Sweeping the South

This is going to be a long one folks, so stay with me (WARNING: YOU WILL PROBABLY BECOME UNBEARABLY FULL JUST FROM READING THIS). I have been spending a lot of time in New Orleans, lately. Not that I have any problem with that, I love New Orleans. But as usual, my trips there are all about the food. The night we arrived we headed to Pho Orchid in Metairie. New Orleans has many fantastic Vietnamese restaurants in the area, so I suggest you try one while you are there (if you have not). Of course we had some delicious pho while we were there but we also tried steam bún, labeled on the menu as Orchid Tacos. These were delicious and the most adorable little buns. The texture of the dough was amazing! Not too dense or soft and chewy, but just right.

The following day we drove out to Lacombe, Louisiana, anxious to try John Besh’s La Provence restaurant. It is a charming and welcoming restaurant set on acres of land, where they serve what they grow. Everything on the menu sounded mouthwatering. I began with the crispy cornmeal fried oyster and artichoke salad served with saffron vinaigrette and my mother had the crispy Brussels sprouts salad served with pork belly, fig mustard and toasted almonds. For both our salads, the seasoning and ingredients combined perfectly. The taste superb! For our entrees we ordered the slow roasted duck breast served with red cabbage, rapini and duck spring rolls in a plum sauce. I think duck spring rolls may be my new favorite thing (or at least one of them). My mother had the whole roasted mangalista pork with ratatouille. At this point we were filled to the brim, but when does that ever stop us from ordering dessert? I of course ordered the peanut butter chocolate candy bar served with caramel ice cream and my mother had the Meyer lemon Ile Flottante. La Provence was a divine eating experience.

Because we hadn’t blissfully tortured ourselves the night before, the next day we went to Commander’s Palace for brunch. I had never been and really wanted to try it. Have you ever been around the world in Disney? Well, if they had a place for New Orleans in Disney World, Commander’s Palace would fit right in. Ever since I moved to Louisiana, I had heard that if you want to try turtle soup, Commander’s Palace is the place to try it, so I did. To be honest, it’s not my favorite soup in the world, but it is flavorful. I also liked that they topped it off tableside with Sherry. For our entrees we ordered the truffled Louisiana blue crab and crawfish frittata and the blue crab stuffed flounder. Both were equally delicious, butter roasted flounder stuffed with Brie cheese and local crabmeat and the frittata spiced with white truffle oil were tasty. To go out in style, we ended our meal with the creole bread pudding soufflé and LOCAL Fresh Strawberry Shortcake.

And to answer your question, yes, we ate all of that in one weekend.