New Orleans is home to everything from low country cooking to elevated creole cuisine to formal southern dining. Some of the standout New Orleans fare I experienced for the first time include the iconic Muffuletta sandwich from Central Grocery. This Italian grocery store dates back to 1906. The Muffuletta was invented by the owner to feed local merchants selling their ware in the French Quarter. The store is an authentic relic of earlier times. The smallish space is filled with a plethora of Italian imports in jars and cans. The staff were already stacking up the Muffuletta sandwiches at 9 in the morning for the lunch rush later. What makes this sandwich so outstanding? It's gotta be the bread and olive salad spread. A lustrous, 10 inch round, seed dusted loaf hugs thinly sliced layers of Italian cold cuts and cheeses topped with the family's secret olive salad spread. Grab a cold one and a seat at the counter and enjoy every toothsome bite of this truly memorable gift.
Switching gears to the opposite extreme finds me at Commander's Palace in the Garden District. A short street car ride will relieve you from the debauchery of the French Quarter and deposit you to the stately mansions of the old south. Sitting impressively across from Lafayette Cemetery, Commander's Palace is all turquoise and white opulence. This is no place for slouches. Men must wear closed toed shoes and collared shirts, and don a jacket for dinner. We dined at lunch, and true to legend, martinis (in four varieties) are 25 cents each with a cap at three per person. Having given up alcohol for Lent, no I am not Catholic, I watched enviously while Don polished off one then another. The service was very formal and top notch. The stand out fare for me was the trio of soups. I could not decide between the famed turtle soup and the soup of the day, oyster chowder. Fortunately, my dilemma was resolved by the trio of demi cup soup offering. I was able to sample both of the soups as well as the chicken and andouille gumbo. All were quite delicious and unique. Alligator snap turtle is cooked for three days which explains why the meat is so tender; it is reminiscent of stewed beef. A splash of sherry rounds the soup. The oyster chowder was swimming with whole oysters. It was thick and creamy and a nice contrast to the other two soups which had more heat. The gumbo was cooked equally lovingly with well developed brown roux and generous bites of meat.
Our hands down favorite dish has to be the spaghetti with guanciale (cured pork cheek/or what we lovingly referred to as face bacon in school) and poached/fried egg at Herbsaint in the warehouse district. Herbsaint is the first restaurant amongst the empire of James Beard winner, chef Donald Link. My mind was consumed by the Muscovy duck confit, and was not expecting to be blown away by a pasta dish. Having made fresh pasta for 10 weeks, I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. The foremost common mistake with pasta is over cooking. Not here. The noodles were perfectly al diente and lacquered with a delicate ivory cream sauce dotted with chunks of chewy guanciale. The piece de resistance was the poached/fried egg. This conundrum intrigued me as a culinarian. I was eager to witness this marvel and was not disappointed. A perfect sphere of battered and deep fried egg sat atop the noodles, and upon slicing, the yolk oozed out in all its glory to tango with the spaghetti. My fellow foodies, this is as sensual as you will get to food.
Below are photos of our New Orleans fare:
 |
| The Muffuletta at Central Grocery |
 |
| Trio of Soups at Commander's Palace |
 |
| Spaghetti with Poached/Fried Egg and Guanciale |
 |
| Commander's Palace |
 |
| Local Oysters at Peche Seafood Grill |
 |
| Key Lime Pie at Peche |
 |
| Duck Confit with Citrus Gastrique at Herbsaint |
 |
| Shrimp and Grits at Commander's Palace |
No comments:
Post a Comment