Mar 09 2010
48 Hours of Mardi Gras (and the Best Valentine’s Day Dinner of Our Life!)
On a whim, we headed down to New Orleans on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday for a last-minute Mardi Gras/Valentine’s Day trip. Over the past several months, I’ve become good Twitter friends with Chef Scott Boswell (you can follow him on Twitter here), who, together with his lovely wife Tanya, owns and operates two of the most popular and highly regarded restaurants in the French Quarter, Stella! and Stanley. Where Stanley is their bustling all-day comfort food-driven breakfast/lunch spot right on Jackson Square, their flagship Stella! serves as Chef Scott’s fine dining blank canvas where he takes the artistry of food to a new level with indulgent and over-the-top culinary creations. Following each other’s eating and drinking adventures and zeal for all things food and wine over Twitter, we kind of knew the four of us would hit it off in person. And it didn’t take us long to realize we were right.
It all started with bloody marys and a lunch feast at Stanley, where Chef Scott ordered just about everything off the menu for us to try. We’re talking oyster poor boy, soft shell crab poor boy, rueben, oyster eggs benedict, soft shell crab eggs benedict, gumbo with oyster, shrimp, andouille sausage and chicken and even an omelet sandwich just for kicks. There was nothing we didn’t love.
From there, we went on a French Quarter walking tour with Tanya, where we drank in a rotating hotel lobby bar, picked up some hand grenades from a stand and partied with revelers on Bourbon St. We had just enough time to get back to the hotel to get ready for our Valentine’s Day dinner at Stella!, which itself is reason enough to get on a plane pronto and fly down to New Orleans. We had one of the best tasting menus of our lives that night (pics below)…and it didn’t end there.
We picked up the next day with Cafe du Monde beignets, muffaletta, bloody marys, a Sazerac at the oldest bar in the country, fried boudin balls, alligator sausage, pork tacos from a food truck, shrimp n’ grits from a food cart, tot-chos (tater tot nachos), bacon-wrapped fried shrimp and jambalaya. We even managed to find the bar D.B.A. (same as the ones here) and have some craft beers. Looking back, it’s pretty amazing how much we were able to see and do (and eat and drink) in just 48 hours. Check it out!
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- Drinking bloody mary with Chef Scott B and about to feast at Stanley
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- We stopped in at Pat O’Brien’s courtyard for a quick hurricane
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- Jill & Tanya drinking hand grenades on Bourbon St.
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- Jill with a spicy bloody mary and an Abita restoration ale from a stand in the French Market
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- Here’s the oyster poor boy — Cornmeal-Crusted P&J Oysters, Cole Slaw, and Spicy Remoulade. INSANE!
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- Eggs Stella ~ Cornmeal-Crusted Soft-Shell Crab, Poached Eggs, Canadian Bacon & Creole Hollandaise on English Muffin. WOW!
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- Cornmeal-Crusted P&J’s Louisiana Oysters, Poached Eggs, Canadian Bacon & Creole Hollandaise on English Muffin
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- P & J’s Oyster, Gulf Shrimp, Andouille Sausage and Chicken Gumbo
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- Chilling with Tanya, Chef Scott and his Segway
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- About to have the most ridiculous Winter Truffle Tasting Menu ever!
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- Amuse Bouche #1 — Deviled Egg w/ Israeli Caviar
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- As you are about to see, we put a major dent in this gorgeous black winter truffle
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- Amuse Bouche #2 — Alaskan oyster on the half shell with pickled ginger wasabi granita
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- Course 1: Roasted Heirloom Potato Puree with Applewood Smoked Bacon Lardons, Fingerling Potatoes, Truffle-Scented Petite Brioche Croutons & Truffle Crème Fraiche Caviar
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- Course 2: Lobster, Egg and Truffles
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- Course 3: Caramelized Hen of the Woods Mushroom Risotto w/ Local Scallions & Black Winter Truffles
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- Course 4: Pan-Seared Japanese Mero Seabass w/ Baby Turnips, Carrots & Parmesan Winter Truffle Jus
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- Course 5: Seared Prime Beef Tenderloin w/ Sunny Side Up Egg, Breakfast Potatoes, Texas Toast w/ Foie Gras Butter & Truffled Hollandaise
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- A Surprise Course w/ Lobster & 24k Gold Flakes
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- Course 7: Black Truffle & St. Andrè Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Candied Macadamias, Powdered Pistachio & Captain Crunch Nutella Explosion
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- Course 8: Chocolate Chip & White Truffle Ice Cream w/ Truffle Scented White Chocolate Panna Cotta & Spun Raw Black Truffle Honey
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- Petite Fours concluded the EPIC Truffle Tasting Menu
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- This is how mad genius Chef Scott B chills his wine
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- The Morning After — beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde
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- The Muffaletta at the Napolean House
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- The Red Beans n Rice at the Napolean House
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- Chicken & Sausage Gumbo from the World Famous N’awlins Cafe & Spice Emporium
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- We tried Alligator Sausage from a food cart
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- Then, we tried some fried shrimp wrapped in bacon from another food cart
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- We found a taco truck and tried their pork carnitas
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- We found a great bar off Bourbon St. that served up some amazing Jambalaya
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- Best muffaletta in the US are found here
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- This bean parade went right by our hotel
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- Bourbon St. was a madhouse
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- About to get burritos, shrimp n grits and boudin from a food cart
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- Food cart menu
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- About to order shrimp n grits from a food cart
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- What the hell is he doing down here?
looks like you ate more in 2 days than i have eaten all year! i want to visit new orleans now, badly.
those truffles almost look to good to even be real…are you kidding me?!?!
so impressed with Chef Boswell .. amazing presentations! want to visit Stella and Stanley during New Orleans Jazz Festival! Thanks, Wined and Dined for catching us up with the best of New Orleans!
This is making me hungry for New Orleans again. I had one of my best meals to-date in New Orleans this past spring at Commander’s Palace. I highly recommend if you haven’t been and if you return in the near future.