The Sazerac Cocktail

The Sazerac is my hands-down favorite winter cocktail. Created in New Orleans in the 1830's, it is a delightful concoction of rye whiskey spiked with the complex aromatic flavors of anise liqueur and Peychaud's bitters (named for apothecary Antoine Peychaud who came up with both the recipe for the bitters and the cocktail itself).

I first discovered the Sazerac while doing research for a visit to New Orleans. We planned to try the cocktail at Napoleon House, but it was closed for a private party and we didn't quite manage to try the drink in its city of origin. In the end, I finally had my first Sazerac later on the same trip at City House in Nashville. I was an instant fan.



Originally made with cognac, the Sazerac is now made with rye whiskey. I generally use the appropriately named Sazerac Rye which is produced by Buffalo Trace Distillery (whose parent conglomerate now also control the Herbsaint and Peychaud's brands). I quite like the stuff, and enjoy it on its own when I'm too lazy to make a cocktail.

My version of the Sazerac is a bit stripped down from the official recipe. I omit the sugar, and I do not like to use a chilled glass (I have the same preference when making a Manhattan).

First up is the Herbsaint, an anise-flavored liqueur. I add just enough so that I can roll it around to create a coating on the inside of a whiskey glass.



I love the smell of the Herbsaint, and coating the glass with it brings out the aroma and helps it persist after the whiskey is added.

Next, a few drops of Peychaud's bitters:



The ruby-red color of the bitters instantly turn the color of the glass from lime-green to a burnished orange.



Then it is time for the whiskey. I generally pour in around two fingers worth, but I'm not at all fussy about the exact measure. The more whiskey, the less dominant the flavors of the Herbsaint and Peychaud's will be - I use more or less depending on my mood.

Then, it's down the hatch - tongue-tingling and belly-warming.



Cheers, and Happy Holidays!

Muffaletta from Central Grocery, Hold the Muffaletta...

We figured it would be wrong to leave New Orleans without a muffaletta from the famed Central Grocery. The muffaletta sandwich features an olive salad base and green olives aren't really my thing, but I figured I'd take one for the team...

Unfortunately (or, perhaps fortunately?) we noticed as we passed by on our last night in town that they were closed the next day (Sunday). Pretty cool place to peer into at night, though.



Our hopes of a muffaletta-to-go dashed, we wandered back to our hotel down ever-busy Bourbon Street. Our encounter with the olive salad will have to wait until our next visit.

Beignets, Busted Cameras and Best Buy

Rising late one morning in New Orleans with plans to have beignets at Cafe Du Monde in the French Market, we discovered that our camera was dead - the LCD was completely fried. Undeterred (ok, somewhat deterred and very pissed off, but still resilient) we marched down with our broken camera to have breakfast.

Nice beignets, good coffee, perfunctory (but efficient) service, and sub-optimal photos (you try switching your camera to macro when you can't see the menus...)



That was our morning (ok, early afternoon). The rest of the afternoon was spent locating, driving to, and patronizing a camera selling establishment. I'm an almost 100% online shopper these days when it comes to electronics, so this was new territory for me (and not how I planned on spending one of my afternoons in New Orleans).

A few blue shirts and a few hours (that I'll never get back) later, we had a new camera and were back in business.

Pandora's Snowballs

While taking a ride on the Canal Streetcar toward City Park, we saw a bunch of people standing around a snowball stand. We hopped off at the next stop and walked back.

Snowballs are a big thing here - the shaved ice machine was invented in New Orleans at Hansen's Sno-Bliz. We didn't make it to the original, but Pandora's didn't disappoint.



They have a ton of flavors, and people were ordering all sorts of things, from straightforward flavors to more exotic combos like "banana and bubblegum" and "wedding cake with an ice cream top". You could also get your snowball stuffed - with the addition of soft serve ice cream in the middle.

We went conservative and got tangerine:



Good stuff. These aren't the "sno cones" I remember as a kid at the fair - those had grainy, chunky ice and quickly lost their flavor. This was a fine, soft ice with flavor that went all the way through.

I just wish we'd gotten it stuffed - then it would have been creamsicle flavor...

Happy, we hopped back on the Canal Streetcar and rolled back to our hotel.

Pandora's Snowballs
901 N Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA

Late Night Eats in New Orleans - The Clover Grill, Coop's and Yo Mama's

Late mornings lead to late lunches which lead to late dinners. Which lead to late mornings...

Fortunately, the French Quarter has some good late dining options. We passed the Clover Grill and after a glance in the window had to stop in. Relaxed, campy atmosphere, and pretty decent late-night fare. We had a burger (cooked from frozen, but expertly - which is a skill unto itself) and a perfect grilled cheese.



We spent a couple of evenings at Coop's Place - a great bar with good food just off of the beaten path in the French Market.



Coop's is a difficult place to describe. Hip meets hippie meets geeky. I've read complaints about the service, but we had no issues. I recommend sitting at the bar since they only have two people handling the whole front of the house and might not see you pouting in the corner.



No food photos (dark and late), but we really enjoyed their rabbit and sausage jambalaya and had a great cup of red beans and rice. The fried chicken was less successful, but others have enjoyed it so it might be a night-by-night thing. We enjoyed drinking the locally brewed Abita IPA - not outstanding, but pretty good, and better than almost anything else you are likely to find beerwise in a NOLA bar.

We had another very successful late-night meal at Yo Mamma's. It's hard to believe that a place can be hidden a block off of Bourbon St., but this place is. Having Pat O'Briens across the street to draw the crowds away probably doesn't hurt...



Another burger meal in NOLA, I know, but you can only eat so much gumbo and jambalaya... They do burgers and baked potatoes, and both of them very well. We shared a bacon burger. More of a thin, wide burger than I'm used to, but they still managed the requested medium rare in the middle with great charred flavor on the outside. Very good.

New Orleans School of Cooking - Gumbo, Jambalaya, Bread Pudding and Pralines

One day while in New Orleans, we took a great cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. The two and a half hour long classes (ours ran over three) are not hands-on preparing, but they are definitely hands-on eating. Our instructor reminded us a bit of Alton Brown, giving us equal parts cooking demonstration and fun local history lesson.



The first dish was gumbo. I forgot to take a picture of the gumbo itself because I was too busy getting it down my neck. I did get a picture of the roux at different stages, though. Our version used the very dark, highly flavored, chocolate colored roux.



The gumbo itself was really, really good. The protein was andouille sausage with a bit of chicken. The andouille was out of this world - it had an incredible smoky taste that flavored the whole pot of soup. Our instructor explained that it's made by taking smoked ham, turning it into a chunky sausage and then smoking it again. Hopefully we can find a good approximation of real andouille once we're back home.

Next up was the jambalaya, which was also fantastic. It used a smoked sausage that wasn't as flavorful as the andouille, but was still very good. Most jambalayas we've had have used tomato in the base. This one didn't, and we really liked it this way.



Dessert was two courses. We started with a "Piña Colada" bread pudding with "Hard Sauce". The pudding had pineapple and coconut in it, and the sauce was made using rum. What's not to like?



And finally, pecan pralines. Even though I'm not much of a candy person I still really liked these.



Along with the meal they offered locally brewed Abita Amber Ale and Root beer. All and all, well worth the $27 they charge ($3 less if you have a coupon - look in the local tourist rags). It's easy to spend that just on lunch in New Orleans, and you probably wouldn't eat as well or have as much fun.

The New Orleans School of Cooking
524 St. Louis Street
New Orleans, LA
1-800-237-4841

New Orleans - Acme Oyster House, Felix's, Mother's and the Camellia Grill

Our first restaurant stop in New Orleans was the Acme Oyster House. Just off of Bourbon, Acme and their rival Felix's across the street have been serving up oysters for a long time. Acme seems to be winning the battle at the moment - despite having a larger capacity, they often have a line out front while Felix's is relatively quiet.



At Acme, we opted for a po'boy as our oyster delivery vehicle, ordering a shrimp and oyster combo (segregated with one side shrimp, the other oyster).



It hit the spot - especially the oysters, which were perfectly fried and had a rich, but not too overpowering oystery taste.

We also had a bowl of their seafood gumbo, which was good, but nothing like the bowl we had at Don's Seafood Hut in Lafayette. It was more of a standard gumbo with some seafood thrown in, whereas Don's had an amazing seafood flavor throughout the base.



Not to leave Felix's out, we headed across the street for some oysters on the half shell. We stood at the bar as they shucked us a dozen. They were nice and small, well shucked, and had a very pleasant, delicate flavor. So, it's not because of oyster quality that they are losing out to Acme.

Back on the po' boy hunt a different day, we had lunch at Mother's, another long-standing establishment tucked away on a corner just outside of the french quarter.



Inside, the place had a great feel - friendly, but with a healthy dose of attitude.



We had read that the debris po' boy (so named because it is made with roast beef trimmings) was the thing to get - big, messy and delicious.



It only delivered on two of those three adjectives - it certainly was big and messy. Not so delicious, though - pretty bland and uninteresting.

We also had a bowl of filé gumbo. Filé is a powder made from sassafras leaves that is used as a thickening agent. Unfortunately, the gumbo was also pretty tasteless, and tossing in some hot sauce couldn't make up for it. So, thumbs up for atmosphere, thumbs down for food.



Another day had us on the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar out through the garden district. The far end of the line (it doesn't yet go as far as it used to pre-Katrina) puts you smack dab in front of the Camellia Grill. So you might as well go in...



Seating is all counter service, with the grill right there behind.



We ordered a pecan waffle, which was very good. A generous helping of pecans added a nice texture and the flavor went really well with the syrup.



Although the food didn't always fire on all cylinders, we really enjoyed eating at these old-school eateries.

Acme Oyster House
724 Iberville Street
New Orleans, LA
(504) 522-5973

Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar
739 Iberville Street
New Orleans, LA
(504) 522.4440

Mother's Restaurant
401 Poydras at Tchoupitoulas
New Orleans, LA
(504) 523-9656

Camellia Grill
626 S Carrollton Ave
New Orleans, LA
(504) 309-2679