Dining report part I: Drago's Downtown, Cafe Adelaide, Bourbon House, Tommy's
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:16 pm
Saturday Dinner: Drago’s Downtown: We were staying in the Hilton Riverside and, back in the day, we used to love going to Drago’s in Fat City to eat oysters raw and charbroiled there at the bar. We had already eaten at the new location once before on a prior visit and had been satisfied. Unfortunately, this visit was somewhat less satisfactory. Our intent was to eat a dozen raw and then have a dozen charbroiled. However, I assume there was a miscommunication as both dozens were brought out at the same time. This wasn’t a big deal. More problematic was that the raw were poorly shucked with numerous pieces of shell coming along for the ride. They otherwise tasted very good and were quite large. The charbroiled were overcooked almost to the point of being burned. Very disappointing and not especially evocative of those earlier days in Metairie. We followed this with a spinach salad for my wife and a fried oyster platter for me. I might quibble that the coating of the fried oysters was a little thick, but that would be just pilling on as the oysters tasted quite good and the spinach salad was fine as well.
Sunday Breakfast: Café Adelaide: My wife turned her ankle later Friday night and didn’t want to go out for breakfast, but insisted that I go. I picked Café Adelaide for its proximity and its Brennan’s heritage. Walking in without a reservation meant a twenty minute wait, which I whiled away at the bar while nursing a screwdriver. After being seated, my earlier supposition was confirmed that the reason I had to wait while there were plenty of empty tables was because they were understaffed. When I got a chance to order, I went with a mimosa and the Café Adelaide Eggs Benedict. It took a while for these to come out, but they were perfectly fine. The bill was also a long time in coming. I wasn’t in any rush so I had actually enjoyed taking time to relax and people watch. Interestingly, when the waiter brought the bill he apologized. I told him not to worry and I’m not sure what I did body language-wise to suggest I was upset.
Sunday Lunch: Bourbon House: My wife rallied and determined that she would walk to get lunch despite her ankle. For the longest time, my go-to casual restaurant in the Quarter was Red Fish Grill. However, after several consecutive disappointing meals there, I walked across the street to Bourbon House, had a great meal and resolved to switch my loyalties. Today, for whatever reason though, I had a taste for the Buffalo Oysters and so we went to Red Fish. Fortunately, they were closed for a private party and we went across the street to the Bourbon House instead. I say fortunately because while we might well have had a great meal at Red Fish, we definitely had an excellent one at Bourbon house. We started by splitting a dozen raw and they were perfect. Following that we had the Bourbon House trio of baked oysters. Our favorite of these was the Oysters Fonseca, but there wasn’t anything wrong with the Rockefellers. For whatever reason, the Bienville didn’t do it for me and those are usually my favorites. For entrees, my wife had the shrimp and grits and these were delicious. I had a filet of grilled flounder which was also great. The service was great and we had a good time watching the street show file by along Bourbon street.
Sunday Dinner: Tommy’s Cuisine: We chose Tommy’s because some time ago we had been taken there by a friend only to be turned away as the wait was too long. We also chose it because it was relatively close by to the hotel. We showed up a little early for our reservation, and were asked to wait at the bar. A while later we were told that it would take some time before our table was ready. Happily for us, we were in no rush and we had no trouble killing time at the bar. When we were eventually seated, some very nice bruschetta was brought out and our waiter came by to explain that they were in fact experiencing an unanticipated shortage of waitstaff that evening combined with a rush of customers. While he was explaining this to us, another customer was standing over our waiter’s shoulder with bill in hand, so clearly they already had some pissed off customers. We put in an order for the Oysters Tommy and were very happy with them. For our next appetizer, we ordered the sweetbreads. These were wonderful. Everything on the plate was perfect. For her entrée, my wife had the duck Tchoupitoulas and the few bites I had were delicious. I had the Veal Marsala and was very satisfied. Our service was actually pretty good overall. I especially appreciated the waiter letting us know to stay away from the crab. It wasn’t something he had to do, and I don’t know that I would order crab right around this time of year anyway, but it is a nice way of building rapport with the customers.
Sunday Breakfast: Café Adelaide: My wife turned her ankle later Friday night and didn’t want to go out for breakfast, but insisted that I go. I picked Café Adelaide for its proximity and its Brennan’s heritage. Walking in without a reservation meant a twenty minute wait, which I whiled away at the bar while nursing a screwdriver. After being seated, my earlier supposition was confirmed that the reason I had to wait while there were plenty of empty tables was because they were understaffed. When I got a chance to order, I went with a mimosa and the Café Adelaide Eggs Benedict. It took a while for these to come out, but they were perfectly fine. The bill was also a long time in coming. I wasn’t in any rush so I had actually enjoyed taking time to relax and people watch. Interestingly, when the waiter brought the bill he apologized. I told him not to worry and I’m not sure what I did body language-wise to suggest I was upset.
Sunday Lunch: Bourbon House: My wife rallied and determined that she would walk to get lunch despite her ankle. For the longest time, my go-to casual restaurant in the Quarter was Red Fish Grill. However, after several consecutive disappointing meals there, I walked across the street to Bourbon House, had a great meal and resolved to switch my loyalties. Today, for whatever reason though, I had a taste for the Buffalo Oysters and so we went to Red Fish. Fortunately, they were closed for a private party and we went across the street to the Bourbon House instead. I say fortunately because while we might well have had a great meal at Red Fish, we definitely had an excellent one at Bourbon house. We started by splitting a dozen raw and they were perfect. Following that we had the Bourbon House trio of baked oysters. Our favorite of these was the Oysters Fonseca, but there wasn’t anything wrong with the Rockefellers. For whatever reason, the Bienville didn’t do it for me and those are usually my favorites. For entrees, my wife had the shrimp and grits and these were delicious. I had a filet of grilled flounder which was also great. The service was great and we had a good time watching the street show file by along Bourbon street.
Sunday Dinner: Tommy’s Cuisine: We chose Tommy’s because some time ago we had been taken there by a friend only to be turned away as the wait was too long. We also chose it because it was relatively close by to the hotel. We showed up a little early for our reservation, and were asked to wait at the bar. A while later we were told that it would take some time before our table was ready. Happily for us, we were in no rush and we had no trouble killing time at the bar. When we were eventually seated, some very nice bruschetta was brought out and our waiter came by to explain that they were in fact experiencing an unanticipated shortage of waitstaff that evening combined with a rush of customers. While he was explaining this to us, another customer was standing over our waiter’s shoulder with bill in hand, so clearly they already had some pissed off customers. We put in an order for the Oysters Tommy and were very happy with them. For our next appetizer, we ordered the sweetbreads. These were wonderful. Everything on the plate was perfect. For her entrée, my wife had the duck Tchoupitoulas and the few bites I had were delicious. I had the Veal Marsala and was very satisfied. Our service was actually pretty good overall. I especially appreciated the waiter letting us know to stay away from the crab. It wasn’t something he had to do, and I don’t know that I would order crab right around this time of year anyway, but it is a nice way of building rapport with the customers.