Food Friday - Pappadeaux

Happy Friday! Friday is the day I like to talk about food simply because I appreciate alliteration. Throwback Thursday - Food Friday - it just makes sense to me. This week I wanted to do a little review of the restaurant we went to on date night this week... Pappadeaux.

fried crawfish and crawfish etouffee

 As I've mentioned before, Marvin and I are kind of obsessed with New Orleans. It was our first road trip together... it's where Purple Michael lives... and then there's the amazing food and culture and music and food! Did I mention food?

On Tuesday night Marvin surprised me with dinner at Pappadeaux in Lawrenceville, GA, which has a New Orleans/French Quarter themed menu. There was a bit of a wait for a table but it was one hundred percent worth it! (other than the mosquito bite I got while waiting outdoors... small price to pay!)

Since we had to wait for a table, we had time to really study the menu and plan our meal. We always order different things so that we can share. Marvin went for the crawfish platter... fried crawfish and crawfish etouffee with dirty rice. I had shrimp creole and grits. Both dinners were delicious but if we go again, I would do fried crawfish all the way. My shrimp creole was great... it was a lot of food. Even with sharing, I had leftover shrimp creole for lunch the next day (we polished off the grits at dinner). I liked his crawfish etouffee just fine... but for me, the fried crawfish was the best we've had yet. Marvin prefers the fried crawfish at Louisiana Bistreaux, the place we went two weeks ago because it was a bit spicier but for me... Pappadeaux has it just right.

I also have to mention that I was really hesitant to try fried crawfish. I've always been big on fried shrimp... I like seafood but I'm not terribly adventurous with it. Then Marvin took me to the Atlanta Highway Seafood Market for lunch and we had the crawfish and... I've never looked back. I'll always take fried crawfish over any other seafood!

shrimp creole and grits

This particular Pappadeaux location is fairly new, I think, maybe in the past year or so. It was spacious and clean and had a nice atmosphere. There was a little jazz band playing near the bar that we could hear in the background but it wasn't too loud for us to have a conversation. I HATE THAT! It was busy - hence the wait for a table. But once we were seated we ordered right away (since we had already studied the menu) and our food came out lickety split. Our server, a guy named Mike, was friendly but he did this weird thing with refilling our drinks... he stopped at the table and asked if we'd like a refill. Marvin answered because I had a mouthful of food. Mike refilled Marvin's glass but not mine. It was a good ten minutes or more later before he came back and filled mine. I don't know if the pitcher ran out or he thought I didn't want a refill because I didn't specifically answer him but... it was just odd. Otherwise, the service was fine.

This was another splurge price wise for us but... it was enough food to cover us for lunch the next day so... it balances out.

On Thursday Marvin made black and bleu burgers for us for lunch... burgers with blackening seasoning, bacon bits, fried onions and bleu cheese dressing. They were huge and they were delicious! He had Cheerwine to drink... it's a North Carolina thing... and I had this new flavored Georgia Peach flavored coke that was... so good! I'm not a big cola drinker but I would definitely go for the peach coke again.

I am trying to eat healthier because of my high blood pressure... so for lunch today I roasted salmon and assorted colored cherry tomatoes and green beans. I just lay it all on a cookie sheet and bake it at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. I had sliced the tomatoes open and drizzled everything with olive oil then gave it a generous sprinkle of salt and garlic powder. I know... high blood pressure and salt do not necessarily sound healthy BUT, as I've recently learned, it's the sodium content in the processed foods that screws with your blood pressure, not the sprinkle of salt while cooking fresh food. Honestly, this cooking method - fish, fresh veggies all drizzled in olive oil on a cookie sheet - is my favorite go-to meal. It's fast, easy, the clean up is as simple as pulling the tin foil off the cookie sheet (except for today when I accidentally ripped the tin foil while plating). I took a picture of my plate before eating and the light is not so good but you will get the idea. I made enough for two meals because heaven forbid I actually cook twice in the same week. Actually... I've already cooked twice this week because I made mac-n-cheese and tuna the other day so... I'm practically a chef!

I'm thinking of making a big "garbage salad" over the weekend to pack in a lot of fresh, healthy stuff. I've got a list in my phone of stuff I want to add to it... and then I'll just do olive oil and vinegar for the dressing. What are your favorite things to pack into a salad? Have you had an amazing meal lately? Feel free to share in the comment here or on the Facebook link for this blog post.

Hope you have a great weekend!

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!