Road Trip 2018 - Day Six, New Orleans Food Tour

How could we come to a city as renowned for its cuisine as New Orleans and NOT TAKE A FOOD TOUR! Insanity it would be. So we found an interesting one via Airbnb Experiences. If you've not looked at Airbnb Experiences when you travel, I advise you to do so. Now they are not in that many locations yet. But when they come to a city, they do extensive research and interviewing of the people they take on and list. We've done three so far including the one today and have been very pleased.

We are staying fairly far out from the center of New Orleans in a suburb called Metairie. We were able to take and Uber into the city in about 30 minutes. On the one hand it would have been nice to be inside the city more but, the place we have here is so roomy and quiet. We had the best sleep we've had on our trip so far last night.

We met our guide, Butch, right smack dab in the middle of the French Quarter on Jackson Square, Tourist Central. However, we are here in a slow season before things start picking up November. This is the rainy season and it started to spurt sprinkles and showers as soon as we got there. Butch turned out to be incredibly knowledgeable and was able to give us lots of social history behind the dishes as well as a lot of information on the dishes themselves, preparations, etc. He is a licensee of a company that sets up guides in various cities providing them with back office support and a methodology and is supposed to focus on small groups and supporting local business.

We arrived at our meeting point early so the Butch told us we could run around and take pictures,

Probably not the wisest thing to tell Wife and I

It was a gloomy day on on the river

But the jazz was playing at the Cafe du Monde

Old Brewery, not developed into shops and restaurants

Multiple views of the St. Louis Cathedral

The other couple joining us finally arrived and set off

You may or may not note that they are soaked to the skin

They hit a major shower coming from another part of town

That might have accounted partially for their behavior because they were first people we've met in all our tours like this that simply did not want to interact

Our first stop was at Restaurant Stanley

which is basically a breakfast/lunch place

The reason for the stop?

GUMBO

I am sure you, like me, have had tons of gumbo in your life. I was very anxious to try it here at the source. Butch told us of the complex derivation of the dish and how the multi-nationality history of the area affected it. He and I also had a detailed conversation on roux making. This particular Gumbo is done with a very dark roux. Clearly my impatience in making roux is what holds me back from getting the depth of flavor necessary. Evidently the right amount of time is, and I quote, "between two and three beers worth." I doubt if I even go a single beers worth. You will note in the upper left corner what looks like some potato salad. Evidently this was an innovation of German immigrants from the mid-19th century. There are evidently some today who put potato salad in their gumbo instead of ride. And their are some who like to add it in addition to the rice to give it a creamier consistency.

From here it was on to try

Alligator Sausage

The story behind this is it is not a gimmick but that the Acadians who were renamed Cajun and lived in the swamp/bayou areas from the 18th century on, brought the French sausage making traditions with them. But the area was not good for raising pigs, so they adopted the local alligator which was in abundance. We had it here served with yellow mustard, creole mustard and remoulade sauce.

As we wandered the streets of the French Quarter, Butch pointed out many of the architectural highlights

There are of course a billion metal balconies

 This one is reputed to be the most photographed building in New Orleans

There was something very reminiscent about these balconies.

Butch was telling us about the 40+ years the city was ruled by Spain from 1762 to 1803

Then it came to me!

It reminded me of the buildings we had seen last fall in our trip to the Salento area of Italy that was influenced by...THE 18TH CENTURY SPANISH BAROQUE!

Bingo!

Well let's get back to food shall we

Next up on the 'greatest hits' was the muffuletta sandwich

Invented by a Italian immigrant grocers, it was designed to be a takeout food for workers 

It is a variety of cold cuts, provolone cheese and a green and black olive based vinegar salad

While traditionally served cold, Butch likes his toasted slightly though by the time we got them they were no longer warm.

 

About this time the rain had turned into a downpour which continued for a couple of hours until the tour ended. We dashed through the rain to get to the French Market where we were in search of

 

Beignets

But unlike the uber popular ones made with raised dough like at the famous Cafe du Monde, Butch brought us to a small place called Loretta's

Here the lovely Loretta

 Fries everything to order 

And her's come with praline filled version

Since we had to wait for these to be made, we had some time to go picture taking.

A statue of Joan of Arc, who freed the French city of Orleans 

Since it was pouring rain, there were all kinds of water motion related photo opportunities

Captain Spouse says this is a 'phase' and I will get over it

Finally the beignets were ready!

Loretta uses a dough that is more like a puff pastry so the beignets come out light and flaky

Oddly enough we weren't done yet

Butch took us to get Oysters 

But no one else wanted them but me and I was very happy to indulge

That concluded our tour

It was still pouring but we were able to get our Uber to come pick us up by the market and stay under cover

Overall review of the food

The Gumbo and the Beignets were awesome. We may be down in that neck of the city tomorrow around lunch and I would be tempted to have them again

The Alligator Sausage tasted like a good sausage. It was good but I would not go out of my way to get them

The Oysters were okay but the ones I had in Annapolis Maryland were better

The Muffaletta was neither of our cup of tea

So there you have it, your NOLA Food Tour Report