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heavenly feasts in a holy city

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By foodorleans · June 21, 2010 · 0 Comments · 89 Views

I've had dozens of cherishable moments living in New Orleans.  They happen all the time...how can they not in a place where a parade or a song can spring up at any time, for any reason at all?  This summer is a precious and tense time, because we're losing animals, coastline, food, and traditions.  We're celebrating everything and keeping one eye on the weather channel.

The past few weeks have been filled with marvels for me.  Truly, it's way too hot to do anything outside or even go anywhere, but we keep doing and going, and we keep getting rewarded for it.  For instance, the New Orleans Oyster Festival, which was held June 5-6 in the French Quarter.  We went on Sunday afternoon, after the rain cooled the air down.  And it was actually pleasant--so pleasant that we decided to find something fun to do in the Quarter after the festival shut down at 6:00 p.m.  More on that in a minute.  First, the food:

Turtle soup from the Court of Two Sisters.  Turtle soup is delicious.  I know it sounds bizarre to some folks, but trust me--it tastes like really really rich chili.

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high standards, surpassed expectations, and getting a little awesome: Restaurant August

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By foodorleans · May 2, 2010 · 0 Comments · 87 Views

I was talking to my friend Chana the other day about dining in New Orleans, and we have the same philosophy:

  1. If you charge $5 for something, it doesn't have to be fantastic. Kudos to you if it is fantastic.
  2. If you charge $40 or $50 for something, it better be awesome. It better not be something that I can taste and say, "You know, I think I could make this better."

 

We're just trying to get the best dollar-to-awesomeness ratio that we can, and in a city where the prices can be as high as diners' expectations of the food, that's important.

We went to August the other day for a celebratory family lunch (see #2, above). I've only been to one other John Besh restaurant, Luke, but I've been there a few times and enjoyed it. The food at Luke is not fine dining, but it's quality. August is in a different league of dining experiences, along with places like Stella!, Herbsaint, and Bayona, where you arrive expecting a fantastically prepared meal and usually leave shaking your head in disbelief of how good it truly was (see #2, above, again).


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