This is a rundown of some of the places we will be hitting in New Orleans this summer. As a family we like to keep things on a budget so we won’t be making it to any of the really high end places this time around, but we are still going to be eating well. So here are the places on our “hit list” and a short description too, I’ll provide an Internet link for those places that have a web presence as well.

Cafe du Monde (http://www.cafedumonde.com/) – Established in 1862 and serving cafe’ au lait and beignets ever since, this historic coffee stand is located on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. An order of beignets includes three of the pillow shaped crispy fried yeast dough squares topped with a generous amount of powdered sugar. It is open 7 days a week and 24 hours a day with the exception of Christmas Day and the occasional day a hurricane passes through the area, in fact it did close for Hurricane Katrina at midnight before the storm hit and remained closed for about two months. During this time the owners took the opportunity to renovate the kitchen while the population was also returning and in the initial stages of rebuilding. The French Quarter location re-opened up to great fanfare on October 19, 2005 and has remained open since. Since the 1980’s Cafe du Monde has opened up many retail locations at local shopping malls in and around New Orleans and the Northshore.

800 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA 70116
Open 24 hours a day, closed 6pm December 24, opens 6am December 26
(504) 525-4544

Palace Cafe (http://www.palacecafe.com/) –  Opened on March 11, 1991 by Dickie Brennan from the famous New Orleans restaurateur family of the same name, this restaurant features a casual dining room but an upscale menu at a moderate price point. Located on Canal Street in the heart of Downtown New Orleans, it is only 6 blocks from the Mississippi River. Some of their famous dishes include the Crabmeat Cheesecake, Andouille Crusted Gulf Fish, and the White Chocolate Bread Pudding is not to be missed. While not on the regular menu anymore, one appetizer that was a hit in it’s early years was Oyster Shooters, the last time we ate there and mentioned it to the waiter he said that it can be requested if called in ahead or while making reservations. Palace Cafe is open for both lunch and dinner, and for brunch on Sunday. Reservations are recommended, but not required, and the dress code is upscale casual and jackets are not required.

605 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70116                                                                                                                  Lunch 11:30-2:30 Monday – Friday
Dinner 5:30-9:00 Monday-Saturday
Brunch 10:30-2:30 Sunday
(504) 523-1661

Quartermaster Store – Located on the corner of Bourbon Street and Ursulines Avenue in the French Quarter this is one of those off the beaten path places that only the locals now about. The Quartermaster is a small corner grocery store that French Quarter residents frequent and it also has a deli in the back that serves breakfast, hot lunch meals and makes some of the best Po-Boys in town. One of our favorites is the Philly Cheese Steak Po-Boy, it is to die for! The only thing is that all the food is take out or delivery and will even bring liquor, beer and wine to your doorstep as well in the French Quarter service area, there is no in-house seating. If you want to go where some of the locals go for a quick take out lunch or Po-Boy sandwich in the French Quarter, this is the place, I guarantee! Prices are very reasonable too!

1100 Bourbon St. New Orleans, LA 70116                                                                                                                        (504) 529-1416

Da Wabbit – Another place where only the locals go to eat and drink, and it is located on the Westbank across the Mighty Mississippi River in Gretna, LA. A neighborhood bar and restaurant with a name like that you can only guess that they would have some rabbit on the menu too! And it is some good eating at this fun family restaurant. It is also known as Cafe 615 Home of Da Wabbitt and it features seafood dishes prepared grilled, fried, boiled, or broiled. The boiled crawfish is some of the best you can get while they are in season which is typically from early spring to mid summer months where they peak typically in the April to May time frame. The Thursday special is typically the fried rabbit with white beans and rice, and is not to be missed.

615 Kepler St, Gretna, LA 70053
(504) 365-1225

What you talkin’ bout der cher? Yup, my true Cajun spirit is soaring since last week I have plugged in a good 4 or 5 dozen restaurant recipes from the 1980’s into the database, my fingers feel the pain too! I also have started planting the seeds for getting some of the great family traditions and recipes from days gone by. My documentation process has started one of my cousins who reside in Acadia Parish, Louisiana to transferring some of the Boudreaux history from her side of the family into digital format, including various legal documents and photographs, she also shared with me a few of the recipes too. Work on the Boudreaux family culinary history puzzle has started!

Oh, about that Cajun Fais Do-Do! I thought I would sprinkle in a little Cajun history, culture, and tradition to help set up the foundation for what I am attempting to discover. I still am not sure what the outcome of all the Boudreaux family research will be, but I hope it is a good add-on to the venture!

In today’s vernacular a Cajun Fais Do-Do is a Cajun Dance Party! But first here is a definition:

FAIS DO-DO (fay-dodo) 1. French colloquial expression equivalent to “nighty-night” 2. A traditional French lullaby; 3. A township gathering where the children are put to bed in the nursery room while the adults party in the dance hall.

If you have ever been to a Fais Do-Do you know you’ll be dancing, and there are always a few folks who will teach you if you don’t know. The Cajun two-step and the Cajun waltz are easy to learn and very popular today, along with the more advanced steps of the Cajun Jitterbug or the Cajun Jig. Typically there is a live band performing some of the songs in the old country Cajun French dialogue. Popular Cajun dance music includes the songs and bands like Jolie Blonde of the traditional Cajun waltz, often referred to as “the Cajun National Anthem,” Allon a lez Chez Freds by the band File’, Diggy Liggy Lo and Louisiana Man by Doug Kershaw, and Love Bridge Waltz and Travailler C’est Trop Dur by Beausoleil. And one of my relatives Nathan Abshire was credited with and responsible for the renaissance of the accordion in Cajun music in the 1940s.

So, what does all that music have to do with Cajun cooking? I think the Cajuns like to eat too ya know! And there is nothing better than being able to eat a bowl of gumbo or a plate of jambalaya in between dances at the Fais Do-Do. As a matter of fact there are a number of popular restaurants in Louisiana that feature Cajun music nightly while serving traditional Cajun fare. Two in New Orleans are Michaul’s on St. Charles Avenue and Mulate’s on Julia Street, both feature the Cajun dance bands such as La Touche, Jay Cormier, and File‘.  

Let the good times roll, or laissez les bon temps rouler! So, you want to get to a Fais Do-Do now, here is a list of Louisiana festivals, and a few of them might have some Cajun food and music too!

Now this is a special treat! Benjamin made this pie (with a little help from his dad)  as a Mother’s Day gift for his mom Monique. And it is a surprise for her tomorrow. We also made some homemade vanilla ice cream for some a la mode speciality!

Blueberry Strawberry Peach Pie 

Ingredients

2          cups     Blueberries

2          cups     Strawberries

2          cups     Peaches, skinned and sliced

¼         cup       Tapioca, instant

1          cup       Sugar

¼         tsp        Salt

½         tsp        Cinnamon

1          Tbsp    Lemon juice

2 ½      cups     All purpose flour

2/3       cup       Butter

½         cup       Chilled water

½         tsp        salt

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 450° F.
2. Combine the fruit in a bowl and add the tapioca, sugar, salt and cinnamon and stir well then add the lemon juice and allow this to sit for 15 minutes.
3. In another bowl cut in half the butter into the flour and then cut in the remaining butter until it looks like cornmeal.
4. Slowly drizzle the cool water into the flour butter mixture until it forms a solid dough mass.
5. Turn out the dough into two equal portions and using a rolling pin flatten out two 10” round by ¼” inch thick pieces of dough.
6. Place one of the round dough pieces into a pie plate and form into the plate. Then with the tines of a fork press in holes to allow air to escape.
7. Pre bake the pie shell for 10 minutes, then remove to cool
8. While the pie shell is pre baking slice about 9 to 10 ½” wide strips of dough for the lattice crust topping.
9. Gently pour the fruit filling mixture into the pie shell and even it out.
10. Then make a basket weave lattice work with the dough strips on the top of the pie.
11. Bake in the oven at 450° F for the first 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350° F for the next 45-50 minutes.
12. Top the pie with foil if it looks like the lattice is browning to fast.
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

The Beurre Blanc or White Butter Sauce is one of those fine French cuisine originated preparations that can be found in many restaurants today. Now there are some variants that chefs will utilize on this one and typically you will see them including heavy cream as a thickening or stabilizing agent for the sauce, but these are not a true Beurre Blanc Sauce. More likely a Beurre Fondue however,  as it was prepared with the addition of the reduced heavy cream in this manner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant when I was the daytime sauté cook. The heavy cream addition to the sauce is commonly known as a Beurre Nantais.

I will include both a recipe from the Columns Hotel for Beurre Blanc as it was prepared on a daily basis while is was a Sous Chef and served with veal, chicken and fish entree dishes. Then I will also list the Eiffel Tower Restaurant Beurre Fondue variant which was used a base for other sauces served with veal, chicken and fish as well.

Beurre Blanc

Yield: 1 quart approximate 

Ingredients:

12        ounces  White wine

2          ounces  Shallots, finely chopped

2          ounces  Glace de Viande (reduced veal stock gel)

½         ounce   Lemon juice

1          pinch    Salt

2          lbs.       Butter, lightly salted

Procedure:

1. Over a medium heat reduce the white wine with the shallots, Glace, lemon juice and the salt by ¾ to almost dry (au sec).
2. While the wine mixture is reducing cube the butter into 1” sized blocks and bring it to room temperature.
3. When the liquid is reduced to the proper consistency remove from the heat and whip in the butter cubes slowly to avoid the butter from breaking and maintain a thick consistency.

Yield: 2 quarts approximate 

Ingredients

1          quart    Heavy cream

4          lbs.       Sweet butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and brought to room temperature

1          each     Juice of lemon, fresh squeezed

To taste            Salt and white pepper

Procedure

1. Reduce the heavy cream by 1/3  to ½ reduction.
2. Remove the heavy cream from the heat and then whip the butter cubes into the reduced heavy cream to incorporate well.
3. Add the lemon juice and salt and white pepper to taste.

This sauce was used at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant as a base for the Grenobloise Sauce or was served over fresh vegetables.