Just adding some notes from our late October visit.
Dinner:
La Petite Grocery - This is a good solid offering if you have not been. Modern american restaurant with southern influenced ingredients. Ricotta Dumpling, and Paneed Rabbit, very nice pork chop, salads, etc. Very nice wine list, but a bit expensive. Good Somm on hand.
N7 - Late on a Monday might not have been the best day/time. We may have stuck a little to closely to the classic bistro menu here instead of venturing into their more unique items - Tarte Flambee, or Pork Katsu with Beet puree anyone? Most of the seating is outdoors here, though we sat inside at a postage stamp sized table for 4, luckily there were just 2 of us. Still we had real estate problems, Romaine Salad was very fresh and huge, Duck Liver Pate was delish, but also served in a small jar on a huge platter. Frites were fine. Problems with the Steamed Mussels - huge portion of very small mussels ultimately not cooked long enough, many fine, but many closed, and many still gooey. Coq au Riesling (basically Coq au Vin with white wine) was excellent. Large wine list, a little hard to read due to the way it is printed. We will give this another try when we are back in March, and I do encourage others to visit and post.
Rockrose - Open for just a week or so, this was pretty tasty, though no culinary revelation. Greek influenced, not overtly greek/mediterranean. Interesting salads and flatbreads, good octopus. Lamb cavatelli was mostly lamb, but very nicely braised. Minimal greek wine on the bottle list, but with iClivi friuliano and Texier Brezeme at reasonable prices I was happy.
Bayona - A little pricier for sure, but as a party of six we traversed a decent swath of their menu and I saw no weak spots. Good wine list, but like Petite Grocery I swallow a little hard paying $80 for the current release of JP Thevenet Morgon VV.
Herbsaint - This has been discussed at length in other theads, and was very, very good. The Duck Leg Confit was only eclipsed by the Crispy Goat with lentils. The goat plate was served kind of deconstructed and was all the better when mixed together. The cornmeal Oysters killed. Was not as taken with the spaghetti with fried/poached egg. Would have a 2nd order of the oysters next time.
Bistro Daisy- A smallish house in the Audubon part area of Magazine St. Saturday night and really a neighborhood flavor. Oysters poached in herbsaint cream and julienned apple and endive salad were great with a bottle of Gimonnet 1er cru for $70 which I thought was a pretty fair price. We went hearty on entrees - lamb shank, steak, but they had a lot of great sounding fish as well. The wine list is small, inexpensive, and oddly Paso Robles oriented, but they have $20 corkage advertised right on the wine list which I haven’t seen much of in New Orleans.
Paladar 511 - This is a modern Italian place out in the Marigny. Pizza’s are featured and very good. Fresh pasta too. I’d go back, though i’d like to try Gianna and Avo some time as well, and don’t tend to eat that much Italian when in town.
Lunch/Brunch:
Patois - brunch near our AirBnb, so limited tasting. Reminded me a little of Atchafalaya as a neighborhood place (but with a better wine list), but i’d have to have lunch or dinner to be fair. Large smoker out on the street, not sure what they use it for.
Justine - new place on Chartres St that Jason T had mentioned. This is from Justin Devillier of La Petite Grocery. Very good Duck Confit, Croque Monsieur which they made into a Madame at my wife’s request. Wine by the glass, didn’t look through the list though they seemed to have quite a bit. Very good.
Toups Meaterie - more pubby for lunch, sandwiches. I didn’t see the large plates offered. Excellent wagyu burger however.
Tableau - brunch. Cochon du Lait Benedict on cornbread was pretty satisfying. Again would not go out of my way, but it is there. But now Justine and Sylvain are both nearby as well.
Killer PoBoy - I wasn’t as taken with this. The pork belly was a little undercooked for me. Gulf Shrimp was better. They have some veggie options (sweet potato, roasted cauliflower) if that is your thing.
Oak Street PoBoy Festival - caught up with some local friends at this large event. Not unexpectedly standouts were Mahony’s (PeaceMaker Fried oysters,shrimp, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle & Tabasco), Parkway Bakery (the James Brown). Also Gulf Tacos (Lt. Dan). All three better than Killer in my opinion.
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Seriously, Bordeaux was just delicious, especially for a restaurant that was only open for about 2 1/2 weeks. Nice French flair with a great rotisserie. A very interesting but moderate wine list. Not “grand,” but if we lived in New Orleans, we would be there often. Gris Gris was much more "New Orleans…Definitely hipper than Bordeaux with a relatively young clientele. However, to us, almost everyone is younger! ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
We sat at the "chef’s table which was fun but a bit hectic. We would definitely return. On the complete other end of the spectrum, we had a fantastic meal at Galatoire’s We were lucky enough to score fantastic seats for Hamilton, so we booked lunch at Galatoire’s. Just a wonderful “old school” experience…three hours later, we waddled back to our hotel to rest up for the show. Perfect service and some surprisingly good deals on the wine list. We didn’t bring any wine with us this year, but New Orleans ids pretty liberal with its’ corkage policies. Next year, for our 40th anniversary , we will probably pack a few bottles. We love the city and also very much enjoyed Bywater Bistro for dinner as well as Cochon, Maypop (great flavors), Grand Isle, and the Bourbon House for lunch.![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}