Johnny Sanchez (#313, 2/4/15)
Good choice on Johnny Sanchez for a Pelicans pre-game stop. I highly recommend making it during Happy Hour (3-6). Half price drinks (includes cheap pitchers of house maragaritas) and $5 for pairs of tacos. They had a good-range of tacos and all seemed to be good-sized. I had a pair of pork tacos and a pair of chorizo/potato tacos. All solid. Good service at the bar and everyone was friendly with good decor. I’d go back.
Kukhnya* (#310, 11/15/14)
Was on St. Bernard serving Eastern European food. Good stuff.
Seed* (#308, 9/15/14) – 67
Definitely ventured out of my comfort zone on this trip to Seed. I am most definitely not a vegan-restaurant guy, but I thought I’d give it a try. It’s located in the old Blue Plate Diner building at the edge of the Garden District and the CBD on Prytania Street.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised; I’m not really one for tofu or “fake meats.” But I had a Seed Club Sandwich with hummus, avocado, tomato, sprouts and aioli and it was excellent. Not sure if there was anything different with the bread, but that was also good. The sandwich came with a quinoa salad which was also good – and they say loaded with protein. The macaroni and fake cheese was also decent, though doesn’t match up to mac and real cheese. There were a few other items I would consider trying as well, so as I said, pleasantly surprised. A very healthy meal, and also tasty. For food, I’m giving this a 37 ranking; sort of tempted to go higher because my rankings are often based on the type of place it is, so as far as vegan, this place is awesome in my opinion!
The atmosphere was also good. It’s a very bright and open place with the tables spread out well. A good place for lunch. I’ll give it a 20 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service is going to get docked, unfortunately. There weren’t many people in the place, but it took a long time to get our food – over 30 minutes, which stinks when you’re on an hour lunch break. We asked for the check as soon as we received the food, but I guess they didn’t understand, as we had to ask again in order to try and rush out and get back to work. The server was friendly though, maybe just kitchen back-up? I’ll give it a 10 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 67.
Café Degas (#307, 9/12/14) – 71
Made a Friday evening visit to Cafe Degas on Esplanade Ave in Mid-City. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, and actually think I may have gone years ago, but never had it listed. It’s advertised as the longest running and most Gallic French Bistro in New Orleans. I wasn’t really sure what “Gallic” meant, but some wikipedia research leads me to believe it’s just an ancient name for the region of Europe which is now France.
We had 7:30 reservations for the dinner and I was very surprised to find the average age in the place to be about 65. It wasn’t THAT early! We were seated at a good seat on the “porch” area, which is an enclosed area at the front – they can open the windows, or plastic curtains or something. That would have been nice so we could watch the people and the street outside; of course, it would have sweated out the place, so not an option.
For food, I had…yikes, I can’t actually remember. It was the fish special with a tasty light/white fish, but I can’t remember what kind..perhaps amberjack. I know it was pretty good, but not a good sign that I don’t remember it. The perils of ordering a special, you can’t refresh the mind with a trip to their website. It came with squash and potatoes which were decent as well. We also had a cheese plate which was pretty good. They brought bread (I don’t like hard bread as much) and butter. Overall, I am going to rank the food as a 35, even though I don’t remember it!
For service, it was interesting. On some level, we definitely felt like outsiders. Almost like it was only a neighborhood place and we weren’t completely welcome. They weren’t rude, just not friendly. We chalked it up to being a “French” style thing or something, but who knows. Food and drinks came quickly, but refills were a little lacking. I’ll give it a 13 out of 20 for service.
The atmosphere was somewhat covered above with seating and the age of the other customers. I liked it; I like the old-house style and casual atmosphere. I really think it would be nice on a cooler day if the front was open air. Overall atmosphere is a 23 out of 30.
Final score = 71.
Half Shell* (#306, 8/30/14) – 41
A new place opened up in the neighborhood so I took a walk down for breakfast on Saturday morning. While the Half Shell is obviously more of an oyster bar and grill than a breakfast joint, they’ve been pitching breakfast as well, so I figured I would check it out. As much as I would like another decent breakfast place in walking distance, this isn’t it. Just go a block down to Santa Fe.
I guess I have to start with the service. I went at about 9 a.m. and there were two other tables with people. Unfortunately, there was one person working. One. That’s it. This poor woman had to run out of the kitchen and hand me a menu, then ask for my drink order. She had to run back and keep an eye on the food, cooking, then run back out to get orders. I have no idea how she kept it up, but I do know how my order wasn’t done right. Considering the circumstances, waiting 40 minutes or so for my food wasn’t too bad. And shortly after that, my drink even showed up. And then, my order was corrected, but, well, just bad. After I had been there about 30 minutes, I watched a car pull up and park in a spot directly in front of the door. Sure enough, it was another worker. So good news that somebody else showed up, but kind of funny to have a place with three spots right in front, and have one of your workers take up one of them. This was within the first two weeks of the place being open, so I would think you would want to be over-staffed if anything. Anyway, for service, I want to give the one woman a bonus or something for trying to keep up, but the restaurant? I’ll give it a 4 out of 20.
The atmosphere was non-existent. No music, no tv’s in a sterile type place with big windows just looking outside. I guess the atmosphere was just the other people talking and all. It wasn’t bad, just non-existent. I’ll give it a 13 out of 30.
The food was okay. It did take awhile to get an omelet, but it tasted okay. I had ordered toast and received grits, which I don’t much like. I eventually received my toast, but that was simply a couple pieces of white bread, slightly burnt. All uninspired. I’m guessing serving breakfast was just an after-thought to try to get a few more customers in, but I would recommend they just stop if they can’t get people to work. Tough to go back to try the specialties when something basic wasn’t worthwhile. I’ll give it a 25 out of 50 for food.
Final score = 41.
Desi Vega’s Steakhouse (#305, 8/29/14) – 84
I haven’t been hitting up as many high-end restaurants of late, and my bank account thanks me. But with the benefit of a group-on, I dropped in on Desi Vega’s Steakhouse and had an excellent meal.
We made reservations for 8 p.m. on a Friday evening with just a few days lead time, so it’s not packed, but clearly did need the reservations. Parking was a little challenging, but not awful, and I could have used valet if I was so inclined. The manager was very helpful from the start; we were a bit early, but we ordered drinks and when the table was ready quickly, they simply brought the drinks to our table. It’s a relatively small place with windows all around that look out on Lafayette Square and St. Charles Avenue. I wouldn’t say it’s a romantic place at all, but a nice place with some “buzz” going on. I’m thinking it’s the type of place where people like to be seen. It was loud, but not overwhelming and the tables had good space between them, so you had privacy. As far as atmosphere, I would give it a 23 out of 30 – and most of the points come off because of my own preference for a little more relaxed of an atmosphere.
Jumping into the food, it was very good. I had a filet, which was pricey ($41) but very good. I added the crab meat and asparagus (thumbs up) as well. The meat comes on a crazy sizzling hot plate; the sizzling meat sound with the smell is always a good thing. One key thing is that vegetarians can eat here! There are a handful of options, so don’t be scared by the “steakhouse” name. The Mac and cheese was considered a specialty of the place, but I wasn’t impressed, nothing bad, just nothing spectacular. One of the appeals was that they have Pappy Van Winkle (15-year). It was $26 for a glass and it was very tasty. Overall on food, I will give this a 42 out of 50. All was very good, but nothing blew me away.
The service was top-notch. I’m not even sure how it could be any better. We were seated very quickly, nearly exactly at 8 p.m. We had multiple waiters and everything was prompt without seeming rushed. I’m trying to knock points off, but the only issue might have been a little wait to actually get the bill – but in some ways, that’s appreciated, they weren’t looking to run us out. I’ll give it a 19 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 84.