A Small Taste of New Orleans

New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.
~Mark Twain 


Recently I made a less than twenty four hour trip to New Orleans.  Though it was a brief trip, it was my first and so I knew that I wanted to spend some time indulging in the delicious southern food that was often described in reference to New Orleans.  The first thing I did was call my friend Ketica once I crossed the Louisiana border on our drive south.  Right away she recommended a place called Mandina's for dinner.  She said I should order the seafood platter, which was enough for at least two people, and a cup of the gumbo. The server seemed pleased with our order and assured us that we would enjoy our meal.  I had always been weary of gumbo in my previous experiences.  All of the random ingredients and spices has always been a put off for me, I was sure I would find at least a couple items in the dish that I would not like and have to spend the rest of the time making sure I didn't taste another bite of that awful ingredient.  But the gumbo I had at this place was excellent.  If there was ever to be an ideal introduction to gumbo, this was it.  The flavor was full and the seafood and spices plentiful.  I started to wonder how and why I'd been avoiding such a delicious dish all my life.  The seafood platter was a mix of deep fried fish, shrimp, oysters and a crab ball and while I enjoyed all the food I tasted, I must admit I did find all the fried food a bit overwhelming.  Though my companion, Danielle, was more than pleased with everything on the platter.  When we were finished, there were still a number of the oysters left.  Honestly, fried or not fried the texture of oysters has never been appealing to me and while I did taste them, I definitely would have been okay if they had been absent from our plate.   The hospitality was great and so was the food, I will definitely be returning to explore more of this menu during my next trip to New Orleans.

The Menu

The most delicious gumbo, I tried another cup from another local bar the next day and while it was good it could not compare to the seafood gumbo I had at Mandina's.

The platter of fried seafood which was served with a very large cup of cocktail sauce.

Another recommendation of Ketica's was to make sure I tasted a beignet.  I wasn't quite sure where I would be able to find one, but we randomly took a trip through a mall near the hotel we were staying at and stumbled across a Cafe Du Monde, which is widely known for their beignets.  The smallest order is of three so Danielle and I prepared to share this delicious treat.  It was covered by a huge mound of powdered sugar, so much powdered sugar that I barely had to place any regular sugar in the iced tea I was drinking with it.  It reminded us of funnel cake or what some people call elephant ears, just in a more compact, square shape.  While I could not see myself eating beignets for breakfast every day, as a special treat while on vacation it more than fit the bill.

The sugar covered beignets.