AmySue's Profile
One Birthday Dinner in Solvang: Mirabelle or Ballard Inn?
Thanks glbtrtr -- can you say anything specific that you liked about the food at Ballard Inn? We are staying in Solvang (Ballard booked) and have a car for all the stuff we may or may not want to do in the area. I'm really wanting to base my decision on only the food/atmosphere/service but mostly on the food. Thanks again.
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The Ballard Inn & Restaurant
2436 Baseline Ave, Solvang, CA 93463
One Birthday Dinner in Solvang: Mirabelle or Ballard Inn?
Celebrating my birthday with an overnight in Solvang and trying to choose a restaurant. Got it narrowed down to these two. They seem pretty similar in food style, price, wine service, and so on. What distinguishes one from the other? Warm and knowledgeable service? Execution of cuisine? Local and seasonal ingredients? Any helpful hints are appreciated.
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The Ballard Inn & Restaurant
2436 Baseline Ave, Solvang, CA 93463
Chow Near Cornet Theater on La Cienega?
Nine of us are headed to see Eddie Izzard at the Cornet Theater (366 N. La Cienega) and are wondering if there is any chow nearby. Casual is good, price not an issue, ethnic is good -- we are open to all suggestions.
New Orlean Trip Itinerary (July 3rd-6th)
Galatoire's is closed for the month of July. Had a super lunch with 25-cent martinis at Cafe Adelaide on July 2.
Good Eats Between Lake Lure, NC and NOLA?
We are driving from Lake Lure, NC to New Orleans, LA this coming weekend and wonder if there are any recommendations that can save us from corporate food hell. We plan to stop for the night in LaGrange, GA and are hoping someone out there will tell us that we won't be eating dinner at Chili's. We don't care about price or dining aesthetics -- just good eats, be they upscale or down and dirty. Our route is I-85 to I-65 to I-10.
cooking classes
Last Thursday evening I took a class at New Orleans Cooking Experience (NOCE) at the House on Bayou Road with Frank Brigtsen. It was one of the school's demonstration classes beginning at 5:30 p.m. Chef Brigtsen, the soul and picture of a kind and generous man, showed us crab and corn soup, trout meuniere, and blueberry shortcakes. He spoke enthusiastically and knowingly about the crab and fishing industries, local produce, the ongoing recovery efforts of New Orleans, his own cooking education under Paul Prudhomme, and generously gave away the secret for Brigtsen's mashed potatoes. After a demo class, you go in the dining room of the inn and are served the full meal cooked personally by your instructor, in this case a James Beard Award winner and one of Food & Wine's Top Ten American Chefs.
A couple of years ago, I took a hands-on class with Michael DeVidts at NOCE, who also teaches at the New Orleans School of Cooking, where I have also taken group classes and private hands-on classes. Michael is funny, entertaining, and passionate about food. He is a member of Slow Food and Southern Foodways Alliance, so he is well-informed and up-to-date as well. I use his chicken and andouille gumbo recipe all the time.
Both schools offer a good experience. NOCE is more intimate (about 12 people in my class) and upscale; New Orleans School of Cooking is more mainstream (20-30 people per class). NOCE is outside of the Quarter, NSC is on St. Louis in the Quarter. Whichever one you choose, particularly if you can get in a class with Frank or Michael, you will be happy. Both places have good websites to check out and help with making your decision.
Single Diner Brush-Off at Galatoire's!
I don't think I was being "silly" at all in trying to reserve a table for one. I do it all the time, in New Orleans and points both east and west. I was trying to be considerate and not take up a two top in the prime real estate downstairs. Indeed, I wanted that "nice piece of fish, well cooked, without frou frou." Further, I did try to make an "effort" -- I tried to respect what I perceived to be "the rules" of Galatoire's -- downstairs is a locals only party. Had I been instructed by the staff to join the party downstairs "with ease" I would have gladly done so. But to be told that what I requested wasn't what I wanted, (nobody wants to sit at a table by themselves) and now to be called silly for asking, is, well, insulting. But what do I know -- I'm just a frequent visitor willing to spend a lot of money in a town recently in need of some love. My bad.
Single Diner Brush-Off at Galatoire's!
Well. I am 0-4 on the apparent requirements for dining alone at Galatoire's--not wealthy, widowed, can be ready for anything in 15 minutes, and, sadly, sans chauffer. I'll work on it for next time! I ended up eating at Irene's and had a lovely meal (creole tomatoes with Maytag blue cheese crumbles and bacon with a glass of Reisling, canneloni and a glass of Zinfandel, cheesecake for dessert with a little glass of some-somthin') at a cute table that gave me a clear view of the rest of the dining room. Irene came over a couple of times to chat. No dining companion or extravagant lifestyle required.
Single Diner Brush-Off at Galatoire's!
I wasn't intending to comment on the staff's English useage or in any way imply that she is a "bad person." I'm not sure how that idea got out there, but that's electronic communication for you.
Though I am a professor of English at a small college, I am no grammar nazi; I actually relish and appreciate this country's rapidly vanishing regional linguistic novelties and New Orleans is full of delightful dialects and charming coloquialisms (my favorites are "cornder" for corner and "zink" for sink). I quoted her only as a way of rendering the exchange as accurately as possible to get reader insights.
I asked for upstairs precisely because I thought I would feel awkward at the party downstairs, where I have dined often and well, but always with a companion. Alas, my dining companion will not be joining me until after July 1, when Galatoire's will be closed for the month. I had a hankering for a couple of Galatoire's dishes, that's all.
In any event, I will probably pass on Galatoire's this time around and go somewhere where I have eaten alone and been treated very well in the past: NOLA, Arnaud's, Irene's, Upperline, Tommy's -- any will be fine.
I'm not English or European, I just thought "rang off" was more accurate than "hung up," which seems sort of abrupt and rude.
Single Diner Brush-Off at Galatoire's!
I am in New Orleans for a few days. Ate a fantastic dinner at Dick and Jenny's last night (steak tip salad and duck two ways) and wanted to try for Galatoire's tonight. Called and asked for a reservation for a party of one upstairs in the bar area -- no dining in the bar, I was told. I asked for a reservation in the upstairs dining room. No reservations available for a party of one. "You can do a walk-in," the young woman informed me. I asked again if I could reserve a table for myself upstairs. "I don't think nobody wants to sit at a table by theyselves." was the answer. I thanked her and rang off. What gives? This is a first for me, in New Orleans or anywhere else for that matter. Did I do something wrong?
where would Ignatious Reilly eat?
The scene you are remembering takes place in Chapter 8, Part III, when Santa Battaglia is making a party to introduce Mrs. Reilly (Ignatius's momma) to Mr. Robichaux: "Santa Battaglia tasted a spoonful of the potato salad, cleaned the spoon with her tongue, and placed the spoon neatly on a paper napkin next to the plate of salad. Sucking some pieces of parsley and onion from between her teeth, she said to the picture of her mother on the mantlepiece, 'They gonna love that. Nobody makes a good potatis salad like Santa.'" She also provides to her guests two fifths of Early Times, a six-bottle carton of Seven-Up, two giant bags of potato chips (displayed at each corner of her sofa), and an open bottle of olives with a fork stuck in it...
I teach this novel every semester to my American Literature students in a unit on New Orleans writing. It's my duty to expose Southern California surfer dudes and dudettes to the New Orleans dialects and the cast of characters that is only marginally fictional.
In New Orleans on business, dining alone..
I was in New Orleans alone for several weeks in Oct. & Nov. 2006 and ate out every night. I particularly enjoyed eating at the chef's bar at NOLA and at Cochon. I was treated very well at Arnaud's, Irene's, and K-Paul's. If you don't mind a cab ride uptown, the Upperline was delightful. The only place I encountered attitude toward the single diner was Bayona. I always called ahead and made clear that I was alone and was (except for Bayona) always accommodated graciously. The chef bars are fun because you are looking into the kitchen and the cooks will usually visit and pass over a little taste of something and you can visit with other single diners -- or not.
Need Jacques Imo's Advice
Definitely go! I've been several times over the past few years, most recently in November 2006. I find that they often seem to overestimate the actual wait. But it's usually a fun wait, as others have said. It's a party feeling all the time and right next door is one of the most happening clubs (although nothing much happens until well past 10 p.m.) in NO. Do yourself a favor and order the shrimp and alligator cheesecake appetizer. It's one of the best things to eat in New Orleans.
Is Bayona as good as the Hype?
I have been wanting to get my Bayona experience off my chest for almost 3 months. I spent five weeks in NO building houses for Habitat For Humanity in Oct./Nov. 2006. I was on sabbatical leave from my teaching job and I had saved for a year to be able to spend that much time in my favorite place in the whole, wide world. I ate dinner out, alone, every night for five weeks. Bayona was the WORST service I received anywhere. At most places I was simply treated well, as has been the case at NO restaurants for the past 10 years of frequent trips. At others, notably Cochon, Upperline, NOLA, Arnaud's, I was treated like a rock star -- which is nice for a slightly plump, middle aged college professor. But at Bayona I got the classic single-woman-dining-alone treatment: the worst table in a drafty corner where I was literally wedged behind three other tables. I had been told by my innkeeper to be sure I got the sweet potato brioche, but they "ran out" just as I asked. The waiter didn't even apologize. He just said, flatly, "We're out." I watched the table next to me ask for and promptly receive EXTRA sweet potato brioche, which they left untouched. I had to wait FOREVER for everything I ordered. I sat there hating that restaurant for almost 2 hours by the time I had received my app, entree and wine. My notes on the meal say, "I'm so pissed I want to cry or get up and leave w/o paying, but I can't get out until one of the other tables leaves." At one point during the meal, Susan Spicer came out and swanned around the dining room. She did not even look at me. The food? Feh! It was fine, but the experience was ruined by the service. If I had not had such good-to-great service virtually everywhere else, maybe it wouldn't have made such an impression. Suffice to say, I will never go to Bayona again. Ever.
Restaurant Report
Hi HalfShell,
I have been to Galatoire's a few times, a couple pre- and once post-Katrina. The last time wasn't very good -- got the bum's rush by the waiter and the food was just okay. I was on a Culinary History tour with a cooking school instructor friend of mine a couple of days ago and both the guide and the instructor said that, right now, Arnaud's is the better bet of the old school New Orleans institutions. I will certainly add La Crepe Nanou to my list. Thanks.
Place to dine solo in the Quarter
I ate at the Chef's Food Bar (not at the cocktail bar) at both Cochon (Quarter-adjacent in the Central Business District) and at NOLA (in the Quarter) and was very pleased with both. I am a single woman dining alone, and at both places I was treated very well and the food was amazing at both. I avoid eating in the cocktail bars because of the cigarrete smoke issue. Both places had decent wine selections as well.
Restaurant Report
I have been in New Orleans since mid-October volunteering with Habitat For Humanity, and have been eating my way through the city. Since this is my 14th trip to NO in 10 years, I sort of knew my way around but with so much time I could try more places. First, the highlights:
The Bank Cafe on Burgundy in the Marigny: one of my standout meals. Frisee salad with lardon and quail eggs, roast duck
perfectly medium rare with crispy skin, and a dulce de leche panna cotta dessert with bruleed banana slices. Outstanding.
NOLA: as a woman eating out alone, I pass some judgement on how the lone female diner is treated. I sat at the chef's bar on a Sunday evening and was treated like a rock star (I'm a plump middle ager) and the food was wonderful. I started with a blue cheese, apple salad that was fresh and a little sweet. The hickory smoked duck with cane syrup glaze and cornbread dressing was one of the best things I've ever eaten. For dessert I had "Drunken Monkey" ice cream -- banana, chocolate and rum homemade ice cream. Stellar meal.
K-Paul's: Some friends were in over Halloween weekend and as NO first-timers, I wanted to give them a spectrum. We started with K-Paul's. We ordered one of every appetizer and everything was great. The waitress comped us some fried oysters with blue cheese sauce that were outstanding. Great service, fantastic food.
ACME Oyster: Again, for first timers this is great. The char-grilled oysters come in butter with grated Romano cheese melted on top. It's a good way to get into oysters if raw is a little too much. It's loud and it's crowded, but the food was as good as it ever was -- at least for me.
Brennan's: Yeah, I know. Only tourists eat the obscenely expensive three-course breakfast. But you know what? In my little old hometown, nobody -- not even me -- can make hollandaise correctly and it's just fun to get a little buzzed on champagne at 10 a.m. There, I said it. I had given up on Brennan's several years ago, but this time it was just as I remembered: decadent, extravagant, delicious, and rich.
Brigtsen's: It is my curse to present myself at Brigtsen's either tired or not hungry. This time it was fatigue. I had been framing houses since 7:15 a.m. and our reservation wasn't until 10 p.m. Although I could barely keep my eyes open, I loved my duck entree and loved it just as much as leftover lunch the next day. My BF (in town for my birthday) had the seafood platter and it was wonderful. I love this place -- it's worth the $40 roundtrip cab from the far side of the French Quarter.
Muriel's: The location, right on Jackson Square, would almost garantee a crap tourist trap. But I have eaten there twice and both times were excellent. They have a three-course meal that is very reasonably priced. I have had goat cheese crepes, turtle soup, double cut pork chop with butter-jacked mashed potatoes and slightly tangy greens, and bread pudding. The pork chop dinner complete is something like $28. The bread pudding is a custardy slice covered in praline sauce. I loved it.
Herbsaint: I liked the food here -- I had small plates. The shrimp and grit cakes were excellent and the braised short rib was good. My BF had the rabbit canneloni, which was impressive. The dessert was a standout -- brown butter tart. It was a buttery crumb pie that tasted way better than I am making it sound. The waiter was a real stiff, however, and he was trying so hard to be formal that he made us uncomfortable.
Upperline: I love this place. Always have, always will. They fit me in on a very busy night (Tulane Parents Weekend) and the food was great. I had the tasting menu -- shrimp remoulade and fried green tomatoes, duck etouffee, roast duck with ginger peach sauce, plus an order or sweet potato fries. JoAnne Clevenger, the owner, always remembers me for some reason (but she seems to remember everyone, for that matter) and is a wonderful hostess. A great meal, and again worth the cab fare.
Cochon: Again I sat at the chef's bar and again got the rock star treatment. An amuse bouche of roasted oyster with chili pepper butter slid my way. I had the pork loin special, which was tasty but not very pork loiney. It was a chewy, very flavorful cut -- not at all mild flavored and tender like a tenderloin. I talked to the sous chef and he said it's because they had just butchered the pig that afternoon. So maybe rigor mortis, which imparts some tenderness into meat, didn't set in? It was really good, and I liked the resturant a lot.
Coop's: A divey looking bar on lower Decatur that serves the best fried seafood and fried chicken. The fried chicken comes with rabbit and andouille jambayala which is delicious. If you are tempted to enter Margaritaville, stop yourself, croos the street, and get some fried shrimp and an Abita ale at Coop's. It's also usually full of colorful locals, so there is some great people watching, too.
Now for the lowlights.
Joey-K's: I was killing time on Magazine Street one day and stopped in for lunch. My salad was a despicable bowl of rusty, slimy iceberg lettuce with insipid blue cheese dressing; my "crab and corn bisque" was a pasty, floury abomination with more globs of uncooked flour than canned corn kernels and sported one forlorn fragment of a crab leg. Inedible. Thank God for Abita Amber. They did at least serve it in a cold glass.
Praline Connection: I'm staying in the Marigny, so I've eaten at Praline three times. Still the worst, driest, most tasteless cornbread I've ever had. The mustard greens are always good, and my friends have loved the fried chicken livers. The fried chicken is good. I don't know. It's just sort of average, but the prices are reasonable.
Commander's Palace Jazz Brunch: I know better than to eat brunch, but it was my birthday and I wanted something special. I have always loved Commander's for lunch, but the 10-cent martinis of times past may have influenced my memory. Anyway, my entree was simply awful. It was an "improved" eggs benedict -- a soggy sage buttermilk biscuit obliterated by mounds of bland shredded pork and topped with poached eggs and a slight drizzle of hollandaise. My BF was happier with his Eggs Gueydon: duck egg and duck debris with duck-fat hollandaise.I thought the roasted pecan griddle cake it all sat on was too sweet, but he liked it. The duck-fat hollandaise WAS pretty great. The service was sort of bad -- but understandable as they haven't been open very long and are working with new staff. The best thing I can say about the experience is this: we were trying to get a cab at the same time the Saints game ended at the Superdome and the valet could not get us a car. After waiting on the curb for 45 minutes, one of the waitresses on her one-hour break between brunch and dinner service offered us a lift back to our hotel. I have hope for them, but my food was an ill-conceived mess.
Marigny Brasserie: I was tired after painting houses all day, and I was just hungry. I have no specific recollection of my meal. The receipt says I had duck, which seems to be a motif. The dining room was filled with cigarrette smoke from the bar. That I remember.
I have several more days to go, and I hope to fit in Bayona, Galatoire's, Arnaud's, Jacques-Imo's and others before I head back to the land of no food: Southern California.
Chez Helene
Austin Leslie died just after Hurricane Katrina. Indeed he had been at Jacques-Imo's with Jacques Leonardi but had left and opened his own place. I took a cooking class from him in July 2005 where he showed us how to make his amazing fried chicken.
Re-opening date for Commander's?
I called yesterday and made reservations for Jazz Brunch on October 29 and for lunch on November 3. It was all business as usual!
In Cambria: Black Cat Bistro or Madeline's?
Heading up the coast next week and need a Tuesday night dinner. Have done Robin's recently, not interested in Brambles or Sow's Ear. So, between Black Cat and Madeline's, which one?
In Paso: Villa Creek or Buona Tavola?
Heading up the coast next week and want to make great dinner plans. Between Villa Creek and Buona Tavola, which one is best these days? We have eaten at each, but it was a couple of years ago. Any thoughts? We already have reservations for Bistro Laurent for our first night.
Literary Works Involving Food?
I teach Freshman Composition at a community college and I am a full-on Chowhound. I want to put the two together by having my students write about food. I'm good on the expository paper, and on the research paper, but we do a literary analysis paper and I'm drawing a blank on literary works (short fiction) that involve food. Any ideas? Again, short fiction would be best. Thanks!
