After our lunch at Liuzza’s By the Track, Jay took us to Williams Plum St Snowballs. Looks cool, I guess because it old …since 1945. This place is officially called Plum St. Snoballs (without the “w”), but I’ll call it Snowballs, because the sign on the building says so.
A group of older college professors enjoying snowballs outside. Two excited teenagers taking orders and making snowballs inside.
Snowballs can come in a paper cup or a Chinese take-out carton. I got the Orchid Cream Vanilla. It was really creamy and cheap!
Williams Plum St Snowballs – 1300 Burdette St. New Orleans, LA 70118
Our buddy Jay picked us up at the airport and headed straight to Liuzza’s By the Track based on his recommendation. This place is cool. It’s very laid back and they have a bar. But I guess there’s always a bar in New Orleans.
Their signature dish is the BBQ Shrimp PoBoy. But it’s not really a sandwich. It does have bread, but it’s really a plate of shrimp with their heavy rich buttery garlic sauce over bread. It’s good, but way too rich for me. Plus I’m not supposed to eat so much shrimp because of the gout.
I really did love the Oyster PoBoy. I can’t tell if it’s really anything special here, but I know it’s just good.
I feel like I’d come here a lot if I lived in New Orleans.
Now to be clear, there is another Liuzza’s in New Orleans that not related and has a different menu (Italian food and Muffalettas). This one By the Track is more PoBoys and Fried Seafood plates. Who is Liuzza? Why did two restaurants name themselves after her?
On our way out of New Orleans, we stopped for gas at the Magnolia Discount, where there was a Krispy Krunchy Chicken inside. Jambalaya $1.49 small! It was small, but filled with so much meat. Even though the rice was overcooked, probably because it’s been sitting around waiting for customers, it was still the best Jambalaya I tried in New Orleans. At these low prices, you could really get your fill. Gasoline station Jambalaya, FTW!
Krispy Krunchy Chicken @ Magnolia Discount – 9201 Airline Highway. New Orleans, LA 70118
After Vietnamese food, I met back up with Jody & Christa at Harrah’s casino. We walked around for an hour trying to figure out how to play. The machines wouldn’t take our dollar bills. Then we figured out that we have to put at least $5 in. Then it wouldn’t take our $5’s. We almost gave up, then I decided it was time to go down in flames and stuck $10 in there. I pushed some buttons and it gave me more money back. What kind of business is Harrah’s in? The business of losing money or the business of fulfilling dreams?
We walked around trying to find Jody & Christa some cheap, quick food. By that time, there wasn’t much open but Popeyes. But I have to admit, Popeyes makes some dang good food. I love their Jambalaya and lived on that in college. That’s how I think I base my judgement of what good Jambalaya is –by Popeyes. Although, I know I’ve had a couple of Popeyes that tasted like vomit, but when it’s good, it’s great. The one right there in the French Quarter didn’t have Jambalaya though. Only Dirty or Cajun Rice. Every location should have jambalaya IMO …and fried chicken liver!
Jody picked up a Shrimp Po-Boy and that looked great. We brought it back to our hotel and stood in the lobby talking, where we saw an old man without any pants holding onto the luggage rack. I couldn’t tell if his glasses were super thick that made his eyes super wide or if he really was a deer in headlights. We think he might have been in one of those situational comedies where he was hanging with a lady and got locked out of his room. That Popeyes Shrimp Po-Boy tasted really good.
Then we met back up with Jay where he was doing sound at One Eyed Jack’s for Dax Riggs. That was a fun show. After, we stumbled around for more food. There really isn’t much open, except Arby’s. Two years ago, Rusty totally Hasselhoff’d on Arby’s down in the Big Easy. He was dipping his fries and roast beef sandwich in the Horsey sauce that got on his bed. Good thing the line was crazy long at Arby’s this time. It could’ve been Hoff Deux. Not that I wasn’t ready to videotape it.
There’s this weird illusion when you wake up and open the windows at the St. James Hotel. You see your reflection from the building across the street and think you’re in the Twilight Zone. It freaked us out.
I was already so stuffed from the day, but Jay & Sally had one more place in store for me. I had to toughen up and move forward. We took a drive over the bridge to Pho Tau Bay for some Vietnamese. I hear it’s where Steven Seagal eats with his fellow Jefferson Parish police officers. And after hearing about his recent sexual harassment and sex trafficking lawsuit, the restaurant is even more intriguing.
I went with the Shrimp Banh Mi/Po-Boy. Maybe it’s really just a Banh Mi, but maybe it’s a Vietnamese Po-Boy. I don’t know. I know it’s a sandwich. I tasted Jay’s soup and chargrilled pork chops, which were terrific. I should have definitely gone with a Pho noodle soup with a taste of that broth. No matter how stuffed I was, there’s always room for Pho.
I just watched an episode of Steven Seagal: Lawman before I wrote this. When did he get a Louisiana accent?
Pho Tau Bay – 113 Westbank Expy, Ste C. Gretna, LA 70053
Jody & Christa met up with us in New Orleans and they were starvin. Once again, where to eat in the French Quarter? This time we used Sam’s iPhone to tell us. First place was a bust. Second on the map was the Johnny’s Po-Boys we ran into after our breakfast, but I knew they were closed because it was 4pm. Sam called them anyway to make sure. They were, but he asked if they had any suggestions for a good non-touristy place and they said Cafe Maspero.
We got in right before the heavy yet short rain storm hit. The food was good. Jambalaya was much better than Corner Oyster House. Not saucey. Christa ordered the Veggie Muffaletta, which was much more olive tasting than the meat version we had at the Napoleon House. Jody hates olives, so no taste for him.
We walked over to look at the Mississippi River. Got bored because there were no beers. Then headed back to Bourbon St to be part of the stupidness. So many beer specials –Huge Ass Beers To Go, 2 for 1 beers. We ended up at the 3 for 1 beer place, because it sounds like a better deal. There, we saw an MC on the mic going nutz by himself on the dance floor and a shot girl selling 20 shots from her boobs to this one old man.  After, she moved onto another scraggly old man. The first old man looked sad.
Cafe Maspero – 601 Decatur St. New Orleans, LA 70130
Jay and Sally took Sam and I out to lunch at Rocky & Carlo’s. We had so much food. So much Baked Macaroni & Cheese, where the macaroni is uncut long noodles. And the restaurant is “the home of the Wop Salad”, a New Orleans Italian Salad. Eating a racial slur is not too bad.
Afterward, they drove us around the Ninth Ward, showing us Fats Domino’s house, some Katrina devastated homes and the Brad Pitt houses –a project to help get people back into their homes in that area. These houses are energy efficient and look super futuristic. I would love to have a house like that. Sam pointed out it was strange to see a Brad Pitt house right next to one that’s completely destroyed.
The amazing part is seeing families and businesses back on their feet after hurricane. I know we had to tear up all the floorboards when we had one inch of water in my bedroom and that was a huge pain in the ass. Imagine what it’s like when you’re whole building was underwater. We were glad to see Rocky & Carlo’s in business after a couple of years rebuilding and the family that waved to us from their Brad Pitt house porch.
Rocky & Carlo’s – 613 W Saint Bernard Hwy. Chalmette, LA 70043 Make it Right – the Brad Pitt/New Orleans rebuilding project
Woke up bright and early after a night of walking around Bourbon St. with Sam. Waitresses rubbing their boobies on us trying to sell shots and lots of dudes fighting in the street. Maybe it was good I didn’t bring my camera.
Rusty and I walked around the French Quarter at 9am looking for some breakfast and a beer. Barely anything opened. Just a street cleaning truck roaming by. Russ wanted to go to this place that he had grits and a beer one morning years ago. He didn’t know the name or where it was, but somehow we found it. I don’ t know how without an iPhone, but we did. It was Sergio’s Po-Boys & Deli, decorated with heavy LSU colors and a sign that said Bobby Flay lost a muffaletta throw-down there. It looked pretty awesome, but it was closed.
So we walked around Bourbon St. Probably not the best place looking for a divey breakfast spot, but that’s all we knew for out-of-towners. We found one spot open where we could get a beer. It was hot out and not much luck finding cheap grits. We gave up and went into the Corner Oyster Bar & Grill. Seems like a place where tourists and families would go …where I’d probably eat with my parents. Rusty’s breakfast kinda looked like shit. And I really wanted to eat some Jambalaya while was I down there, so I had to get it. For $10, it wasn’t bad for this type of restaurant. Probably what you would expect, but not what you’d expect for being in New Orleans. It looked like rice with tomato sauce poured on it. I guess this place isn’t bad for what it is. The bloody marys were fine. I can see why tourists and families go here, but it wasn’t what we were looking for.
We walked backed to the hotel, turned the corner and there it was. The type of hole-in-the-wall were were looking for –Johnny’s Po-Boys. Looked great and cheap. One of the employees was outside and saw our expression. He could tell that this was our kind of place. Fuck. I need to get an iPhone to tell me where to eat.
