the bait.

Take the bait I did, and while the oysters were good, they were a little dense with gulf water and not as good as Acme's (which could be an issue of in-group bias/loyalty).


Where my "sure-thing" order of oysters fell short, the entree I ordered on a whim expecting mixed results proved to be a super star!

The Pate of Louisiana Rabbit & Chicken Livers, perfumed with truffles & served with country bread croutons, house made pickles, grainy Creole mustard, and a couple of tasty yet unidentifiable fruits, was phenomenal!  The pate was smooth, creamy, and had a mild, meaty taste.  The combination of bread, pate, mustard, & pickles was spot on & repeated over and over and over!


Eight hours later I was back at Luke at 7 am to redeem my free breakfast before heading across the street for 8 hours of interview training.  Presented with the choice of 3 entrees, my 2 co-workers each ordered the "Healthy Breakfast" entree consisting of yogurt and fruit, but recognizing I was in the Culinary Capital of the South, I overcame the peer pressure and ordered the "Southern Breakfast."

While I still feel a little twinge of guilt at the unhealthy nature of my choice, the breakfast was outstanding.  The ham was local and tasted as such, very fresh and not too salty, the eggs fried nicely, but the star of the plate was the buttermilk biscuit, which consisted of an interior composed of a dozen layers of flaky yet soft bread and a crusty exterior.

The grits were a heart attack waiting to happen, and I mean that as a compliment.  I'm certain 90% of grits are made each morning with grits and water as the main ingredients, but these puppies tasted like the grits were boiled in a cocktail of heavy whipping cream and butter.  While I love rich foods, I took four small bites at best and called it quits.  I could of kept going, but would have been resigned to bed the rest of the day, where I would be clutching my stomach in pain as I attempted to count the number of years that small bowl of Southern Pride took off my life.

Dinner Tuesday night was at Mr. B's Bistro's, a French Quarter stand-by that produces quality Creole food.  I'm not sure if it was because the dish included bacon and mashed potatoes (two things that taste like Home for me) or that the pate I had Monday night was so good, but I went with the Apple Cider Braised Rabbit with shallots, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and bacon.  Served on the bone, the dish was tender and tasty, but shallow with limited flavor profiles.

Tuesday night ended with a group drink back at the bar at Luke, and I toasted away my last night in NOLA with a signature drink of the city, a Sazerac, made with Rye whisky, anise liquor, Peychaud bitters, simple syrup, and garnished with a lemon rind.

Wednesday morning meant a day of driving to Baton Rouge & Norco to visit a couple of refineries, so to energize for the day, I made a 6:30 a.m. run to Cafe du Monde for an order of beignets & 2 cafe au laits, a concoction of piping hot milk poured into thick, strong chicory coffee.  Very ingeniously, the waitress bagged my order in a way that everything stood up straight during my car ride.

My wife has a saying that she "likes to be on time at all times," and I too share her sentiment, so it was no surprise that I had some extra time in between my refinery visits, so it was on a whim that I took the LaPlace exit off of I-10 and took the back roads into Norco from Baton Rouge?  Why you ask?  On the off chance that I would run across this gem....

Jacob's World Famous Andouille Sausage was named the Best Andouille Sausage in the USA by Cook's Illustrated magazine (think Sports Illustrated for cooks).  The cash-only joint pumps out a myriad of sausages and smoked meats, but I was after the andouille, which would find it's way into jambalaya later that week.

My final meal in NOLA was lunch with Liz's former Norco HR team at the Destrehan Plantation, a serene setting across from the levy separating dry land from the Mighty Mississippi River.

I'm a sucker for turtle soup.  Plain & simple.  And while I know there is no turtle soup as good as the turtle soup at Court of Two Sisters, I lack the emotional maturity to hold off from ordering it, and this lunch was no exception.  Paired with a good people & conversation and a wonderful grilled gulf shrimp Caesar salad, my turtle soup was just ok (too much sherry flavor), but to the kitchen's credit, had a decent amount of turtle, as well as what appeared to be veal, a little known, Old New Orleans trick used to "stretch" the amount of actual turtle that goes into turtle soup.

So just as quickly as it started, my trip came to end, but never fear NOLA, we'll be back in a couple of weeks for Halloween (just look for the youthful looking Mike Ditka with the cute bear on his arm)!