thanks fyht.com!

New Orleans dining has the whole world talking. All of the amazing food from Louisiana style food poboys, gumbo, jambalaya, pastalaya,  (this list is probably too extensive for this sentence)  to world class French, Vietnamese, and French Vietnamese (Tamarind) cuisine speaks for the great selection we have.

Unfortunately such these food selections aren’t available out at work in the little town of Gramcery, thus recently I  started to eat alot of donuts and poboys. This food was great in my mouth, but started to show on my stomach and cheeks. In the past I had in the past lost 75 lbs to the South Beach Diet, evading a life of cholesterol medicine and kick starting my energy level that got me back into playing Ultimate Frisbee. Thus soon after my birthday this year (2012), I decided to have a kickass party with beer and crawfish boiling then jump into the diet the next day.

Now my question is where do I go out to eat? This diet is a great money-saver when making all of your food at home, but sometimes I want to eat out for social or laziness reasons. I’m starting a list of South Beach restaurant finds in New Orleans. Check it out, or don’t ….

It seems that in Wisconsin, cheese curds are as popular as cheese itself. And trust me, cheese is popular. What makes mozarella cheese curds even better? FRYTHEM! Oh yeah. Fry the little suckers. Delicious.

Had these little guys at Great Dane Pub & Brewery Co. They were delicious. Cheese curds will squeak while you eat this, and this was in interested combination of melty and squeaky mozzarella.

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These are some cool cupcakes from Sweet Impressions in Madison, WI.

There was mac and cheese, pasta, burger, mash potatoes, peas and corn, and nachos. I’m sure they could do whatever you want. Looks awesome!

What is the best part about travelling? The food. You can argue that beautiful views or art is a good reason to travel, but let’s do the math. You can see (1 point), maybe hear (0.5 points),  and maybe feel (0.5 points) beautiful views or art. Now lets look at food. You taste it (duh, 1 point). You smell it (1 point).You feel it (1 point). You see it (1 point).  And in madison, when you have squeaky cheese curds, you’ll hear it (1 point). Tally it up: Food Wins!

Anyhow, enough about that silliness. I was in Madison to check out what I hear is an amazing farmer’s market, which was at it’s peak on the Saturday of July 4th’s weekend. And my sources were correct. The farmer’s market here is definitely awesome. It’s a weekly farmers market that circles around the capitol. There must be over 200 venders, mostly selling veggies, plants, flowers, cheese, honey, and other farm products. I even got some popcorn kernels to pop later!

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Why do people go to Jazz fest? Is it for the music? Not always. Is it for the art? Sometimes. Is it for the food? Definitely.

The food at Jazz Fest is amazing. The vendors have to serve thousands of people a day, stock just enough food to sell out near the end of the day or festival, and deliver delicious food in order to make people want to come to their restaurant or back to their stand at the next festival. Believe me, after having some Jazz Fest food, you’ll definitely come back next year.

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Today at Jazz Fest, I remembered one of the two reasons I made 504eats: I love living in New Orleans. Nothing about my blog said New Orleans, so I recreated the theme tonight. It’s Black, Gold, and Fresh. There may be a little more touching up, but I like the new look.

On other news … the food at Jazz Fest, although expensive, is delicious. Crawfish Monica, Crawfish Beignets, and Oyster Patties are among the few delicious treats I sampled today.

I saw this funny little creature on the walk to Jazz Fest (I’m fortunate to live in walking distance of this awesome event).

Normally you don’t see roosters living in such an urban setting.

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Planning a trip to New Orleans? Just got into town? New to the city? Bored of what you usually eat here? Check out my new page: 504eats Places (504eats.com/places).

I spent alot of time and money finding great food in the city, and I finally made a list of most of the places I know. This page is pretty resourceful, so check it out.

I hope you didn’t missed Poboy Fest this year. And if you made it to the festival, then you’ll wish you had what I had. I think one of the best part of the whole shebang was that all of the poboys were only about $6. So cheap! Yet so delicious ….

Here’s my first poboy of the day. If I was on a deserted island and could only eat one thing, I could only hope to be so lucky to have this bbq oyster poboy from Red Fish Grill (only $6). The idea of bbq oysters on poboy was made my mouth water with so much anticiipation that I couldn’t wait to take the picture before having a bite. 

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John Besh is a food god in New Orleans. Although he has several restaurants to his name, he has proven with each one that he can master any type of food even though he is best known for his Cajun and southern food. Clay and I have been poring over Besh’s new cook book, My New Orleans, but alas, we still can’t afford to spend $24 for shaved truffles or heirloom tomatoes for some of the recipes. So, we were perhaps overly excited when we heard that Besh had recently opened an Italian restaurant within our poor college student price range.

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Cooking greens is so tough, right? First you cook some bacon or just heat some oil. Then you either have to either sauté the greens fast or simmer them slowly. I’ve been wanting to add some veggies into my diet like collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, or kale.  And with access to an urban garden or a community garden, I could possibly get some broccoli greens or brussel sprout greens. There are many delicious ways to prepare greens which I would do while entertaining, but sometimes I just want to toss them into something and press a button.

Wait a second, I can totally do that with a rice cooker! Now thinking back, there was a Pot O’Greens episode on Good Eats. If I skip the turkey leg, and use the rice cooker to simmer the stuff, I could make some tasty greens. I could even toss some hard veggies on top like potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, mirlitons, beets, or rutabagas. Maybe even some broccoli, zucchini, or squash.

That was what I thought of before I first did it. This is the 4th or 5th time I’ve cooked greens this way, and it’s turned out pretty well. This time I made kale, sweet potato, turnip, and mirliton.  Read more »