Laissez les bon temps rouler

Last weekend, eight buddies and I got in a van and headed to New Orleans to bid adieu to our pal Josh's bachelorosity. It was four days of things I can mostly not speak of. So here's what we ate:

Café Du Monde Beignets and Café Au Lait













Absolutely delicious, melt in your mouth, fried "donuts" COVERED in pow pow sug sug and a chickory coffee with milk. I missed out on this last year when we were in NOLA so I had to get there this time and I did and it was good.

Commander's Palace



























This is Brian and Shane drinking 25¢ martinis. Yep. Friday's at lunch at Commander's Palace is 25¢ martinis. There's a four limit, but who are we kidding? Who needs more than 4? And now to the food:

1-1-1 Soups













From the top clockwise: Crawfish Bisque, Turtle Soup, Roasted Duck and Andouille Sausage Gumbo. The bisque was different than I've had before in that it was much darker and more savory than the ones I've had, but it was also better than ones I've had before. The turtle soup (my original choice until the sampler was offered) was great. I'd never had turtle before this and it was tasty, but the sherry that they added table side really overwhelmed the rest of the soup. The gumbo was killer. It had pieces of bacon and chunks of roasted duck and andouille sausage throughout. It was super thick and rich. Each of these was really good, but the gumbo took the top prize for sure.

Cochon de lait













Literally translates to "pig in milk". Figuratively translates to "scrumptrulescent". A big ol onion ring with Cajun boudin inside, topped with smoky pulled pork, served with a whiskey reduction. The pork? Tender. The boudin? Tasty. The whiskey reduction? Totally made the dish. I definitely won the battle of the lunch entrees.

Pralines and Ice Cream













Homemade ice cream, whipped cream, candied pecans, cookie bowl and praline sauce. This was Shane's dessert. Really, really good stuff.

Creole Bread Pudding Soufflé













Joels dessert was pretty good. The soufflé arrives to the table nice and warm. They pop the top and fill it with warm whiskey cream. Very tasty, but a little eggy.

Strawberry Shortcake













The season's first strawberries, mascerated in sugar, served with chantilly cream and buttermilk biscuits (that were still warm!!!). It was great. In my opinion, I won both entrée and dessert courses. Overall, Commander's Palace was great!

After lunch, we went across the street to a cemetery. In New Orleans, the underground water level is so high, that they bury people above ground in mausoleums. It was crazy! There were people buried there from the 1800's. There were people buried there from World War's I & II. While we were there, a guy came to pay his respects and started playing the bagpipes. It was really cool and really somber at the same time. A really cool experience.

I was going to regale you of tales of Butcher (this place we ate at that cures their own meat), but I'm tired and going to bed. I'll save that story for another day. Until then, good eats!