Deep in the Heart of Dixie

Once again our merry little band is hitting the road. The East Coast is beckoning once again.

We had a good time in Texas. All that barbecue, all those icehouses, all the great seafood and TexMex cuisine. (I sense a theme here!) We've often vacationed in Texas and with all of our new found knowledge those vacations will be more fun than ever.

But, for all that, there is something about the East Coast that keeps calling us back.

So off we go. Heading east along I10 and into the Atchafalaya Basin, crossing on the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway and its 18 mile bridge. East through the cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And finally north towards Georgia and the Carolinas. 

We took our time and stopped a few places on the way. The Blow Fly Inn in Gulfport, Mississippi had been on my radar for a while. Too many Diners, Drive-ins and Dives viewings I suspect. But in any case, I wanted to check it out and the Dining Companion was kind enough to indulge me.

There wasn't much of a crowd the day we stopped for lunch. We were warmly greeted and seated at a table by a window.

I spotted a favorite of mine on the menu, a pimento cheese burger, and just had to order it. The Dining Companion ordered a Gulf Coast staple; a shrimp po'boy. 

Pimento Cheese Burger

Shrimp Po'boy

Lunch was good but I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about. Maybe this place lights up with a crowd? Hard to say. I'm glad we stopped and that I had the chance to cross if off my list.

It's strange and comforting to travel along roads both familiar and made new by the haze of a capricious memory. Was that place there before? Did we stop here on a previous trip? It seems known and unknown at once.

Which, in a way, is nice. We get to rediscover old friends and discover new to us places along the way. But travel can be like that. It can make the old and familiar seem new and the new seem like an old friend.

Happy travels y'all!

Mother's Restaurant - New Orleans, LA

Looking out the window of our hotel room in New Orleans, I kept noticing a line of people at a place across the street. My curiosity piqued I set out to find out what everyone was lined up for. I figured if people are lining up for food in New Orleans we had to check it out.

Turns out we were right across the street from Mother's Restaurant. Mother's has been around since 1938 and is famous for, among other things, the Ferdi Special. The Ferdi was named for a local merchant and is a po'boy made with roast beef and Mother's famous baked ham. Mother's has been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Man vs Food and Food Paradise. We didn't know any of this when we walked in the door.

You walk in, look over the menu as you head toward the counter in the back. You place your order and are given a ticket and told to grab a seat. (Mother's is usually busy so at peak times there may be no seats to grab.) Your order will be delivered to your table. 

Turkey Ferdi - Turkey with ham, the original debris & au jus

Fried Shrimp Po'boy - So many shrimp my po'boy couldn't contain them

The Dining Companion had the Turkey Ferdi and I had the fried shrimp po'boy. Everything about it was good; the right bread, crispy shrimp and pickles. And of course the other things you need for perfect po'boy enjoyment were there too...

Mother's serves breakfast too. Check out the Early Bird Special:

Served Monday-Friday, 7-9 a.m. only
Scrambled eggs, smoked sausage, grits,
biscuit, coffee or small orange juice

All that for $6.50! If you're not an early riser have no fear, Mother's serves breakfast all day. (Four of my favorite words to see on a menu.) You can even get some of their po'boys as early as 7:00am. There's something here for everyone.

Mother's is open 7 days a week from 7am - 10pm serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The thing is, you can get po'boys all over the city. Part of the fun of visiting a great food city like New Orleans is trying different places and finding the things that will become your favorites. Get out there and explore; there's a whole city full of tastes waiting to be discovered.

Happy dining!

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Dining Companion and I (and the 4 Pound Wonder) spent a recent weekend in New Orleans. We stayed at the Loews New Orleans Hotel located in the Warehouse District.

The Loews is a very nice, pet friendly hotel located an easy walk from the French Quarter. They were offering a weekend package that included some dining incentives, gifts and welcome drinks in the hotel bar. Add to that the fact that they treat pets like guests and we had to check this place out.

The 4 Pound Wonder was welcomed with some nice amenities all her own.

If all of that wasn't enough there was also this...

That's right, a room service menu just for her. 

The only downside was the lack of a park or other outside space that was dog friendly. The hotel is downtown so this really wasn't a surprise to us. There is a public plaza adjacent to the hotel that has some trees and small areas of open ground. She made the best of it and it worked out fine.

Enjoying some time in the sun

After getting the 4LBW settled we stopped in at the Swizzle Stick Bar in the lobby for a drink before dinner. There are two parts to the bar, the bar area and an adjacent lounge area.

Lobby Lounge - photo from Loews website

We had dinner at Cafe Adelaide also located in the hotel. The chef offers a modern take on traditional Creole cuisine.The food and service were good. We dined here again for brunch on Saturday.

Cafe Adelaide decorated for brunch

Saturday we spent some time walking around and just seeing the sights before our lunch reservation.

A celebration around every corner

 

I love walking around the city. The beautiful architecture, the people, so much to see.

Part of the weekend package from Loews were gift cards to use at local restaurants. One of them was for dining at Peche Seafood Grill. We had lunch there on Saturday.

 

Lunch started with Shrimp Toast "snack" and a drink called the Ancient Mariner

Shrimp Toast

Ancient Mariner - Plantation 5 yr rum, Goslings Black Seal rum,
grapefruit, lime, allspice dram

We moved on to entrees with the Mahi special and the Chicken Diablo. Yes, chicken, in a seafood place. It turned out to be one of the best dishes we had at Peche.

Chicken Diablo w/ roasted sweet potatoes

Grilled Mahi, Carrot Rice and Broccoli Rabe

 Dessert was a Salted Caramel Cake with a rum pairing

Salted Caramel Cake with caramel buttercream - paired with Prichard’s Fine Gold Rum

Lunch was good. The dining incentive brought us in but the food will bring us back.

Looking out of the window in our room I kept noticing a line of people at a place across the street. My curiosity piqued I set out to find out what everyone was lined up for. I figured if people are lining up for food in New Orleans we had to check it out. (And we did. All will be revealed in an upcoming post!)

 
On our last day in New Orleans we had brunch at the renowned Commander's Palace. It's hard to believe but Commander's has been a New Orleans landmark since the late 1800's. It has a long and storied history. Commander's is the type or place where jackets are still required and people dress for dinner. If for no other reason it needs to be on your must visit list for its place in New Orleans history. Unusual for me, but there are no pictures from brunch. I wanted to give this gem and my Dining Companion all of my attention.

If you plan to visit any major tourist area take a look online to see if any of the local hotels (or chains) or local businesses are offering any specials or deals. We took advantage of a package at Loews New Orleans Hotel and got not only a very nice room but several hundred dollars in dining and drinking incentives. Your next weekend getaway may be just a couple of clicks away.

Happy travels!

Blue Dog Cafe - Lafayette, LA

One of the last stops on our weekend tour of Lafayette was the Blue Dog Cafe for brunch. Some of you may already know that brunch is my favorite meal of the week. The Dining Companion is not as big a fan as I am but he let's me drag him off to brunch on the occasional Sunday.

The Blue Dog (art, not cafe) is the creation of George Rodrigue, a Louisiana artist. As you can imagine with the name, his art is featured in the cafe. I'm a huge fan of the late Mr. Rodrigue and the art displayed around the restaurant is a big plus for me.

One of my favorite Blue Dog paintings

Let's face it, the art is great but we were there for the food. That didn't disappoint either. Brunch was a mix of standards and some Cajun specialties. There were bagels and lox, salads, eggs and bacon. Also a carving station with roast beef and a nice dessert table.

Carving station and breakfast standards

For me, where brunch really shined, was the non-standard offerings. It's hard to see my stuffed plate clearly but this is what I had...

From the top clockwise: Cornbread dressing, Shrimp Etouffee, Crab Cake Benedict, Sweet potato bake, roast beef with horseradish sauce, sauteed veggies and somewhere in the center, Smothered Cabbage

This was by far my favorite dish of the day, grillades with cheese grits. (notice it got its own plate) Grillades are medallions of beef (pork) dredged in flour and sauteed. They are then covered in a flavorful gravy made with tomatoes. Although all of the  grillades I've ever had were made with beef these were made with pork and were fantastic.

Cheese grits & pork grillades

 Desserts rounded things out. Of all of the items I had these were the least exciting. I expected more from the Banana Pudding but it was a little bland. The bread pudding and chocolate pudding were pretty tasty.

All in all brunch at the Blue Dog Cafe was a big hit. Once again Lafayette delivers on its promise of being one of the south's best food cities.

There were a few places on my list that I didn't get to. They were closed over the holiday weekend which caused much sadness on my part. Needless to say I'm working on a plan to get back there and remedy this injustice. Also, I would like to pay a visit to a couple of the local attractions, most notably the Acadian Village.

That wraps up this trip to Southern Louisiana. Next stop: more BBQ!

As always,

Happy travels!