jazz fest '10

The day we chose to go (to see Van Morrison) was a wet one, but we still got in some good eats.  Plus some Juvenile and some awesome music in the gospel tent.  Here are some photos of folks enjoying the food--including some damp, dedicated crawfish peelers.

We got the combo on the sign below: potato salad, creole stuffed crab, and catfish almondine.

Next, a soft-shell crab po-boy...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Below is Bennachin's stand.  I've never been to the restaurant, so I was happy to taste some of their festival food.

Bennachin's platter:  poulet fricassee (chicken on a stick); fried plantains; and jama jama (sauteed spinach).  I love those sweet plantains mixed with the spinach!

Dedicated crawfish fans.

So many choices, so little room in the stomach.  Until next year: good-bye Jazz Fest.  Hello plenty of parking in the neighborhood. 

jazz fest '10

roast beef to remember

This photo is my gift to you. Fantastic, rich, tender roast beef and gravy over french fries, and it's not even a holiday...it's just another Sunday in the food capitol of my heart. I had to share.

My new Sunday favorite is Parkway Bakery & Tavern, at Bayou St. John. Our friend John Mark turned us onto this place a few weeks ago--our friend who was visiting. We didn't even know the riches that were waiting for us a mere football field away from our front door. Now we can't stop going.

For the photo experience, order "fries with gravy." I know the photo doesn't look like fries with "gravy"--it looks more like your grandmother's roast beef--but that's what they call it, so just believe them.

Parkway is famous for piling this roast beef onto po' boys, and for their metabolism-demolishing "surf-n-turf" po'boy, which is loaded with roast beef and fried shrimp. We haven't braved that combo yet, though we hear it's mighty good.

Two people can split an order of fries and a large po'boy (pictured below) and leave painlessly satisfied, which is something of a miracle. This is our oyster po'boy. The oysters have a light, breezy coating that's punched up with a little spice. These are some of the best fried oysters I've had in New Orleans; you can tell that whoever fries them has confidence enough not to overcook the little treasures, so they're like hot puffs of sea.

There's a coziness to this place that I adore. Old Dixie Beer signs, eye-rest-green paint in the front room, Barq's root beer, extra napkins on the tables. It's heavily windowed, so sunlight fills the space. You can look out and see the bayou, and it's on a lightly travelled street, so parking, though it can be less than ideal, isn't too much of a challenge. I'd bet that 75% of the traffic is Parkway-bound anyway.

The menu is filled with all sorts of po'boy stylings: hot sausage, bbq beef, hamburger, meatballs, alligator sausage, on and on. They offer a "gravy po'boy" for $4.95, which I suspect, if the gravy is the same as they douse on the fries, may be the best bargain in the city. Vegetarians: there's a caprese--the classic Italian antipasto of fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil--po'boy on the menu. They don't heat it, but apparently it's very fresh and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. I even heard someone order it without bread, so hey, if you're not into po'boys, you can still hang out with your friends who are.

Their original menu hangs on the wall. They note that these items aren't available any longer, but I really wish they were. Whatever happened to the tongue sandwich's popularity? I remember reading about it in 50's children's mysteries.

And, if you happen to be in town on Monday, March 22, you can stop by Parkway for a taping of Food Wars. They're going head-to-head with Domalise's over shrimp po'boys, and I can't wait.

roast beef to remember

taking the long way

If you want to eat some good seafood, and you want to eat it at a NOLA institution, Casamento's on Magazine Street fits the bill. I fell in love with this place the minute I saw it, though we had to find something else to do with ourselves while we waited for it to open. It was so worth the wait.

The problem was that we arrived too early. Tip #1: they open for dinner at 5:30, Thursday through Saturday only.

So we headed toward the track, to visit Liuzza's, famed for its po' boys--a tip from Davey and Gracie. BBQ shrimp po' boy? Garlic oyster po' boy? Yes. But along the way, we got distracted by the idea of stopping on St. Charles for a drink somewhere, then got even more distracted by a new route which ended up taking us downtown. We decided to land in the Quarter. I found my first-ever parking place on Bourbon Street (a very big deal). Since we were there, we thought, "Frank's"--we'd heard great things about it. Alas, our stay was short. Under pressure from our waiter, we ordered crab-stuffed mushrooms, which were highly flavorful, but $10 for three? Ouch. Tip #2: Frank's is tasty but priced for tourists. Luckily, we mustered the courage to brave the rain and the traffic and head back to the car, by way of Molly's. Tip #3: Molly's is a cozy little place, but it gets real fratty on Saturday night. Back uptown, we returned to our starting point at 7:00 p.m., which was just in time to beat the crowd.

Casamento's was established in 1919 and still inhabits the same location. It's small, tiled, and bright, and you walk through the miniscule kitchen to get to the restrooms. I absolutely love walking through restaurant kitchens. More!

At Casamento's, the sandwiches are "loaves," which differs from a po' boy by bread. The bread for a loaf isn't the light, fluffy New Orleans French that you expect when you order a po' boy. It's thick-cut white toast, the type I normally call "Texas." Somehow that doesn't feel right anymore. I guess I'll start calling it "loaf." I think there's a little garlic butter spread on this bread. Your basic NOLA "dressing" of mayo, tomato, and lettuce, and then the lightest, freshest fried catfish you can imagine. Oh my.




























The menu is small but complete. Everything you could want in a New Orleans seafood joint is there: seafood gumbo (a tomatoey version), fresh, juicy raw oysters ($9 a dozen! $4.50 half dozen!), fried trout and catfish, softshell crabs. The star, to me, was the catfish loaf I ordered--the best-tasting sandwich I've had in this city, bar none. I'm a fan of Casamento's for several reasons, but their "small prices"--the choice you have of ordering a full-sized dinner for $12 or a half-sized dinner for $6.75--are the most important, for me. I'm a taster. I don't need a huge plate, and I usually don't even want it. I respect a restaurant that does something to keep me coming back: excellent food, fair price.

taking the long way