Monday was our last full day in New Orleans. I suppose all good things must come to an end. We had an early lunch at St Roch Market.
“St. Roch Market is a southern food hall featuring a diverse lineup of food and beverage purveyors. Open daily, we offer a unique dining experience along with great shopping and an excellent craft cocktail bar. For entrepreneurs, the Market represents the ultimate platform to grow a food brand and build consumer exposure.”
We had some excellent Bao and a quinoa salad. The Bao on the left is the Duo – Stir fry mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, fried onions, spicy ponzu. On the right is the Chairman – Roasted pork belly, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, spicy ponzu.
After St Roch we headed over to the Louisiana Music Factory on Frenchmen Street. This is a local music store that specializes in local Louisiana music. The Creole String Beans were just starting a concert in the store and played through their new album.
From the music factory we embarked on the traditional French Quarter ramble. First stop was at Miss Molly’s for a frozen Irish coffee. Then stops at Diana’s favorite New Orleans themed stores – Razzle Dazzle, Roux on Royal etc. We picked up some chocolates at Sucre and then headed back to Frenchmen St via Tableau.
For our last meal on Tuesday we had lunch at a relatively new Israeli restaurant on Magazine Street called “Shaya”. The annual James Beard restaurant awards were presented on Monday night and this restaurant won “Best New Restaurant in the U.S”, a very prestigious award.
http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2016/05/shaya_best_new_restaurant_jame.html
From the restaurant website:
Shaya is an innovative restaurant with a warm and welcoming approach to the dining culture inspired by Chef Alon Shaya’s Israeli upbringing. Chef Alon sees modern Israeli food as a grand mosaic, drawing influence from North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Greece. The food of Alon’s heritage represents a country rich in diversity of cuisine and culture, inspired by years of tradition while also looking to its contemporary future. The menu at Shaya reflects the ongoing evolution of Israeli food, while celebrating the abundance of Louisiana, and Alon’s close relationships with local farmers, fostered by his ongoing work with the Crescent City Farmer’s Market. In keeping with the the ethos of all of the Besh restaurants, Shaya uses seasonal, responsibly- and locally-sourced ingredients.
Similar to Alon’s other establishments in New Orleans, the wood-fire oven is central to both the menu and the dining experience, starting with the incredible homemade, wood-fired pita. To create the menu, Alon looked to his past (many recipes are those that he cooked with his grandmother), and his recent travels; in 2014, he spent time in Israel immersing himself in the vibrant culture and cuisine of his homeland. Many of the dishes on the diverse menu are meant to be shared.
We sat on the back patio and enjoyed one of the few pleasant and dry days during our visit. I had the falafel sandwich and Diana had a delicious lamb kebab (my favorite after the lamb ragu hummus.
On Wednesday we received the next Blue Apron delivery and continue to really enjoy the meals and the cooking experience. On Wednesday we had crispy cod tacos with chipotle cabbage slaw. I added all of the pepper sauce to the coleslaw and it was a bit too spicy for comfort.
Saturday was Pork Tteokbokki with asparagus and spicy black bean sauce. It also included Korean rice cakes which had a chewy but crisp consistency like the Korean Bao sliders from a few weeks ago. This was my favorite of the three meals this week. On Sunday we made Spring Chicken Fettuccine with sauteed asparagus, kale, and rosemary. Alicia commented that the kale tasted much better than she expected and for a while she didn’t even notice the asparagus that she was eating.
We had a surprise guest for the weekend. On Thursday night Diana heard from Paul Castle Dine (PCD) in Australia. He let her know he was coming to Dallas from Sydney for the weekend on his way to Raleigh, NC and was hoping to stay with us. PCD worked for Diana when she was in Australia and they became great friends.
We learned when Paul arrived that while he was in the air for 16 hours from Sydney to Dallas, his Raleigh plans had changed and he was to go directly to London. He is taking a new job with Cisco in London supporting a huge new deal with Barclay’s bank and is moving there from Sydney sometime soon.
On Saturday morning I took PCD for a haircut and then a beer at Delaney’s (our local Irish theme pub). We sampled the Franconia beer made locally in McKinney.
Then a late lunch at Rye in downtown McKinney. I tried the barrel aged Negroni cocktail which was much smoother and tastier than I was expecting.
On Sunday we had Tari and Bill over for a mother’s day brunch. Tari was PCD’s boss in Australia immediately before Diana – so he had his two “chiefs” together. Tari and Bill are in the midst of a downsizing move from their home in Allen to a private lake community in Gainsville.
What we anticipated to be a quite week after returning from New Orleans, picked up steam over the weekend. It was great to host PCD – he’s such an easy guest and hilarious company.