Let the good times roll, my friend!
This was my second trip down to Louisiana. Erika and I went back in November to visit her college roommate, Richelle, and we made the trip back this past weekend for her wedding! And it happened to fall on Mardi Gras weekend! Two birds, one stone, one great weekend.
While the trip was not 100% smooth (lost luggage, rain rain rain, tornadoes), we did get to enjoy some of the finer cuisine that Louisiana has to offer. We started off at Parrain’s which is where I enjoyed the following:
Oysters. Gulf oysters. They couldn’t be any more delicious or cheaper. When we visited in November, the oysters were considerably smaller than the ones pictured above. The oil spill reeked some havoc down south but some things that were affected are starting to come back. Like oysters. I can not explain to you how much I love raw oysters. Add a little bit of lime or cocktail sauce and down the hatch they go. Down south they’re served with horseradish sauce, cocktail sauce and saltines. I’m not quite sure if they expect you to make a sandwich out of the raw oyster or not so I passed on all of that and enjoyed the oyster itself.
Boudin balls (pronounced Boo-dan). Boudin describes a number of different types of sausage used in French, Belgian, German, French Canadian, Creole and Cajun cuisine. Boudin balls are the meat and rice rolled up and fried. Served with a horseradish type mayonnaise dipping sauce, these little guys went fast. There are various ways to prepare boudin (refer to Wikipedia if you are so inclined to) but the Cajun style sits well in my stomach.
For my main meal I had a fried oyster poboy. Fried oysters, lettuce, tomato, mayo and served on a French baguette. I believe there was a pickle along side the french fries. The last time I went to Louisiana I had the crawfish poboy. The oyster poboy was a better choice. I barely touched the french fries and concentrated my efforts on the poboy. The oysters had the distinct flavor that I am familiar with but with an added crunch that was oh so delicious. Erika, who is not a fan of seafood, decided to try a bit of the fried oyster. While it was not her thing, she still tried and I give her credit for that. Thanks, Erika! 🙂
I washed everything down with some Abita Purple Haze, the local brewery’s raspberry wheat beer. Light, refreshing and so good.
Moving on to another foodie highlight of my trip:
Beignets! Or, Beign-yays! I HAD to have these! Since going back to New Orleans for beignets at Cafe du Monde was out of the question, we went to Coffee Call (sorry, no website!) in Baton Rouge for a late breakfast. What’s a beignet (pronounced ben-yay)?
“Beignets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians. These were fried fritters, sometimes filled with fruit. Today, the beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar. They are served in orders of three.”
I at them all and could have had more. The only way you would know that I ate these guys would be from the powdered sugar marks on my black pants. Woops 🙂
Inside of Coffee Call. So cute!
That’s about all I hit in Baton Rouge for the time we were down there. Last time I was there I had blackened alligator (SO GOOD but no photo 😦 ) along with everything above. If you ever have the chance to go down south, get some of their local food that they are famous for. It. Is. AMAZING. Who wants to go back with me?
Also, I must not forget –
Congrats to Richelle and Don!!!
(all photos were taken with a cell phone so just imagine how much better it could have been!)
Fooding with Emily 