Melanie and I seem to have a knack for hunting down incredibly mediocre Mexican food no matter where we are. In fact, we’ve shared mediocre Mexican food every single time we’ve seen each other this last year, so we vowed and swore and declared that we would not go anywhere near Mexican food while we were in Louisiana this past weekend. Quite frankly there are some streaks that need to be broken.
Plus, I mean, we were in New Orleans, for crying out loud. And while New Orleans boasts countless culinary achievements, queso dip isn’t really one of them. Y’all should be proud of me for recognizing that because I think we all know that if there’s one food I never, ever turn down, it’s cheese.
See also: bacon.
My flight left pretty early Friday morning, so I was actually at the hotel in New Orleans by 10. Our room wasn’t ready, so I ambled over to a little coffee shop in the lobby. I’m usually a little wary of hotel coffee, but as soon as I stepped in that coffee shop I felt a wave of peace wash over me.
The Lord is faithful and worthy to be praised.
Mel’s flight got in a couple of hours later, so I picked her up from the airport and we set out to find some lunch. We were both in the mood for some deeply nutritious fried seafood, so we headed to Deanie’s since it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel – and we knew we were in for a treat when they brought boiled red potatoes to our table. With butter.
Oh yes ma’am. Please and thank you. Amen.
I had the fried seafood platter from the lunch menu, and Melanie ordered a fried crawfish poboy that I PROMISE had at least 100 fried crawfish on it. When the food arrived at the table I immediately started channeling Martha (“You’ve never seen so many crawfish! You’ve just never seen! Have you ever seen? I MEAN, THE PORTIONS! SUCH LARGE PORTIONS! Mother and I could get four meals out of that one sandwich! Have you ever?”), and while everything was absolutely delicious I have to say that the hit of our meal was the barbecued shrimp that we ordered for an appetizer. I could’ve made a meal out of nothing but some French bread and the barbecue shrimp sauce. It was so good that it would make you stand up, slap your mama, sit down, then get up and slap your mama again. DADGUM.
After lunch we rested for a little while and then drove over to the arena. It was such a blast, and Friday night’s session really confirmed some things that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last few months (Mel and I will both be recapping the conference this week over at AllAccess). But I do want to make sure I tell you this: I’ve sat under Beth Moore’s teaching several times in the last four or five years, but she has NEVER been funnier than she was this past weekend. OH MY WORD. Yes, the subject matter was deep, and yes, we were all up in the Word, but oh my goodness every single one of us who was there laughed our heads off. It was the most fun.
There’s so much more I want to share, but it’s getting late and you’re getting bored (I’M SORRY. THE FOOD WAS JUST SO GOOD THAT I NEEDED A LOT OF WORDS.) and I need to go to bed. So in conclusion I’ll just show you a picture of the muffaletta that I had on my way to the airport Saturday afternoon. It was only 1/2 sandwich, and I kid you not: IT WAS THE SIZE OF MY HEAD.
There was no way to eat it all. But part of me wanted to swaddle it in a blanket and rock it gently in my arms all the way back to Birmingham.
I didn’t, of course.
Because I think we all know that if I’m going to swaddle and rock any sort of fried meat sandwich, there’s going to be fried chicken involved.
And I will kiss it on its forehead, and I will name it Polly.
The end.
Oh my word I love the food in new orleans. If I lived there I would weigh 500 pounds. Did you get any beinets???? I could eat my weight in those!
i was wishing to be in NO this weekend – beth. boomama, big mama and regis and kelly are there all week. oh and the food. :-)
Wow, good thing you got the HALF sandwich…. I’m sure the paper work required to get the WHOLE sandwich it’s very own zip code would be cumbersome, and would surely take away from the sandwich eating experience….
And those potatoes? Up here we call them red potatoes… Are these the same potatoes we speak of, or are there, in fact, new potatoes that I’ve not been made aware of? ;)
Rachel – I stand corrected. You’re exactly right. I think all the not sleeping inhibited my potato-identifying skills. :-)
You crack me up everytime. I was telling my husband about you last night. He is completely oblivious to the blogging world. I have been trying to figure out where you go to church. I go to Briarwood and I could swear that I’ve seen you before, maybe not at church but just around town. Next time I have a spotting, I’ll come up and introduce myself. Have a great day!
I can only say… Yum.
Never mind that I unashamedly finished off Mel’s crawfish po’boy in the lobby of our hotel after missing this delicious lunch w/ you two. And for the record, I thought those little fried critters were shrimp the whole time I was eating it. Loved seeing you two!
It scares me that your food posts make perfect sense to me!
Love cajun food! Now all you need is a shop vac to suck out all the gunk from this weekend! Have a great week!
My husband is from New Orleans and his family still lives there so we go there alot. Word from the wise: DO NOT EVER eat Mexican food in New Orleans. NO BUENO.
So glad y’all had fun!
LOL….. LOL …. again and again and again! Polly! … LOL
BooMama, you never cease to make me laugh!
Wow, that must have been some shrimp. I will have to think long and hard before trying any food that will make me slap my mama, ’cause for sure I’ll be slapped back, so again, that has got to be some seriously fabulous shrimp.
I spit my tea out gracefully – ; ) – when you wrote: “It was so good that it would make you stand up, slap your mama, sit down, then get up and slap your mama again. DADGUM.”
So absolutely hilarious.
OK, this completely cracked me up. And that sandwich is HUGE. I can’t believe it is only half of it!
You always make me laugh!! I could picture the whole scene and it makes me laugh!! I can’t wait to hear more about the conference!
Love,
Patty
I think I love you.
The part about you swaddling the sandwich may have been the funniest thing I’ve ever read on here. Is it wrong that I now want seafood so early in the morning?
I do appreciate some good food, girl!
I can so understand your need to share the love there. It sounded like a yummy weekend…..filled with some serious good fun!
God is good!
It was the good cookin’ of New Orleans that convinced me to eat bait- fried crawfish po’boys. YUM.
Yum, yum, yum!! I put on 5 pounds just reading about this. Sounds as though you had a blast :)
I LOVE when you use scripture in conjunction with Starbucks. It always makes me laugh.
AND I prayed that your mouths would be filled with laughter this weekend–so very glad you laughed! Good medicine that.
Our New Orleans food experience was the opposite of yours. We waited over an hour and a half for hamburgers and hot dogs at the restaurant connected to our hotel! They were just OK.
But we did feast on the Word!!!
No need to apologize for waxing poetic about a good meal. There aren’t many things in this world worthy of a long discussion, but I would put good food near the top of the list. Especially if it involves large portions, a great sandwich or anything fried. A combination of the three is like the trifecta of the American culinary world.
If you’re ever in Houston I’m sure you’ll run (not walk) to the Pappasito’s of the world (just stay away from Panchos – your intestines can thank me later). But with enough advance notice, my mother can whip up a fantastic Puerto Rican meal for you. It may not make you turn your allegiance from cheese (perish the thought), but a good pinon could bring a tear to the eye of the most stoic of food tasters.
And you could call it Miguel.
Great, now I’m starving. For a crawfish poboy. And I’m in Chicago, where we just got dumped with snow. SNOW. I’ll let you take a moment to praise the Lord you live in Alabama.
YOU.ARE.A.MESS!!!! And I love you!
“It was so good that it would make you stand up, slap your mama, sit down, then get up and slap your mama again. DADGUM.”
I’m still laughing out loud.
Again, I love you.
Very thankful you had a great weekend in New Orleans. Oh the wonderful food, yum:)
Blessings to you and your family this Holy Week,
Kaye
Matthew 21:22
Oh you make me smile…
You are just a hoot, lady! I love that LA food down the-ah. Your descriptions are priceless. Didn’t make it to 3 Tall Trees, I just got lazy since my friend decided not to go & I didn’t want to jump up & leave the house so early. I know it was good though!
Oh, BooMama, you never fail to make me laugh for which I am forever grateful!
I LOVE to eat in New Orleans. I wish I had told you to eat at Mother’s Restaurant and have the Debris Po-boy. (It’s all the little pieces and juice that’s left in the bottom of the pan after they cook the roast beef.) Oh. My. Word.
Miss me some NOLA food after living there for 7 plus years, esp now @ crawfish season & it just about killed me to not be there for Beth Moore this weekend. Love Deanies too but ask Heather P about her NOLA favorite we shared many times together. I will have to correct you though…& I don’t usually correct Boomama but Beth was the funniest EVER @ the minister’s wife conference a couple of weeks ago, truly unplugged!
Hahahahaha! You are so blessed. Whenever I travel I get what we experts call “yuck-belly” and have to live on a week’s worth of Cheerios. I know I’d NEVER eat fried food of any sort because it would make me bloat up the size of a volkswagon.
I am NOT envious. *sigh*
I finished high school in Baton Rouge and New Orleans was our playground. South Lousisiana has the best.food.EVER.!!! I miss it!! The food here in Guam? Not so good.
Unless I cook it, of course!
Let the earth rejoice: New Orleans is back from Katrina!You should see if you can get paid for this mighty fine review. I think you may have boosted tourism to a new level!
I was just at Deanie’s last month! NOLA is great. . . Gotta love a town with drive-thru daiquiri stands and fabulous po-boys that you can even get at a gas station.
Well, you know we all went to NO this weekend for the food. All 6600 of us. ;)
Hope you didn’t miss the beignets at Cafe du Monde – they were perfectly lovely as my late Friday night dinner ;)
Oh, my word! You are too funny!! Channeling Martha…I loved every bit of this post! :)
Love you girls…too funny…
Oh goodness. You are hysterical. I’m a few days behind, but it was worth catching up. You totally crack me up! Keep writing, girl!