CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

NEW ORLEANS

Metal Works -- view from roof of Ogden Museum of Southern Art

ARTS-WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

NEW ORLEANS

Woodward Wight

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART2

The first arrival was a loaf of fabulous French bread.

 

Root beer was the beverage of choice – remember, it’s bad to drink alcohol before during a flight – and it goes surprisingly well with classic creole flavors.

 

Our appetizer was met with a bit of suspicion. Crabmeat Cheesecake is it sweet, savory, gimmicky?

 

The answer is no, yes, no. 

 

The signature dish features a pecan crust, wild mushroom sauté and creole meuniere.

 

Rich, yes. 

 

Cloying, not at all.

 

My main was a generous bowl of seafood gumbo, the best I’d had during a week in the Crescent City.

 

My wife Heidi went with barbecued shrimp prepared with Abita Amber BBQ and lemon, rosemary.

 

The large, almost prawn size shrimp were served on toast made of the famed Leidenheimer local bread.

 

We had just ordered a double dark chocolate brownie -- covered with chocolate ganache and served with hot fudge, double cream, and toasted walnuts – when the executive waiter asked us if we had eaten Bananas Foster during our visit.

 

I explained that I’m not a big fan of bananas, so...so we gave into temptation and there we were with our waiter telling us the history of the Brenna’s original -- fresh bananas sautéed tableside in brown sugar and cinnamon, then flambéed with banana liqueur and rum, served over vanilla bean ice cream.

 

I ate my fair share of Bananas Foster and chocolate brownie.

 

Sated, we had the perfect Palace Café experience to salve leaving day with plots for our return to the culinary confections of this Mighty Mississippi River town.

http://www.palacecafe.com

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART 1

 

Since the famed original Brennan’s closed more than a year ago, Palace Café may be the best of the many New Orleans restaurants operated by various permutations of the Brennan family.

 

Certainly, it is the grandest space.

 

Housed in the historic Werlein’s music building, Palace Café is one of the most beautiful adaptive reuses of an historic building in America.

 

The dining room is a perfect blend of high ceilings and a preserved grand staircase and modern accessibility.  An elevator serves wheelchair users well in this airy palace of creole dining.

 

Open since 1991, Palace Café has won a ton of major dining awards while witnessing the revival of Canal Street and the renaissance of the Central Business District as a Garden of Eden of new and old style New Orleans cookery.

 

Casual outdoor seating, during the cooler months, provides a front row seat to the restored Canal Street Streetcar line and all the pedestrian activity along the regenerated grand boulevard that borders both the CBD and French Quarter.

 

We stopped in right at 11:30 a.m. lunch opening because we wanted a fine meal in our bellies before we flew back home.

 

The bowtied and jacketed waiter understood our please for expedient service, so we could make to the hotel and taxi to the airport.

 

Nothing felt rushed, underdone, or hurried during our luncheon in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on Canal.

 

605 CANAL STREET,  504.523.1661  http://www.palacecafe.com

• Lunch
  Monday - Saturday: 11:30 - 2:30
• Dinner
  Nightly, 5:30 - til
• Sunday Brunch
  10:30 - 2:30

MOTHER'S RESTAURANT -- OUR #1 NEW ORLEANS DESTINATION

Mother's Restaurant in New Orleans is so good that we've made four hotel bookings based on the properties being within walking distance of Mother's in the Central Business District.

That's how good it is.

In a city with 100s of good restaurants, we've been known to dine at Mother's once a day for four or five days in a row.

During a recent visit, we braved driving, sideways rain and a tornado watch to make it to the corner of Poydras and Tchoupitoulas for ham, biscuits and a Ferdi.

Mother's has been around since 1938.


Though many know it for its stalwart breakfasts -- served all day -- Mother's serves some of the best lunch and dinner comfort food in Louisiana.

What's a Ferdi?

A Ferdi is the best of all worlds:  Mother's famous baked ham on top of roast beef on top of debris -- the super well done juicy drippings of the roast -- on top of a huge po boy bun.

You can get it dressed with lettuce, tomato, yellow and creole mustard.

But we prefer to get it as is -- why would you want veggies and mustards to get in the way of all that meaty goodness?

The biscuits are huge and come stuffed with egg and meat if you chose them.

The meat is three kinds of ham -- baked, fried and Mother's delicacy: black ham...those sweet, crispy, intense end pieces.

Mother's is 100% wheelchair-accessible.

MOTHER'S RESTAURANT 401 Poydras New Orleans, LA 70130

Tel: (504) 523-9656                http://www.mothersrestaurant.net