Tuesday morning, we’re up early and headed to Café du Monde for Beignets and Café au Lait, which is fancy for French doughnuts and coffee with milk. If you’ve ever been to NOLA, you know that the line at Café du Monde is long because everybody who comes here must try the beignets.
My personal opinion is similar to Jimmy Buffet’s. His lyrics are “Don’t like Beignets…Too much sugar and dough, but will play for Gumbo.” I kind of feel the same way. Fancy coffee was great though! Time to walk again, and plan tonight’s dinner reservations at Antoine’s. Damn nice view!!!
Dinner at Antoine's . Antoine's, the oldest restaurant in NOLA, has been owned and operated by the same family since 1840. It has seen the Civil War, World War 1, World War 2, the Great Depression, hurricanes and fires. When you walk up to the door, a very distinguished gentleman greets you and asks if you have reservations. “5:30” I reply. “It's 5:15 now. We start serving at 5:30” he adds, and then asks if we would like to step inside the bar which is attached next door. Another bar? I must look like the wait-in-a-bar type. “Yep,” I reply, “Bar is good. We’ll have one JD and coke, and one Merlot please.” Their timing is perfect. At the last sip, the distinguished guy shows up again and into Antoine's we go. White cloth on the table, old light fixtures, you can tell this place has class. (So far, so good.) The waiter asks if this is our first time at Antoine's. Yes.
Menus are handed out, and it’s time for appetizers to be ordered. I go for the, (ok, get this…) Huitres en coquille a la Rockefeller, or Oysters on the half shell with Rockefeller sauce created, by Antoine in 1889. Viv goes for the gombo creole (yep that's the way it's spelled) which is a rich Louisiana gumbo with blue crab, oysters and gulf shrimp. Now remember I'm from the country, so my opinion may not count for much. Viv’s gombo was good, but the Rockefeller was lacking in oyster department and heavy on the sauce, which was ok. Entrees were ordered, Filet de Gulf Poisson au Vin Blanc, which in English, is Gulf White Fish in a White Wine Shrimp and Oyster sauce, then baked with a light bread crumb and cheese gratin. This was good at best. Viv went with the Filet and Asparagus, which was on a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say a hard 8. Walking away, I had the distinct feeling that Antoine's should rely more on what's coming out of the kitchen than on its history, but hey, what do I know? Walking back to the room we saw a sad sight. Someone's bike was locked to a pole, and the lock worked and so did the thief. “Locks are made for honest folks.” That’s what my Jackdaddy always said.
