NOLA Pt. 2: Evenings on Frenchmen Street

by Erin



Everyone knows about the French Quarter in New Orleans, but just around the corner from the Quarter is an area known as Frenchmen Street, a place where the locals hang and there's music everywhere. I had heard about Frenchmen Street on my first visit to the Big Easy with Xani in 2007, but had never had a chance to check it out until our most recent trip.

One evening we had a work gathering at an awesome bar called Molly's at the Market -- we liked it so much we went back every night thereafter! Molly's is a friendly bar with great drinks including a Pimm's Cup made with ginger beer, a Bloody Mary with a splash of Guinness and pickled green beans, and a frozen Irish Coffee with vanilla ice cream, baileys, and brandy. YUM! We enjoyed these beverages many, many times :)





One of the best things about Molly's is that since we went every night, we became friends with the bartender, who gave us great tips on where to eat and where to go to hear great music. The first time we went to Frenchmen Street we had a list of recommendations from Christie, our bartender at Molly's.



Friends Lydia, Max, and Cezar and I headed to Frenchmen and checked out the menus of a few places we were considering for dinner. Then we came to Adolfo's, a creole-Italian restaurant atop a music venue (a recommendation from Christie, who said it was "quirky and weird with terrible service - but in a good way"). We walked upstairs to check out the menu and were immediately hit with the intoxicating scent of garlic. Needless to say, our decision on where to eat dinner was made. We sat in the dimly lit, cozy space and our waiter explained the rules: no credit cards, and no oysters tonight. Got it.

The waiter brought a plate of garlicky bread while we perused the menu. My friends ordered eggplant parm (very good, cheesy, and spicy), escargots (very garlicky and buttery), and a fish dish topped with shrimp, crawfish, and crab in a creamy creole sauce -- a house specialty.



Eggplant parm - spicy and SO cheesy!



Blurry, buttery escargots



Shrimp with seafood topping, pasta on the side

I got linguine with a creamy, spicy sauce and shrimp and crawfish. Divine! It was just what I had been craving and it really hit the spot. I highly recommend Adolfo's for good, down-home Italian in a laid-back atmosphere.



Spicy, creamy pasta with fresh seafood -- irresistable!

After dinner, we wandered across the street to listen to some music at The Spotted Cat, where St. Louis Slim was playing his steel guitar along with a band that included a WASHBOARD and a tuba! We listened all night long and enjoyed the evening breeze and a beer. Great, great night.



So great, in fact, we tried to recreate it the next night! It was our last night in NOLA and we wanted to go out with a bang. We headed over to Frenchmen Street around 7 to catch some of the earlier acts. We ended up at d.b.a. and listened to two great artists/bands: first we listened to Luke Winslow-King, who reminded me of a young JFK (but hotter), who played some great blues/bluegrass with the same washboard-player/percussionist from the night before!



Next, a band called Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes played some great blues/funk and had the whole crowd on their feet. No shortage of cute musicians here either.



After a couple hours of music and yummy beers at d.b.a. (they have over 20 on tap, lots more from around the world in bottles), we were looking for some late-night eats. We walked about a block to 13, the sister restaurant to Molly's. And sister resto to Molly's = late-night frozen Irish Coffee!!

We got some great food at 13, including Tater Tachos (nachos made with tater tots instead of chips - GENIUS in concept and in name), pizza, a veggie po' boy, and a breakfast burrito. I got the best chicken salad sandwich I've ever had - it was an Asian chicken salad with sesame oil, sliced almonds, and fresh greens on toasted multi-grain bread. A-mazing.



Tater tachos!!



Veg po' boy





Asian chicken salad sandwich on toasted multigrain bread

Some of the best times of the trip were had on Frenchmen Street - great friends, great food, great booze, and great tunes. Can't wait to get back there! And I was so inspired by the great music, I recently signed up for swing dance classes!

More NOLA posts coming soon! Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!

Happy tater tachos -
EP

NOLA Eats: Part 1 - Adventures in Po Boys

by Erin

Hey BCD fans! Remember us? We're those slacker girls who sometimes blog about food...



Anyway, speaking of food, we just got back from one of the culinary epicenters of our country: New Orleans!! A big bunch of us from work (including Xani) were attending the National Urban Area Security Initiative conference (not Xani - she was just there for vacation!) and got to spend almost a whole week in the Big Easy! This was my fourth visit to NOLA (longtime readers will remember previous visits) and my longest visit, so I was ecstatic to spend 5 whole nights in one of my most favorite cities in the world.



Now, we did a lot of eating while in the Big Easy (or, as we came to call it, "The Big Sweaty" since it was SO HOT and SO HUMID), so we'll do several posts about some of the great food we enjoyed. Tonight I'm writing about two of my po boy experiences.

We arrived on Sunday evening, checked into our hotel, and hit the French Quarter, which was about a 10-15 minute walk -- a walk we did often. We tried to hit Johnny's Po Boys for sandwiches, but they were closed. So, we headed to a place called Coop's Place for Po Boys. It was definitely a down-home, local place and we had to wait a long time for a table. We finally got two tables and chowed down!

First we started with a couple bottles of Abita beer, which was a staple in our diet for the week. We started dinner with this sampler platter called "Coop's Taste Plate" that had Seafood Gumbo, Shrimp Creole, Red Beans & Rice, Rabbit and Sausage Jambalaya, all topped with a piece of Cajun Fried Chicken. YUM! The red beans and rice had such a delicious hammy flavor and a great texture. But the fried chicken took the title - it was incredibly juicy, crunchy, and SPICY from all the great creole spices in the coating. Popeyes, you're outta here.



I got a Shrimp & Oyster Po Boy as my main, and while it was great to have some great fried seafood, I was not overly impressed with the sandwich overall. There were no condiments -- no glue, if you will -- to keep everything together.



A yummy mayo or other topping would have really spiced it up. There was some mayo on the shelf next to our table but it was about 90 degrees out and wary of tableside mayo. I tried a little on my sandwich but in the end just enjoyed the seafood, minus the sandwich.





Fried shrimp Po Boy of a colleague; you can see they are very generous with the portions!

A few days later, I ended up on a journey for more Po Boys with friends and colleagues Cezar and Paris (both of whom are great travel buddies, aka great eaters!). Paris had heard about a place called Parkway Bakery & Tavern that supposedly had GREAT po boys. Parkway is located in a part of the city called Mid-City, so we hopped in a cab and arrived a few minutes later. There was a bustling lunch crowd in the sunny, comfortable diner. We stood in line and tried to decide what kind of sandwich to get. Since I always get some sort of fried seafood po boy, I decided to go for a specialty of theirs: the roast beef po boy.

For some reason I was expecting deli roast beef on a bun. Boy was I mistaken. This sandwich (on house-baked bread, BTW) was overflowing with incredible roast beef brisket, plus gravy. And of course I got it "fully dressed" - lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo.



And speaking of being "dressed," I practically was wearing the sandwich by the end of it - messiest thing ever! (Sorry no pics - I was so excited to eat this sandwich I forgot!). I had to eat it with a knife and fork after about 1 bite, but it was so good.

Cezar and Paris got fried shrimp po boys that looked amazing and were overflowing with sweet, crunchy shrimp. We got some regular fries and some sweet potato fries to share and they were both excellent (and you know I'm a fry snob!). Last, Cezar got a piece of rum cake, which he shared with me and Paris. It was very good - not too sweet, not too rummy.



In short, Parkway is SO worth the $10 cab ride across town. It's down-home, delicious, and better than most things you'll find in the Quarter.

More posts about NOLA coming soon! We did a lot of eating and drinking, including one of my new favorite drinks: the Pimm's Cup! Why the hell don't we have that up north?

Happy NOLA eats -
EP

Pit Beef: The Research Continues

by Erin

Readers might recall that a few months ago, I went to Chaps BBQ to try their infamous pit beef sandwich. Since then, I have been to TWO other pit beef stands to try their beef, fries, and tiger sauce. Here are their stories:

Pit Beef Stop #1: The Canopy (9319 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD)

As I mentioned in the Chaps post, I have fond memories of going to Canopy with the BCD family when I was younger, often after a lacrosse or field hockey game. After reading my post about Chaps and my reference to the Canopy, friends Bryan and Laura suggested we hit up Canopy since it was near their house and -- amazingly -- neither of them had ever had it before! I was excited to go back to The Canopy after having been away for so many years. We arrived and the smell of the pit welcomed us.




I ordered my usual: pit beef sandwich, medium rare, with tiger sauce, and an order of their boardwalk-style fries for the group to share. There are no tables at the Canopy anymore (there used to be but since it burned down and was rebuilt, the tables have been removed), so we grabbed a bit of sidewalk nearby and had a little picnic.



Saxton family and their sandwiches!

The sandwich was great - well-cooked, charred on the outside, with a strong smokey flavor from the pit. The tiger sauce was PAINFULLY horseradish-y, but in a good way! Who needs sinus-clearing meds when you have this stuff?



Sunset-lit pit beef sandwich

Bryan and Laura also got pit beef sandwiches, which they also enjoyed. Baby Noelle had her first pit beef too! Bryan reported that the sandwich wasn't big enough for him. I think next time he should get a pit beef sandwich AND a pit turkey sandwich and report back to BCD fans.

Like I said, we shared the fries and while we ate them all (quickly), they were not as awesome as I remembered from back in the day. They just weren't hot enough or salty enough for my taste...



Before...



After!

Overall, a great experience on a lovely spring evening! I loved hanging out with the Saxton family and having a satisfying sandwich, fries, and trip down memory lane. I definitely recommend The Canopy if you find yourself amongst the chain restaurants of Rt. 40 and want a good, down-home, Maryland classic for lunch or dinner.

Pit Beef Stop #2: Pioneer Pit Beef (1602 N. Rolling Road, Woodlawn, MD)



Last week, co-worker and friend Ben suggested that we go to this pit beef shack off of Security Blvd. He couldn't tell me the name, just that there's a shack with "pit beef" written on the side, and that it's really, really good. Amazingly, the Yelpers helped me out (see link above) and I determined that the place is called Pioneer. The reviews echoed Ben's feelings on the pit beef and I was excited to see for myself.



We gathered a crew from work and headed to the shack, which is only open from 11-5, Monday-Saturday. Even on a gloomy, muggy Friday, the line was long and all the picnic tables beside the shack were packed.



Again, I ordered my usual pit beef sandwich, medium rare, with tiger sauce. This time, I also got thinly sliced onions on the sandwich. I'm not a huge fan of raw onion in general, but it IS a traditional topping and I decided to add it on this time at Ben's urging.

The line moved slowly and we moved into the shack foot by foot. It was like waiting in line for a ride and the anticipation was building. I may or may not have danced around a bit in excitement. When I got to the first little window to order, the guy was right there at the window with the deli slicer. I said medium rare, he slices off a piece of thin, juicy, perfectly-cooked beef and hands it to me to sample. Ridiculously good. Needless to say, the excitement dance continued in line on the way to the cashier's window.

One thing (of many) I liked about Pioneer was that they dressed the sandwich for you, so you could just grab it and go. They were also super-sweet and organized, and tried to keep the line moving without being brusk.

We had to take our lunch to go since we had to get back to the office (and also because there weren't really any seats outside) so when we got back to the office, it was go time. Like the sample earlier promised, the sandwich was GREAT! The meat was perfectly cooked, the bun was fresh, and the thinly sliced onion added a nice bite to the sandwich. A slight criticism was that the horseradish sauce wasn't strong enough for me, could have been a lot stronger. But overall, a great sandwich.





Again, however, I was unimpressed with the fries. Is it me? Are my standards so ridiculously high that no one except for Brewer's Art, 5 Guys, and Xani can make fries that I deem acceptable? Perhaps it was because they were not fresh due to the trip home, but I made a point of nibbling them before we headed home for that very reason, and even then I was not that impressed.



Ben got gravy fries, another old-school Maryland treat



So, where does this leave us in the hunt for the best pit beef? I think Pioneer takes it over Chaps or Canopy. The beef had the most flavor and juiciness; I am STILL thinking about that sample they gave me. Although Chaps and Canopy had better horseradish sauce, perhaps I could ask for stronger/more horseradish next time I go to Pioneer to make the ultimate pit beef sandwich. And don't worry, there will be a next time.

If I hit up anymore pit beef stands (recommendations welcome!), I'll be sure to let you know where it falls in the heirarchy.

Viva la pit beef!
EP

Farmer's Market Goodies - Storage Tips

by Erin

Hey folks! We recently signed up to start contributing to the Slow Food Baltimore blog, so check out our first post how to store farmer's market goodies, including strawberries, mushrooms, herbs, greens, and cheese, to make them last even longer HERE.

Mmmm slow food....

EP & X

Black Coffee and a Soda??

by Xani

Let me begin by saying I have NOT received any money, products, services, or get-out-of-jail-free cards to endorse this product. I am endorsing it solely because I LOVE it, it is wonderful, economical, and earth-friendly, and I want all of you to buy one, too!

So, what am I talking about? What product could make me rave like more of a lunatic (and use more exclamation points) than usual? A little something called the Sodastream home soda maker!

"Home soda maker?" you ask, "how is that possible??" Well, let me give you a little info right from their website:

Making carbonated water and soft drinks is simple! Turn tap water into sparkling water in under 30 seconds, with no clean-up. Enjoy the freshness and convenience of homemade soda and protect the environment at the same time. No heavy bottles to carry, store at home or throw away. Fizz to your taste and add the flavor of your choice to make your favorite drink. Simple to clean and reuse. With a variety of colors and silhouettes, you'll be sure to find a soda maker to match with any decor.

Sounds pretty amazing, right? IT IS. I learned about this product from NYC-based buddy and guest-blogger Lauren, who's been a Sodastream aficionado for a few months now. As soon as I got home from our last trip to NYC, I ordered one of my own! I usually drink club soda (seltzer water) at home, and for a while now I've been frustrated that something that is literally just water plus bubbles costs so much, must be hauled home from the store, and creates so much waste. So Sodastream was the answer to my problems! As soon as it arrived I unpacked, assembled (super-easy) and started making my own seltzer, diet and regular sodas, from plain old tap water.

Perks of the Sodastream:
Value: Each liter of soda costs only about $.25 (try finding a deal like that at the grocery store). The initial cost for the machine/starter kit is very low, too. For about $90 you get the machine, 2 1-liter reusable bottles, 1 carbonator cartridge (makes 60 liters of soda), 2 bottles of SodaMix flavors (each makes 12 liters of soda), AND a sampler pack of 12 SodaMix flavors!
Convenience: Soda at your fingertips! No more buying, storing, lugging, running out, and disposing of bottles/cans. Plus, you can make any flavor you want at the touch of a button. Have a craving for cola and your partner wants diet? Make both! Empty carbonator cartridges can be left at your door and will be exchanged (milk man-style) for full ones (or they can be exchanged at local vendors such as Williams-Sonoma and Macy's).
Environmentally Friendly: Check out what SodaStream has to say about how their product can reduce your carbon footprint and save the world! (OK, maybe not, but its so much more than just less bottle to recycle.)
Fun, Easy, Delicious, Customizable: Sodastream is easy and quick to use, uses no electricity or batteries, and takes up very little room on the counter. It allows you to customize the bubbliness of your water/soda-- cool, right? They have a huge range of regular and diet flavors- diet flavors are sweetened with Splenda, not aspartame, and regular flavors contain no high-fructose corn syrup. They have over 30 flavors and I've tasted about 10 from my flavor sampler. While everyone has their personal preference, I'm partial to the Diet Pink Grapefruit (compares to Fresca).

Bubbles!

Soda water and Root Beer

What more can I say about this wonderful product? I'm thrilled with my purchase! I'm spreading the gospel of Sodastream and I urge you to join me! Can I get a witness! Testify!

OK, I'll stop now. But I'll answer questions in the comments, if anyone is looking for more info.

Happy soda-making,

X

Coffee-- it's kind of our thing

by Xani and Erin

Coffee is clearly essential to BCD-- it's half our name! We have a couple coffee-related items to share with you this week, whether you're in the Baltimore area, or anywhere else!

First off, Kahve Koffee, Boston-based coffee company, contacted us recently and offered to let us taste one of their many varieties of coffees. We selected the Peruvian FT Organic Viennese. They shipped us a bag of beautiful, fragrant beans which we ground up and sampled. Very tasty coffee! Khave has a large variety of coffees (which they roast themselves) and teas (if you are into that kind of thing). We highly recommend you peruse their website if you're looking for something exotic, or just looking for a new source for your everyday cup of coffee. Kahve has also offered us an exclusive blogger coupon code to share with our readers. Use "BLOG15" and save 15% of your entire coffee order!

In addition to having coffee shipped directly to our door, we enjoy venturing out into the world to drink a cup here or there. In our most recent article for the Federal Hill South Free News, we reviewed the local spots in our 'hood. We're reposting here for all you Baltimoreans (and visitors) who might be looking for a cup of joe in South Bmore.


First up, there's Koba Cafe (644 E. Fort Ave), a sunny cafe on Fort Ave and, in our opinion, a hidden gem of our neighborhood. We're always greeted with smiles from the staff and patrons alike, and the coffee is really, really good. It's strong and piping hot, and great when paired with a cranberry-orange muffin or croissant (which they'll heat up for you upon request). One of the best parts of Koba, however, is the upstairs section. While the downstairs is bustling with people grabbing their morning cup o' Joe, the upstairs is a serene living room with couches, chairs, and tables -- and free WiFi! We've spent time there to study, read, blog, or catch up with friends. Also a great place to stop after a morning jog to Fort McHenry. Opens at 6:30am on weekdays, 7:30am on weekends.

Next, there's Metropolitan Coffeehouse & Wine Bar (902 Charles St.). Perhaps best known for its awesome selection of beers and it's open-air bar, it also serves a mean cup of serve-yourself coffee. They also have an extensive menu of hearty breakfast meals when coffee alone just won't cut it. Hit up Metro either on a lazy Saturday or grab a cup of coffee on your way to work, on foot or by car.

Perhaps the most popular coffeeshop in our little 'hood is Spoons Coffee Cafe (24 E. Cross St.), a spacious and always-bustling morning joint amidst all the evening hot spots of Cross Street. The coffee at Spoons is organic and free trade, and they have a bottomless cup for $2.15. Also try their specialty coffee drinks -- one of my favorites is the iced mocha. Spoons lists quite a few breakfast items ranging from a variety of Eggs Benedicts to organic steel-cut oatmeal, but my go-to dish is the Huevos Verdes: eggs any way (I get over-medium) over two crispy, crunchy corn tortillas with black bean chili, monterey jack cheese, salsa verde (of course) and cilantro. But get there early and bring your City Paper - there's often a wait. Open every day at 7:00am.

After our article went to press we were reminded by a FHSFN reader about the delicious and exotic coffee at Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen (745 E. Fort Avenue). It has a hint of cardamom which is really special and different. Absolutely worth a try. Also, their food is fantastic and they have lots of yummy vegetarian options. Go check it out!

Last but not least, there's the classic: Dunkin' Donuts (1100 Light St.). My favorite thing about DD is that they'll fix up your coffee for you, no matter how weird you like it -- cream and 4 splendas? No problem. Black with 2 sugars? You got it. And the best part about DD: the munchkins. How can you resist those little guys??

As the weather becomes warmer, check out these neighborhood places, grab a coffee (maybe iced when it's really hot out), and take a stroll around our beautiful neighborhood. After all that snow, we deserve it!

Happy coffee hunting,
EP & X

Springtime for Rollos: Part 2 (or "Puddin' it be Rice?")

by Erin and Xani

After an outstanding first day in NYC, we had more big plans (eating AND non-eating, if you can believe it) for Day 2. We were going to go for a fancy, multi-course brunch but after all of our great meals the day before, we weren't quite ready for another biggie. I said to Lauren, "Isn't there someplace we can go and have a great cup of coffee and a croissant? Somewhere like Bouchon Bakery [Thomas Keller's famous bakery]?" Lauren, with one eyebrow raised, said "Uh, there is a Bouchon. It's like 5 blocks from here." HUZZAH!! We had our brunch place.

On our way over to the Time Warner Center, we met Eliot, a St. Bernard who lived nearby.

When we arrived at the Time Warner Center we went up to the 4th floor to Bouchon Bakery. In addition to our coffee, we ordered a croissant, a corn muffin, a linzer cookie, and a box of donut holes called "bouchkins"! How cute.



The croissant was light, flaky, and buttery - just what we were craving. The corn muffin was good too - slightly sweet, slightly savory, good texture.

The bouchkins were SO good - half had powdered sugar on the outside, half had cinnamon-sugar. Of course, we love our coffee and donuts!



And the coffee was good and strong. Mmmm.

After breakfast, we headed over towards the Museum of Modern Art to check out the Tim Burton exhibit. On our way, we stopped at Anthropologie and purchased a few goodies! Who can resist that place??

The Tim Burton exhibit was awesome. He had all kinds of pieces from sculpture to paintings on canvas to animated videos, plus there were a lot of pieces from his various movies, including Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, and Sweenie Todd. It was REALLY crowded since the exhibit was closing the next week, but it was a great exhibit and we were really glad we could go.

Welcome to the Tim Burton exhibit...

After our museum visit, we needed to go back to the hotel to grab our bags, so while in the neighborhood we grabbed a NY slice at Famiglia Pizza. We got a slice of plain, a slice of veggie, and a slice of white pizza - all were good and really hit the spot after fighting through the crowds at the museum.





Excited for veggie pizza?

We then schlepped downtown to go meet Lauren's boyfriend, John, and his peeps at a bar near NYU. But we had one more stop to make before we did that: Rice to Riches. For three girls who really aren't big rice pudding fans, we were THRILLED to be headed to R2R for a sweet treat. Xani originally heard of this place on the relatively new show on Food Network, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Upon further research, we discovered that this place had approximately 20 flavors of rice pudding, plus about 15 toppings to go on top. Decisions, decisions!





When we arrived at R2R, we first noticed the decor - the place was covered in fantastic sayings and instructions, like "Sleep till you're hungry, eat till you're sleepy," or "Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway." or "No Skinny Bitches!" Our kinda place.

We ordered two flavors of rice pudding with two toppings. First we ordered the French Toast flavor of rice pudding with a crumbly, buttery granola topping (this was the suggested flavor-topping combo on the TV show). Second, we made up our own combo and ordered the Mascarpone with Cherries flavor, plus the most genius topping ever: toasted poundcake CROUTONS! What?! Why didn't we think of that??

Mascarpone with Cherries and poundcake croutons

French Toast with Oatmeal Coconut Granola Topping

Both were excellent - sweet, complex flavors, good texture from the rice and the toppings, and everything was served chilled.

Lauren and Xani about to dig in!

So good EP was a'dancin'

Not surprisingly, we preferred our flavor combo to the one we saw on TV...not that we're biased or anything. It was a great treat but it definitely put us in a rice pudding coma for a few hours.

We hung out with Lauren's boyfriend and his friends for a little while, but then headed to Brooklyn to sit quietly and come out of the rice pudding haze. I'll save our amazing Greek dinner in Brooklyn for the next NYC post. Coming soon, I promise!

Happy rice pudding eating,

EP & X