Shawn and I had a lovely lingering multi-course meal at Anchovies and Olives.  I do really like Ethan Stowell’s restaurants, but I feel like every time I’ve left one, I seem to have had one dish that was overpowering in some way (like way too much parsley in a risotto once at How to Cook Like a Wolf).  Anchovies and Olives was not this way however!  Each dish was a more subtle mix of flavors of the sea at this Italian-seafood spot.  The oysters were so well accompanied, my beet salad was so well-balanced between crunch, green, beet and anchovy dressing.  My shrimp polenta took the prize however (second from right) – creaminess spiked and balanced with a rich savory broth.  As with all of his restaurants – the space is lovely too!

My buddy Alison took me to Artusi (thanks Al!) – the charming little Italian ‘apertivo’ bar attached to Spinasse.  We had some great small plate snacks (outside of  being a tad surprised by the tuna ‘salsa’ they had with the beets).  I will go back for the fried capers alone and the pickled Jerusalem artichokes made me think of my southern grannie’s infamous pickles of the same root.  The drinks were the stand out for sure though.   I tried the ‘Marinetti’s Automobile’ (above, left) – rye, fig vinegar, some liquors, a touch of cayenne and a cherry, which sounds all over the place as I type it out, but was smooth and fabulous.  The Amaro I finished off the meal with took me right back to that quarter spent in Italy where several meals ended with the Italian bitter liqueurs (the server was spot on with her recommendation of finding something a little off the beaten path – but I can’t remember the name of the one I got!).  Also a lovely space to tuck yourself into when looking for a light meal or drinks.

There was also a  lively meal spent with the gang at KushiBar – a casual spot focused on Japanese style street food eats.  A variety of skewers, ramen and udon – it is a great place to please a group without the typical costs in most of our city’s Japanese restaurants.  The popcorn, the veggie skewers and the squash tempura are the standouts for me.  Thanks so much for all the birthday celebrating this year everybody!

It had been about 4 years since my last New Orleans visit, so on a recent trip there in November trip with my college roommates (Hi PHPs!), I was very happy to visit all my old favorites – mentioned here previously.  But, we also happily sought out a few new spots and as always, New Orleans delivered – especially in the food department!  A few of note to add:

La Boulangerie (4600 Magazine St., Uptown) – Incredible baked goods, and raves of perfection have been heard about their traditional baguettes.

Sucre – a pristine sweets shop, they have cupcakes, gelato and perfect little truffles and chocolates, but we went in for their macaroons, which we found to be lovely.  If memory serves me, the salted caramel, chicory and peppermint were our favorites.

Creole Creamery – an old school ice cream shop vibe, but with a wide spectrum of inventive flavors.

Ignatius Eatery (4200 Magazine St, Uptown) – just a few blocks away from our rental house, we went in looking for a solid lunch in this charming old corner-grocery style restaurant.  We ended up coming away with what was probably our most favorite meal of this trip.  The Shrimp Etouffee was incredible, as well as the Shrimp Remoulade Po’boy.

Willie Mae’s Scotch House Restaurant ( 2401 Saint Ann St, 7th Ward ) -  Historically run by a spitfire of a woman – Willie Mae, still going strong – and is now run faithful to history by her granddaughter.  There was a huge volunteer effort to bring this place back after Hurricane Katrina – and I am so happy I got a chance to check it out.  Dang. Incredible fried chicken! Accompanied by very lovely and comforting red beans and rice, butter beans and cornbread – but it is really all about the chicken, made to order.

The Columns Victory Lounge -  Not a new one for me, but it does deserve a mention, since I have found myself at this timeless gathering spot almost every visit to New Orleans going way back to undergrad. Tuck yourself into one of the rooms of the main floor, or amongst the grand columns on the porch for a cocktail -  this is hands-down my favorite place for a Sazerac Rye.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

So, I won’t bore you with the all the details as to why it has been radio silence from me in the blogosphere in recent weeks, except for one excuse – a 10 day trip to the south – which brings some good food suggestions from afar!  The first half of my trip was to Atlanta, where arguably the best meal of the whole trip happened – at Empire State South.  A beautiful space was created in the 999 Peachtree building in Midtown – including a bocce court in the back – which set the scene for a lovely lingering lunch with the mama and Suz.  The menu, full of southern classics with modern and culinary-school twist, was created by Hugh Atcheson of Athens, GA acclaimed restaurants 5&10 and The National (not to mention some James Beard awards thrown in for good measure) and Ryan Smith (Baccanalia, among others are on his impressive resume).  It was incredibly hard to choose from all the lovely options on the menu – so I opted for a plate of 5 sides, so that I could sample a bit of everything: a cheese-y squash cassorole, brussel sprouts with marcona almonds, collard greens, skillet okra, and a field peas with Carolina rice dish that was a beautiful lemon-tinged risotto type deal.  All of which made this displaced-southerner deeply satisfied in a cure-your-homesickness kind of way.  The vanilla bean lemonade cut the richness perfectly – and the tiny gingerbread whoopie pie for dessert was the perfect bite of sweet to end the meal!

Other highlights of the Atlanta trip were the newly opened Tomatillos – a homage of sorts to long-lost Tortillas that is in East Atlanta – not fancy, but good straightforward stuff.  And the new Wrecking Bar a brew pub that has found its place in the former home of the architectural salvage place of the same name in Little 5 Points.  These guys are serious about beer, and make a lovely “in fashion” as well (thanks Lee!).  It was a great visit with my southern peeps, and a lot of fun was had with the kiddos during the 3-day Halloween extravaganza.  Next stop – New Orleans!

A few weeks back, on that first full-on fall weekend day (by calendar and by weather), my buddy Keasa and I were in need of some comfort food for a weekend lunch date.  (Side note – Keasa deserves a nod as the instigator of this very blog! Thanks, Keas!)  We decided on Skillet Diner – the brick and mortar, tied-down location for the Skillet Street Food folks that airstream around the city and bring poutine and burgers to your neighborhood.  We were met by gingham-clad friendly wait staff  (I wish the friendly part wasn’t worth note or a surprise in this city – but they were all so lovely, I am compelled to call it out!).  Simple by artfully prepared food was on the agenda as we ordered two sammys to split – 3-cheese grilled cheese with fries, and a grilled pb&j + banana with a side salad (at least one ‘healthy’ side had to be ordered!).  The grilled cheese was with brie, cheddar and American cheese – with a swipe of the house bacon jam (we were bacon-curious vegetarians that day and tried it).  Both on challah bread – and both very good, but if we had a wee change we would have made, it would have been to have maybe had the pb&j + banana on a slightly savory bread for contrast (grilled cheese and bacon jam on ever-so-slightly sweet challah was spot-on contrast!).   Everything else that walked past us looked very good – including some refreshing brunch libations and other non-alcoholic ‘frivolous beverages’.  Definitely worth sitting down in the cheery diner of these former nomads!

Okay, so, the Walrus and the Carpenter probably doesn’t need a lot more mentioning (one of the more high profile mentions here) – but we finally checked it out, and it is as good as everyone has been saying!  The experience of the place is definitely half of it – the walk down the side hallway of the Kolstrand Building in Ballard to get to this tucked-away place gives it a bit of that speakeasy vibe, and the small lively dining room surrounding the open kitchen had a great energy to it.  The platters of uber-local oysters on ice – with their wide-ranging definitive flavors and subtleties – are the focal point of the food side of things and a fun experience too.  If you go for Happy Hour, which we did, the oysters are all half price, meaning about a dollar a piece, and with visitors in town, we ordered up four of each of the day’s list to taste.  Incredibly different from each other in distinctive flavors and size – but all that super clean, simple taste of the sea.  We washed these down with reduced priced yummy cocktails – my Moscow Mule in the traditional copper cup on the left – and balanced it out with some earthy Dinah’s Cheese from Kurtwood farm.  It was a great place to grab a snack and a drink before a bigger meal for us – and with the happy hour deals, a great way to take baby steps into the world of bivalves!