New Orleans restaurants

I found this in my drafts from the trip in June.   I know the local area is dealing with Hurricane Isaac aftermath now.  The city overcame so much after Katrina and we were happy to go back and support them.  With the record K and I have of going there, we may be outlawed from going there.  We went in May 2005  and 3 months later - they were hit by Hurricane Katrina.  We haven't been back and they've had no other hurricanes, and and now we go in June 2012 and they get hit (on the anniversary of Katrina) by Isaac.   Before we went and while we were there we even talked about it, thinking it can't happen twice....but oh it can.

I've also realized that when I leave Houston is when hurricanes come here, it happened with Rita and with Ike.    I'll be staying put for the remainder of Hurricane season....

On to the original topic for this post.  New Orleans food.    There are so many good places to go, here are just a few of the ones we enjoyed:

Pascals -- they invented BBQ shrimp., the best place to go to have them.   K had been here once before and wanted me to taste it.   The BBQ shrimp ar not what you picture,  more like 'buttered shrimp.   They are messy and worth it.  They put a bib on you and go to town.  The shrimp are HUGE, so you don't have to peel too many, good thing since they are served whole - heads and tails and everything in between.   You peel them, dredge them in the sauce and eat them.    After you finish the shrimp, dip their delicious bread in the sauce.  K had a special - soft-shell crab and smaller BBQd shrimp (his were already peeled).   Another good choice.

Chartres House Café - our first dinner in the city, we each had delicious fish dishes.  K had a cashew crusted redfish that he said was delicious.   Interestingly, he said that you can't get this type of fish in Texas, so when he saw it on the menu he had to get it.  I had a stuffed catfish, delicious, and i loved the veggies.  we had the place to ourselves, it was nice and cool...great after wandering in the heat.

Louisiana Pizza Kitchen - we had quite a swap, I had pizza and beer (a local one) and K had pasta and wine, we'd usually get the reverse.  I had a veggie pizza (craving veggies) and it was all very fresh.  A great neighborhood place right across from the French market.   As many Italian places as we saw in that area it must've been the Italian section, which was interesting being near the FRENCH market.

Nola - Emeril's restaurant -- it was delicious.  I did not write down the details of what we ate, but it was all delicious and I am pretty sure I had a decadent dessert there...

We did have one terrible meal.   We'd been exploring and were just hot and ready to sit.  I'd have to look up the name of the place - it had a bird in the name....steer clear of it.