New Orleans Report - March 2010

[NANCY]

After a long weekend in NOLA and way too many oysters ~

Cochon ~ absolute favorite and highlight of the trip. Altho everything on the menu looks fantastic our favorites were: Mushroom salad with fried jerky and lemon, Oyster & Bacon Sandwich, Mushroom salad with fried jerky and lemon, Pork Ribs, Mushroom salad with fried jerky and lemon, Boucherie Plate (this is the chefs choice and it was wonderful, esp the pork rillete) and did I mention the Mushroom salad with fried jerky and lemon? Two people got the mushroom salad and eight fought over it. If I had any room, I would have gotten it for dessert as well as my starter. Had this been the first restaurant of our visit, we would have definitely returned. Unfortunately it was the last.

Domenica ~ started with drinks at Sazerac, then dinner at Domenica (both in the Roosevelt Hotel). Great menu, very reasonably priced. Favorites were: Affettati Misti, Lasagne Bolognese (this was recommended by our server, several were ordered and not one bit was left), Braciole di Capretto which is slow roasted goat with wild mushrooms and the Gorgonzola pears, pecans & speck pizza which turned out to be a fantastic combination. Domenica has one major problem ~ THE NOISE LEVEL! The cacophony is deafening. This is a pretty simple fix and it would make the restaurant much more enjoyable.

Mr. B's ~ Sunday Jazz Brunch. Great menu, typical New Orleans Brunch items, nice background Jazz and very friendly service. Our servers made sure we had a great time. Get the three course special. The soup trio is yummy. We all loved the Hangtown Fried Slider and the Bread Pudding was absolutely silky.

Luke ~ Happy Hour every day. Went three times. Each time ate $0.25 oysters, ate delicious French fries and drank Prosecco. What's not to love about that? Regretted that we did not eat a meal there, the menu looked good and every time a hamburger went by we all swooned ~ it was picture perfect.

Dickie Brennan's ~ went on a whim without doing my homework. What a disastrous (and expensive) mistake! There is nothing good I can say about the service or the food. Over dressed salads, cold sides (which were sent back), cold steaks (one was sent back, the others were too hungry to let them go), crab cakes filled with shell, unconcerned wait staff, tired decor. Not one dish had any WOW factor. Oh how I wish we had gone ANYWHERE else.

Dragos ~ If you want Charbroiled Oysters, these are delicious. Sit at the bar and watch them cook over the open fire. If you want anything else, I wouldn't bother ~ it's basically a hotel factory restaurant and very overpriced.

Cochon ~ http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/
Domenica ~ http://www.domenicarestaurant.com/
Sazerac ~ http://www.therooseveltneworleans.com/diningAndEntertainment/bar.php
Mr. B's ~ http://www.mrbsbistro.com/
Luke ~ http://www.lukeneworleans.com/
Dickie Brennan's ~ http://www.dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com/
Dragos ~ http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/

[JazzyB]

Thanks for coming. Fries and prosecco w/oysters...right up my alley. Will order next time. BTW, the burger looks better than it tastes.