Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Oak Street Po-Boy Festival


New Orleans, Louisiana
November 18th 2012

Well, here we go again. Back on Oak Street after a year of anxious waiting and hungry for some delicious po-boys. For some reason, this year's festival was unbelievably crowded from the start. So, my plan on knocking out the heavy favorites first was a total bust. I was ridiculously hungry, so I went for a sure thing and revisited Ninja for their Soft Shell Crab Po-boy. It was like being reunited with a long lost friend and their signature sriracha sauce was just as delicious as I remembered.


Next on my list was the 2011 Specialty Seafood winner. This Shrimp Remoulade Po-boy was done by The Ridge Bistro.

I was actually somewhat disappointed with this one. The flavor was pretty bland for a remoulade, and the main curve ball was that the shrimp was really cold. My sister enjoyed it because of the really light contrast from the heavy fried po-boys that were around. I was looking more for things that sit like a brick in your stomach.

This year's Best Seafood award went to Ralph Brennan's Red Fish Grill's BBQ Oyster Po-Boy. It was dressed with lettuce, red onion and fried oysters in their BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce wasn't overpowering but very tasty and allowed to flavor of the oysters to play the main role in this one. Definitely well done.


Here is Mondo's Pastrami Po-boy, dressed with gruyere cheese and pickled slaw. The pastrami was good, and the slaw was really nice, but something about it made it a little too much on the salty side.


Here is the 2011 'Best of the Fest' Shanghai Shrimp Po-boy done by WOW Cafe and Wingery. Last year, I was so skeptic about them putting a po-boy out in the festival that I didn't even try theirs. When I heard that they won the top prize, it left me baffled. So, naturally I have to try the best one right? This po-boy comes with fried shrimp in their special sauce, ranch dressing and topped with an Asian slaw and lettuce. The shrimp was done pretty well , the sauce was certainly unique. It was a very mild buffalo flavored sauce with an Asian twist to it. The Asian slaw was the kicker here, and probably my favorite part.


Winner winner chicken dinner. Or, I really should say roast beef dinner. Here was the number one crowd pleaser of the festival, winning both the Best of Fest and Best Pork/Beef awards. All brought to you by Palace Cafe's Poutine-boy. This came with their roast beef, french fries and cheese curds. The fries and curds were buried under the hot roast beef, which eventually melts the cheese. The roast beef was nicely shredded and really juicy, and just full with good quality beef flavor. We added a touch of crystal sauce on it to give it some kick. And who doesn't love fries in their sandwiches?! Congrats to Palace Cafe.


Now, back to the Best of Fest winner of 2010. Yes, we went back for it and yet again the line was a block long! GW Fins' Fried Lobster Po-boy was pretty good this year, but not as amazing as I remember it. Maybe it was because they didn't try to live up to being the reigning champs, or maybe they were just running out of lobster (we got in line pretty late). Still a great po-boy though.



Last, but not least was the Fried Chicken Waffle Po-boy from Palate New Orleans. This was probably my favorite one of the day. It took my sister an hour long wait in line to get it too! It came with a nice crispy piece of boneless chick on top of a sweet potato waffle and some slaw. We got the combo as well, so it came with a side of Crawfish Mac and Cheese. The chicken was decent, and the waffle had a great cinnamon sweet potato flavor. The cole slaw took off some of the heaviness that came with the chicken. The Crawfish Mac and Cheese was pretty good too. I think it could have use a little more cheese but the crawfish flavor made it pretty awesome.


That was all I tried this year, and I'd say it was pretty successful festival. I did notice that it's better off to get po-boys as early as possible. Not because of the lines, but I could definitely tell that the po-boy bread at a lot of stands tend to get harder as the day goes on. Bring friends, and bring an empty stomach. I'll see y'all next year!

Ninja - 8433 Oak Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
The Ridge Bistro and Deli - 1827 Hickory Avenue, Harahan, Louisiana
Red Fish Grill - 115 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Mondo - 900 Harrison Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana
WOW Cafe and Wingery - 231 N. Carrollton, New Orleans, Louisiana
Palace Cafe - 605 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
GW Fins - 808 Bienville Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Palate New Orleans - 8220 Willow Street, New Orleans, Louisiana

Monday, November 26, 2012

Willie Mae's Scotch House


New Orleans, Louisiana

In the heart of Treme rests a little restaurant known as Willie Mae's Scotch House, and they're known for their ever so famous fried chicken. Some even may say that it's hands down the best fried chicken that they've ever had. And this was my chance to finally get my hands on some.

For about 10 dollars you can get enough food to feed two people. A standard order of chicken comes with one large breast, a wing and a drumstick. It also comes with a side of your choice. I got an order of their fried chicken and a side of their red beans and rice. My friend did the same but with the white beans and rice instead.


When I took my first bite into the chicken, I couldn't believe how juicy it was. The skin was extra crispy and sealed in all the seasoning. The main difference between Willie Mae's fried chicken and anywhere else is their cooking method. They use a secret wet batter and fry it around 20 minutes. So, it takes a while for it to come out.


When peeling back the fried deliciousness, you can see the coat of seasoning around the outside of the meat, making each bite just as good as the next. Both the red beans and white beans and rice were about as they could be. We also somehow found room for a little bit of dessert and got their bread pudding. This too was very well done and added a sweet highlight to the end of our meal.




The chicken was the star of this show and was worth every penny spent. The service was a bit lackadaisical though, but yet again the chicken didn't make us care too much about that either. Now I know why food programs on the Food Channel and Travel Channel keep coming back here. So, if you haven't yet, take the trip out to Treme and eat the best fried chicken you'll ever get your hands on.


Willie Mae's Scotch House - 2401 Saint Ann Street, New Orleans, Louisiana

Willie Mae's Scotch House on Urbanspoon




Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Mean Streak Tailgating: Joey 'BarbieMan' Harvey's Pastalaya and Gumbo


Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Welcome to LSU game day in Baton Rouge. The place where thousands of loyal Tiger fans gather to party like rockstars, drink like fish, and eat like kings. Oh, and occasionally watch some good ole smash mouth SEC football. 

What goes behind the scenes at every tailgate are a handful of dedicated and loyal people that do things that allow them to separate themselves from the average tailgater, and lets them be a part of the greatest tailgating tradition in the country. This may include waking up at the crack of dawn to set up tents, ice down kegs, and setting up entertainment systems for not only LSU fans, but those from the opposing teams as well.


Sure, the Tiger faithful take pride in the ability that they can out-drink any other group of fans. But what we're really proud of, is the food that we consume every weekend. This... is when one of the more generous types of people come in. It's the guys or gals behind the grill, burner, pot or any cooking device. These people take the time to bust their humps to slave away in the hot Louisiana heat to prepare some good eats to level off some of the hangovers that are to come the next morning. They sacrifice a lot of their fun time to work and aren't even personally thanked for it most of the time...But they still love doing what they do and especially love to sit back see people enjoy their food. That my friends, is what LSU tailgating is all about. 


On this day, Mr. Harvey created some delicious pastalaya and chicken and sausage gumbo. Pastalaya is basically jamabalaya, but in noodle form. If you know someone that can pull it off, you're in for a real treat. This was ridiculously tasty. There was a ton of spices and pieces of delicious meats. So delicious that it may even sway a vegetarian's stance. 


People generally don't eat soup while the weather is warm... but not in Louisiana! Any weather, is gumbo weather. This gumbo had everything you'd want in it. Okra, chicken, sausage, you name it. You think gumbo is good by itself? How about trying it with some potato salad in it. Sounds crazy, I know. I have never heard of it before, but Joey claimed that people out in Lafayette do it and that it's pretty damn good. He was right. So, now if you have some extra potato salad laying around and a bowl of gumbo. Give it a shot. I added some Louisiana Hot Sauce in it and I was ready to rage for a few more hours til kickoff. Another successful day of eating in the books.







As always, the food was delicious and I can't wait for what shows up next.
Thanks Joey, and all the other hard working cooks and tailgaters out there in Tiger Nation. LSU tailgating would not be the same without y'all.