Lüke, New Orleans

We serendipitously stumbled on Lüke today at the end of our little afternoon excursion to New Orleans.  It's John Besh's little gem of a brasserie located withing walking distance of the French Quarter and on the St. Charles street car line.  We discovered on our walk up to Herbsaint only to find that it was closed on Sunday.  It was our second restaurant strike out of the day after Central Grocery.  Thank goodness Lüke saved the day for us.  Actually, it turned out to be the culinary highlight of our afternoon.

The Quest for Muffalettas

We just got back from a fun day in New Orleans that was full of surprises and adventure.  Mom, Chris, Melissa, and I all drove down for the day with the intention of checking out Central Grocery in the French Quarter.  We drove the two hours to sample one of their famous Muffalettas.  If you haven't had one, a Muffaletta is a traditional Italian style sandwich that originated in New Orleans made with a huge loaf of bread, Italian deli meats, pickled vegetables, and cheese.  They are absurdly scrumptious, and I was jonesin' for one big time since I got back home.

Cochon, Quest for the Perfect Pork

The New York Times "Food and Wine" section is printed every Wednesday.  It's required reading for all employees where I work.  Usually, there are plenty of interesting articles on wine, cheese, and a restaurant review on one of the many restaurants in NYC, but imagine my surprise to read a review of a New Orleans restaurant a few years ago in one of the Wednesday papers. Cochon, a relatively new restaurant at the time, was featured that week.  After reading about how fantastic it was, I had to go on my next trip home.