or bring her to philadelphia for what seems to be almost the same sandwich…
If it is nutria, I want to find a mail order source. 
Actually, nutria gumbo can be mighty tasty - Smoked Nutria and Andouille Sausage Gumbo - Nutria.com. I had this the last time we were in Lafayette. The wife would not go near it.
Thank you all so much for the advice. Our trip was awesome. I really, really enjoyed my time there. Was a great place to visit, seems like it would be a great place to live.
We tried some of the places on this list, some by design, a couple by chance. We missed some that I would have really liked to hit, but with my wife having conference obligations and with my daughter in tow, sometimes other opinions prevailed. For one thing, while I may be inclined to wait indefinitely for the right meal, they both tend to get slightly perturbed at me when I push that one too far.
I look forward to getting back and trying some of the others on the list. Here is what I had.
Night one, I arrived later than my wife and daughter and when I met them they were at the Boubon House (we were at the Astor, so this was connected to the hotel) eating a fried oyster po boy and some other things. It was very good but I wouldn’t eat there unless it was in my hotel and I was hungry, which is how that happened.
Mahoney’s for lunch the next day was very good. I wanted to go a bit further uptown to get Domilisse or Casamento’s but it was getting pretty late and I was overruled. My beef po’ boy (pot roast on the menu actually) was good, but nothing terribly special. My wife’s fried shrimp po’ boy, OTOH, was awesome. Both shrimp and the cormeal batter were excellent. Washed it down with a few Beir Noire’s by LA 31. These were very good. Frankly, I’m not much of an Abita fan, something confirmed on this trip. Admittedly the Amber does better in very hot weather, but LA 31’s beers were, to me, very much a superior option.
Walking down Magazine after lunch we were in one of my wife’s old neighborhoods and we happened across a very decent wine selection at Martin’s. I picked up a 2008 Breton Clos Senechal. Later that night I would come to find signs of seepage, but the wine drank pretty well. Selection and prices were good there and the staff was helpful.
Each morning my wife would head to her conference and my 15 month old daughter and I would head into the quarter. I was absolutely amazed at how far she would walk on these outings, 10, 12, blocks, more maybe. And of course everyone was so nice to us. It was really a very pleasant experience. That morning we found ourselves at Camellia Grill. It wasn’t opened so we killed time around Jackson Square until it did, then had a very good breakfast there. Good recommendation.
For lunch we were headed for a place in the quarter, Sylvain, on recommendation, when a quick rain drove us into the “Gumbo Shop” which had been recommended here on this board. What followed was a horror, and the only bad meal of the trip. My wife’s beans and rice was merely inoffensive, though her bloody mary was terrible. But my bowl of gumbo may have been the worst bowl of soup I’ve ever had at a restaurant. It was terrible. Greasy, flavorless brown muck with a lump of rice. The only upside was that I ate very little, leaving more room for dinner. I assume that if you call youself the gumbo shop, even if you are a tourist trap, that the least you could do is serve decent gumbo. I would be mistaken in that assumption. But then there’s no accounting for taste, because the table full of ladies next to us was from Houston and they just loved everything, explaining that they always go there on their frequent visits. Ugh.
Acme for dinner was packed, and the oysters were great. My daughter loved the crawfish puppies as well. A pitcher of Turbodog was servicable, but some chablis or muscadet would have been better. It was a good meal and a good time and I look forward to comparing other oyster bars there in the future. Felix, immediately across the street, with no wait and cheaper oysters, looked particularly tempting.
The morning of our last full day we headed to a place called, IIRC, Riccobono’s Panola Street Cafe. It was an excellent neighborhood breakfast place. I had crab cakes benedict which were very good.
For lunch I wanted to go to herbsaint, but we were in the area of Frenchman’s street and we made it only as far as K-Paul’s before revolt set in. So we had lunch at K-Paul’s where the seafood gumbo redeemed the terrible experience I had earlier in the week. It was excellent as was everything else we had there.
So Domilisse, Cochon, Drago’s, Herbsaint, and August will have to wait for a future visit, and hopefully it will come soon. I can’t say how much we enjoyed it there. Also, I was surprised at how good a place it was to visit with a child. I look forward to taking my daughter there as she grows up, and I look forward to maybe an adults-only trip in the near future as well.
Did you actually visit any of the places people recommended on this thread? ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Almost everywyhere we went was based on a recommendation. On this thread people recommended the following restaurants that I was able to visit on this trip:
K-Paul’s (R. Flemming, R. Hudak)
Mahoney’s (R. Flemming, K. Brown)
Camellia Grill (Eric Ifune)
Cafe du Monde (Chris Buchanan, lots of others)
Bourbon House (P. Romero, though it was by default (as mentioned) by being in our hotel and chosen by my wife before my arrival).
I believe the (wretched) Gumbo Shop was mentioned in another thread here, but I don’t feel like looking right now. That decision was a weather-based one in any case.
The only restaurants not based on recommendations here were a random coffee house, Acme (which my wife wanted and may also have been suggested in that other thread), and one of my wife’s favorites from her old neighborhood (Riccobono’s).
As I said, I wasn’t able to get everywhere I wanted to go, notably those I mentioned at the end of my post. If it just been me I’d have made some different decisions, if just my wife and I there may also have been changes. Having my daughter in tow was actually great, but it does affect mobility and the amount of time one can delay a meal. In any case, I truly appreciate all of the suggestions, I had a great trip and enjoyed several of these places, notably Mahoney’s and K-Paul’s. I hope to return soon and try the others.
You either get it or you don’t. More accurately it either gets in you or it doesn’t. Sounds like you got it and it got in you.
Sylvain was very good in October and would have been top of my list on cocktail recommendations to you.
Greetings Bringing this threads back to the forefront! We are going to New Orleans in late September . I am going with people (my two grown girls, one husband) who have never been. I have been often, the last time in 2008. Anything really new and exciting? Need to mix the “classic New Orleans experience” with some new stuff as well.
Thanks!
Cheers! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Marshall
Greetings Bringing this threads back to the forefront! We are going to New Orleans in late September . I am going with people (my two grown girls, one husband) who have never been. I have been often, the last time in 2008. Anything really new and exciting? Need to mix the “classic New Orleans experience” with some new stuff as well.
Thanks!
Recently went to N.O with some friends for a long weekend. We stayed here https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/967567. I highly recommend the apartment if it’s available for the dates you’re staying. Great location, cheap, and spacious.
Another cool place we found online (which wasn’t available for our dates) was this place https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/664010 - a converted gas station. Looks incredible inside.
For eats, I highly recommend Maurepas Foods in the Bywater. http://maurepasfoods.com/menus/ The Goat Tacos were fantastic. For fried chicken, we all rated Coops Place http://www.coopsplace.net/ in the French Quarter. Willie Mae’s Scotch House Best Restaurants in India - Zomato gets great reviews but we didn’t rate it so highly.
FWIW…I didn’t like Willie Mae’s all that much…much much preferred Dookie Chase…http://www.yelp.com/biz/dooky-chase-restaurant-new-orleans-2 lunch buffet is awesome.
As we get closer I have a specific question. Where would you head for a special occasion dinner such as a birthday? As of now, leaning towards August…Yay or nay?
Cheers! 
Marshall
My reaction, Marshall, is to go to Galatoire’s…I think that’s a really special, classic NOLA place. (Antoine’s is nice, too, but I thought overpriced.) Galatoire’s is very special, IMO, for food, atmosphere, and tradition and history. And, worth a special occasion.