A couple friends and I went down to NOLA a day early to do some eating and drinking before heading to the middle of nowhere for a week. After checking into our hotels, we hit up my favorite place in the Big Easy: Café du Monde! We enjoyed some beignets and amazing café au laits, and I taught my friends how to eat the donuts without inhaling all of the powdered sugar – a skill required if you’re going to enjoy many a beignet.
Last time I went to this NOLA seafood staple (and, admittedly, probably a tourist trap like Phillips…), Xani and I had to wait in line for quite a while, but this time, we waited about 10 minutes (thankfully under an awning out of the rain) and were seated.
One of Acme’s specialties is oysters (duh) so we got some raw oysters and some fried oysters to share. Of the four of us in our party, I happened to be the only one who had ever had oysters, so it took some coaxing to get my buddies to try them. We started with the fried oysters: they had a great crunch from the not-too-thick coating, and a bit of that oyster flavor came through. They were served with a spicy remoulade sauce which was a great compliment.
The next day the others flew in from Baltimore and we spent a few hours in NOLA before heading out to Thibodaux, about an hour outside of NOLA. We spent the week working on houses, hauling dirt, building a sub-floor, and painting, measuring, and installing floor molding. The H4H folks were wonderful to work with, and we got to meet and work with the people for whom we were building the houses.
The best thing of the night was definitely, without fail, the etouffee – it was creamy and rich and shrimpy and absolutely delicious. The potato salad was some of the best of my life, and we had had similarly outstanding potato salad several other times during the week – it must be a thing down in the bayou. Potato salad is the new fries, I guess?
The burger was very flavorful and spicy, and the caramelized onions and gravy were a great and different addition. It was a pretty sinful dish, but I had hauled dirt all day, so I didn’t feel so bad.
The food and the company at Bubba's II was great, as we got to chat and reflect on our week together. After dinner we headed into the bar area where most of the gentlemen were watching some football game, and I joined several ladies for a rousing game of DOMINOES! We played all week and it was so fun! I can't wait to get a set for us to play with at Blackacre...
Team Dominoes!
It was a great trip down south to do some mitzvot (good deeds), make great friends, and have a few good meals. Thanks to Habitat and everyone for making it such a successful and fun-filled trip, and special thanks to friends Jenny and Veronica for being our fearless leaders!
The whole building crew!
What a great trip. You are totally inspiring. I need to do some serious mitzvoh! And yummy food (fried anything) is a bonus.
ReplyDeleteLook at all that beautiful fried food! YUM
ReplyDeleteNeed to make a trip to NOLA!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post :D I wish I could have gone early for the raw oysters. Looks like we'll have to plan something here in Baltimore/MD for the spring!
ReplyDeleteetouffee is the new jumbalaya! i want some right now-- please?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for doing a great service!
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this post? I blame it on Bloglines! A shame you couldn't make it to Dooky Chase, but you got to eat etouffee and oysters! (I love etouffee, and used to make a pretty good one, but somehow I've lost my mojo.)
ReplyDeleteSo did Aaron really enjoy that oyster? He looks very contemplative....