Pigging out in the Big Easy!

Well this one was a long time coming. I've just been so busy, I haven't had a big block of time to sit and write it. I'll try to do better in the future.

For several years, I've been wanting to spend a weekend in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and enjoy some parades. I don't care to go there on Fat Tuesday, so my family and I opted for two weekends before. It's a little less crowded and a lot less crazy.

Well, naturally, when you plan something fun to do, something else always comes up. The plan was to leave as soon as the kids got out of school on Friday, which is around 1:15. Anne Morgan ended up with a school function that could not be missed after school on Friday. So, it was around 5:00 before she was able to leave. Being as it was so late and close to dinner time, we quickly made the decision to eat at Middendorf's in Manchac on the way down. It's our policy that when going to New Orleans, one meal will be eaten at Middendorf's. It's mandatory – don't even think about passing it by and not stopping.

In years past, Middendorf's operated two separate restaurants next door to each other, each having the same menu. Since Hurricane Katrina, only the original building had been open. Instead of re-opening the other one, the owners decided to expand. They added a deck and a beach area to the south end of the complex and began work on an additional dining room in between. We were pleased to find when we arrived that the new dining room was complete and open for business.

The entry has shifted a few feet down into the new area. We were quite impressed once inside. The new dining room had a huge tree in the center of it. Artificial, of course, but looked almost real. The walls were covered with hand-painted murals depicting scenes of the Louisiana Bayou.

John Taylor and Anne Morgan at Middendorf's with murals in background

John underneath the tree at Middendorf's

 As usual, daughter Anne Morgan enjoyed crawfish cakes with remoulade sauce. They are just like crab cakes, except with crawfish instead of crab. They are quite tasty. Their specialty is fried catfish, offered thick or thin. Son John Taylor prefers the thick fish. He says he likes meat on his fish and the thin just isn't enough meat for him. The rest of us love, love, love the thin. I like the extra crispiness it has. It is, hands down, my favorite place for catfish. I always ask for the remoulade sauce instead of tartar. It adds an extra kick to it. As for dessert, I know a lot of you won't believe this, but I never get dessert at Middendorf's. I'm always too stuffed with catfish to eat it. 

By the time we got to the hotel, it was almost 9:00. After we got settled, I began craving something sweet. So, we headed out for none other than Cafe Du Monde. Thank goodness they're open 24 hours or I would've had to settle for an apple from the bowl at the front desk. One good thing about going late at night is that it's not nearly as crowded as other times. We went right in, sat down, and promptly ordered beignets and cafe au lait. They were delicious, as usual, hot and loaded with powdered sugar. John applies the same rule to Cafe Du Monde as he does Middendorf's. They are both permanently etched into our New Orleans itinerary.

New Orleans Classics - Beignets and Cafe Au Lait at Cafe Du Monde

One of my favorite apps on my iphone and ipad is Evernote. It organizes memos and syncs to a server so I can access them from any device I have. One thing I use it for is to make a list of restaurants I want to visit. Whenever I read about a restaurant or see one on Food Network that I'd like to try, I make a note of it. Needless to say, with all the options available in New Orleans, that list is the longest one I have. I've often wondered how long it would take to cover them all if you ate out three meals a day. I would venture to say it would be at least a year or more.

One of those on my list was Mahony's Po Boys on Magazine Street in the Garden District. We skipped breakfast and headed there for an early lunch. I had a note to try their onion rings, one of my favorite appetizers. My favorite kind are the really thin ones. I'll pass on the big, thick ones. They're often not crisp enough. Mahony's has an extensive po boy menu, loaded with traditional ones and some not so traditional ones. We chose more traditional – fried oyster, fried shrimp, and meatball parmesan. Some of the not so traditional ones include eggplant parmesan, veal parmesan, liver cheese, and Zapp's potato chip po boy. I'll let somebody else try those and let me know how they are. These were some of the best po boys we've ever eaten. The bread was traditional New Orleans French bread and they were loaded with meat. John Taylor's meatballs were huge, even bigger than his mouth, if you can believe that. And the onion rings were the best ever, hands down. They were thin and crispy, just like I like them. They were so thin they should be called onion shreds. Everyone fought over the crumbs. Mahony's may get put on the permanent New Orleans list right next to Middendorf's, Cafe Du Monde, and our dinner destination, Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro.

Mahony's Po Boys - Onion Rings

Mahony's Po Boys - Shrimp Po boy

Meatball too big for this big mouth!

  Next, we headed over to the Creole Creamery for something sweet. Their motto is, “Eat ice cream. Be happy.” They offer an assortment of diverse and unusual flavors. Some of those flavors include Coconut-Lemongrass, Cucumber-Dill, Goat Cheese & Mission Fig, Smoked Gouda, and Strawberry-Basil Sorbet, just to name a few. These flavors change out frequently, but the more traditional flavors of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, etc. are staples on the menu. They also offer many toppings to choose from along with fountain classics such as floats, shakes, sundaes, and more. They're famous for their Tchoupitoulas Challenge. Anyone who can finish their Tchoupitoulas Sundae with no help will be immortalized on their hall of fame plaque. This is the biggest sundae I've ever laid my eyes on. It consists of eight scoops of ice cream and your choice of eight toppings, along with whipped cream and a cherry. This sundae comes with a price tag as big as the sundae itself, a whopping $25. While we were there, we witnessed three young, skinny girls try to win the challenge. They didn't even come close. Anne Morgan got a chocolate shake and John had the Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae – fudge ice cream in a peanut butter coated glass with hot fudge, chopped peanuts, whipped cream and a cherry. The rest of us just got scoops of ice cream. Everything was delicious. John says that next time we go, he's taking the Tchoupitoulas Challenge. He swears he can win it. I've seen him eat and I believe him, but I'm not paying $25 for a sundae. Dave Ramsey wouldn't approve of that.

The Creole Creamery

Left - Chocolate Shake and Right - Peanut Butter Sundae

John Taylor's favorite dessert!

Tchoupitoulas Sundae - Are you up to the challenge?

 The first thing that drew me to “the cheesecake bistro,” as we call it, was it's name. Being the dessert-aholic I am, if it was named after a dessert, I had to try it, which we did many years ago and have been hooked ever since. The original location is on St. Charles St. There's one in Metairie as well. We were at the St. Charles location and were able to watch a Mardi Gras parade from our table. Their menu is literally a book, with more than just cheesecake. They have everything from burgers and sandwiches to steaks, seafood and fish. My all-time favorite entree is one of their signature dishes - BBQ Shrimp Linguine. It consists of jumbo shrimp sauteed with green onions, Creole seasoning and lemon butter garlic sauce, served over linguine in their original cheese pizza bowl. Talk about good – the cheese pizza is to die for once it has soaked up the lemon butter garlic sauce. I don't even want to know how many calories are in this dish. The portions are extremely generous here, so most entrees can be shared. Now, on to the cheesecake. The #1 on our list is White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake. It's one of their signature topped cheesecakes, meaning it's a piece of plain cheesecake with a topping, as opposed to their chef crafted ones which have the flavors baked in. Their plain cheesecake is delicious on its own, but when you add their white chocolate sauce, toasted macadamia nuts, and tons of real whipped cream, it's pure heaven. Some other delicious ones I've tried are White Chocolate Raspberry, Crème Caramel, Dulce de Leche & Praline, Black & White Tuxedo, and Turtle. You don't have to wait until you go to the Big Easy to try CCB, they have locations in Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Atlanta as well. Also, if you can't work in a meal here, they do have a counter where you can get cheesecake to go, which we've done many, many times.

Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro - BBQ Shrimp Linguine

Black and White Tuxedo Cheesecake

 With several parades behind us, the boys chose to visit the D-Day Museum on Sunday. So, the girls did some shopping, and more eating. On this trip, most of our time was spent in the Garden District. Every time we went down Magazine St., we passed a place called Surrey's Cafe and Juice Bar and noticed that there were always several people standing outside. We decided that it must be good, and headed there for brunch. There was a short wait, but it was worth it. This small neighborhood café serves up fresh-squeezed, organic juices, Central American inspired dishes such as Huevos Rancheros and Migas, as well as traditional breakfast fare. The café offers fresh local seafood , boudin, sausage and chorizo along with locally grown organic produce. I chose scrambled eggs with salmon, which was lightly scrambled eggs with house-cured salmon, cream cheese, capers and green onions, along with a biscuit and hashbrowns. This was one of the best breakfast dishes I've ever had. If you love salmon and capers, you will love this dish. Anne Morgan chose a BLT and loved it as well. A few weeks after dining here, I was watching Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Surrey's was one of the featured dives. Host Guy Fieri highlighted their bagel-making and salmon-curing processes. Next time I go, I'm definitely trying the bagel and lox.

Scrambled Eggs with Salmon

BLT with Chicken Tortilla Soup and Salad

 Another place that had been on my list for a long time is Sucre: A Sweet Boutique. I don't know why it took me so long to check it out. Maybe it's because I'm always full of cheesecake. Their original location is on Magazine St. and they had a kiosk in Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie. They have closed the kiosk and opened a full scale boutique in the strip on the south side of the shopping center. I just happened to notice it while outside waiting on another parade to begin. I'm so glad I did. They offer very unique cupcakes, all sorts of chocolate candies, and gelato. You know me, I went for a cupcake, a salted caramel one. Like their chocolates, it was quite different. It was presented on a rectangular platter, and laying on its side with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. It was chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting, which was dusted with edible gold dust and topped with a chocolate fleur de lis. It wasn't as good as a Sprinkles, but was very tasty. Anne Morgan chose a chocolate mousse dessert. I liked hers better. Next time I go, I'm going to try some of their signature truffles. They have lots of flavors to choose from in addition to chocolate barks, candies, and macaroons.

Cupcake Selection at Sucre

Salted Caramel Cupcake and Chocolate Mousse

On our way home, we tried a fairly new place in LaPlace named Frenier Landing. We found this place by pure accident. When we went skiing in early February, we had to catch a 6 a.m. flight out of New Orleans. As we were headed across the bayou on I-55 just north of La Place, we noticed a road lined with several street lights and wondered what it led to. So, of course I pulled out my iPad and looked it up on Google Maps. The name of the road is Peavine and on the map it showed Frenier Landing Restaurant and Oyster Bar. If you go, don't be fooled by the road before Peavine, which is named Frenier Rd. You would think Frenier Landing would be on Frenier Rd., but it's not. Anyway, we arrived just before dusk. The restaurant sits on Lake Pontchartrain and offers a fantastic view of the lake from three sides of the restaurant. You can't beat the place for atmosphere and view. I'm going to have to write these blogs sooner after we eat somewhere because I can't remember what everybody else had to eat, but I had the BBQ Shrimp. I usually don't order these because they're so messy, but this particular night, that's what struck my fancy on the menu. And these were worth the mess. They were huge shrimp, seasoned perfectly, with plenty of sauce for sopping with French bread. Next time, I want to get there even earlier to enjoy the view during dinner.

Aerial view of Frenier Landing

BBQ Shrimp at Frenier Landing

 While I was able to strike a few places off my New Orleans dining list, I've since added even more to it. Oh well, I'll just have to get back down there soon to work on marking some more off. That is, after getting some thin-fried catfish at Middendorf's, of course.