Charlie’s Steakhouse (#232, 10/26/12)
Need a fun, old-school place to bring a group of carnivores? Then I would definitely recommend Charlie’s Steakhouse on Dryades in Uptown. It’s likely that as soon as you walk in, you will be greeted by the owner and the service continues from there. Don’t worry about reading the fine print on the menu, because there isn’t any. For that matter, there isn’t a menu. Do you want a big ribeye, a little ribeye or a filet? Be careful ordering the filet, you may take some abuse. Also be careful with the mountain of onion rings they will bring to your table – very good, but you don’t want to get too full. They do serve a salad, and it’s quite good, even better with leftover onion rings as croutons. The sides are solid as well – potatoes au gratin and potato wedges for us. Definitely an excellent stop for old-style steak, don’t expect fancy sauces or anything like that (there might be A1 on the table, that’s about it).
Maurepas Foods* (#231, 10/20/12)
For some reason, this Maurepas Foods place in the Bywater had been rattling around in my head for awhile, so I figured I better get out there and see what it’s all about. Upon arrival, I realized that I had found Hipster Headquarters. The host was clearly a high-ranking hipster, he was dressed in mostly black, with a black vest as well as the essential black glasses, but he clearly established his credentials with the well-coiffed handlebar mustache. Well played, Mr. Hipster. The place has a good atmosphere, though the acoustics are a little off; it stinks when “Tainted Love” is playing and you can’t really hear it. To lead off, the drinks (made by an intoxicologist, not a bartneder, or even a mixologist) were very good. Well, maybe I should say one drink was – the Que Guapo, some kind of tequila concoction with grapefruit juice and other stuff which was one of the best drinks I have had in ages. As far as food, be prepared for small portions (maybe it’s a sneaky tapas joint without warning in advance). One item you may read a lot about are the goat tacos. Not having ever eatne goat, I had to give them a run. Overall, I’m thinking they are just trying to be too cool and say, “We have goat tacos, not those other boring-type tacos.” I would have preferred beef, chicken or fish. And that’s not even because of the various pieces of goat bone included with the meat. It just wasn’t that good. So overall, the place has some character and it’s a cool building, but I doubt I’ll be back anytime soon.
Sarita’s* (#230, 10/19/12)
Checked in at another Freret Street stop for lunch – Sarita’s Grill – a Latin fusion place. Apparently, Sarita’s has been going on Freret Street for a long time – well before all of the hip, new places have come to the area. It’s a solid stop, good prices, decent, casual atmosphere. Also, they have free chips and queso to start, which is always a bonus. The waitress was very helpful, and she was wearing legwarmers, I believe. Either that or some very bizarre socks, hard to say. I went with the fish tacos which various reviews recommended. They were okay, nothing spectacualr; but I liked the looks of the quesadillas, so will probably go back at some point.
Bacchanal (#229, 10/13/12)
Bacchanal is defined as a drunken or riotous celebration…well, this may not have been exactly that, but it is a pretty cool New Orleans place. It has been open for a while in the Bywater, but just recently added a full bar and kitchen. It used to be a great place to go and buy a bottle of wine (it is basically a wine shop that you can browse the different wines), then hang out outside and listen to some live music. Now you can do the same thing, except they have added the full kitchen and bar. We sat a tiny, rickety table that actually looked a bit like a toadstool, amongst some trees and branches – and had a great time. I munched on some bacon-wrapped dates and a flat iron steak (with chimicurri sauce, which I’m liking of late) and we sampled a couple of different wines. Good place to start an evening in one of the more cool, lesser-known New Orleans neighborhoods and while the night may have ended in some chaos, it was still pretty solid.
An added note, from their website: “Bacchanal is a wine retail shop, a wine bar, a live music venue, a New York style deli, an international bistro and a regular shooting location for HBO’s Treme.”
Jazzy Wings* (#228, 10/12/12)
Music in Ya Mouth! Finally! Number one, Jazzy Wings has the top motto/theme of any New Orleans restaurant, and I am using the term “restaurant” loosely. Jazzy Wings has a couple of big benches and about three stools. Like a true authentic wing joint, you pay through a bank-like slot in a window, possibly bullet-proof, we didn’t test it. I went with the tender special, which was three tenders (I opted for honey mustard, probably should have gone jazzy), fries and a drink. They also had a special which was simply “fish, salad, peas…$8.59.” I’m not a big pea guy, so I skipped that. My friends went with true “jazzy” wings, which is a special herb blend. Everybody was pretty happy with the meal, even with the fries being old. And we also now have frequent cutosmer cards, so that’s good too.
Saucy’s BBQ* (#227, 10/11/12)
New Orleans has great food, but it’s not known for its barbecue. And it’s Chinese food kind of stinks too. Actually, Mexican isn’t very good either. But a new bbq joint opened up on Magazine Street so I made the trip Uptown for lunch to give Saucy’s a try. It has all of the basics of a bbq joint, but I had read somewhere that the brisket was outstanding, so I gave it a run. Very solid. Not spectacular, but worth a lunch stop. They have a lot of different sauces, so need to explore those a bit more to figure out which is best. Good portions with solid sides (I went with mac and cheese and potato salad) and also a muffin of some sort that was excellent.
As an addition from May 2013, Saucy’s has a booth at the YLC Wednesday’s at the Square and the brisket quesadillas they were serving were some of the best quesadillas I have ever had. Will definitely try in the main restaurant.
Baru (#226, 10/10/12)
I had avoided Baru for quite a long time because I have something against tapas places. Maybe because I have always hated sharing food. But I guess I’m coming around on that. For whatever reason, after a Wednesday in the Square, I opted for Baru and was pleasantly surprised to see it’s not all tapas, they even have entrees. It had an inauspicious start – had to sit outside on a table that was sort of tilted to the street – and the service was pretty awful. Took a long time to get drinks (but good sangria, even though I don’t practice sangra-lia). Billed as a Latrin-Caribbean bistory, I ordered the churrasco, which is skirt steak with a chimicurri sauce. It was unbelievable. Just an outstanding meal, except for the one time when my chair tipped over and I feel in the street (ok, that may not have happened…or maybe it did). I will definitely be back to try the tapa-sized churrasco with a few other things. I believe you can bring your own wine as well here, so that has some appeal.
Root* (#225, 9/25/2012)
It was a long break, but made it to No. 214 in late September. Dropped in at Root (“modern American cuisine with old world flavors”) for a bit of a business lunch. I really like the place; it’s been getting a lot of positive attention, which usually turns me off, but it’s solid. I like the feel/atmosphere, pretty casual and open. I definitely need to get back there for dinner as I’m not sure lunch really gives the full effect. However, the burger I had was outstanding. I went for that instead of the fried bologna sandwich, which seems rather intriguing to me. I’ll be heading back for the scallop dinner in a cigar box that everyone is talking about.
Sylvain (#224, 8/22/2012)
One of the great things about New Orleans is that you can go to 210 restaurants and then hit your 213th and it’s sensational and you wonder how you haven’t been yet. Sylvain is a cool, semi-hole-in-the-wall place right near Jackson Square. It has a small, unlit sign and you slip up an alley to enter through the back. The place is rather dark and a little loud, but I enjoyed the atmosphere. And then the food was great, well, one item was amazing – beef cheeks. I don’t even know what that means and I’m afraid to know. If it is actually cheeks, I think they should call it something else, but no matter what it is, it’s incredibly tender beef awesomeness. I also had a mahi-mahi special which was very good, but not like the beef cheeks. The pork shoulder is another specialty, but I didn’t try it, this time around. I also tried the fried eggplant as an appetizer and that was very good as well. Go eat beef cheeks!
Brennan’s (#223, 8/22/2012)
This was a big decision for me – one of the most well-known restaurants in town and I ate there, but does it count? I only had breakfast here which always feels off to me. It seems like I should have a real “meal” at a restaurant in order for it to count (unless it’s a breakfast joint, you know?). But I’ve decided I will count it (along with Zoe in the W) since I actually had a meal at the place. I will, however, strive to eat a real meal there sometime as well. Anyway, I had an andouille cheddar omelet and it was very good. They also served some sort of cinnamon bread sticks which were tasty. It’s a very fancy place and it looks like it has an excellent courtyard area as well. The only drawback is that they refused to serve me orange juice. What’s with that? Maybe they just forgot, but I prefer to think that I was being persecuted for something.