Lola’s (#302, 6/30/14) – 64
I’m always a little intimidated going to a new restaurant. I’m not sure I really noticed until visiting Lola’s. It’s right around the corner from my house and everybody says it’s the best, but it took me a while to get there. Going with a group of four led to some of the trepidation. Will it be difficult to get a table for four since they don’t take reservations? Should I try to go early to get our name in or something? Wait, the paella takes how long to prepare? Is that a long time, I don’t actually know. BYOB is ok? Or no? Wait, what about attire? I think it’s casual, but when I peeked in, I saw nice white table cloths. Damn, pay attention to what people were wearing! As usual, it turned out there was no real reason for fear. Lola’s is a nice little place.
It is a little tight, maybe seating for about 30 people at around 10 tables. We were tucked into a corner near the kitchen – if the people at the table behind us wanted to get up, I think we all may have had to stand up (luckily they didn’t get up). You can look right into the kitchen, which is always kind of neat (well, usually, assuming you don’t see roaches and rats running around; and we didn’t). They have a lot of art by Simon, which isn’t bad. Despite being tight, it wasn’t that noisy. I will say that it was a Monday night and the place was mostly full, so good chance of a long wait on a prime evening. Oh, by the way, attire is fully casual – a guy and a girl even came in straight from the beach (no beaches within an hour or so of New Orleans, but they did it, guy in trunks and t-shirt, girl in bikini with some cover-up thing). For atmosphere, I’ll give it a 17 out of 30, nothing outstanding, nothing bad.
We found out the food is prepared using old traditional Spanish recipes. The original owner was from Spain and he used his mother’s recipes. After he passed away, the kids took over, still using the same recipes. My understanding was that it has the best paella in town; I’m not sure if that’s saying a lot because I have never seen paella anywhere else in town (of course, I haven’t looked for it either). We went for three different kinds – meat, seafood and combination (keep in mind, it takes 30 minutes to prepare paella, I’m still not sure if that’s a terribly long time to wait for dinner, seems like most good food at a legit restaurant would take close to that, but nice of them to warn you). Not knowing much about paella, I did read some of the Yelp reviews and some say there is supposed to be more of a crust of some sort on the bottom of the skillet, which supposedly tastes great. Reviewers commented that Lola’s didn’t have that and it’s more of a casserole than paella. Being my first time eating it, I have no idea; it tasted pretty good, but I am not sure what was so special about it, it tasted like a rice casserole with some meat. Decent enough, but not something I’d write home about (unless this gets read by somebody at home, then I will have sort of written home about it). We also had the calamari appetizer, which was very interesting. It was not tentacles or anything like that. It was basically calamari steak (as they described), grilled. Served with a good spicy cocktail-type sauce. While it looked strange, it still had the rubbery squid taste. It was okay, but…well, I probably like friend calamari better (imagine that, me, liking fried better; weird). So as far as food, I’ll give this a 30 out of 50.
The service was very good. I dropped in a little before six (there was one couple eating at the time) to see what they thought the wait might be (no idea) and if I could put my name in early (nope). So we went back at a little after 6:30 and there was only one table remaining for four. There was a six-top table in the window that would have been much better, but they wouldn’t give it up, which makes sense, even though nobody ever came to take it. Our waitress was very good – they have wine, or you can bring your own for a reasonable $5 corkage fee. We did the corkage fee and also had sangria (very good!). Waitress was very attentive and friendly, maybe the best part of the visit. Service is a 17 out of 20.
Final score is 64. I expected something a lot more based on how highly friends recommended it, but maybe paella isn’t the ideal dish for me; I still think it’s worth trying.
Eat New Orleans* (#301, 6/29/14) – 69
This stop was one of those fate-driven stops. Looking around for a parking space in the Quarter on a Sunday afternoon and a car pulled out just as we were turning the corner, so we took the spot. It just happened to be in front of a place called Eat New Orleans. Somehow I had never heard of it, but we glanced at the menu, then some people leaving said it was great. We checked how long the wait would be and they said 20 minutes or so, so we figured we may as well give it a go – we had been up in the air on whether to have lunch or brunch, but their brunch items seemed interesting. Keeping in line with it making sense we stayed, some people in front of us must have given up on waiting, because our wait was less than five minutes. Unheard of for weekend brunch in New Orleans.
The menu is very interesting; and also interesting for me was that I didn’t get an omelet. I almost always eat omelets for breakfast/brunch. Instead, I tried some sweet potato praline pancakes drizzled with some sort of whiskey sauce. They were outstanding! I’m not sure what it was about them, but just very tasty. Another options around the table included a vegetarian quiche, fried green tomatoes and…toad in the grass. Toad in the grass was frog legs with poached eggs, of course. What else would it be? Anyway, all food was solid. I’m giving it a 38 out of 50 for food.
The atmosphere was good. It was a small place, but not tiny. Basically, it is two rooms with about 6 tables in each room. It was bright and clean and not too crowded (as in, the tables were shoved next to each other). I’ll give it a 20 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service was good and fast, but…the waitress bugged me with a little bit of “local attitude.” She instantly took us for tourists. When I asked to sub out grits, she made a comment like, “Ohh, you’re scared, huh?” Umm, no, I just don’t like a lot of grits, so prefer to have something else. And then when asked about a sauce with the friend green tomatoes, she also acted like it was something too hard to understand to out-of-towners. Sorry, but we were just asking what it was; and when she said it, we were understood perfectly, we didn’t need a special creole dictionary to figure it out. Anyway, other than a weird attitude, service was decent. I’ll give it an 11 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 69.
Jazmine Cafe (#300, 6/20/14) – 67
This was a completely random stop as we happened to be in the neighborhood of Jazmine Cafe, a good-sized Vietnamese restaurant in the Riverbend area. We had some time to kill and dropped in and, even though I’m not too familiar with Vietnamese food, I had a great meal.
I opened up with the pork pot stickers, which were pretty good. Just your basic pot sticker, but still good. I opted for a couple of their spring rolls – they have a wide selection of options as far as spring rolls, so pretty interesting. I had a shrimp and crab roll, which was pretty good, but the highlight, without question, was the caterpillar spring roll – snowcrab and cucumber topped with avocado and mango. It was outstanding! They have a wide selection of bubble teas as well. I don’t have any idea what that is and wanted to give it a try, but I forgot. So will try next time. Oh! We did try some saki as well; I’m still developing my test for that. I’ll give Jazmine a 37 out of 50 for food.
The atmosphere was ok. It’s kind of sterile; like an old Chinese restaurant. It had the big fish tank, but just basic booths and tables with rock music playing. Didn’t strike me as overly unique. No problem really, but nothing special. I’ll give it an 16 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service was solid. No issues. I’ll give it a 14 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 67.
Three Muses (#299, 6/13/14)
When looking for a fun place to get dinner and listen to real New Orleans music, venture down to Frenchman Street and visit Three Muses. Be warned, however, it’s a small place, so you may have a wait, but once you get your table, hang out, sample some of the interesting and tasty food and enjoy whatever show happens to be playing.
I think for a place like this, I need to start with the atmosphere. I went on a night when Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue was playing. She always puts on a great show and while I didn’t think this environment was as fun to see her, it was still very entertaining. While the place was small, we didn’t feel crowded into our table and didn’t have people hanging over us, so a solid experience. I guess my only issue is that I’m probably not one to mix music and dinner in this way. I’d rather get a good dinner, then go see a band, but that’s just me. I’m giving it a 20 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The food was outstanding based on a first visit. I had some mini gnocci (I believe with prosciutto in a cream sauce, it’s not showing on the online menu). Pasta is the specialty of Daniel, so worth giving some a try – this was great, but just a small serving, like many of their plates. I also had some of the Korean barbecue tacos, which were solid, not as good as the gnocci. We also tried the feta fries, which were excellent and the scallops received high marks as well. Almost forgot to mention the drinks. They have a solid win list as well as a good variety of craft cocktails – I had a spaghetti western and it was very tasty. Very good on the food, I’m going with a 40 out of 50.
The service here was great as well. Surprisingly efficient. We went on a Friday and had about a 30-minute wait (they told us 45). Again, it’s small and they don’t take reservations, so no problem with that wait. They told us they don’t really have wait staff assigned to tables, so you either grab someone if you see them, or order at the bar. That concerned me at first, but we had people checking on us regularly and we never even considered it wasn’t normal wait staff. And this was on a busy night; no idea how they kept up so well. The excellent service gets a 19 out of 20.
Final score = 79.
Rue 127* (#298, 5/7/14) – 77
When looking for a higher-end, nice dinner in midcity, I definitely recommend Rue 127 at the intersection of Carrollton and Canal. It’s a quaint/cozy place with good food and drinks at reasonable prices.
I will lead off with the service, which was outstanding. It was a Wednesday night, so it wasn’t busy, but our waitress was outstanding. She was very knowledgeable on the wine list and convinced us to sample a couple of different wines before making our choice – and the one she was pointing us towards (Avancia Godello, $41) was an excellent call. She checked in regularly without being too annoying and kept the wine glasses refilled, but not non-stop. Nice work. I’m giving it a 19 out of 20 for service.
The food was also excellent. I went for the pan-seared salmon. I was a little concerned it wouldn’t be cooked enough – I like my salmon at least medium and pan-seared worried me. I asked for medium and still probably had closer to rare, but no real complaints, it was very tasty, more just my weirdness about rare fish. While I liked it, thinking I would try something else next time. I’d like to see a few more cow products on the menu, but think their specialty is more fish. We also tried the fried olives (with bacon and bleu cheese) and the fried okra. Both were good, though I’d also like to try the fry bread and the fried chicken skins. I think it’s great that they have these friend items under “snacks” and they’re only $3. Easy opportunity to sample some different stuff. Having said that, neither the okra nor the olives were awesome, they were good though. Scallop dish also looked good, but I didn’t try it. Price-wise, everything was very reasonable for a high-end restaurant, though their specialty drinks are a bit high – I paid $12 for a Young Michael Collins which is an interesting concoction of Irish whiskey, port, bitters and strawberry shrubs or something. Seemed odd, but tasted great. Even at the price, I wanted another. They have some interesting dessert drinks as well. Would consider going back just for a few of those sometime. In the food category, I’m giving this a 36 out of 50.
As far as atmosphere, it was pretty good. As mentioned above, it’s “quaint.” Maybe has 10 tables, but also has some outside seating. I would expect when it’s busy, it would be quite loud and you would be jammed up against other people, which would bother me. They have some interesting art on the walls (like the “guy drinking in the bar” piece) and the bathroom was very clean. Everything was very clean actually – our table gave us a direct view of the kitchen. Like I said, I’d be concerned on a Friday or Saturday night, but for atmosphere, I’ll give it a 22 out of 30.
Final score = 77.
Oso’s Baja Burrito* (#297, 4/23/14) – 57
I was curious what kind of burrito a bear might make, so I checked out Oso’s Baja Burrito for a quick lunch. I was also curious because the place had some pretty bad reviews on Yelp. It’s located in the Fulton Parking Garage building across from the Convention Center, right next to the Mexican Consulate, so it seems like the Mexican food has to be somewhat okay, no?
As far as food, it is essentially Chipotle style. You choose burrito, tacos or bowl and add the ingredients as you go down the assembly line. I had a bowl with steak and other fixins. It wasn’t as good as Chipotle, but for fast-food Mexican, it was just fine. I’m not sure what some other people were expecting, but it’s not gourmet, and not advertised as such. I’ll give it a 28 out of 50 on food.
The service was just fine. Again, you order at the counter, go down the line and they hand you your food. Then you pay and get a drink cup. I’ll give it a 12 out of 20 for service.
The atmosphere was basic fast-food atmosphere. Hard to ask for anything more. Some background music playing, you sit in basic metal chairs at tables. Think McDonald’s. It was mostly clean though, which is never a given at New Orleans fast food places. 17 out of 30 for atmosphere.
Final score = 57.
Biscuits & Buns on Banks (#296, 4/13/14) – 70
Living in a new neighborhood means I probably have to find a new go-to breakfast joint, so I tried Biscuits & Buns on Banks. It was a good stop for sure. Solid food, a bit of a wait and a little pricey, but I recommend it.
Starting with the wait. It’s a small place, maybe 8-10 tables, so you’re going to have to wait if you go for breakfast/brunch on a weekend. Just the nature of weekend breakfast in New Orleans (except for Pepperoni’s usually). But once you get inside, they take care of you quickly and the food comes quickly. I’ll group this all in service, for which the only real negative I saw was a low-personality waitress, which could be attributed to it being about noon on a Sunday and she had probably been going for a while. The owner/manager was also bouncing around and she was very friendly. Out of 20 for service, I’ll give it a 16.
The atmosphere was also good. It was a fun little breakfast joint. While waiting, you can stand outside or sit if the bench is available. In addition, if you want something to take the edge off the night before, you can wander to Banks Street Bar next door and go for a bloody mary – they will call your mobile when your table is ready. Once inside, the thing that jumped at me was that it is very clean! You walk through the kitchen to get to the tables and you can see everything and it looked spotless, which is impressive following a full Sunday morning. I’m giving it a 24 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The food was also excellent. I just had an omelet but it was very well done with excellent sliced sausage links and plenty of cheese. The breakfast potatoes needed something extra, not much taste there. I haven’t been able to find a menu online, but they had a wide-range of much-heavier dishes and some interesting variety. If you’re looking for some fun, different breakfast options, I think you can find them here. And as far as its namesake…the biscuits were okay. As someone commented to me, “Uh oh, that’s not good.” But they weren’t bad, just not really anything sensational, maybe a little dry, as biscuits often tend to be. Anyway, for food, I’ll give it a 30.
Final score = 70.
Nonna Mia* (#295, 4/5/14) – 72
With my new Mid-City neighborhood, I have opened up a whole new region of restaurants. My first stop since the move was at Nonna Mia Cafe on Esplanade Ave. It’s walking distance to my house and seemed like a good stop for a late Sunday lunch. And we were right about that!
The food was excellent, though perhaps a little pricey for a casual Sunday – need to keep in mind that they have small plate options for many of the meals. They have a wide-range of foods: pasta, salads, paninis, pizza, calzones, etc. So probably by avoiding the more expensive items on the menu, I could have avoided the meal being a little pricey. Regardless, I went for the tortellini, which was outstanding. And it looked very cool, fun mardi-gras style. 
Also saw a salad, the lobster ravioli and a huge chicken sandwich. All were well reviewed by my group. For food, I’ll give it a 37 out of 50. High score!
The atmosphere was also good. I didn’t explore the inside seating much, but they have a great outdoor patio which we enjoyed a lot. I’ll give it a 22 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service was decent, though it featured a common theme of New Orleans restaurants, the waitress may have been lost for a bit. So we waited awhile for the check, but no big deal. The food came out reasonably fast and no issue with drink refills. I’ll give it a 13 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 72. Nicely done.
Blind Pelican* (#294, 4/4/14) – 69
Dropped in at the Blind Pelican on St. Charles Ave on a Friday afternoon for the much talked about happy hour. And it was a good stop. The oysters are extra cheap during happy hour – $3/dozen), the atmosphere is good with solid indoor and outdoor seating, and the drinks are reasonably priced as well.
Starting with the food here – the raw oysters were good; they were also huge. For me, that’s not necessarily a good thing, but most people like that. I also tried the char-grilled oysters; some online reviews had knocked them, but they tasted good to me. We closed with the crawfish quesadillas ($9.95), which were just okay. Nothing to complain about, just not spectacular. It was a lot of food though. I was stuffed after the combination. For food, I’ll give it a 33 out of 50.
The atmosphere was good for a happy hour place. It was semi-crowded, but not crazy noisy. There was a wide variety of people which always livens up the people-watching opportunities. It has tv’s and as mentioned, indoor and outdoor seating. For a happy hour stop, I’ll give it a 23 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service was decent as well, though right on the edge of not being great. Every time we began to think our waitress may have forgotten about us (or gone home), she would appear, so she cut it close, but overall good. Also, food and drinks were relatively prompt. I’ll give it a 13 out of 20 in service.
One weird thing, which I’m not sure how to categorize it, was with the happy hour menu. It took some time, but I believe the happy hour special is just on raw oysters. However, to get that special, you need to order a round of drinks.
Final score = 69.
Honey Loaf* (#293, 4/1/14) – 52
Dropped in at another downtown lunch spot and had a decent meal at the Honey Loaf. Though I have to say, there were some flaws. It is located on Canal Street, right on the edge of the French Quarter, so the neighborhood is a little shady, but the place was a neat little location with an interesting set-up.
I’ll start with the atmosphere; again, the location is a little shady, but not a problem at lunch time. The inside is pretty nice. You order at the counter and they will bring your food to you. There are a variety of tables, as well as some comfortable couch seating areas. It almost has the feel of a relaxing coffee shop. There was some light music playing, some art on the walls (including a funky-designed wall just outside to the river side of the place). I’ll give it an 18 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The food was good; basic sandwiches, salads and wraps. I had the bacon brava sandwich which had turkey, bacon (of course) and avocado (nice and fresh) on sliced white bread. All pretty good, but…the name of the place is “Honey Loaf.” I thought they would use some special honey loaf bread for their sandwiches. But okay, maybe not. However, on the menu for salads, it reads, “All salads come with a signature honey loaf and cinnamon honey butter.” Now THAT sounds tasty. I didn’t see an option to order it on its own, but figured I could check it out with the salad that was also ordered by my table. Nope. No honey loaf with the salad. Checking other tables, no signs of honey loaf. Were they out of honey loaf? What’s the story here? I’m sure we could have asked, but that’s not really the point. It’s called “Honey Loaf.” You can’t forget to give people the honey loaf. I don’t know if this is a service issue or a food issue, but I’ll dock them both. Food is a 25 out of 50. EDIT: Interestingly, the owner saw my review on Yelp and offered me a free lunch to try again, so I did. Again, a decent sandwich. And she gave me some of the honey loafs; they were pretty good, but basically a hot muffin with butter. I’ll boost it to a 29 out of 30 for food.
The service was decent; relatively fast to get a salad and a sandwich. But the table next to ours had one salad delivered and 10 minutes later, when the sandwich didn’t show up, the young woman had to go ask. They said, “Oops, we must have lost the ticket.” Again, it happens, but it seems like if you delivered a meal to one person at a table, you may notice that the other person didn’t have anything. There were only three tables occupied, so not like they were swamped. Add this to the honey loaf issue and the service gets a nine out of 20. EDIT: I have to boost the service some after they offered to “make things right.” It still seemed a little chaotic in there and it wasn’t mobbed. I’ll go to 12 out of 20 for service.
Final score = 52. EDITED SCORE: 59.