Maple Street Café (#192, 11/27/2011)
This was an excellent discovery. I definitely recommend it for lunch or dinner. Very good and reasonably-priced. I’ve had a variety of things – the oysters amandine stands out in my mind – and definitely go for the stuffed shrimp in phyllo as an appetizer. I’m not sure what phyllo is, but it was excellent. You can sit inside or outside, with two outside areas (one shaded). I hear the pastas and salads are outstanding also.
Sara’s Bistro* (#191, 11/18/2011)
This was a pretty good stop (located in Riverbend, behind the little min-plaza area), but I should have known there was trouble when I saw awards for “healthiest restaurant.” The Louisiana crawfish eggrolls are a signature dish and were pretty bland. But I had a pork loin dish (a special) that was very good, so just be careful, maybe ask for unhealthy options. In addition, their website is all flash, which bugs me and the music gets very annoying.
Twelve Mile Limit (#190, 11/16/2011)
An outstanding NOLA experience…this one cut it close as far as being a restaurant, but I had excellent bbq (pork, white beans…and tater tots). It is a major dive located in a dicey neighborhood, but it has good cocktails – and my favorite thing about the place was the dobite and shot special for $5. The bartender even took my question seriously about what sort of shot she recommended to go with the red velvet dobite (Sazerac rye). I know many people on here will be surprised, but now and then, I have partaken in a shot or two.
Café Rani* (#189, 11/14/2011)
An outstanding lunch stop. I had a pesto-crusted chicken pasta which was outstanding. It has a nice courtyard outside and is a pretty good place, might even have to add it to my lunch rotation.
Marigny Brasserie (#188, 11/3/2011)
A Thursday night dinner in the Marigny and it was a decent meal. I had stuffed shrimp, which wasn’t great – too much breading, not enough shrimp. But the calamari was as good as I’ve had in years and they also had some sort of sausage plate – you can’t go wrong with a big plate of sausage. Other meals all looked great with solid quantities as well.
Ignatius* (#187, 10/31/2011)
This was a Monday lunch stop and a good call as I went for red beans and rice. The best I have had in quite a while (of course, I’m mainly comparing to the diner across the street from the Superdome, so that’s not saying much). Ignatius is a tiny place (note, since my visit, it has moved into a larger location) with a basic menu, po-boys, salads and the like. Also, they don’t have ice. Not sure why, but you can get a carafe of cold water and you can get bottled tea, but nothing with ice.
Johnny White’s* (#186, 10/29/2011)
No. 170 was Johnny White’s on Bourbon Street. The link goes to the sports bar, but we ate upstairs on the balcony. It was the Saturday afternoon of Halloween weekend and we were starving. We tried Port O’ Call, but the wait was crazy so we just wandered, figuring we would stop at the first place that had food and no line – and it worked out great. I had a burger which was pretty good, the rest of the food was solid as well – the crab cakes even looked like crabs! Plus sitting on the balcony watching the show below was well worth it. Another good note is that the bar has never closed since it opened 19 years ago, not even for Katrina – there were all kinds of good stories/rumors at this time, my favorite was a drunk guy trying to leave in the middle of the night and getting mugged, and almost getting his ear ripped off; he went back to the bar, and some guy sewed his ear back together and all was good.
Elizabeth’s (#185, 10/23/2011)
Definitely a New Orleans-style breakfast place – very quirky and interesting with a potentially great brunch. Get there early as it will be a long wait, even with small groups. I have actually been twice now; first time, it was awesome (praline bacon is incredible). The second time it was pretty bad, the waiter was the worst, messed up orders, we waited forever. Waiting 45 minutes AFTER ordering for breakfast seem kind of silly. We were fine with the hour-plus wait before being seated, but seems like they could make some eggs a little faster.
Stanley (#184, 10/21/2011)
Located right on Jackson Square, it’s obviously a great location; and it has good music on its website. The food…eh, it was okay. I had the “world-famous” Stanley Burger, which brought up the debate of what it takes to be “world-famous.” One friend says that getting someone to bring your pizza box to the top of Mt. Everest and taking a picture makes your pizza world-famous. I think it must be easier, based on the average Stanley Burger. To be fair, they had some other interesting items on the menu, it was reasonably-priced and we walked right in and sat down on a Friday at 6:30 p.m. (that can be a positive, right?).
Lilette (#183, 10/20/2011)
Not sure why this took me so long, and actually, I think I may have gone pre-K, but anyway, I finally made it to Lilette. Outstanding meal – I had the hanger steak (fries were awesome). Nice waitress, service was a bit slow, but not a place you want to hurry through (just get me my booze sooner!). My only knock is due to my anti-sociality. Tables are close together; I prefer to be as far away from people as possible.