More signature New Orleans Eats

New Orleans probably has more signature dishes than any other city (Chicago is probably Second). When I say signature dish I mean not necessarily the best dish but a dish that helps define the city. A slice in New York, A Chicago hot dog, A Cuban Sandwich in Miami, or BBQ in Memphis. In an age of mass culture in everything from music to architecture these dishes become increasingly more important as landmarks of the history and culture of a place. 

New Orleans cuisine is the national mall of local culinary monuments with Shrimp remulode, crawfish ettoufe, the oyster loaf, turtle soup, and countless others. The abundance of fresh Gulf seafood and the mixing of Creole,Cajun, Black, Italian, and Irish culture has left so many treats it was a challenge to decide what else to eat in our short time in the city.

A must have for me was Oysters. Fresh oysters have a clean fresh taste that I simply adore. We headed to Casamento's, a neighborhood place in the uptown area. We quickly consumed a dozen on the half shell. I learned the hard way that some establishments do not clean their oysters so the customer knows they are fresh. After wiping some mud off my face the meal continued. We followed up with an order of fried oysters. In my opinion this is the best way to enjoy Gulf oysters which are blander than blue pointes or pacific oysters. They were fired with care and love and came out perfect. 

We left at closing time and noticed a server preparing a plate of raw oysters for herself.  Not a big deal in itself, but to me a small testament of the reach of the dish as a food of the city for all people.

We had two more quintessential culinary experiences. First, we strolled into Cafe Du Monde the iconic open air cafe in the french quarter for cafe au lait and beignts . A brass band stood outside the cafe entertaining the tourists despite the rainstorm that opened up on them. This may not be an authentic New Orleans experience, but it is a quintessential tourist experience, and hey who doesn't like fried dough. 

Before heading out of town and admittedly  only hours after po boys we treked across the street from Cafe Du Monde and entered Central Grocery for New Orleans other famous sandwich, the muffeletta.  It is my humble opinion that Central Grocery is the only place anywhere that serves up a great version of this sandwich (They were the first too). A Muffeletta is salami, Swiss cheese, and an olive salad between a round loaf of sesame sandwich bread. Like the po-boy the flavorful, chewy, and now oil drenched bread make make this wonderful. It is extremely salty and satisfying.

 Molly didn't want any but I seriously doubted my ability to eat the sandwich, so I insisted she try it. Molly did not return the half.  More Road food pics in this post.