Are any churches doing a fish fry tonight? Or more specifically, WHICH churches??? Preferably Uptown.

I can't believe no one else mentioned the crawfish strudel. It's like a flaky, creamy, crawfish rollup thing, like an eggroll in shape.

I've had the grilled cheese (pimento cheese slider, I think it was called), and it was good but expensive and small. I chalked it up to the fresh ingredients, but still, I mean, it was a petite little snack and I am on a regular budget and no matter how good and fresh it is, I still have a budget.

I really enjoyed the free samples of praline bacon.

I hope they are able to survive, but I can't afford to eat there.

yes- the duck waffle was on the specials board and I did ask the waiter if it was the sort of special that is ALWAYS available or not so much. He said not so much.

I don't have enough experieicne to be able to say what time to go to avoid a rush, other than we went around 12:30 or 1 and walked right in and sat down. It did fill up a little while we were there, so I guess the earlier the better.

Just wanted to report that we had a great brunch at Elizabeth last Sunday. We got seated right away which is a huge plus.

Had the praline bacon, boudin balls, and a duck waffle- shredded duck with sweet potato and pepper jelly atop a cornbread waffle. It was fantastic.

My duck waffle was the best thing we had.
Friends had the salmon and brie grilled cheese and it wasn't as great as it sounded, but not bad. They seemed happy.

Hubby had grits and grillads and it was more like a pot roast than grillads, but, super flavor, no complaints on that just that it was unexpeceted, and it came with a fantastic biscuit.

I can't wait to go back!

Oh, and nice waiter, and really nice casual ambiance upstairs. Downstairs it looked a little cramped.

Guys..... YUM!!!

Thanks y'all!
We went to Mandinas and it was fine.
Good serivce, fast food delivery, but the softshell crab meuniere wasn't super. Weak thin sauce, but ok. I wouldn't order it again.
My mother in law had a shrimp po boy that looked fabulous though.
The men enjoyed their steaks.

I will keep the Steak Knife on the short list- anohter great idea.

I've never had Crazy Johnnie's BBQ shrimp, will have to check it out.

Once again- the people on the Internet to the rescue. Thanks!

And, you know Mandinas is a great suggestion!

Yes- any place, as long as they have a steak on the menu.

Doesn't seem to be open. A good suggestion though. Thanks. Any others?

Haven't heard of Boucherie. What's the scoop on that place?

Please give me some ideas for a no frills (pls don't say Galatoire's or Clancy's) easy place to eat dinner tonight with my in-laws who are from the Midwest. I know Galatoire's and Clancy's are great, but not what I'm looking for, for this occasion.

I think some of the fancier places make them feel uncomfortable.

We went to Charlies steak house the other night and it was a good fit.

Need something similar to that, that is open on Monday.

So we'll have time to drive to Metairie or Kenner, maybe even Uptown.
Have to make it to the Elmwood Palace by 8:00, and we'll be starting out around 5.

So, we need a place for early dinner/drinks.

Any suggestions?

No food taboos- but not anywhere too fancy.

Just 2 ladies out for a fun evening.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

You'd think the owner/chef would have had some good recipes before he opened, wouldn't you?

You don't have to use a roux in gumbo, but I agree it woudn't taste very good. My recipe uses a roux, tomatoes, and okra.

Jambalaya should be like a cajun paella. You can get a box of Zataran's mix at Wal Mart. It's a good product.

Once I was in Denver at a "New Orleans" style restaurant and got 2lbs of crawfish, they served it as an entree for over $10, and the crawfish were all washed and clean and lined up very prettily. I had to laugh.

Are there any good "New Orleans" restaurants outside of New Orleans?

I guess that's why it gets bad reviews from some people- those are the people looking for real Thai food.

If you're looking for a fantastic crab cake, then La Thai is your place.

It is fusion, maybe that's why I like it so much.

I cooked a brisket over Mardi Gras that was fanstastic, and it just came from Winn Dixie. I've made one since then, from Whole Foods, and it wasn't as good. Not fatty enough I guess. Do you need a recipe?

Went LaThai Uptown for my birthday, as planned despite several bad reviews. I must have lower standards than those people, because I thought it was great and really enjoyed everything. There were big TVs in the bar, but we were seated closer to the back and there was music or some other quiet din sound- not the sound of the TVs.

I had the crab cake special- the regular crab cake topped with a softshell crab and extra lump crabmeat, and it was fanstastic. I could eat that every night. Hubby had the duck dish where there are these duck cruton things. He always get that, I always get the crab cake.

Both were fantastic.

I give the new location 2 thumbs up and I'll definitely be going back.

Hey Zea isn't bad- I like it. It's a local chain anyway.

Don't be discouraged ZestyZ. If you end up at Zea, you will have a good, easy, casual meal.

It might be unadventurous, but it's a lot better than a LOT of chains I've been to while visiting middle America.

Delachaise is great- they open at 5pm I think, and server food very late- I think to 1am? Andi t's GOOD food, not bar food.

Isn't the Trolley Stop closed?

I noticed a new placed- West Indies Cafe- with outdoor dining at the St. Charles Athletic Club- they had live music and it looked like it had a lot of potential.

As JGrey mentioned- If you are from NYC, you might have a different version of walking distance than us lazy New Orleanians.

Does anyone have a good review of this place? I was planning to go there for my birthday, and have high hopes because I used to like to hang out there when it was Vaquero's. I wasn't very happy with the Felix's incarnation.

A google search turned up some unflattering reviews. I wonder if I should save the trip for a less special evening?

Has anyone been there? Is it not as nice as the Met Rd location?

Maybe Deanie's Seafood in Bucktown.

I would think that a lot of the places that would be LOUD enought so that the baby wouldn't offend would also be filled with smokers and drinkers and therefore would not be a good fit.

The Gazebo outdoor dining place on Decatur puts horsradish in theirs. YUM.

My favorite outdoor venue is the Audubon Park Golf Clubhouse. The food is adequate, the service borders between so-so and BAD, but, you can't beat the atmosphere and I've never had to wait for a table. The chairs and tables are very comfy. The view of the golf course/park/oak trees is wonderful.

There is also usually parking in the lot, also a plus.

Yes that is technically true, but 99% of my enjoyment of Jaegers was the deck, and the sunshine, and watching the pelicans.... Thanks for the memories... I am glad I have them- a whole new generation won't. And I'm too young to be talking like that! Thus, my sentiments about the damn hurricane.

I miss Jeagers.
Damn hurricane.

I found a really nice You Tube piece about Willie Mae:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uVUNp...

Glad I'm not alone. I mean if it's your neighborhood place and you like it, great. But don't send the tourists there!

The fact that it was packed was a BIG MYSTERY to me. Since then I've asked a couple of other people (in person) what the draw was and what I was missing. They agreed at the oddness of the whole thing. The place is always packed but the food isn't that good. I think this is an example of LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION.

There are too many restaurants in this city to go back to one that wasn't good- sorry.

Really? what do you get?
I went recently and the place was packed, with a 20 min wait, and when we got our food it was one notch below mediocre. I had an eggplant dish with seafood, hubby had something else- don't remember. I'm not going back.

Is it popular because it's the only italian restaurant in the area? I just don't get it.

Your comments made me smile, and I always applaud someone who has the guts to speak out against one of the "darlings" of a message board.

I think we, here in NO, have a skewed view of dingy. I think we look at the world through rose colored glasses. Whenever I leave New Orleans, I am sticken by how CLEAN other places are. In fact, when the new Whole Foods opened, it was like an oasis from another planet had landed in the midst of Uptown. It's so clean and shiny and new, (and bright) in there- it was a little unsettling.

Since the storm, more places have had a chance to become clean and shiny and new.

I have yet to go to Brightsen's- but am a regular at Dante's across the street- Brightsen's is on my list but we rarely go to the trouble to get reservations and plan. Dante's is good b/c it's always open and we've never had to wait for a table.

Anyway, just wanted to chime in that your assesment of "dingy" is probably just because you come from a cleaner place, and therefore have different standards! LOL!