my green heaven

Creole tomatoes are in their green state these days, which is fine with me.  For one thing, I know that the ripe red creoles are just weeks away; for another, I love fried green tomatoes.  Love them.

The use of green tomatoes on a BLT has been a bit of a lunch trend in the city--La Petite Grocery offered a BLT with green tomato jam last spring, for instance, which was outstanding.  The tarter, "greener" flavor of a green tomato plays well with smoky bacon, and just feels like spring, to me.  At last week's Saturday market, Paul found baby green creole tomatoes, about the size of limes.  They were so cute, and their slices so perfectly round, that they just seemed to be crying out for the starring role in a BLT.  So that's what we had--cocktail-sized fried-green-tomato BLTs.  Hooray!

For our mini-wiches, I used Pepperidge Farm ultra-thin sliced white bread; the slices are square and small, and look really cute when they're toasted.  Frying the tomatoes in butter gave them a little sweetness and richness, and the use of iceberg lettuce?  What can I say--I was brought up that way.

The recipe below is for normal-sized green tomatoes, but just leave the amount of breading ingredients and eggs the same if you've got babies.  Green tomato babies, I mean.

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

• 1 firm green tomato, cut into 4 slices
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 t. Creole seasoning (like Tony Chachere's)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• for sandwiches: toasted bread, mayonnaise, crisply cooked bacon, lettuce (iceberg, romaine, or green leaf)

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, seasoning, and salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
2. Dip tomato slices in egg, then dredge in cornmeal mixture, pressing to help it adhere.
3. Melt butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add tomato slices and cook, without moving them, for about 4 to 5 minutes, until light golden brown on the bottoms (lift up an edge to peek at them).  Turn them over and cook on the other side for another 4 minutes, until light golden brown.
4. Build your sammiches and enjoy!

Makes 2 to 4 sandwiches, depending on the number of slices of tomato on each.

In about a month, we'll have intensely red and juicy creoles to eat out of hand, like apples.  One of the best ways to celebrate the ripening is at the Creole Tomato Festival, held at the French Market June 11-13, which is combined with the Louisiana Seafood Festival and the Cajun & Zydeco Music Festival...it's a wonderful time to be in the Quarter.  

Blt Sandwich

my green heaven

where y'everything: a list of places to eat and more in new orleans

We're offering this list of eateries--plus a few bars, attractions, and oddities--for our guests and guests unknown to get ideas about where to spend their time and money. Only places we have visited and actually recommend are on the list. If you'd like to suggest places that aren't here yet, feel free to leave a comment, and we'll add it to the list if we agree. Happy exploring...

French Quarter

Eats

• Central Grocery (home of the muffaletta; mostly takeaway)
• Coop's Place (best restaurant jambalaya, hands down)
• Felix's (great oysters, turtle soup, sweet potato fries)
• Antoine's (high-priced, long-established classic French; recommended if you can budget it)
• Mother's (breakfast all day, plus outstanding ham po-boys; also all the New Orleans cuisine you want: red beans & rice, gumbo, spaghetti, fried chicken, etc.)
• Port of Call (great big steak-like burgers, steaks, baked potatoes (no french fries here), big sweet drinks; there's usually a line out the door, but it's worth it; vegetarians beware)

Drinks

• Molly's on Toulouse or Decatur
• Pirate's Alley (next to the Faulkner house & bookstore; absinthe; smoke-free, with outside "alley" seating)
• One-Eyed Jack's (mainly a music venue; also, burlesque offerings)
• Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop (sometime-piano bar, but mostly just a good place to relax)

Lodging

• We highly recommend the Hotel Villa Convento (rumored to be the original "House of the Rising Sun").

Around Bayou St. John

Eats

• Liuzza's by the Track (po-boys, fried seafood, gumbo)
• Parkway Bakery & Tavern (extensive po-boy menu, roast beef to die for)
• Mandina's (traditional New Orleans offerings with an Italian-American attitude)
• Angelo Brocato's Ice Cream (canolli, spumoni, gelato)
• K-Jean's Seafood (seafood vendor; no tables, but you can get po-boys to go or shrimp boiled to order, or choose a whole fish & they'll fillet it for you and give you the bones for your stock)
• Nonna Mia (pizza, sandwiches, some pastas; Sunday brunch; quality, tasty ingredients; delivery)
• Cafe Degas (French bistro; brunch; beautiful, sunny but sheltered setting on the boulevard)

Other

• New Orleans Museum of Art (sculpture garden too)
• Fortier Park (a nice outdoor game of chess)
• Fair Grounds race track (horseracing and some decent snacks; check out the gumbo with crab claws)
• City Park (I recommend the train and the ladybug rollercoaster, but you could also rent a paddle boat or get some exercise or all sorts of other parkly activities)
• Pal's Lounge (an apres-activity beer spot; you'll often find some gratis red beans and rice here on Mondays, plus "roll-a-day" for a $1-chance at the jackpot)

CBD (Central Business District)

• St. Charles Bar (gumbo & red beans/rice next door)
• Luke (business-suit spot; also serves breakfast)
• August (fine dining; extremely delicious; prix-fixe lunch--3 courses for $20)

Warehouse District

• Cochon (inspired Cajun cuisine; specializes in pork, of course)
• Cochon Butcher (Cochon's neighbor--a true butcher shop, but one with a full bar and fantastic $6 tapas, along with a full sandwich menu)
• Mulate's (family-oriented, fried seafood and cajun classics with a large, bright dance floor and experienced cajun band)

Marigny

Eats

• Adolpho's (Italian; upstairs above the Apple Barrel bar; hidden & romantic)
• Mimi's (bar with dancing upstairs, but the late-night tapas is the best part of the place)
• 13 (hipster cafe/bar open early to late; breakfast, pizza, sandwiches, several tofu options)
• Snug Harbor (classic jazz bistro; seats late on Fri/Sat)

Other

• Spotted Cat (mostly jazz, but some other offerings)
• DBA (mostly jazz; go watch the Sunday evening swing dancers)
• Apple Barrel (blues, songwriter, jazz, etc.)

Riverbend (where the St. Charles streetcar turns onto Carrollton Ave.)

Eats

• Camellia Grill (classic 24-seat marble-countered grill; no alcohol; weekend brunch line is out the door but worth it for the potato/onion omelet)
• Mat & Naddie's (newly wrought Louisiana)
• Dante's Kitchen (nice patio, brunch)
• Babylon Cafe (go for the good selection of eggplant and bean dips and the award-winning homemade bread)
• Jamila's (bellydancer on Saturday nights; great mussels)
• Fresco Cafe (patio; pizzas, sandwiches, salads, drink specials; neighborhood delivery)
• Cooter Brown's (sports bar; burgers, po-boys, fried seafood, raw oysters; get there early if it's football season)
• Boucherie ("Contemporary Southern Cuisine"; try anything they do with grits)
• Jacques-Imo's (try the alligator cheesecake appetizer)
• College Inn (a nola institution, famous "peacemaker" oyster po-boy)

Other

• Maple Leaf Bar (music; poetry reading on Sunday afternoons)
• Maple Street Books (cozy, well-stocked spot; children's bookstore next door)
• The Levy (walk or jog or take your dog)

Uptown

Eats

• Patois (great menu; locals' secret)
• Pascale's Manale (home of New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp)
• Audubon Clubhouse (breakfast, brunch, or lunch spot in the middle of Audubon Park; the food is simple, but you can't beat the view)
• Franky & Johnny's (boiled crawfish; boudin balls; fried seafood)

Other

• Columns Hotel & Bar (classic porch setting for cocktails; mellow music inside)
• Fat Harry's (bar; patio)
• Mayfair Lounge (buzzer bar; hipsters)
• Prytania Theatre (single-screen theater; classic movies on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons)
• Audubon Park (golf; long walking/jogging/cycling track)

Magazine Street

Eats

• Casamento's (seafood, raw oysters; closed during August)
• Lilette (trendy bistro; great appetizers)
• Ignacious Eatery (brunch, eclectic spins on Nola standards; moderately priced)
• La Petite Grocery (I recommend the handmade spaghetti and anything they serve with it, but the entire menu is well-made)
• Vicky's Corner Grocery (this "Grocery" really is a corner store, unlike the above; order the freshly fried shrimp po-boy--12" for $5)
• Byblos (local chain; Middle-Eastern favorites; great sandwiches)
• The Bulldog (beer garden with burgers and other bar food; dogs welcome)
• Whole Foods (yes, we do have one, and it's easy to stop by and take out some gumbo or local fish after a day of trolling the Magazine shops)

Other

• Balcony Bar (they serve bar food here, but we haven't sampled it yet...upstairs has the coolest vibe)
• The Rendezvous (not to be confused with other Rendezvouses in town, this one is bar-only)
• Funky Monkey (clothes finds)

where y'everything: a list of places to eat and more in new orleans

hot child in the city

Believe me when I tell you that a couple of weeks ago, when I was dead-set on filling out a nice, long post with photos of the Creole Tomato/Louisiana Seafood/Cajun-Zydeco festival throwdown, I had no idea that it would be so hot down in the French Quarter.

It was too hot to take photos. Seriously, the camera kept slipping out of my hands.

I managed a few, though:

I love these little guys. I ate them.

Cajun fish taco. I asked for a small portion of slaw so I could really taste the fish. It's a lightly fried tilapia filet, dusted with just a bit of Cajun seasoning (like a mixture of cayenne, garlic powder, thyme, salt, pepper). Really nice and simple-tasting, a good thing to eat in the heat.

Shrimp-and-crab-stuffed Creole tomato. This was the perfect dish to "marry" the two food festivals together. Creole tomatoes are the jewels of the summer season here in Louisiana--people talk about them all year, either how much they miss them or how much they love them. They don't really look different from regular tomatoes, to me, but the taste is something special. Denser, sunnier, redder. I devoured every last seed of this tomato.

We had some other yummies--crawfish sausage, hurricane sno balls--but they didn't make it to the photo stage. If you can stand the heat, this festival trio, known as the "Vieux To Do," is really something. Tons of food, great vendors, fun music. This year it was held the weekend of June 13-14, so I'd assume next year it will be sometime close to that.

hot child in the city

virgin no longer: a seafood love story

I'm an Oklahoma girl, born and raised, so it should be understandable that I never had much occasion to sample raw oysters. There is a popular oyster bar, P&J Oyster Co., in Tulsa's Brookside (near my stomping grounds), which my dad visited occasionally, but when the family went, I only ordered fried shrimp. I should admit here that I was fifteen or sixteen before I could even abide the texture of shrimp.

But after a few years of eating shrimp, I palated scallops, then lobster, then clam strips. Then I tasted my first fried clams "with bellies"--the whole animal--at Cape Cod. After those, I was hooked on all the secret, dark wonders of the fruits of the sea.

I became a sort of sushi wunderkind. I craved mussels, relished snails, and devoured squid. And now, I can slosh oysters down with all of you. Order up.

My de-flowering experience took place at Felix's Oyster Bar in the French Quarter--romantically, also the place where my Paul had his first raw oysters (though he was ten years old--what a pro!). The oysters were so juicy, cold, and fresh; they tasted like the sun-drenched air above the seawater. That's the best way I can think of to describe it.

I'm still quite a fan of all the different cooked-oyster treats I get to sample here in New Orleans. At Felix's, I had my first serving of Oysters Rockefeller, with their casserole-like spinach topping, and Oysters Bienville (left side of plate), which has a rich, custardy sauce. Serious yummers. (Check out John Folse's Bienville recipe here: http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/seafood/oyster06.htm)

What also happened: turtle soup. Gosh.

Note: I'd like to ladle on some advice to all you raw oyster-eaters trying to convince non raw oyster-eaters to try them. Don't say anything about texture. If you can eat steak, you can eat an oyster. I was shy for way too long due to texture comments. That's all.

virgin no longer: a seafood love story