Gimme that Souuuuul Food

On Monday morning we headed to Willie Mae's Scotch House right at opening time, as we heard it gets lined up.  We were there about 15 minutes early, and there were already a few people in line.

This place is definitely a dive, and it's not in the best neighborhood ... but it was recognized as having the "best fried chicken in America" by The Food Network and The Travel Channel, so we knew we had to check it out.

The cornbread muffins were warm and yummy:

I had the fried chicken with mac and cheese, and Christopher got his with mashed potatoes.  Both came with peas as well. 

Unfortunately we were both a little bit disappointed.  The mac and cheese was mediocre, and we think our homemade fried chicken is better than this stuff, as is Brother's in NOLA.  This fried chicken was unique though; it had a very light, flaky, almost panko-crumb-esque (tempura-ish) style batter.  We didn't let any of the food go to waste, and it was a good deal for the price; I just don't think we'd make the trip to this place again next time we're in New Orleans.

We spent our Monday afternoon wandering around the French Quarter, and stopped in at Cafe Beignet for some beignets, coffee and jazz.

We love Cafe Beignet, and think it's even better than the famous Cafe du Monde - plus there's no long line and there is always live music.

For dinner we walked for a long while to The Joint, a very popular BBQ spot we'd been to before.  They smoke everything out back:

I had ribs with beans and mac:

Christopher enjoyed pulled pork with coleslaw and mac:

We knew this after our last trip to New Orleans three years ago, but we belong in the south.  The way of life, the food, the music, everything just calls our names.

Do you have anywhere in your city you'd recommend for soul food?

What's the best dive restaurant where you live?

Gospel, Swamps and Stuff

On Easter Sunday we went to a Gospel brunch at the House of Blues.

The gospel music was absolutely wonderful, and the food was delicious.  They were serving up chicken and waffles, biscuits and sausage gravy, amazing cheesy grits and mac and cheese, and all the usual breakfast staples.  Sooooo good!  I highly recommend this Gospel brunch.

Later on in the day we went on a private swamp tour.

It was so nice to have the tour guide to ourselves, as the tour was less structured than it would have been with a group, more causal, and catered to what we wanted to do.  We got to meet some little friends:

A sweet little golden racoon, Blondie:

It was absolutely wonderful, and we're so glad we went on this tour.  The wild boar tried to get onto our boat.  They wanted more marshmallows!

When we were done the tour we saw a hummingbird; I don't know if I've ever seen one so close before.

Two days into our trip, and we were off to a great start with the jazz cruise, epic dinner, gospel brunch, and swamp tour.

And we hadn't even gotten started on the po boys!

Happy weekend friends!

What are you up to this weekend?

Now this is Dining! Square Root, NOLA

The first thing that caught my eye was the name, Square Root; once I started reading about the restaurant, I was so intrigued. 

On Saturday we had the most unique dining experience we've ever had.  Square Root only has 16 seats, each giving the diner an up-front look at the food preparation and creation.  The seats are in a U-shape around the chefs.  Besides us, there was only one other couple there on Saturday night, so we had two chefs cooking exclusively for the four of us.

This restaurant is reservation only, and not for the inexperienced or unadventurous diner.  Also, it's pricey.  There are 12-15 courses, and they are perfectly spaced.  The service at this restaurant is impeccable, and different (in a refreshing way) than anywhere we've ever dined.

First up was a Louisiana blue crab soup with dashi, dulse, and lemon:

The second course was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten, a cauliflower-centered dish with white sturgeon roe and brown butter.  The cauliflower ice cream knocked my socks off.

Third was a muffaletta sandwich with a meringue bun:

After three home-run dishes, we were pretty stoked for the fourth course, especially when we saw the chef start up the cotton candy machine:

We then proceeded to eat the most creative dish we've ever had, fried chicken cotton candy, with a fried chicken crisp and a mousse-like concoction, with fermented mustard seeds, and other amazing things I cannot remember.

It was like eating a mini fried chicken taco, full of the most concentrated fried chicken flavour (all the good stuff you get in the crispy skin).  I would have happily eaten 10 of these.  Savoury cotton candy is boss.

Course five was Chinook salmon with smoked roe, cream cheese, etc.:

The fish was like butter - mmmmm!

Number six was blonde morel mushrooms with sweetbreads, rabbit sausage and green garlic:

Course seven was torchon of foie gras, with rhubarb, kumquat, and freeze-dried yogurt:

The eighth course seemed to be a palate cleanser; it was a frozen chai tea dish:

Ninth up was wahoo fish with heirloom peppers, garden tomatoes, eggplant and pepitas:

The tenth course was rohan duck with turnip, black garlic, and gravy:

Just when we thought the duck flavour couldn't be better, they brought out the 11th course, a duck-confit sticky bun, with crispy duck skin on top:

The 12th course was the first dessert course.  It was a dish that featured strawberries, pistachios, and yuzu:

The next dessert, lucky number 13, was a milk chocolate and hazelnut supreme with apricot, caramelized onion, and hickory vinegar:

And finally, as if we needed another course, we were served an assortment of baked desserts:

They don't like the diners to leave hungry, so on our way out we were given fresh baked mini coffee cake muffins to-go. 

If you're ever looking for a unique, fine-dining, non-stuffy, progressive, creative dining experience when you're in New Orleans, you've got to try Square Root.

Have you ever had a savoury version of a food that's traditionally sweet, or vise versa?

I have to say, the cauliflower ice cream and fried chicken cotton candy are my favourite two tastes from this meal.

Helllloooo Vacation!

On Thursday evening we went to bed at 7:00 p.m., so that we could get a full eight hours in before getting up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready for our flight. 

After three flights, and a stressful travel experience that had us running at full speed through the airport, we made it to New Orleans in the late afternoon, five minutes ahead of schedule.

We checked in to the gorgeous Bourbon Orleans hotel, and then headed to Boucherie for dinner.  Boucherie is a very popular, trendy restaurant, known as the best-bang-for-your-buck in NOLA.  The food is very reasonably priced for the quality and creativity.  The server brought an amuse bouche right away:

We ordered small plates to share, including boudin balls with garlic aioli:

Goat ribs with hummus and strawberry harissa:

Crispy skin duck confit with cabbage dumpling, burnt rye & beet chips:

And finally, collared greens with grit fries:

This dish was perfect in every way.

On Saturday morning we were up pretty early.  We had breakfast at Pierre Maspero's:

After breakfast we went on a jazz cruise along the Mississippi River on one of the only steamboats still operating in the US:

The jazz cruise was so wonderful - we loved every minute of it.

After the cruise we went to Brennan's for the original bananas foster. 

I am not a big dessert person, but I absolutely loved this; it was definitely one of the best desserts we've ever had.

We each cleaned our plates in about 45 seconds.

On Saturday evening, to end off our first full day in New Orleans, we went out for the most insane, interesting, unique dining experience we've ever had ... but that's for the next post.

Happy Easter!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?