Food Friday - Louisiana Bistreaux

As you may know... or may not know since I wasn't blogging at the time... my sweetheart and I took a trip to New Orleans to welcome in the New Year this year. My friend, Purple Michael (long time blog readers will remember him) now lives there and had extended an invitation for me to visit. Marvin happens to LOVE New Orleans and it had been such a crappy year for the two of us that we really wanted to start the New Year together, doing what we enjoy. So Marvin took a few days off work and we spent a few glorious days soaking up the fabulousness that is New Orleans.

That trip to New Orleans was nothing short of magical for me. I honestly thought that I would never see Michael again. It's so hard for me to travel... I would never attempt to do it by myself. Michael has family in the Atlanta area so he comes back often but not as far north as I live and his family is so large that he really doesn't have time to take the two hour detour to see me. I was so thrilled just to see him ... anything and everything else that happened in New Orleans was just powdered sugar on the beignets.

It was the longest amount of time Marvin and I had ever been together and I'm such an introvert. I worried that I would get grumpy because of pain. I worried that I would drive him crazy on the drive because of my need to pee every hour on the hour. I worried that I would smother him. I mean... it's one thing to have a lady alienating your space two or three days a week but we were going to share a full size bed (instead of his king size) for five days. Despite my concerns that Marvin and I would come back absolutely sick of each other, it was the opposite. We were still singing together at the top of our lungs as we came dragging back into town in the bitter cold... and I was developing a bitter cold of my own.

When I remember that trip, I think of New Orleans as the place where some of the best things in my life collided. My best friend and my boyfriend in the same room... and then you add in the unique flavors of New Orleans. Not just the food... but the music, the spirit, the attitude of the city... history, culture, sights and sounds and smells and... well, the food! The food was incredible! One thing I truly love about Marvin is that HE KNOWS good food! Sorry for all the exclamation points but truly! Man can eat! And he makes sure that I eat. He appreciates my curves so I don't worry about judgement when I reach for that second piece of bread or another bag of pralines. I can be myself. I can eat as much as my belly can handle and we created some really awesome food memories.

ALL OF THAT... to say that our lunch date on Wednesday was a little sprinkle of that New Orleans magic right here in Atlanta (minus Purple Michael). Marvin decided we would take a little road trip to a restaurant called Louisiana Bistreaux. He had been to the location near the Atlanta Airport - about an hour away- but fortunately one had opened up a little more than half an hour away in Decatur so it was really just a little short jaunt. I snapped a few photos of our food so I'll post them here. Here's a link to the restaurant if you'd like to check out the menu... that's one of my favorite things to do - read menus.

 

We started with warm sourdough bread. Bread is so basic but I'm an addict and this bread was really yummy. Then we had fried crawfish tails... perfectly seasoned and just delicious. We split an entree because it was huge... even between the two of us we just managed half of it. We had Crawtator Grouper -  described on the menu as "Grouper crusted with Zapp's crawtator chips in a cajun crawfish cream sauce, served with sautéed spinach and our jalapeno gouda grits." Honestly... I cannot think of a better dish I've ever had. There were so many layers of flavor and just the right amount of spice. I'm a wimp when it comes to heat and I managed just fine. We finished up with bourbon bread pudding which was... incredible! If you're in the Atlanta area, you really owe it to yourself to visit Louisiana Bistreaux. It was not a cheap meal, even with us sharing the appetizer, entree and dessert. Definitely a splurge for us but cheaper than a flight to New Orleans! It would be a fun place to celebrate an event.  Beyond that... the staff were wonderful. Friendly, knowledgeable, efficient... we got there at noon so we beat the lunch rush (I'm guessing, it wasn't very crowded) and our food came out really quickly. Let me know if you check them out... I'd love to hear what your experience was like.

Question and answer time - have you been to New Orleans? We are hoping to go back for Mardi Gras next year. What are your favorite places to eat, see and visit there? I'll try to put together more on our visit, especially about the places we ate in case you'd like to try them. Thanks for reading! Love and hugs, y'all!