Cochon and Cochon Butcher Shop - New Orleans

What?  It's June??  You have to be kidding me.  I keep having this problem - a function of  being crazy busy and spending lots of  my online time elsewhere I'm afraid.  Facebook and Pinterest are giving me a serious case of ADD when it comes to sitting in front of the computer lately.  We've also had several rounds of houseguests, which is awesome, especially with the new guest room - but it's kind of difficult to sit down and write blogs posts when there are guests to be entertained.   And chocolate croissants to be eaten...

ANYhoo - back to New Orleans - and Cochon.  There were so many choices and so little time, but for various reasons, Cochon wound up being our big dinner out experience of the trip.  We were on a bit of a budget so we stuck with mostly casual noshes the rest of the time - though we would have gone to Galatoires if the maitre'd had not taken exception to the flip flops worn by the gentlemen of our group (with collared shirts, which they specified on their website - sadly, there was no mention of a shoe requirement. *sniff*.) My first quibble with Cochon is that it could have been anywhere.  With it's blonde wood and brick interior, it looked like something you could find in San Diego, San Francisco, DC, or Chicago.  That's not true of most places in NOLA.   We settled in with a couple of delicious cocktails.  My favorite was the "Sacalait Punch" (pictured) Pierre Ferand Ambre Cognac, N.O. Dark Rum, Mathilde Peche Liqueur and lemon juice.  I also liked the "Orange Whiskey" cocktail, with  Buffalo Trace bourbon, Peychaud Bitters and fresh orange juice. 

The menu offers a nice mix of familiar and sophisticated dishes with a little New Orleans flair.  We ordered several starters to share - the "boucherie plate"  - or charcuterie platter, crawfish pie, pork cheeks with spoonbread, favas and fresh herbs, and a salad that wasn't terribly memorable.  The boucherie was terrific, not surprisingly - since they cure all their own meats, which they sell next door.  The crawfish pie was also delicious - a rich, spicy crawfish filling enveloped in a crisp, flaky crust - served with a spicy housemade chutney. 

The pork cheeks with favas and spoonbread were my favorite dish of the entire trip.  The  cheeks were braised and served over a rich, creamy spoonbread (somewhere between a corn pudding a corn bread) and served with a rich jus reduction. 

My main course was the fried oyster and bacon sandwich.  It was good, but I don't know that I'd order it again - you can get an excellent oyster po-boy at any number of places in NOLA and they have some other interesting things on their menu.   It was also hard to eat on two pieces of thin toasted white bread.

James tried the signature dish, the Cochon - shredded pork mixed together with some seasonings and fried in a patty.  This wasn't as good as I thought it should be - the seasoning was a bit too strong for my taste - heavy on the juniper and bay - and it was a bit dry. The cabbage and turnips didn't do much to cut the richness, either.  Those are pork cracklins on the top.   The rest of our party tucked into the Rabbit and Dumplings - which I am told were very good. 

We tried two of the desserts - the Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie and the Butterscotch pudding...

The pie was by far the better of the two. I guess I'm pretty spoiled by the excellent butterscotch pudding at Pizzeria Mozza and Blue Ribbon Pizzeria - but this paled by comparison, literally. The texture was loose and soft, and the flavor just not intense enough.

We returned to Cochon on our last day in town to pick up sandwiches for the plane ride home at Cochon Butcher - just around the corner on the right side of the building.  (They are open on Sundays, though the restaurant is not.)

I get the feeling this is where the locals go - they serve lunch and bar food at a few tables in the center of the room, and do a bang up takeout business with their cured meats and products - as well as of course, sandwiches.



The attractively packaged cured meats were tempting.

And the sandwich menu was too.  I really wanted to try the pork belly with mint, cucumber and chili lime aioli, but we were constrained by lack of refrigeration, so we went with a Gambino and a Cold Roast Beef.  They really hit the spot a couple of hours later, with the little housemade pickles they included. 

I will definitely refer back to this menu for some inspiration the next time I get the idea a hankering to pull out the panini press!

The next NOLA trip is already on deck, for Mardi Gras.  *Gulp*   I can't wait.  :)

Cochon
930 Tchoupitoulas Street
New Orleans, LA 70130-3820
(504) 588-2123
Closed Sundays.

New Orleans Part II {Crawfest, Stein's Deli & Shopping on Magazine Street}

There are a lot of festivals in New Orleans that involve music and food - Jazz Fest comes to mind - but this one was even better in a way. The Crawfest at Tulane might not have involved headliners like Sting and Bon Jovi (?) but it was easy to get in and out of, the music was good and the crawfish even better. To get some, you have to get a wrist band, which entitles you to two (or maybe three) trips to the crawfish trough.

They were boiling up the buggers in the back and dumping them into what looked like a boat on the table, along with corn and potatoes. We brought our own beer (one of the advantages of New Orleans, you can pretty much take it anywhere) and had a lovely picnic on the grass listening to the Baby Boyz Brass Band - featuring high school students (hence the name.) Very good stuff.

The crowd was pretty sparse when we got there around 11. It's a good idea to go early. They run out of crawfish by 1 or so.

These kids had the right idea. Crawfish and a gallon of daiquiris.

In the afternoon, the girls split from the boys, and while they went to the WWII museum, we headed to Magazine Street for some browsing. Mid-afternoon, we we were walking down the street when I spotted some folks eating a fine looking sandwich at a table outside this deli, called Stein's.

We walked inside and I was smitten - with the rough floor, the chalkboard menu, the refrigerators full of delicious ice cold beverages, the works.

Of course we had to order something. This was the "Sam" - hot pastrami with cole slaw, swiss cheese and Russian dressing, on toasted rye. It was every bit as good as it looks. Maybe even better.

I didn't buy anything on Magazine Street - I was sort of tapped out from the Rose Bowl Flea Market (which I still haven't told you about) but we saw some pretty cool stuff. This shop called Neophobia had a nice selection of mid-century modern items at good prices.

Margie and I also fell in love with this art deco solid brass chandelier. I would have seriously considered it if: a) I had any place at all to put it, or b) it wasn't $995.00.

We also saw a lot of rustic garden wares. This one shop had about a thousand of these rusty red chairs sitting around - perfect for your overgrown "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" courtyard.

This is the kind of stuff you expect to find in New Orleans antiques shop - gold, white, French, looking like something out of Interview With The Vampire.

Magazine Street is full of great little boutiques, cafes, bars and gelato shops, so be sure to give it a stroll if you are in the area. You can get there fairly easily from the French Quarter on the St. Charles streetcar - just walk south through the Garden District - which is worth a walk around in itself just to peek through the gates of the mansions!

Coming up next - Cochon and Cochon butcher shop - our main dining out adventure in NOLA!

Springtime in New Orleans

I think it's pretty difficult to go to New Orleans and not have a blast. I've certainly never managed it at least. My first trip several years ago was for "business" - I put that in quotes because I spent all of about an hour in a conference room during the three days I was there. The second time was for Jazz Fest - the late-April music festival that brings huge crowds, probably second only to Mardi Gras, to the city. This time, we went to visit friends who recently moved to NOLA from San Diego after purchasing the classic Double Gallery Greek Revival house you see above. They're fixing it up themselves, and they still have a little work to do (ok, maybe a lot) but the fourteen foot ceilings, original windows and incredible amount of space (4000 square feet and a studio apartment with separate entrance on the back!) had us checking real estate listings within hours - just for fun of course. :)

Our first stop after arriving was Drago's in Metairie, on the way into town. They're famous for their charbroiled oysters, but I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. I love good oysters, but generally don't think they need to be cooked - or that their natural flavor needs much enhancement. I was stunned by how good these were. I ate so many my stomach hurt for hours, and I didn't even care. The oysters are shucked in the open kitchen and placed on the grill topped with garlic, butter, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. They arrive bubbling hot - you scoop them out of the shell with a squirt of lemon - swiping up the juices with the bread. Add a cold beer, and heaven has arrived. We also had some kind of crazy fried shrimp appetizer - tossed in a spicy sauce with peanuts. It was pretty good too, but the oysters just slayed me. There were other worthy meals too, but they deserve their own posts. Coming soon, I promise!

On Saturday morning, we made the obligatory pilgrimage to Cafe du Monde - queen of all doughnut shops - for beignets and cafe au lait. Whenever I come here I can't help but marvel at how much it looks like Disneyland - but of course it came first, and Disneyland was modeled after it. I think Walt Disney was a little obsessed with New Orleans, truth be told, and I can understand why.

The beignets are as irresistible as ever, I am happy to report. That's a double order, pictured above. The mounds of powdered sugar are truly excessive. It winds up all over everything no matter how careful you are. (In the photo above, you can see it all over the floor on the lower right.) Be sure to ask for your Cafe au lait in a ceramic cup rather than styrofoam - it's just so much nicer. Unless, of course, you want to take it on a stroll around the French Quarter...

which, come to think of it, isn't such a bad idea. It really is just beautiful. There's just no place else like New Orleans, it's one of the few cities we have left in the US that has it's own distinct identity.

While on our stroll, we happened on this movie set in the French Quarter. Turned out Nicolas Cage was on set, filming a movie. (Incidentally, this was the same day he was arrested.) I would have been a little more excited about Brad Pitt - who was also in town filming recently - but I guess beggars can't be choosers. New Orleans is actually such a popular film and tv venue that our friends have picked up a little supplemental income acting as extras.

I really fell in love with the New Orleans architecture this time around. These French Creole Cottages, built in the 1800s, sport fun, bright color schemes. These can be found all over town, but are especially prevalent in the French Quarter, Marigny, Irish Channel and Baywater neighborhoods.

Then there are the mansions of the Garden District - like the Benjamin Button house...
and Sandra Bullock's house, right across the street. Brad and Angelina also have a townhouse in the French Quarter.

I know I've made you wait too long already, so I'll be back shortly with the rest of the NOLA posts (probably two) asap. Then we can talk about a couple of places in San Diego and a few other things I've been wanting to get to! xoxo!