If there is a better ice breaker than sharing a meal, I’ve never heard of it. A couple of weeks ago, a Twitter pal asked me when the best time to go to a certain restaurant was, and I replied, “When you go with me!” From there, a lunch date was born. I met up with Joey and a couple of his lovely companions at Coquette Bistro & Wine Bar. This Uptown French bistro serves beautiful dishes in either large or small servings, which makes it easy for sharing and discovering. We all took advantage of their $20 three-course lunch. This menu changes daily, and like their dinner menu, it features fresh local ingredients.
Now, here’s the part of the post where I feel like I let you guys down. When I’m into the conversation of my company, I lose track of everything else. I didn’t take a menu, so I cannot remember what every dish’s proper name is. I contacted the restaurant to see if I could possibly get a copy, but I have not heard back from them. I will make another effort to do so, as I like to share as much info as possible with my readers. Many apologies, but I was just having too much fun.
My lunch mates enjoyed a few glasses of wine from the varied yet tidy list, but I was a good girl (for once) and abstained. Coquette creates their own specialty liqueurs and infused spirits, such as a blood orange vodka and a fig brandy. If you are curious about Coquette’s bar menu, give them a visit on Wednesdays when wines are $5 a glass and Thursdays are host to $5 specialty cocktails. These are offered all day, so if their $20 three-course lunch menu is a little on the solid side for you, go ahead and customize your own $20 four-course liquid lunch.
Coquette2800 Magazine StreetNew Orleans, LA 70115(504) 265-0421
Food isn’t just something I consume. I enjoy breathing in a dish’s aromas. Savoring each bite and decoding ingredients. Capturing an eye-pleasing arrangement with my camera. The latter, especially, is what makes this post about the new Uptown Little Tokyo (aka Little Tokyo Small Plates & Noodle Bar) of exceptional length.
My adorably awesome friend Dorothy told me to come see her at her weekend gig, the new Little Tokyo on South Carrollton. Not wanting to pass on the opportunity to see Dorothy or miss out on delicious food, we aimed to catch lunch, but just missed it (and Dorothy’s shift), so we opted for dinner. Oh, darn. Now, for those who are looking for weekend lunches, they offer the menu until 4 pm even on the weekends.
Upon entering the restaurant, you can tell that this location caters to the “UniversityPlus” crowd. (That’s my lingo for the 20-something to 30-something demographic.) The music has been lively, the staff youthful and menu offerings different from the other Little Tokyo restaurants. More fun, perhaps? Yes, definitely.
Our server suggested my husband try the Ramune Soda, a carbonated Japanese beverage that isn’t for people with weak thumbs.
Only with the plastic tool that accompanies the soda are you able to enjoy the soda. The refreshing and bubbly beverage is only attainable after you (or your significant other/dining companion with stronger thumbs) depress the marble into the neck of the bottle. With great force and furious anger, you will be sipping on your soda in no time. My husband describes the flavor of Ramune as Crystal Pepsi meets bubble gum.
As much as I love fries, I would pass up a platter to dive into these tempura green beans and sweet potato fries. Both are served with a wasabi ranch dip, but it has just a slight bite, so even the kiddos can partake.
One thing you might not know about me is that I believe there is no such thing as the weather being too hot for a bowl of soup. If there are seemingly edible items floating in a savory broth, chances are I’m going to eat it and not ask too many questions. I was actually excited to learn that they serve ramen bowls. Have you ever met anyone that gets excited by soup?
You can customize your ramen to your liking. At this visit, I opted for the miso base and added chashu pork and hard boiled egg. At other visits, I’ve added extra green onions, which I think I prefer to the extra sprouts. I’ve tasted the mild and “little bit spicy” heat levels, but one day I’m going to be brave enough to order my ramen “gonna spit fire” spicy. Yes, that’s how the menu describes it.
For those wondering, the little white hard boiled egg white-looking sliver with the pink swirl is naruto kamaboko, a type of processed fishcake. It’s made from bits of white fish species, sort of like crab sticks. That is also a type of kamaboko.
Hard Boiled Egg = Crazy Delicious
Noodle Surprise!
In addition to my selections, my husband ordered the gyoza and chicken yakitori. Unbeknownst to me, gyoza is a popular accompaniment to ramen. I didn’t try any of the dumplings, so I can’t say much more than how appetizing they looked. I wasn’t blown away by the chicken yakitori, but I rarely order chicken when dining out. Even prepared perfectly, it’s still just chicken.
It’s virtually impossible to take my son to a Japanese restaurant and have him not order sushi. His favorites, which are done well here at Little Tokyo, are the fresh salmon roll and tuna roll. It is my understanding that they do not currently offer sushi during lunch service, only dinner.
Even after gorging ourselves on all that food, we just had to share a dessert. We ordered the mango ice cream, which comes drizzled in chocolate syrup. I would have preferred it so much more without the topping, but my son loved it. I haven’t met a kid that has turned down chocolate syrup.
We’ve been back to Little Tokyo several times since they opened a month or so ago. Most recently we celebrated Nolan’s fifth birthday. Management allowed us to bring our own cake (the Berry Chantilly from Whole Foods) and the staff went out of their way to make the night special. I had my husband bring Nolan to the bathroom to wash up, and when he came out, we all had microphones and sang “Happy Birthday” to him, karaoke style.
Oh, yeah. You read correctly. They offer karaoke rooms, equipped with flat screen televisions, high-end sound system and comfortable seating. And this, my friends, is where the next NOLA Eats event will be. So, save the date: Saturday, July 3rd @ 8:00 pm – ’til. I’ve got the largest room reserved for a very unique and probably very embarrassing night of food, cherry sake bombs and karaoke. Feel free to state your interest here, as I will be rolling out the invite and RSVP list very soon.
When conversation turns to brunch, I immediately think of Surrey’s. I have it in my mind that it’s very popular with locals, but you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve talked with that are not familiar with it. This, my friends, is my ode to Surrey’s.
Surrey’s is truly a destination for breakfast and brunch foods. While known for their freshly squeezed juices, shots of wheat grass and vegan/vegetarian dishes, you can also indulge in one of my favorite selections, the Bananas Foster French Toast. Tucked away inside the butter-laden bread pieces is cream cheese and bananas. The BFFT is the arch nemesis of wheat grass, and it will rock your world.
It’s sweet. It’s chewy. It’s rich. Look at those crispy little bits on the edges! Why eat pancakes when this dish can satisfy so many breakfast cravings?
Speaking of wheat grass, this is what a $9 beverage combo looks like. Pricey? Yes. Quite possibly the most delicious glass of O.J. you will ever sip? Oh, yes.
Perhaps you’re in the mood for something green, but in a solid state. Here’s the Spinach Cheese Melt with Grilled Chicken. If meat isn’t your thing, add tofu, instead. My favorite meatless dishes are the Vegan Avocado Mash and Creamy Black Beans. Those two sides alone make for a delicious and filling meal.
Now, there are a few tips I want to give you if you haven’t visited Surrey’s. First, they are only open until 3:00 pm. Boo! Hiss! Food this good should be available any time I want it. But, too bad. Secondly, while they close at two, for the love of all that is good in this world, do yourself a favor and do not walk in that door at 2:40. You are probably pushing your luck at 2:30. Service can be a little bristly, which I attribute to the table-flipping mentality that is prevalent here. You see, Surrey’s is tiny. In order for the servers to make money, they’ve got to get you in and roll your ass out. So, if you don’t want major attitude, be mindful of the clock. Lastly, don’t forget to bring cash, because plastic is not accepted. If you forget, there is an ATM on the premises.
Now, go out there, eat at Surrey’s and conquer your morning (or afternoon)!
*sigh* I have been sitting on this blog entry for almost two weeks now. I have been super busy planning the NOLA Eats king cake party, and then I got sick, blah blah blah…so, here we are. I’m still backed up from taking time off to get well, so I apologize for the lack of detailed commentary on the food. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or email me. Thanks!
Ahhh, Sunday. Universally the laziest day of the week. Us New Orleanians know how to make the most of a lazy Sunday, and it’s called brunch. My husband and I took our children to Stanley, a smart soda fountain/diner mash-up for brunch a couple of weeks ago, and while the atmosphere is more casual than Chef/Owner Scott Boswell’s Stella!, the dishes remain creative and thoughtfully put together.
As you can see from the photos, the dishes are obviously beautiful. I am pleased as punch to report that they were as delicious as they were pleasing to the eye. Stanley is a great spot for lunch, brunch or an early dinner (they close at 7:00 pm daily), and excellent for people-watching in the Quarter.
If you are interested in a more in-depth review of the ice cream, check out Lindsay’s review over at her blog ScoopAdventures.com. Unfortunately, I share her opinion of the frozen confections served at Stanley. It was the one thing I felt was a tad disappointing.
One more thing I wanted to add: My daughter had just turned the big “1-0″, so I wanted a candle to stick in her banana split. Our server told us that they did not carry candles for birthdays, so I ran — literally — all over the Quarter searching for a pack. None of the stores carried them for sale, so I followed my instincts and went to Muriel’s Jackson Square right across the street from Stanley. The server that assisted me was happy to give me one of theirs and refused a tip. Bonus points for Muriel’s!
Today’s entry from Daniele, our vegetarian correspondent, serves up a reminder of how one local organization combines community responsibility with culinary training. -Leslie
My boss is retiring at the end of the year, so she took my coworker and me out to a farewell lunch at Café Reconcile. I feel like most people who live in New Orleans already know the story behind this restaurant, but my coworker who grew up in Central City had no idea so here is a one sentence synopsis: Café Reconcile is a program that works with at-risk youth to teach them the ropes of the restaurant industry and build their self-esteem. Awesome!
Café Reconcile serves traditional New Orleans cuisine, which can be tricky for a non-seafood-eating vegetarian like myself. Ah, but I have a tried-and-true trick up my sleeve for finding a vegetarian meal in a seemingly un-veggie-friendly environment. Side dishes! Café Reconcile seems to already know this trick as they have something called a “Veggie Plate” on their menu which is an entrée made up of your choice of 3 sides. I chose the mashed sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and collard greens.
“What?! Collard greens?! Collard greens aren’t vegetarian, Daniele! They are full of cured pork products and turkey necks!” you may be yelling at me.
Thank you for your concern. You’re sweet. But the staff assured me that the collard greens at Café Reconcile are indeed vegetarian. I didn’t see any meat products in them; I didn’t taste any meat products in them. What I did taste were some really good collard greens!
The rest of the food was really good, too. The sweet potatoes were sweet and rich. The mac and cheese was super tasty and my portion had a few browned crunchy bits in it which are the best part of baked macaroni and cheese. Sure, these are all dishes that you will encounter all the time in New Orleans, but what sets Café Reconcile’s food apart from most of those places is that you can tell this one’s got heart. Sure the service can be a little spotty, but it’s easy to forgive these kids because they are very sweet and you can tell they are trying. It also helps that they are well supervised, so any mistakes that might happen are quickly corrected.
Feel like doing some good with your dining dollars? Head over to Café Reconcile.
Today’s post by Daniele is actually last Thursday’s post by Daniele. After Halloween, I was totally exhausted and completely slacked off on the blog updates, not even knowing there was a *nod included to a time-sensitive event. Big apologies to Daniele and her readers! -Leslie, The Slacker
Wow, was I bummed when Coffea, the coffee shop around the corner from my house, closed earlier this year. And, wow, was I happy when Satsuma Café opened up in its place a few months ago. I finally made it over there for brunch a few weeks ago.
One of my favorite things about Coffea was the ambiance and I am really happy that Satsuma has kept the funky, eclectic vibe going: mismatched furniture, original art on the walls, and warm sunlight filtering through the front windows.
The menu at Satsuma is still fairly small, but I’m hoping it will expand as business gets going. Vegetarians, fear not! Even though the menu is small, we haven’t been forgotten. There are meat-free breakfast and lunch options. Also, be sure to check the specials board for dishes using seasonal ingredients. In fact, I think the most distinctive thing about Satsuma might be their ample use of local produce.
I got the veggie-Gruyere sandwich and the iced tea du jour (jasmine… yum!). The sandwich itself was good. Your standard grilled veggies on fresh-baked bread. The Gruyere was definitely an inspired addition, giving the sandwich an added layer of sharpness. But what was really memorable for me was the salad that came on the side. It consisted of hearty fresh greens that up until now I had only eaten thoroughly cooked. There was definitely kale, and I believe Swiss chard and some other stuff. Everything was tossed together with a delicious blue cheese dressing. Wow, I had no idea you could make a salad like that.
Speaking of kale and blue cheese, I feel I must make a “True NOLA Eats Confession” to y’all. Those of you who attended the Fall Harvest Potluck last month may remember the kale and blue cheese salad that I made to share. Yeah, I totally stole that idea from Satsuma Café. Thanks guys!
Satsuma Café will have a booth at the *Mirliton Festival on Saturday, and I know I will be stopping by. I encourage you to do the same, or pop in to the café itself the next time you find yourself on my side of the tracks.
Satsuma Café
3218 Dauphine St
New Orleans, LA 70117-6729
(504) 342-2484
Daniele, NOLA-Eats.com’s veggie contributor, is back from her trip to Buenos Aires. Today, she covers tempeh and Garage Pizza. -Leslie
Those of you who aren’t vegetarians may have read the title of this week’s post and asked yourself “What in the heck is tempeh? Is she talking about a town in Arizona?” To which I’ll say that while I am sure Tempe, AZ is a lovely place, I am pretty sure you can’t make a sandwich out of it. What you can make a sandwich out of is tempeh – a fermented soy bean product. Oh come on, stop making that face. It’s good! The soybeans are dried and mostly left whole. The fermentation process helps them stick together to form sort of a cake. It is a traditional food originating from Indonesia, and has been a common offering in health food stores since my mom was wearing patch-work bell bottoms. Think of it as the world’s first veggie burger!
Quite a few months ago, a colleague told me that there is a restaurant in New Orleans that actually serves the stuff. And that restaurant is… Garage Pizza on S. Robertson (next to Handsome Willy’s in what’s left in the medical district). Say what? A pizza place? Yup. You read that right. In addition to an extensive specialty pizza menu, Garage Pizza also offers a few things you wouldn’t expect from a pizza restaurant such as brown-rice tofu bowls and tempeh sandwiches. I had a rare day the other week when I found myself with enough time for a restaurant lunch on a week day so I decided to check things out.
My verdict? Meh. I didn’t have a particularly bad experience with Garage Pizza and their tempeh, nor did I have a particularly good one.
The restaurant itself is a nice enough place: a mix of airy-modern style (high ceilings, celery colored walls, concrete floor) with corner dive details (large wooden bar, street signs and license plates hung about the room). But what could have been a casual-cool ambiance was pretty much ruined for me by the big screen TV at the corner of the bar where the staff was watching soap operas. I don’t want to listen to your stories when I am eating lunch; put that nonsense on closed-captioning and turn up the radio.
I ordered the tempeh sandwich, which comes served in a whole wheat pita with mayo and greens (p.s. vegan friends, ask them to hold the mayo) and a side salad. The side salad was minuscule, which is a shame because the citrus vinaigrette that came with it was really, really good. I would have liked more lettuce to enjoy it on.
I thought the tempeh itself was a little over-marinated and too salty. But I eat very little salt in my food, so it might taste just fine to you. At first I thought that the $8.00 that they charged for this fairly simple sandwich was a little pricey. When I thought about it though, the sticker shock dissipated as I came to realize that tempeh is a fairly expensive ingredient and I was given quite a bit of it.
So, would I go back to Garage Pizza? Yes, I would. I’m sure I will at some point. However, when I’m there I’ll probably get a pizza or give the tofu bowl a try. If you are really desperate for tempeh or just want to support a restaurant that goes out on a limb to offer it, by all means get the tempeh sandwich. Otherwise, order something else (and maybe bring your headphones).
Today, Daniele, our vegetarian contributor, writes about her long-lost love — a damn good bagel. -Leslie
In this week’s post I am going to show my Yankee roots for a minute and talk to y’all about bagels. I love bagels. Bagels in my homeland of the NY/NJ area are delicious and plentiful. Bopping down to the neighborhood bagel shop in the morning for some fresh-baked, warm, chewy goodness was a ritual that brought me joy and comfort when I lived up North.
And then I moved to New Orleans – where the bagels are scarce and a good bagel is even scarcer.
If I recall correctly, there was one bagel shop in town when I moved here in 2004. I think it was called Bayou Bagels? But they only had two locations and neither of them were near my house. They didn’t return after Katrina, which is just as well because their bagels were extremely mediocre. Their staff clearly didn’t know a thing about what makes a good bagel, as evidenced by the fact that my shouts of “No! Please don’t toast it!” were met with confused looks from the lady behind the counter as she retrieved my bagel from the toasting rack. Which leads me to Bagel Rule #1: If you have to toast a bagel, there is something wrong with it which. Toasting a bagel means you have something to hide: staleness, lack of density, poor crust formation, excessive preservatives – something.
Post-Katrina there have been a few stores and coffee shops in the area that carry H&H bagels imported directly from NYC. I do enjoy H&H bagels very much, but something is lost when they are frozen and shipped 1200 miles away. The inside isn’t quite as dense and chewy. The outside isn’t quite as crisp and crunchy.
But there is a glimmer of hope.
I happened to catch a rerun of the Food Network show “Diners, Dives And Drive-Ins” in which they paid a visit to Surrey’s Juice Bar and Café on Magazine Street to profile their “Brooklyn-style” homemade bagels. I remained skeptical, but my interest was piqued. So the next time I went to Surrey’s I went ahead and ordered the bagel plate and I have to say I was really impressed by what I got. So impressed that I think I have ordered the bagel plate 4 out of the last 5 times I’ve been there. The bagel had all the hallmarks that a good bagel should have: dense and soft inside with a crispy crust. It’s served with a little salad, some capers, and your choice of either cream cheese or a delicious avocado mash. I always pick the avocado mash. The recipe seems to change a bit depending on what herbs are available, but it is always great. Last time I had it they went heavy on the fresh basil which sounds kinda weird but works really well with the mellow, buttery taste of the avocado.
However, when I went there and ordered the bagel plate last weekend, they broke my sacred Bagel Rule #1. Yes, my friends, I am sorry to report that my bagel arrived toasted. I’m trying to remember if the previous bagels I’ve had there also came toasted. I’m pretty sure they did not, but now I am worried that my brain has created false memories of wonderful fresh bagels as a reaction to the continuous disappointment I feel when I try to eat bagels in New Orleans. Please, Surrey’s, I’m pretty sure you’ve got a good thing going on. Don’t stick it in the toaster and ruin it!
What Is NOLA EATS?
Social Dining in New Orleans.
Combine new media & social networking with food & libations and you get NOLA Eats, a New Orleans-based social dining group and blog. Founder, Event Coordinator and habitual socializer Leslie J. Almeida writes about her favorites in New Orleans restaurants and nightlife while promoting a "live local" lifestyle.
You can follow more of Leslie's NOLA adventures by connecting with her on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
