Recent first-time trip - Complete Food Review - Thanks posters!

[conchitanyc]

Just got back from recent trip to NOLA and thought I would provide a food recap since I based all my eats on chowhound recommendations! In general, all were very good. As a bit of background, I went with my husband we are both 29 years old, professionals who live in Manhattan and we are used to eating all sorts of food. Comfortable with small portions so long as it is tasty! We stayed on Dauphine - which was perfect walking distance to everywhere we wanted to eat and far away enough from Bourbon street scene. We had a list of places we wanted to try but did not plan on when we would eat where since we didn't want to be rushing to make it to anything BUT We didn't know we were there on the first weekend kicking-off the mardi gras parades- would recommend reservations if you will be there in the next couple weeks. We did make one reservation on Saturday for dinner Sunday, more below.

Here goes-

Friday

Stanley - Flew in early morning, were able to check-in early and headed down to Stanley's around 10am or so. It was not yet very busy so we got a table right away. It is located kiddie corner to the Cathedral and service was very quick.

I got the Eggs Stanley, which was good. I like hollandaise sauce but do not eat it very often, this sauce was not as heavy as regular hollandaise you would usually get and a tiny bit spicy which was good. The fried oysters were good. I was not disappointed. My husband got the bananas foster french toast which were ok, we weren't blown away. But the eggs were very tasty. Again, service was fast, portions were reasonable and the meal was not something we would usually have in nyc.

We wandered around the FQ for a couple of hours, then headed back to the hotel to nap and by the time we ventured out again we had decided to go on a cocktail tour - very fun.

Cocktail tour- We saw a cocktail tour on trip advisor and thought it sounded like a good way to try some local drinks and still feel like we were "learning" I'd recommend the tour, to try local drinks at different bars you otherwise might not have ended up in-
Bayou Bash at the Two Sisters - like Sangria but better, yum yum yum.
Sophie at the Bombay Club - this was our last stop, hit up two other bars which were not very noteworthy, but the Bombay club was neat. It is known for Martinis but both my husband and I had a Sophie which was not too sweet and a bit tart, very refreshing. There was a guy playing the piano- it is a neat lounge scene in the FQ and not stuffy or fratty - just chill.
At some point my husband tried a Sazaerac - we decided we are more of a Pimm's cup people. We also tried some Absinthe - which I hated because I hate black licorice which I think it tastes exactly like, but it did give a good buzz :)

Mr. B's- Based on everyone's recommends we ended up here around 7pm and there was a wait but we were able to squeeze in at the bar. The BBQ shrimp lives up to the hype as does the gumbo yaya...both amazing. We also shared the Honey Ginger Glazed pork chop - it was very good.

Saturday - We ended up having some impromtu meals on Frenchman street because we had headed out there to watch the parade in the afternoon....

Stanley again - We had planned on Cafe Dumonde but it as too busy, even at 9 am or so, and we had tried beniegts the night before at Cafe Beniegt and did not feel like having that for breakfast. We just weren't personally as excited about them as some people seem to be. I had the Eggs Benedict Po-Boy which is the same as my previous meal but without the oysters. It comes open faced so I didn't eat it like a sandwich since I was most excited about eating the hollandaise sauce again. ha. My husband had the Stanley Classic and enjoyed it. Bottom line- if you like fried oysters and eggs benedict in general this is the place for you. Also a nice location and service is fast so I think if you get in early there is less likely to be a wait.

Johnny's Po-boys - Very good. There was a line out the door but it moved relatively fast and it was worth the wait (so don't wait to be very hungry because there might be a 20-30 minute wait or so). We are not big fried food people, but we shared a half-catfish, half shrimp poor boy and got a gumbo to go. We stopped in to get a Pimm's cup to go from Napolean's and headed back to our hotel to eat and drink on the balcony and we enjoyed our poor boy and gumbo very much. You could also take your food over to Jackson Square or along the river.

13 Monaghan - Tachos!!! The place was really understaffed - one guy working the bar and waiting tables but we were really just in here to grab a snack and wait for the parade to come through, after checking out the spotted cat. We weren't expecting anything but the menu looked really tasty. The food is baked not fried and they have a fair amount of veggie items. So we tried the tachos (tater tot nachos) and they were good. Good place for a casual meal, if you are looking for something healthier (maybe not the tachos :) ) but they have a lot of wraps and veggie burgers etc. Everything smelled really good and there were a lot of locals in getting food before the parade.

Three Muses - Once we had seen the parade go by once we decided to get another snack somewhere. I remembered reading that Three Muses had small plates and we popped in and had the lamb sliders (lamby) and butternut squash raveoli (really good we were scraping our plates), the feta fries (meh) and bruschetta du jour which had mushrooms some balsamic type sauce and some beef (it was ok, too meaty and sauce-y).

Sunday
Didn't get a chance to grab breakfast because we were catching a walking tour - which was awful..anyways, we ended up at Sylvains for brunch around 1 pm because every other place had an hour long wait (Commander's Palace, Acme Oyster House) or closed (Napoleon's). Very glad we ended up here. It is not touristy so not crowded mostly locals but some still had reservations, we didn't have to wait. Really awesome grits. Usually I think grits don't really taste like anything but these were really yum, they came with the crispy pork shoulder. It was the kind of food that just melts in your mouth - similar to truffle egg toast from inoteca (if you are from nyc). My husband had some fettucini which he devoured in about 5 minutes. Maybe not the most "local" cuisine but very very good good good. A limited menu - so if you are trying to acomodate picky eaters maybe not the best.

We stopped in at Leah's pralines and picked some up and they were good. They had bacon pecan brittel which we triedn and my husband thought was fantastic - it tastes like bacon. :)

Had made a reservation on Saturday through Open Table for Domenica. It was one of the only places that was not booked - we wanted to try Bayona but it is closed on Sundays. Domenica is in the Roosevelt Hotel which was about two blocks from us. Service was slow but the food was good. This is what we ate and I would eat this same meal again- Octopus Caprpaccio, Tortelloni and the shortribs. Everything was very good, not particularly cajun but again, different. For dessert we had the banana cake ...sooooo goood. Very banana-y. Prices were good for the quality and if you have picky-eaters they have pizzas which a lot of people were ordering. If you want a "nicer/fancier" place for a meal, this is a bit more casual but the food was great. We peeked in at the Sazerac bar which seemed nice - if we did not have a 6 am flight on Monday we would have popped in.

We will be back to eat more - for sure. Probably not around mardi gras. Would like to have made it to some more places and gotten some beans and rice but we did get some local flavor. Luckily we had recently been to flex mussles in NYC for an oyster fix. The oysters are fantastic! If you are in NYC I highly recommend it.

Thanks for all the recommendations!

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Bayona
430 Dauphine St, New Orleans, LA 70112

Acme Oyster House
1202 N Highway 190, Covington, LA 70433

Domenica
123 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA 70112

[collardman]

Thanks for the reviews. Particularly word on a few places that never get mentioned here. We so often are set with our favorites and checking out the next new place that a lot of good basic places are never heard of.

[Bill Hunt]

Thank you for the report and the reviews.

Some new spots to me, and I am thankful for those.

I have had several great breakfasts at Stanley!, but always settled on the Eggs Stella! I need to branch out more.

Domenica was a recent experience, and all was great. However, it was a bit different from your experience, as they kept the restaurant open for us, but did not rush us to finish. I covered the main details in another thread. As we were the last diners there that night, we had all of the remaining servers' attention. Great food, and wonderful staff. I found little of a NOLA influence, but since I grew up nearby, that is not a prerequisite for me - good food and service are.

Again, thank you, and it sounds like you enjoyed yourselves. You gotta' plan on getting back!

Hunt

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Domenica
123 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA 70112

[kibbles]

were you sitting at a small table near the front windows, husband w/ back to wall and you in the chair? if so, my SO thinks we were right next to you :)

we too had the pork shoulder w/ grits, and they were a-mazing. i had the biscuits in pork gravy w/ poached eggs and it was very good as well. both dishes were $10-12. i was very pleased w/ brunch and would recommend it. tho i missed the beet + goat cheese bruschetta!

[conchitanyc]

Kibbles- Yes We were probably sitting right next to you! Small chowhound world :)