I’m Thinking Out Loud something very simple today: thank God for spandex! Have you ever eaten your way through New Orleans? If you follow me on Instagram (here), you know I sure did last week. I was a little afraid I wouldn’t fit into the only pair of jeans I brought, but spandex is our friend sometimes.
Since I just got back and you never know when you might end up in NOLA, I’m sharing the good eats we found. This will be photo intensive and drool worthy. You’ve been warned!
Food Tour
Food tours never disappoint us. It’s a good way to get your bearings, learn a little bit that you didn’t know, and eat good food. We had a fabulous time with Tastebud Tours and our guide Libby, who is a 10th or so generation NOLA native and has her own tour company, Lucky Bean Tours.
We started with the brisket po’boy at Tujagues, which came with a side of history about how po’boys came to be. It did not disappoint and that horseradish sauce can sure clear your sinuses!
Next we stopped at The Old Coffeepot. It’s a lovely restaurant and the food was good, but we waited . . . and we waited . . . and we waited. We had gumbo, jambalaya, and calas cakes.
I’m glad we got to try the Calas cakes, since I’d never even heard of them. I want to recreate these at home, although interestingly, the recipes I’ve looked up show them as fritters, not the cooked rice cakes we ate, which I really enjoyed.
I think the Muffulettas were actually the highlight of the tour, although all the food was really good. We ate them out on the riverwalk, which was a nice touch.
While our guide picked up our sandwiches, we got to explore The Spice and Tea Exchange — turns out this is a chain, which I didn’t know at the time. I bought some teas, naturally.
Our final stop was at Lara’s Candies for Pralines tastings; the store offered a 10% discount, and we always like to bring something back for our pet sitters, so we took advantage of the discount. I must have eaten my weight in Pralines while in NOLA — it seemed every store had their version out for tastings. Of course my favorites were the chocolate ones.
And that was just one day!
All.the.carbs
Well, I was there to run a half marathon, after all. I’m not sure that really justified everything I indulged in, but New Orleans sure does have some good food, baby. I think I heard “baby” a lot more than y’all.
One day we were both up early so I dragged Mr. Judy over to Cafe du Monde. We had been to NOLA once, pre-Katrina, but it was so that I could attend a conference (as a blogger, but not a running blogger, obviously) — so while we’d eaten at the Cafe Du Monde in the Riverwalk Mall, we’d never eaten at the original location.
I think we got there around 8 am and while they were somewhat busy, we were able to walk in, sit down, and be waited on, rather than having to stand in a crazy stupid line. There was a pleasant breeze coming in off the river and we enjoyed every bite (it’s cash only, by the way, although it’s also quite reasonable).
Mr. Judy had a groupon for Winks Bakery. They didn’t open until 9, and actually, they were having some employee problems, so it was a little later. And it was totally worth it.
Winks is famous for their buttermilk drops. What’s a buttermilk drop, you ask? A big donut hole. That’s what’s in the box. I wasn’t blown away by the original, but the flavored ones? Yeah, baby. That morning the cream puff was calling my name. It was divine, too.
Of course I had to carb load for my half, too. I took Tricia’s recommendation and we went to Big Pie Pizza. Even though I’m not really a fan of New York style pizza (despite having been born and lived most of my life in NY), it did not disappoint. We just got a simple cheese pizza and garlic cheese sticks (which have now guided me to 2 PRs — wish that could work every time!).
And then there was a lucky find up in the Garden District: The Rum House. We were just walking around in search of a mug for me, when we walked by this restaurant with what looked like amazing food. We walked on by . . . and then came back, and thank God we did, because the food was amazing.
We shared the Sweet Potato Crab fritters and the Jamaican Beef Patties, which were like empanadas. And then I had an amazing sweet potato beet goat cheese salad while Mr. Judy enjoyed one of their tacos.
If you get out to the Garden District, I highly recommend this restaurant!
Our last day in NOLA we walked around the Warehouse district a bit and I made a beeline for Bittersweet Confections. Some woman in front of me nabbed the last Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake. The nerve of her!
I got a cookies & cream cupcake and a chocolate chocolate chip scone. Both were yummy.
There’s more to life than carbs
Another restaurant a couple of people recommended was The Ruby Slipper. So we went for brunch one day. It was a few days before my half, still, and I decided to be slightly virtuous and got Migas. They were good, but not quite like the Migas I was used to in TX. The portion was very generous, though, and I actually ate them for lunch the next day (yes, the day before my half!).
There were so many things to choose from, so many things I wanted to try. It wasn’t an easy decision. I’m not sure Mr. Judy really wants to go back to NOLA, but some day I’d like to!
I had wanted to try to eat lunch at Commander’s Palace, but it just didn’t work out. However, walking home one day, I noticed a restaurant named Sobou (a Commander’s Palace restaurant). I looked them up when we got to the hotel, and it got very good reviews. And for good reason.
I got the Boudin Balls and the Cracklin’ Crusted Yellowfin Tuna Tacos. So good. And then the Chocolate Coma Bar. I mean, seriously — how could I skip that? It was probably the best dessert we had in NOLA, which is saying quite a bit!
Go for the race, stay for the food!
Come run Utah with me
Don’t forget that code crj15 gets you 15% off of your registration for the Utah Valley Marathon (your choice of three race distances). The price goes up on March 2, so register today!
I’m running the half, and quite a few other bloggers will be racing, too.
Disclaimer: I make a small amount of money if you register using my code.
Bandit update
Well, obviously we didn’t see the furkids last week. Although Bandit’s pet sitter sent us this photo of Bandit — I cropped out the dog he was playing with. Apparently he got along great with a couple of the dogs there. We were joking that we have a gay dog (because he doesn’t play with Lola, who is dying to play with him).
Lola, OTOH, apparently helped herself to some hot dog rolls that were on a counter where she was staying. Thankfully she didn’t actually eat them — or have time enough to eat them, I guess — but she did nest with them.
I think next week I’ll be rounding up some of the stuff we did while in New Orleans.
Talk to me. Tell me in the comments:
Do you have a furkid that likes to bring stuff to their bed?
Any great NOLA restaurants to add?
Ever tried a food tour?
I’m linking up with Amanda at Running with Spoons for her:
WOW! You hit a lot of really great places!!! I hadn’t heard of some of them so I am cataloging those for the next time we head down there. I’m glad you had fun and made it to the Ruby Slipper!
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Well, food was about the only thing my husband was interested in there!
I wrote this post to hopefully help out others. 🙂
Unfortunately my slight flu-like symptoms now might just be detoxing from all the sugar, carbs, and fried foods — but it was worth it!
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Well, it certainly looks like you enjoyed the food in NOLA (I am drooling). Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your activities. I was there years ago and other than Café du Monde didn’t do much food tasting – we toured the plantations, cemeteries, gardens, museums, etc.
I have only taken food tours in NYC and still haven’t done them all.
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Since I was there previously for work, too, we didn’t get to see too much. Or at least I didn’t. Made up for it this time.
I’ve done food tours here (Saratoga), NYC, & Seattle previously. We like to eat. 🙂
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Sorry about you’re being sick. I almost contacted you yesterday since I had the day off to run. I am running also today at the Crossings (4:15) if you want to come.
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It’s somewhere between sick & well. Really, I just need a little rest, so not running yet. It’s unfortunate I’ll be doing a lot of stair climbing at my parents this weekend (and probably will run down there).
Maybe next week.
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ok. maybe it will warm up eventually. supposed to snow Fri & Sat.
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I’m aware of that, unfortunately.
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New Orleans is my favorite city (though I haven’t traveled much). We haven’t been since 2000. Plans to go for our 30th anniversary in 2006 were squashed by Katrina’s arrival. We hope to go some time soon.
You can’t go wrong with the food there. It is food Mecca. All of the delicacies you mentioned look fantastic. (I have a recipe for mufalleta; not quite as good as the real deal but comes close. You’re right about Cafe du Monde. The Riverwalk venue doesn’t have the ambiance of the original. Just sitting there under the canopy enjoying the breeze, the beignets and the cafe au lait is one of my fondest memories.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experiences. (Insert love emoticon here).
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I actually was supposed to talk at a conference once (the one & only time I’ve ever been invited to do so). I worked so hard on it — and then a hurricane (not Katrina) was supposed to hit that weekend.
It was such a tough decision but I backed out at the last minute, and of course the hurricane wasn’t a bad one. So years later when Katrina hit, I guess I thanked my lucky stars (and Mr.Judy).
Although the guides made a point about the French Quarter not flooding.
The food was excellent. And so was the weather (except for my race).
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It looks like you had a great food time in NOLA. The only things that look good to me are the pizza, cupcake and migas. I’m glad the furkids had a good time, too.
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All of the above were good to great. I’m a little spoiled with Migas from TX, so they were just slightly disappointing — they were still good, though.
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Café du Monde is on my bucket list, for sure. All of your food looks amazing, and I may have gained 5 lbs just reading this post, LOL!!!
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The real miracle was that I gained just under a pound. I went knowing I’d probably gain a couple, and I was ok with that.
Almost all of the food was shared.
And I am sure that you’d love it all, Michelle!
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That’s even better!! In all of our eating adventures since my hubby returned, I gained back every single lb. I lost while he was gone, LOL. I started running again last week, just a couple miles, a couple times a week but it’s better than nothing! Slowly but surely I’ll get back at it regularly.
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No doubt you lost weight because of the stress. I lost weight while caretaking my mom last fall.
I’m not quite sure how I managed not to gain a lot, but I was pretty active — I ran a couple of times before the race and did a lot of walking most days.
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You are right…I’ve never been a “stress eater.” I’ve always lost my appetite when stressed. I’ll take the extra lbs. over weight any day, LOL!
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Cafe du monde is the best!! THanks for sharing! I just joined thinking out loud!
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I know I rely a lot on other blogs for info on places I go to, so I’m happy to return the favor!
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Oh my gosh — delicious looking food in Every. Single. Photo. How many days were you there, again?!
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We were there a week. 🙂 That’s how I like my racecations! I’m not trying to just tick off 50 states, I really want to experience them.
Of course 2 days were travel, so 6 days in reality.
I didn’t share the food that was just ok — there was some, but most of it was really good.
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I can’t believe that I have never been to NO! All that food looks amazing. My husband loves the food tours. We once did a pizza food tour I had never eaten so much in my life!
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I can’t even imagine a pizza tour. I would have to run a half after that! I’ve had pizza as part of a food tour, but never as its main focus.
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YUM all that food looks amazing!!
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It was. 🙂 I only shared the really good stuff (which was most of it, LOL)!
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You really did eat your way thru New Orleans! You found some real treats! My favorite place this visit was the Pelican Club- loved it! You can’t go to wrong in this city!
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We did share most things. 🙂
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One of the best things about racecations is all the food!! It all looks so amazing! Glad you had a wonderful time!
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Thanks, Paula!
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