2010 October | Foodographer

Red Mango in New Orleans

October 30, 2010 By Julia 1 Comment

Red Mango
1640 Hickory Ave.
Harahan, LA

http://www.redmangousa.com/default.html

When I moved down here from the north, I thought I had to say goodbye to frozen yogurt, and then Pinkberry came along which was a nice last resort and now Red Mango must have heard my pleas!

I love red mango! my bf is a huge pinkberry fan but i’m more a huge fan of red mango. I’m super excited that a lot of frozen yogurt chains have been investing in New Orleans. Pinkberry frozen yogurt has a lot of tart in it.
This Red Mango site is self-serve which is awesome! (don’t go overboard, they do charge you by the lb). Red Mango offers many flavors (whereas Pinkberry has 3-4). And tons of toppings (fresh fruits and candies alike), don’t forget to ask for banana (you can request it and they cut it up right there, otherwise it goes brown). The people working here are enthusiastic but not too knowledgeable.

I think the best way is to grab one of the smaller cups and try some frozen yogurt flavors before deciding on one and then go down the row, picking your favorite toppings. Try to cut the line (sorry gramps but you were taking too long) and go to the back of the store, pick up a cup size of your choosing, and enjoy!

the store

lots of flavors to choose from

toppings

candy toppings

more toppings

ambiance

my masterpiece: bananas + mochi + strawberry + blueberries + pineapple on pomengranate frozen yogurt

Filed Under: Dessert, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: Frozen, Frozen yogurt, New Orleans, Red Mango

Coquette in New Orleans

October 27, 2010 By Julia 1 Comment

Coquette
2800 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA

http://www.coquette-nola.com/

ambiance

warm sourdough bread w spreadable butter

I liked the ambiance, the brick wall and al fresco atmosphere but still classy. My friend and I each ordered the 3-course lunch for $20 each (but thanks to restaurant.com, we only paid $9.30 each).

My 1st course was the Boston lettuce salad with red wine vinagrette (a little tangy), candied pecans (i think they may have been dipped in peanut butter and the brown sugar), and goat cheese (delightful):

Boston Lettuce salad

My friend’s 1st course was the Burrata Crostini which was toasted bread with tomato and mozarella on top, drizzled with a basil sauce over it (very delicious):

yummy

We both got the Gulf shrimp with Anson Mill’s grits, okra and sweet corn. The remoulade sauce was a bit heavy, but the shrimp were nice and big:

Gulf shrimp with grits

And for dessert, we both had the beignets (which tasted like egg, i”m not joking) and chocolate coffee pot de creme (which didn’t help at all with the egg flavor):

beignets

Overall, a nice meal at a great price. Our server was very attentive to us, I think he came over at least 5 times during our meal, asking us if everything was delicious/delightful/delectable (and every other d-word for yummy).

Filed Under: Cajun/Creole, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: Beignet, coquette, Fish and Seafood, magazine st, New Orleans, restaurant, Sandwiches, Shrimp

Martinique Bistro

October 25, 2010 By Julia Leave a Comment

Martinique Bistro
5908 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA

http://www.martiniquebistro.com/

The outdoor seating offered an amazing escape from the chaos that is New Orleans and into a magical land inside the ivy covered walls of the Secret Garden (did anyone else love the book and movie?) Our waittress was a very friendly gal from Australia. We started off with the entree size Prince Edward Island Mussels, White Wine, Leeks, Bacon, Pecorino, Rosemary-Pernod Cream which was only $4 more than the appetizer dish which is half the size (the waittress told us that dinner time all the prices are doubled but the portions are same as lunch). The mussels were delicious (i’ve had bigger mussels in CA and MA but I guess this is how they roll in LA), the white wine cream sauce was very light and thin with the onion masking the sour flavor of Mussels. I especially loved the bacon and pecorino cheese sheets. Since I ate so many delicious mussels, I decided to go for an appetizer as my main dish, I had the hazelnut covered goat cheese sitting on a bed of salad with fig vinagrette. It was amazing! My fellow foodie had the Scottish Smoked Salmon Club with Apple-Smoked Bacon, Tomatoes, Arugula & a Housemade Remoulade on a Croissant. The croissant was baked fresh with a honey glaze, the smoked salmon flavor was hardly there (altho the texture was interesting) because of the salty bacon which was the main flavor with the spicy housemade remoulade. A very pleasant meal over all.

Martinique Bistro

I loved the ivy covered walls (it was like eating inside Secret Garden)

water fountain in the middle of all the tables outside

i love soft bread w spreadable butter

Prince Edward Island Mussels, White Wine, Leeks, Bacon, Pecorino, Rosemary-Pernod Cream

Hazelnut Crusted Goat Cheese, Watercress, Balsamic-Fig Vinaigrette

Scottish Smoked Salmon Club with Apple-Smoked Bacon, Tomatoes, Arugula & a Housemade Remoulade on a Croissant

Filed Under: American, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: croissant, Fish and Seafood, magazine st, martinique bistro, Mussel, New Orleans, wine

La Madeleine

October 22, 2010 By Julia Leave a Comment

La Madeleine
601 S Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118

http://www.lamadeleine.com/

The parking lot here is absurdly small, so keep your eyes peeled for street parking. The service here is quite friendly and the food is pretty good. I signed up for their email newsletter and it’s great, I get a coupon for a free something every few days. The first coupon I got was for a 3 course meal (soup, sandwich, salad) for $10.

so many desserts to choose from!

Wow, I love getting these coupons. Sometimes it’s for free coffee (their cappucinos are delicious) or sometimes it’s for a free dessert like today! I got a free fruit tart ($5 value)

my FREE fruit tart

Filed Under: American, Dessert, French, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: Dessert, la madeleine, New Orleans

The Grocery in New Orleans

October 20, 2010 By Julia 1 Comment

The Grocery
2854 St. Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA

http://www.thegroceryneworleans.com/1864395.html

Thanks to Living Social Deals, for $12, I was able to order the Cuban pressed sandwich, the Southwestern club and a pint of their chicken salad. A deal well spent! One thing I didn’t like though was that even though the dude (as he shall be referred to for the remainder of this review) said my total was “blah” when I pulled out my voucher, he tacked on an additional 10% tax (I was confused, wasn’t that tax already included in my total?) but I shrugged and paid the additional whatever since I was getting such a good deal anyways.

The decor is very New Orleans pride (or Saints pride, to be specific). And they do have a bulletin board by their drinks where local businesses can post their fliers and business cards (I saw a woman standing on a counter posting hers). Very laid back atmosphere (as most restaurants with entrees under $9 are). The dude was very friendly,I think it was obvious that I was a first-timer so he walked me through everything. He was also very proud of the fact that the cuban sandwich was made of roasted pork that was sliced in their OWN store with their OWN slicer (emphasis on ownership of these items? Or the fact that it’s prepared fresh and on the spot? I took it for both meanings). A woman walked in behind me and ordered just coffee which the dude brewed fresh on the spot. I figured if someone came in here for just the coffee, it’s gotta be good too, so after she left, I asked the dude if I could bother him for a cup of joe as well, and he smiled as he began brewing it and told me to sit and relax and he would bring it to me with my sandwich. Lunch at 10:45 AM does has its perks, such as being the only customer there and getting all the glorious attention for myself.

The cuban sandwich had a lot of ham (I didn’t realize that roasted pork and ham were synonymous. doh!) which was alright (im not a huge ham fan). The pressed sandwich idea was pretty neat (aka a panini except no panini grill lines. a line-less panini if you will). The creole mustard was very subtle (wouldn’t have minded a bit more on mine). I am very excited to dine on the chicken salad for a meals and the southwestern club with turkey,bacon, avocado, tomato will be lunch tmrw. Yay for deals!

The Grocery

Saints Pride on the wall

so many choices to order from

the cuban pressed sandwich

"roasted pork" swiss cheese and creole mustard

i've never had chicken salad with grapes in it before

southwestern club

Filed Under: American, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: Chicken salad, Coffee, Cuban sandwich, New Orleans, Panini (sandwich), Pork, the grocery

Jackson in New Orleans

October 19, 2010 By Julia 2 Comments

Jackson
1910 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA

the front

While I was waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, I had a pleasant conversation at the bar with the proprietor. Apparently the internal architecture had been preserved from the original building (an apartment) in the 1800s, they even still had the original outhouse intact (it’s a closet now). She showed me all the wood beams and such that showed the heritage of the building (as I pulled my camera out).

bar as you walk in

stairs that lead to upstairs and the balcony

original outhouse from the 1800s

downstairs eating area

eating on the balcony

I was a little surprised to see that their menu was more expansive than the “new version” posted on their website. I was also surprised to see how much more expensive everything was (how can only 2 entrees be under $30!). Fear not, I have a restaurant.com coupon! By the end of the night, my meal (including tax and tip) cost me a grand total of $12.50. Although the portions were a little small, having a cute waiter with intense eye contact definitely made up for it (by cute, I mean very cute). My party sat outside on the balcony because we figured we might as well enjoy the cool October evening (and I spend the majority of my day indoors anyway, so its good to go outside and remind myself that I’m not some robot stuck in the basement of a library all day).

We ordered 2 appetizers and an entree, and boy, one of the appetizers was big enough to be an entree and the one entree was tiny enough to be an appetizer. Isn’t life funny like that? (rich restaurants seem to think so). We had the Oysters Jackson (can’t begin to describe what came out, definitely didn’t resemble oysters at first), Mussels with truffle fries (Thank you God!) and duck and wild mushroom tortellini (I think my jaw hit the table when I saw the plate come out that was big enough for Barbie). The oysters jackson was definitely beautiful in presentation, especially the 2 shrimps on top and the filo dough surrounding the base. It did present as a challenge though to split among three people. It had a unique spicy kick to it, wasn’t prepared for that. Seriously, Thank God we ordered the mussels ( i was hesitant because we had ordered oysters) but this definitely helped fill us up. The mussels had a very strong fennel flavor, I’m not a big fan of that licorice taste. But the quality of the mussels was great. I LOVED the wild mushroom and duck tortellini, the duck was juicy and oh so tender. And the wild mushroom gravy was a nice refuge for my palette, and the tortellini was cooked to soft perfection (very nice dough composition). All in all, the night was worth what I had paid for.

duck and wild mushroom tortellini

mussels

truffle fries (my eternal weakness)

oysters jackson

really enjoying the mussels (to protect the identity of this diner, I purposefully took the picture to block his face)

I had the opportunity to come back for brunch with a groupon (spend $10 to get $20)

crepe forestierre

the crepe was quite disappointing. it was like taking a bite of garlic alfredo cream sauce (didn’t pick up a hint of truffle at all). it was stuffed with chicken (the frozen kind that is pre-cooked…….) mozarella and a few mushrooms. I couldn’t taste anything besides the cream though. and the jalapeno cheddar grits were disappointing since the only thing you could taste was the jalapenos.

fried green tomatos and shrimp benedict

my friend liked her dish a lot. we were really surprised when our groupon was rejected. the waiter said that since we didn’t make a reservation, they wouldn’t honor our groupon. Now I know all these groupons say in the fineprint that you need a reservation, but this was the first time that a restaurant was denying the groupon! I let the waiter know that I was there reviewing the place and would have to mention this incident in my write-up. The next thing I know, the manager came up to the table to apologize and said he would accept the groupon and explained that the last time they did the groupon, a bunch of ppl came in the day before it expired to use their groupon and he was upset over the lost money (hello! it’s $10! the majority of your appetizers are over $10! I’m pretty sure the groups of diners coming in at all was more business than the $10 you had lost for each groupon used at your establishment! if you don’t like patrons using the groupon, how about you don’t host it anymore? why trick diners into coming in, hoping to use their groupons, only to deny them at the end when they have to pay the bill?) I really did appreciate the fact that the manager was willing to let us use our groupon without having made a reservation, but seriously? that was your excuse? cuz you’re trying to find ways to not accept them……how disappointing. no wonder why we were the only ppl in here for sunday brunch

Filed Under: American, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: jackson, mussels, New Orleans, Oyster

Hi-Do Bakery in New Orleans

October 18, 2010 By Julia 1 Comment

lHi-Do Bakery
441 Terry Pkwy
Gretna. LA 70056

I know if you look online it says Terrytown, but my GPS identified it as Gretna and the bakery box said Gretna too. As I walked in, it smelled like baked goods heaven. Although it is small, there were quite a few selections. I had heard about the cream cheese croissants so I got that, the apple croissant and chocolate chip cookies. Since I saw two women walking out w a long french bread rolls, one under each arm, I knew I had to get one even though I hadn’t originally planned on getting one. The woman behind the counter felt one and put it back and got another one and gave it to me, I kinda gave her a look like what’s up, and she said the new one she gave me was fresh from the oven. YES! The french bread was so soft and crispy at the same time. The cream cheese croissant was filled with mild cream cheese that had to be sweetened. The croissants were baked fresh and very crisp upon the first bite. The apple croissant tasted like I was eating a baked apple pie minus the cinnamon overflow, this croissant emphasized the apple flavor. The chocolate chip cookies were sweet and soft. I loved it!

the magical place

big selection

fresh french bread

croissant

cream cheese filled croissant

apple filled croissant

chocolate chip cookies

Filed Under: Dessert, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: Baguette, Baking and Confections, cream cheese filled croissant, croissant, Hi Do, New Orleans, terry

Pita Pit in New Orleans

October 16, 2010 By Julia Leave a Comment

Pita Pit
5800 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA

http://www.pitapitusa.com/main.php?page=9

This site is very clean. The service was quite friendly. The toppings were fresh and the meat was flavorful enough. The wraps were about $7 and took no time to prepare. It was pretty awesome to watch the lady behind the counter to make a wrap and then hand it to you.

cool Halloween decorations

lots of toppings to choose from

they literally just hand this pita wrap to you across the counter

chicken breakfast wrap

lamb gyro wrap

Filed Under: Middle Eastern/ Greek, New Orleans, LA Tagged With: breakfast, lamb gyro, New Orleans, Pita, Pita Pit, Sandwiches, wrap

Maximo's Italian Grill in New Orleans

October 10, 2010 By Julia Leave a Comment

Maximo’s Italian Grill
1117 Decatur Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70116

http://maximosgrill.com/

The ambiance is striving for classy, I was a little surprised to see a woman come in in an outfit that left little to the imagination and an elborate head dress and a boombox (entertainment for someone’s bachelor party? nope! more like for someone’s 50th birthday party in the back of the restaurant). I was a little bitter that this huge birthday party took up the entire back area because I missed out on the open kitchen experience. The waiter was very nice about the bread and butter, but I love olive oil and parmesan cheese on my bread. The fire roasted shrimp had a fiery kick to it, and the lamb chop lollipop was extremely rich and flavorful and juicy. The lamb chops also came with this garnish that was doused in some sort of tangy vinagrette, a very different kick than the shrimp but much more tasty. The louisiana crawfish diablo was great, the crawfish was a little overcooked but the pasta was amazing and the sauce was delicious! The osso bucco was so tender that at the touch of my fork, it would fall apart into the perfect bite size portion. The osso bucco had an intense rich and sweet flavor to it, with the rich texture of the meat made this an exciting palette experience. We ended our fun night with tartufo and cappuccinos, the tartufo was light which was perfect for this epic meal. The tartufo had italian gelato inside with a hard frozen chocolate shell.