I had a bunch of things to do on my week away but managed to hit a bunch of hot spots during my spare time. After all, isn't the pace of life down there supposed to be more civilized? Highlights.
There's a Stop & Go convenience store at the S end of Sunshine Bridge (rte 70), where I had some good boudin, a tasty meat pie (just like a Cornish Pasty), and crawfish pie which was crawfish and cheese sauce packed into a roll. A definite keeper, this place.
Oak Alley Plantation, near Vacherie on the south side of the river, is one of the most majestic antebellum homes - certainly more tasteful than Nottaway upriver in White Castle, which is the biggest, and better built, situated, and preserved than most of the others.
Took a good long time to go through the place and tour the grounds. We walked around a good bit and were ready to head into town for lunch: unfortunately on I-10 there was major congestion, so we backtracked to Airline and wended our way to the garden district and
Pascale Manale's. More oysters, of course, and as one of us had never had squid, we ordered fried calamari, which were disappointing - clearly from a bag bought frozen from a food service outfit; I've tasted that kind of breading far too many times at mediocre bars.
Turtle soup was okay, but the roux was too light, they used orange peel in the seasoning, and there was too much sieved egg on top: the saving grace was the little jug of sherry (about a glassful) that they offered to adjust the flavor - I used about a teaspoon of
sherry and a teaspoon of, you guessed it, Tabasco, which gave the proper heat but made the soup a bit vinegary; oh, well. The shrimp creole had no complexity of flavor - too much celery and raw tomato flavor, a major disappointment. The restaurant is famous for its
BBQ shrimp, which is really shrimp broiled in garlic butter with Tabasco and Worcestershire (plus an insignificant amount of secret ingredients). It comes either as a plate (complete with shells, heads, and a bib so you don't mess yourself too badly) or as a sandwich,
which is about 8" length of bread hollowed out and filled with shelled shrimp and a copious amount of sauce; these were good, but I could do as well. I ordered oysters Dante, which is essentially ziti in garlic butter with a few seasonings, a bunch of Parmesan, and a
half dozen nicely fried oysters on top: a good dish. Then it was back to the Quarter and Cafe du Monde for more beignets for dessert.