New Orleans Roadfood Festival

New Orleans
After going to the Oak Street Po Boy Festival last November in New Orleans, I made a personal goal for myself. And, that was to go to as many food festivals as I can. The first came today and it was the New Orleans Roadfood Festival.

Exactly what is Roadfood? Roadfood means great regional meals along highways, in small towns and in city neighborhoods. It's non-franchised food made by cooks who are America's culinary folk artists and almost always informal and inexpensive. So, basically think of the hot spots that the locals always love.


I came prepared this time, more money and more friends for the journey. After making our way down Frenchman Street, we finally get to the French Market. Ironically, the first tent we ran into just happened to be the one thing I was anticipating to eat ever since I heard of this event. Johnson's Boucaniere's (Lafayette, LA) Grilled Cheese Sandwich stuffed with a Fried Boudin Ball.

In all honesty I was pretty disappointed at the first sight... I mean look at it! Wouldn't anyone?! It looked about a hop, skip, and a jump away from a McDonald's cheeseburger. I couldn't get my hopes up on it too quickly though, so I cut the thing down the middle... and confetti fell from the heavens. You really can't go wrong with boudin on anything. The taste was exactly what I had expected... which was exactly the sandwich was called. It was still delicious on all counts, I would've been happier had the cheese been more melted but I'm pretty sure the guys were making these sandwiches by the masses for the crowd.

On to the next one. What I love more than anything is a little innovation with cooking. So we move next door to the Hot Tamale Mama...and More tent. They were serving a Beef Tamale with a side of Cheese Grits. Mexican mixed with Southern cuisine? This I had to taste/see. My friend and I unwrap the corn husk and find this tamale lathered with all kinds of spiced chili sauce, over some fluffy cheesy grits. This tamale actually tasted a whole lot like a beef chili one's dad would make, very comforting. And the grits were also delicious. Definitely worth way more than the three bucks they charged.

Lasyone's Meat Pie Restaurant (Nachitoches, LA) was also in working in full effect, pumping out Meat and Crawfish Pies like crazy. We wanted to try both, and that's exactly what we did. They basically looked like gigantic empanadas instead of the actual pie shape form that I'm used to seeing. Both were pretty good, but I'd have to say the crawfish pie took the cake on this one. The only thing I was slightly peeved on was the lack of filling in the crawfish pie, there was far more fried dough than anything else.

The next stop was my favorite of the festival. Chad's Bistro (Metarie, LA). They offered a few things but it's never good to put all your eggs into one basket. So we went for two things, the Shrimp Balls and the Alligator Etouffee over Grits.

The name Shrimp Balls, didn't really give you much information as to what was in them (except for shrimp of course). Just from looking at them, I thought, "Well, it looks like a boudin ball, smells like a boudin ball... so it must be a boudin ball." I tried my first one without the remoulade sauce, and was pleasantly surprised. This was no boudin ball, or anything like it. This was a play on shrimp and grits, absolutely genius. They balled the shrimp and grits together, tossed it in seasoned breading and deep fried it. And, who doesn't like remoulade sauce? The sauce was a good wing man.

The Alligator Etouffee was the first I've ever had. Just judging by it's color I knew it was going to be pretty good. If you've ever had alligator blackened or fried to where you can actually taste it, you get a mix of chicken and fish in one. Surprisingly, it wasn't very spicy so we added some Crystal hot sauce in it, that made for a quick fix. They also gave you a ton of gator in the serving so that made us very happy. Couldn't complain at all with the grits either. Soft and creamy as it should be.

Eating all of this food in the blazing sun takes a bit of a toll on your body, so what's a better way to cool off than to sip on one of The Tennessee Williams Festival's (New Orleans, LA) Mint Juleps? This thing did have a bit of a kick to it too... check out the tolling effects!
Bourbon, mint leaves, and granulated sugar can do this I suppose.

Well, what goes up, must come down. This is exactly how my feelings went when I strolled up to my next stop. Vaucresson Sausage (New Orleans, LA) was offering a Creole hot sausage po boy and a Crawfish Sausage Po Boy. It's crawfish season, so my choice was pretty obvious. I get my Crawfish Sausage Po Poy and grab it with both hands. And, in that single instant, it nearly killed my experience. The crust of the bread nearly disintegrated in between my fingers while handling it. *Sigh* You can't win them all. On a bright note, the sausage was incredible, bits of crawfish with the taste of the spicy boil explode in your mouth with every bite. Maybe I should have just opted for the sausage on a stick.


Even though I was disappointed with the po boy, I wasn't going to let that keep me down. So I searched for the most appetizing thing that I haven't tried yet. Then I stumbled upon Royal House (New Orleans, LA) and ordered up their Crawfish Cakes with Crawfish Cream Sauce. Why this came with a side of rice, I don't really know. But, the cakes were unbelievable. It was full with crawfish flavor. If you could imagine a crawfish etouffee in a fritter/cake form then this would be it. The cream sauce accentuated the cake very well. The creaminess from the sauce helped bind it all together when the cake broke apart and soothed the palate from the initial punch from the spice. It was very delicious but also very heavy and rich. My stomach definitely felt like a ton of lead after this for sure.





When I thought I couldn't take anymore, this little beauty showed up. Cafe Reconcile (New Orleans, LA) constructed an awesome Bananas Foster Bread Pudding. Not overly sweet and would drive any banana lover, crazy. This was certainly a great ending to a fun festival. Next festival on my list is the French Quarter Festival on April 14th. See all of you there!



New Orleans Roadfood Festival 
http://www.neworleansroadfoodfestival.com/