Surrey's Juice Bar Visited 3/22/10 4 Forks

Surrey's Juice Bar 1418 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Dan and I had had breakfast at our B&B for the past 3 days and wanted to try something more local on our last day. While I had wanted to try a bunch of other places that were in the French Quarter, I'm glad that we had tried this very cute local cafe. Our friends had gone there the other day and said they liked it and it was within walking distance of our B&B. I really really liked this place. It seems like one of those quaint local cafes that just serves good hearty food without any fanfare. They seemed to have a very eclectic brunch menu, from typical southern food to mexican and costa rican breakfast plates.

I ordered the special crabmeat omelet and Dan got the boudin, egg and grits sandwich. The omelet was amazing (taste wise and caloric wise). It came with a buttermilk biscuit and the omelet had real crabmeat in the omelet AND in the very very rich crabmeat sauce. It was stuffed with pieces of brie cheese and topped with avocado. I'm sure the sauce had about 5 sticks of butter in it which is why it tasted so good, but the entire dish was yummy and one of the best brunch dishes I've had anywhere. While I didn't taste most of Dan's meal, he seemed very satisfied with it and the grits that I did taste were delicious. I have to say that every place I went to in New Orleans that served grits had amazing grits. The South really knows how to cook them well! FYI, it's cash only.

Acme Oyster House Visited 3/21/10 4 Forks

Acme Oyster House 724 Iberville St
New Orleans, LA 70130

The one type of food that I was most excited about in New Orleans was OYSTERS! I am obsessed with them and in New York unless you go to a happy hour, they are generally pretty expensive. I had heard from several people and sources that this was the place to go although I was a bit weary that soo many people knew of it. Dan and I went around 5:30pm on Sunday and there already was a line out the door. Luckily, the line went pretty quickly (it probably helped that we were pretty drunk too). We immediately ordered 1 dozen raw oysters ($10.99!) and split a Po-boy Peace Maker ($10.99)that had oyster and shrimp and the New Orleans Medley, which includes gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and grilled smoke sausage ($11.99). To be honest, I wish I hadn't been drinking so much so that I could enjoy all my food...but despite my condition, I did know that I LOVE the raw oysters. They were simply amazing. They were large, meaty, and smooth tasting. Totally not fishy at all. They offer you the oysters with a side of cocktail sauce and fresh horseradish. Be warned, the fresh horseradish is delicious but incredibly potent. It went straight to my head and almost caused my brain to explode. I later learned that the cocktail sauce also had horseradish in it, so I was doubling my horseradish intake.

The po-boy sandwich was pretty good, but a bit dry b/c I was eating all this fried food wrapped in bread. After I got home I realized I was incredibly thirsty and I think it might be tied to the sandwich. I really enjoyed everything in the medley. It was all very spiced well and a distinct New Orleans flare. But I couldn't get over the oysters and ordered another round. Honestly, I could have just sat there all day and ordered oysters until the sun came up. I saw on the wall that the record was 42 1/2 dozen in one sitting. I would have loved to have given that guy a run for his money, but unfortunately, I had one too many hurricanes and had to get home. I would definitely go back, probably more at an off peak hour so that I don't have to wait in line as much.

Commander's Palace Visited 3/19/10 4 Forks

Commander's Palace 1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130

Dan and I were in town for a wedding and I had created this huge long list of restaurants I wanted to go to. Commander's Palace was tops on my list, so I decided to make a reservation to ensure we went. The reservation was for lunch on Friday. The website and email said to dress-up, but lots of people were not as fancy.

The outside of the restaurant is this beautiful blue and white stripe look. The inside is enormous, two giant rooms downstairs and then another huge room upstairs. For lunch they have a good prix-fixe lunch menu and $.25 martinis! You can also order other items a la carte, but by ordering the prix-fixe you save around $7-8. I ordered the seafood gumbo to start and an orange glaze fish as an entree and a cosmo martini. Dan got the turtle soup and the Tabasco shrimp and the commander's martini (it's the blue drink). We also ordered a bread pudding as a desert. I must say that the service there is amazing...they are incredibly attentive, almost too attentive. They make very sure that you have everything you need and the most bizarre part was that instead of re-filling our water, they just gave us brand new glasses b/c they wanted us to have "fresh ice cubes".

Both soups were really good, although I was partial to mine. Neither of us had had Turtle soup and when you get it, they offer you a splash of sherry, which I thought was a bit overpowering. I enjoyed my fish entree, although one piece was definitely cooked better than the other. One was overcooked and kind of mushy but the other pieces was perfectly flaky. The orange sauce was a bit sticky but tasted fine. Dan's shrimp was good but he didn't seem too wow'd by it. But the best part of the entire meal was the bread pudding. OMG. It was one of the best bread puddings I've ever had. First they pour a Johnny Walker sauce over it and then you plunge your spoon into it. I don't know what to say except that it was moist, had almost an almond-y taste of deliciousness. I would go back over and over again just for this dessert. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who visits New Orleans.