I'm on the Hunt for the best Gumbo in Atlanta. I just returned from a 3 day trip to New Orleans, where I was able to eat Gumbo everyday. I was able to check several restaurants off my Buckit list and in the process discovered a few new places I'll have to go back to.
Met my friend Mojo Wilder (
https://www.youtube.com/user/mojowilder ) and his girlfriend Ashley for brunch on Saturday at a place in Marginy, just outside the French Quarter. "Who Dat? Cafe" (
https://www.facebook.com/whodatcoffeecafe?ref=br_tf ) I had fried catfish served over Crawfish etouffee, on top of cheese grits. I had an ice coffee as well. Brunch was absolutely amazing. In fact, I almost went back on Monday. Michael is a singer song writer, who moonlights as the Chief Archaeologist for Louisiana. His Album "Les Bons Enfants" has track called "Max the Grave-digger" which he wrote while sitting in traffic on his commute. He played it for me on the back porch of his house in Marginy. And then taught me a new blues lick.
Saturday evening we saw the "Boo Parade" which is like our "Little 5 Points Halloween parade on steroids". We dined at a Tourist place "Original Pierre Maspero's" the building is from 1788. The food was not spectacular but it wasn't bad Just typical creole cuisine in a historic building. The Gumbo was tasty.
Sunday morning we had Jazz brunch at Muriel's on Jackson Square,(
http://muriels.com/ ) White table cloths, live Jazz (3 piece stand-up bass, classical guitar, clarinet/sax) I had a bowl of Seafood Gumbo as an Appetizer. This was by far the best Gumbo of the trip and Pecan Encrusted Puppy Drum-Pan sauteed with oven roasted pecans and a Louisiana crabmeat relish, laced with a lemon-butter sauce Laura had a shrimp and vegetable dish with a seafood etouffee appetizer.
We grabbed a cheap shrimp Po Boy for lunch at the Frenchmen's market, nothing special but there is always something about a basic shrimp po boy in the 'quarter.
For Dinner we dined at Brennan's on Royal Street (
http://www.brennansneworleans.com/ ). I had the Gumbo Appetizer (it was mild in comparison to Muriel's) and the Rack of Lamb, served with smoked peppers and bacon lardons, grilled baby eggplant and lamb empanada's. I enjoyed the empananda's and eggplant more than I thought I would, the Rack of Lamb was served medium rare and was very rare at the bone. It was sweet but lacked the flavor that comes with a little more cooking. The Empanada's had a richer spiciness, they were made with ground lamb. All of this was served with a harissa jus which helped even out and balance with the lamb. Laura opted for the white gazpacho for an appetizer and Blackened Redfish with lump crab meat and seasonal summer veggies. She said it was too spicy at first, but by the end of the meal her plate was clean. In the middle of our meal a 17-top table was seated behind us, the were from Jersey and they did not use inside voices. I felt as though I had just teleport-ed to the Mall. We asked to be moved after dinner so that we could enjoy a coffee and dessert. Luckily they had room in the Courtyard Dining room and were able to move us. We had coffee and Bananas Foster which is flambeed table side and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, my new favorite dessert. Brennan's comped our dessert, as I believe they did for many that were in the dining room with us. I hope they made some $$ on the 17-top. My brother worked at Brennan's when he went to Loyola in 1991-94. So it has always been on my list of places to go.
On Monday we opted for the Ruby Slipper Cafe on Magazine, just off Canal in the Warehouse district, good omelets, big biscuits, and hot rich coffee.
https://www.therubyslippercafe.net/For our meal before we grabbed out plane out we went to Killer Po Boys (
http://www.killerpoboys.com/ ) I had a Seared Gulf Shrimp-coriander lime spice, sriracha aioli, herbs, daikon radish, carrot, cucumber it was delicious foodie style po boy. Laura had a Roasted Cauliflower Sandwich - romesco sauce, avocado, radish, crispy kale on whole grain bread which she loved. Looked like a salad but she really enjoyed it.
Post up if you have a favorite cajun place.