Art of Food: Traveling With Restrictions

ART OF FOOD

pg. 108

Traveling with

Restrictions

First things first, I must say that I am forever

grateful to Southwest Airlines & their flight sales!!! Without them, this vacation (and ones to come) would not have been possible.

So my cousin and I spent 6 days and brought in the New Year in New Orleans, LA. We hopped on buying airline tickets as soon as the sale started, narrowed down an Air B&B and let the anticipation stew. New Orleans still holds a special place in my heart and I still look forward to calling it my home, one day soon. As a child, my mother and I used to spend summers in the Crescent City as she attended the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University. Although I don’t remember everything about that time, I remember the energy of the city every time I return. Now my cousin Nicole loves New Orleans so much that she visits at least 3 to 4 times a year! She has created a Google Doc of restaurants and different places to visit. Some of those restaurants we visited are chronicled below.

Day 1:

Once we landed in New Orleans and got settled in our Airbnb, we decided to eat & grab some groceries before we crashed for the day. Our first stop was The Ruby Slipper for breakfast! Our wait for a table was not long at all, we were seated within 10 minutes of us checking in. As I was looking over the menu after we were seated, it was at that moment that I realized this trip was going to be really hard. I don’t have a lot of dietary restrictions but I do not consume pork or beef & I have (what I think is) the bougiest allergies: truffles. Although they had different options that sounded delicious, what I wanted was their eggs benedict. Of course the ones that sounded the most appealing contained pork, Tasso to be exact. Now Tasso is a type of spicy cured pork often used in Cajun cooking. So I decided at that moment, that I may have to break one of my dietary restrictions and consume a small amount of pork. Almost every traditional version of staple New Orleans dishes contain pork! It is virtually impossible to not get a bowl of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans & rice, without some type of sausage in it, unless you find a vegan/vegetarian establishment.

So I decided to get The Peacemaker which is the choice of any two of their signature benedicts. Out of the six benedicts, I decided on The Chicken St. Charles (fried chicken breast served over a buttermilk biscuit, topped with two poached eggs, finished with a pork Tasso cream sauce) & The Shrimp Boogaloo (Gulf

shrimp sautéed with pork Tasso and creole tomato sauce served over fried green tomatoes, a buttermilk biscuit and two poached eggs). The Chicken St. Charles was hands down my favorite! The chicken was crispy, juicy and cooked perfectly, & the biscuit and the cream sauce (even though I had to eat around the Tasso) was a satisfying combination. I liked the Shrimp Boogaloo benedict but it was not something I would want to try again. It may sound odd, but the creole tomato sauce was too tomato-y for me. After the first few bites, I felt the acid reflux beginning to brew & I had to stop. However, the poached eggs on top of both were cooked

perfectly. I even recorded myself cutting into the eggs & they ran down the sides of that biscuit flawlessly!

Later that night, after we got our necessary sleep & unpacked a little we headed to another New Orleans, Port Of Call. Now if you haven’t been it’s a small establishment with maybe 10 to 12 tables to your left along with about 20 to 15 seats available at the bar to the right. As to be expected, it was crowded however, the way my cousin kept talking about their food we just waited for a table or seats at the bar to open up. After about fifteen minutes, we snagged two seats at

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ART OF FOOD... cont.

the bar, and then….hit a roadblock again with food! Now Port of Call is known for their burgers, but I don’t eat beef. I haven’t purposely consumed any beef in 21 years, so trying to even eat a single bite now will make me sick. So I was left to a salad, which was completely necessary, and their gigantic loaded baked potato. While these two

the Smoothie King Center to watch the Houston Rockets take on Anthony Davis and his squad. It was my cousin’s first time at a live NBA game, but we both can cross-out getting on the jumbo-tron at a sporting event! (We made it y’all!!! LOL) After the game we headed back to the French Quarter to eat at a local favorite, Coop’s Place, a small very eclectic spot with a [clean] dive bar atmosphere. The one waiter in particular that we had was unforgettable, he was knowledgeable with his extremely friendly, loud and carried a no non sense New York attitude. He does not allow phones at the table! He scowled at my cousin a few times for trying to check her phone, send a text or even trying to take a picture of our plates. Where I found it extremely funny, I also understood and appreciated why he made this a rule for any of the tables he worked.

Now I should have ordered the fried chicken, since that’s what is highly recommended but I decided to try the Redfish Meuniere. The dish was 8 oz. Redfish fillet floured & sautéed with a tangy shrimp & butter sauce with Worcestershire, lemon, and hot sauce. Served with a house salad & green beans. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. It was a little too salty for my liking, so I definitely wish that I had ordered their fried chicken. For the life of me I cannot remember what cocktail we ordered, but whatever it was our waiter said, “No!” and proceeded to offer an alternative drink that he created called, The Friendly F***er. That drink there……we ordered another round!

Day 3: 12/30

items were filling they were not soaking up the alcohol from the infamous Neptune’s Monsoon cocktail. I have no idea what ingredients are in this drink, nor will they reveal it. However, it’s fruity but strong nature makes Port Of Call, a necessary stop from here on out on every single New Orleans trip I make in the future.

Day 2:

One of my Archonette sisters attended Xavier University of Louisiana and still resides in New Orleans. She is a self-trained chef and mmmmaaaannnnn is her food AMAZING! Saturday morning we headed over to Candra’s place for a brunch with her and her friends (fellow XULA alumni). Our cost for entry was simply a bottle of champagne for mimosas. The spread she conjured up herself was beautiful: Traditional French Toast, Turkey Bacon, Sweet Potato Pancakes, Croissant Stuffed French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Mixed Fruit, Grits & Crawfish Potatoes. It was heavenly, we all went back for seconds and thirds! Everything would make your mouth water, but those Crawfish Potatoes were unmatched. I’m still trying to remember the exact flavor profile so that I can attempt to make it here at home one day soon.

As a diehard basketball fan, there was no way I was going all the way to New Orleans & not watch the Pelicans play. After we chilled out and fought the “itis”, we headed to

Sunday mornings are always made for Brunch so we headed over to the historic Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans. Li’l Dizzy’s Café was everything I needed in my life and everything I was desiring on this trip: beyond amazing food with a home/chill atmosphere. Now for whatever reason, before I even left St. Louis for this trip I was craving collard greens really bad. The catch is though, I don’t even eat greens! I’ve never been a huge fan and if I do eat them it’s literally like 3 small forkfuls and that’s it. I’m not sure if it was the texture or flavor that I didn’t like before, now all of that has changed. Oh I definitely fulfilled that craving & others that I didn’t know I had, this Sunday morning.

Their weekend buffet is only $17.99 and is filled with all the traditional buffet choices and classics of Creole-Soul Food. Peachy bread pudding with a rum glaze, fresh & crispy fried chicken, creamy macaroni and cheese,

pg. 110

seafood gumbo with crab legs, sweet & buttery cornbread, etc. and of course the greens of perfection. I remember rocking in my chair humming Fantasia’s “Collard Greens & Cornbread” and finally being able to agree with the sentiments of those lyrics. One of the coolest thing about Li’l Dizzy’s is that you can see how hands on & active the owner is, in its daily operation. Mr. Wayne Baquet was helping to clean tables, greeting customers, taking names for the waitlist, helping servers, etc. all while wearing a smile.

After we ran around the city doing some light shopping we stopped by J’s Creole Wingery in the 7 th ward. The unique part about J’s is its architecture and how they combined 2 shipping containers and turned it into a small dine-in restaurant. Your flavor choices: Spicy Hot, Sriracha Lemon Pepper, Honey Heat, Creole Rub, Lemon Pepper, Hickory Smoke BBQ, Garlic Parmesan, Honey Mustard & Island Jerk. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these however of the 2 flavors that I tried, the Honey Heat wings were undeniably gratifying.

Day 4:

In order to preserve our energy, we didn’t go out at all for any adventures during the day on New Year’s Eve. So I decided to chill out for the day and take a break on spending. Between the small amount of groceries that we purchased on the first day any leftovers, we were set for the day.

Day 5:

Crescent City Pizza Works was a clutch stop, when it’s in the wee hours of the morning of January 1 st and majority of places are either crowded or closed. When you close your eyes and take the first bite, their pizza can instantly make you feel like you’re in the sidewalk of a New York City street, grabbing a quick bite before you head down to the subway on to the next stop.

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ART OF FOOD... cont.

The French Market is an open-air market that stretches five blocks that features local produce, handmade crafts, dining, specialty art, retail shopping and more. I originally just wanted to buy a beautiful scarf/shawl for my ailing aunt and a few souvenirs, then I smelled it. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it all smelled delicious. As we were walking down the market, passing all the different little restaurants and then I saw it, Loretta’s Authentic Pralines. Not only do they sell different flavored pralines, but they also sell cookies, beignets and more. At this point I hadn’t had my fix of beignets just yet, and I knew Café duMonde is forever crowded. I contemplated the whole time I was in line, what

flavor beignet I wanted to try. The chocolate? Traditional? Or praline beignets? When it was my turn to order, I told the cashier my contemplation and she cleared it up for me in 15 seconds when she said the beignets are filled with the a praline filling! My jaw dropped and watered at the same time. These praline beignets were hands down the most delicious, fluffiest and addicting beignets I’ve ever had in

experience firsthand. And when you do, don’t share your order! You’re going to want your own.

Looking at The Corner Oyster House menu, I had a nostalgic moment. On their menu was Paneed Chicken Pasta, which was one of the dishes I had to cook for a final in my second semester of culinary school. (Aced that final, by the way! Lol) However I decided to try their Crawfish and Crab Cakes Pontchartrain Pasta. The dish is two crawfish and crab cakes, linguine with lemon butter sauce topped with lump crabmeat. I loved this dish, minus one thing. It had small diced onions and green peppers on top of the pasta. I am not a fan of green peppers and although they added them for texture, it was not a necessary component to the dish. I did try to scrape them off, but it was so much and it was chopped so small, it was virtually impossible. Those crab cakes however…….PERFECTION! They were flawlessly seasoned, flaky, crispy on the outside and a taste of heaven on the inside. I would order that dish again and just ask for no green peppers or onions sprinkled on the top of it.

Day 6:

Parkway Bakery and Tavern was located about two blocks away from our Airbnb. So on our last day in New Orleans, I decided to go for a leisure walk and grab a po’boy from Parkway. I thought I was doing well on time, getting there around 11:30 when they opened at 11:00. However, I was completely wrong! There was already from the front counter out the back door to the outside covered seating area. It took a little minute to get up to the counter to order but it was worth the wait for sure. I ordered the shrimp po’boy, completely dressed and a small container of banana pudding. A dressed po’boy comes with all the fixings, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise. Unfortunately, I can’t report on the banana pudding because I was too full to eat it and TSA would not let me take past the security checkpoint. The po’boy however was satisfying. The shrimp was perfectly cooked with its crunchy breading, the French bread was the perfect texture to compliment all the textures of the dressed po’boy. Now the remoulade sauce left me wanting a little more. It wasn’t bad but I was expecting a stronger flavor.

On your next trip to New Orleans, I hope you get to experience some if not all of these establishments! They are sure to please and fulfill every craving you may have. I’ll me hitting the road again soon so if you have recommendations for other restaurants, especially in New Orleans, Portland or Houston please contact me (Doré) at gspDoreinfo@gmail.com.

* Li’l Dizzy’s Café, Loretta’s Authentic Pralines & J’s CreoleWingery are all black owned establishments

my life. I can’t even accurately describe how amazing that praline filling was. It is definitely something you HAVE to

pg. 112

~Léna O. A. Jackson www.facebook.com/gspDore www.instagram.com/gspDore gspDoreinfo@gmail.com

Bon Appétit, Doré

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Volume 5.8 February 27, 2019