two questions for first night in town...

[helltopay]

Hi all,

The last couple times my wife and I have come into town (from San francisco, so usually late afternoon/early evening landing), we've ended up at Mr. B's for first night dinner. No complaints as they're pretty consistently tasty.

1st question: What are your favorites at Mr. B's?

2nd question: Can you recommend an alternative where we don't need a reservation and don't need to dress up. Preferably in the quarter or CBD as we'll have been traveling all day, pretty grubby and not going to want to travel too far the first night. We'll be in town for 6 nights so plenty of time for the A list restaurants.

Also, this will be Tuesday before Voodoo Fest.

Thanks!
-hell

[JazzyB]

A Tues. shouldn't be a problem without a resv. Rambla, La Boca, Luke, Riomar, Cafe Giovanni, perhaps Maximos. I prefer my oyster poboy from Bozo's with butter, hot sauce and pickles. As for Mr. B's, bbq shrimp and the ya-ya.

[helltopay]

so, an oyster loaf is essentially an oyster poboy?

of the above restaurants, if you had to choose one which would it be?

also, which besh restaurant do you all prefer?

thanks very much all for the help!!

[ScarlettNola]

Yes, but Casamentos is actually on pan bread which akin to Texas toast and is quite good as well. Out of John Besh's restaurants, I prefer Restaurant August. I have never had a bad experience there. The food and presentations are exquisite and the amuse bouche is always quite good as well. Out of the restaurants mentioned above by Jazzy B. I prefer either Rio Mar or Rambla, with Rio Mar being the best value for the money. The use of creative ingredients in conjunction with the seafood are wonderful. I love it when people come to town and branch out from the usual Cajun, Creole, and Southern Cooking. Rio Mar fits this bill and is a wonderful place to dine.

[helltopay]

again, thanks so much for all the advice!

[joedontexan]

AT Mr Bs my two favorite dishes are pasta jambalaya and bbq shrimp, Redfish grill is a good choice to not have to dress up and maybe eat at the bar try the bbq oysters incredible.

[uptownlibrarian]

I like the duck spring rolls app at Mr. B's.

[kukubura]

Napoleon House is always a good choice.

[ScarlettNola]

If you go to Mr. B's try the BBQ Shrimp-their best dish in my estimation. A lot of people like the gumbo ya-ya, but I am not a huge fan of that. For casual and no reservations try Coops Place (in the Quarter serving regional faves and very laid back), Port of Call (awesome burgers) My favorite is Mandina's just down Canal. They serve Creole/Italian "comfort food" and the oyster loaf is wonderful and big enough for 2 to split. The food is great as are the cocktails.

[helltopay]

thanks for this. we love coop's but more as a lunch option. the bbq shrimp is my favorite as well as the fried oyster with tasso hollandaise. was wondering about some of the other menu items. we'll definitely check out Mandina's too.

what's in an oyster loaf besides oysters? always wondered.

[ScarlettNola]

Simply oysters on a loaf of toasted french bread. It is usually served dressed. (lettuce, tomato, and mayonaise and sometimes pickles). Mandina's is great. It is my favorite casual restaurant in NOLA.

[kukubura]

damn that sounds good right now

[helltopay]

yes, yes it does. too many months to wait!

[hazelhurst]

for what's it is worth--and that value might be less than a picayune--when I was a boy in the Triassic, an oyster Poboy was the bread and oysters such as we see often today. An Oyster LOAF was the scooped out french bread...think of a french bread canoe...with all the goodies dumped therein. Ye Olde College Inn still did that Pre-K.

[edible complex]

then there was Visko's, who hollowed out the loaf on a hot cylindrical iron and stuffed the oysters in the bread...that way you never lost your load.

[hazelhurst]

That style was a cute variation---I think--akin to the frozen sausage stuffed nto the pork roast,,,it is creative and, moreover, such thoughts give us good stuff. (It's the "ideas" that fascinate me)

[ScarlettNola]

Recipe wise that is what I always assumed, but if you go in most restaurants, an oyster loaf is simply a oyster po boy. Does anyone still do them by hollowing out the bread?

[hazelhurst]

I just don't know---I have not seen a hollowed-out loaf in ages. I think it has gone the way of things like a veal pocket (the stuffed hole where the bone used to be in a veal leg).