delicious new orleans.

you knew i wasn't going to stop at one meal, right?  instead of making you read an entire blog post on every single delicious thing we ate, i'm going to give you the pleasure of seeing a blog picture of every single delicious thing we ate.  you're welcome!

{aunt sally's pralines!

pronounced: praw-leens.  not pray-leens.

get it right.}

oooh, we love good food.   in fact, our vacation itinerary always starts with breakfast, lunch, & dinner.  & then we fill in other activities when necessary.  it's a beautiful site.  & luckily for us, new orleans is full of fabulous food.

domenica: a john besh restaurant in the roosevelt hotel.  they have a fabulous happy hour with half priced pizzas & half priced glasses of wine!  we partook.  the wine & pizza were great.  but we also had to try the tagliatelle - my pasta love when i was in italy & haven't found since i've been back.  this dish had rabbit & porcini.  it was as amazing as i remembered it!

port of call: the best burger i've eaten since we moved to the south.  don't let me steer you wrong, this is no fancy burger.  it's just a burger.  but an amazing just-a-burger.  shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, & a little mustard.  if you've got a good burger, that, my friends, is all you need.  fan-freakin-tastic late night meal.

commander's palace: this fabulously southern restaurant is the perfect vacation lunch spot.  it's fancy in atmosphere & food.  a beautiful afternoon on the patio will make you smile.  their $20 appetizer & entrée lunch is lovely paired with 25 cent martinis.  they specialize in turtle soup, which blake loved.  his angus beef & my shrimp & grits were quite stellar as well.

cochon restaurant: so good it gets three separate pictures.  this place was really built up to us, but it was even better than that.  see that sandwich in the second picture?  it's a fried oyster & bacon sandwich.  & it was absolutely one of the best bites of food i've ever eaten.  the boudin balls & oysters were awesome too.  & blake loved his short ribs.  i would eat here weekly, if we could.  if you have the opportunity, go!

cochon butcher: cochon was, in fact, so good that we went to their butcher for lunch the next day!  more boudin balls, of course.  cochon's take of a muffaletta was pretty great.  & blake's cuban.  oh my gosh, it was good.  donald link, you know what you are doing.

lüke restaurant: this john besh restaurant was recommended to us by our bike tour guide {which you will get to hear all about soon!}.  locals love it - must be good.  their happy hour is absolutely perfect.  50 cent oysters & half price all drinks.  if you made blake pick, this was his favorite meal.  we ate three dozen fresh oysters.  ridiculous, right?  blake probably ate two all by himself.  they were gigantic & delicious.  my st charles st sidecar & his french 75 cocktails were quite the pairing.  definitely go here.

herbsaint: this donald link restaurant was the perfect closing dinner to our vacation.  it's fancy in a comfortable way.  the food, oh my gosh, the food.  it was delicious.  blake was feeling super adventurous & tried the lamb neck.  really?  you are going to eat neck?  but he loved it.  my curried shrimp with creamed corn was another best bites of food i've ever eaten.  not to mention the hilarity of the meal.  blake & i laughed & laughed & laughed.  the perfect close to a perfect vacation.

central grocery: while i had to have my final cafe du monde coffee & beignets on our way out of town, blakey had to try new orleans' original muffuletta.  at 9:30am, we waited thirty minutes for this gigantic sandwich.  a good sandwich it was.  i'm not going to say it's the best sandwich i've ever had, but you have to respect the original.  it's the experience.

love love,

kjp.