When not checking out other chick's asses at the Superdome, I am treating my girl right. Here's a rundown of our dining odyessy.
Friday dinner---Cheeseburgers and fries at Joey K 's. We both wanted burgers. No place seemed overtly obvious, so I suggested the solid but unspectacular burgers here. The bun needs to be improved. (Kaiser roll, please.) But the price is right, even with two beers and a gumbo apiece, it came to under $25.
Dinner Saturday----A Mano. I agree to buy JAG dinner in exchange for some.... Well you can guess. I lived up to my end of the bargain and we dine on a plate of salumi. I actually had something there I thought was just okay. The Mortadella tastes way too much like Oscar Meyer baloney. The duck prosciutto is heavenly and I was a huge fan of this pepperoni type thing. Next up, we shared the pasta special which was Buttatini with sardines, pine nuts and golden raisins. It came accented with a few grape tomatoes and dill. This is a dish that was greater than the sum of its pauperis parts. I look forward to trying more of Josh's creative specials.
For a secondi, we went with the rabbit. Slowed cooked with garlic and thyme, the tender meat just tears away from the bone. Each bite you can taste the garlic and aromatics. Highly recommended.
We finished up with the cheese plate. Mainly because it rocks. A Mano is as good of a restaurant opening as we have had in this city in a long time.
Breakfast Sunday. Brunch at the Jackson. A very ambitious brunch menu was well executed here. I had the poached eggs over petit filet medallions with a shrimp hollandaise sauce. Outstanding. We split a gorgonzola cheesecake that may redefine how I feel about savory cheesecakes. Light with a tangy bite to it, I kept wanting more. Good stuff.
Some sort of snack---dome nachos. We were ripped off once again by the fact that the chick at the concession stand does not fully understand the chip to cheese ratio necessary for a successful order of nachos. She obviously failed to read by doctoral thesis on this subject.
8-0 post game meal---Luke. I don't think Luke is a place you can go and eat your way through the menu. You have to pick your spots. JAG and I are begining to figure this out but we aren't there yet. We started off with two dozen raw. My oysters were hardly the pick of the litter. JAG's were better. I had two that were smaller than my thumb, yet there were only 12 on my plate. Give me an extra one. Next came the pork rillete. Of their charcuterie items, this one is the best. Creamy and easy to spread with a good depth of flavor, you get alot but not so much that you get bored with it. I highly recommend the relish on top.
Next came the moules et frites. The sauce the mussels are cooked in is terrific but I found my mussels to be slightly overcooked. My fries sat around the kitchen for a bit prior to being brought to the table. They did bring us the mussels in two separate pots despite us sharing an order which is a nice touch.
Lunch Today---Mahony's. The world's most expensive poor boy shop where 31 bucks got us two 6 inch poor boys, one order of delicious fries and two iced teas. I had the turkey gravy which I thought was outstanding. JAG had the Peacemaker, which is oysters, bacon and cheese and a total rip off at 10 bucks for a six inch. I left hungry.