cowbell

the gambit released its best of new orleans issue this week (aka the what to see and do in new orleans bible) and i have spent the better part of yesterday studying, taking notes and memorizing the food & drink section. interestingly, the best new restaurant winner was cowbell, where marty and i went just the other day for a end-of-the-week burger date. the restaurant is in an old gas station in the riverbend neighborhood on bustling and adorable oak street. everything inside is recycled - from the doors that make up the tables to the old metal food tins and mason jars that have been turned into lamps. and the burgers, with their homemade agogo sauce (mayo, sriracha, 900 cloves of garlic and some kind of addictive substance) were amazing.  

oh, the places you'll go!

before i begin, let me first apologize for the lack of human subjects that you actually might know or recognize in my posts (namely, me, marty, becky, etc). the heat has arrived and outdoor activities and restaurants such as the one featured in this post just aren't conducive to attractive picture taking. that said, i think the photographs in this particular instance might speak for themselves. on our way to strawberry fest, my friends amanda and rob and i stopped at middendorf's for lunch. we had some delicious, super-thin fried catfish, cornbread hushpuppies, stuffed crab, oysters and shrimp - and we got to enjoy it all on a deck on lake maurepas (and i got to dip my toes in the sand, even though it wasn't a real beach!).

road trip!

marty turned the big 2-6 this weekend so we decided to hit the road and drive to memphis for one night and st. louis the next. marty had never been to memphis (but i have! see photos here and here), and meanwhile his sister nora has been living in st. louis for almost 4 years and we had never visited her, so the birthday road trip was born.

of course the trip started at 7am with a trip to the maple st. patisserie for some delicious pastries and coffee. i swear they put crack in their baked goods, they are so addicting! the ham and cheese croissant is the biggest breakfast indulgence but its totally worth it.

oh, hilarious roadside landmarks!

i spent the second half of our leg to memphis searching for a great place to eat lunch on my yelp app and found gus's world famous hot & spicy chicken and O.M.G. is all i can say. mind you, the photos are blurry not because my camera isn't awesome - because it is - they are blurry because we were both too excited about eating what turned out to be the best fried chicken both of us had ever had to hold the camera straight.

bbq, baby!

i have a newfound obsession with barbecue since my dad and i tried dry rub for the first time in memphis. since i resigned myself to celebrating with food this weekend, marty and i headed to the joint in the bywater for some brisket, baked beans, carolina-style pulled pork and mac 'n cheese. seeing as it was stupidly our first meal of the day, we (ahem, marty) went a little overboard and ordered three meals for 2 people.

marty and his two full meals

current feeling: very full

after MORE apartment hunting, marty and i took a much-needed lunch break at the famed po' boy shop, domilise's. marty had the cheeseburger po' boy while i had the smoked turkey and cheese.

domilise's is in a small, unassuming building (actually, a camelback with an apartment that opens straight into the shop - how do i get a lease there?) in the middle of uptown on a sidestreet - if you didn't know it was there, you'd miss it. this sign is the only clue.

it's okay, you can be jealous.

the sign above the bar reads: "i'm not a fast bartender, i'm not a slow bartender. i'm a half-fast bartender."

the abita amber that accompanied my meal really did nothing for the fullness.

st. james cheese company

after marty finished his last exam of the year yesterday (!!!), we headed over the st. james cheese company for sandwiches.

i encountered this beautiful tree on the way there... moving on:

st. james opened about a year after katrina. the owners, "cheesemongers" as they call themselves, moved to new orleans from london with their son to open this shop in uptown.

the incredible selection of artisanal meats and cheeses aside, the menu boasts delicious pressed sandwiches, huge salads, cheese boards and charcuterie samplings put together in the kitchen on the chef's whim. this time i tried the beecher's cheddar - smoked turkey, basil, tomato and avocado on ciabatta.

just looking at this picture of yesterday's sandwich makes me want to go back! it's raining today in new orleans so i'm guessing people might be turned off by st. james' primarily outdoor seating. this might be wishful thinking.

p.s. st. james has a blog! i am DEFINITELY signing up for their cheese school. stinky cheeses, here i come!

apartment hunting

so, becky has arrived in new orleans for some interviewing and apartment hunting! i have to say, the entire process is exhausting, especially because it consists largely of looping around the city and looking for "for rent" signs. yesterday we repeated that process and followed up on some craigslist finds. here's a peak at our favorite so far:

the apartment comes complete with plenty of four-legged neighbors, including this weird stickbug

afterward, becky, bryan and i went to bridge lounge, our favorite place to go for yummy drinks. bridge lounge is in the lower garden district on magazine. it's a dog-friendly bar, so becky and i plan on coming with our future pups. until then, we'll continue to enjoy the candlelight, low ceilings, diverse playlist and great people watching.

my first drink was a maker's mint julep, followed by a margarita.

all of the drink selections written in colorful chalk

it was 4 pm on a tuesday. of course we were the first people there.

after bridge lounge, we stumbled into another apartment. i was too distracted playing with the current tenants' puppies to truly appreciate the apartment. after i bent over to pick a puppy up and spilled half of my margarita on the carpet, i knew this wasn't the place for us. we ended our day of hard work at baru bistro & tapas in east riverside. it was super delish AND a byob! (you know i love those)

bryan was a dear and ran to breaux mart to get us wine and came back with natty light.

cafe bernard

sorry for the serious lapse in posting - finals are here (well, almost) and i am in study mode - at least to the extent of not letting myself live the fabulous, exciting life i'm accustomed to.* in any case, i just thought i'd share this adorable french bistro down the street from my apartment. cafe bernard is intimate and cozy, the food is delicious and affordable (they have a great price fixe menu, and it doesn't have to be restaurant week to enjoy it), and it has an adjoining wine bar, the red rooster! i went there once with my parents and we were all very impressed. once i'm back to my old tricks following finals and before the big move, i'll definitely be taking one of many victory laps there!

how are you spending your weekend? buried by books or having fun? if it's having fun, spare me.

*ya, okay.

south american nostalgia

on thursday night my friends and i went out for our final birthday celebration of the week to celebrate my roommate maggie's 25th. maggie, a foodie if there ever was one, chose al primo canto in the river north area of chicago. because i've really let myself go on my restaurant resolution, i was really excited to try a new place. as luck would have it, this location just opened on monday so it was new for us all.

i went in with no expectations because i couldn't get the fancy menu to work on my computer, and i was greeted with a hearty, woodsy smell and a serious dose of nostalgia. the place looked, smelled and felt like a restaurant you would find in south america. the summer before i started law school, three friends and i took a trip to argentina, uruguay and brazil - 13 cities in 21 days - it was a whirlwind adventure. after enjoying a delicious churrasco at al primo canto, i gave myself a study break and went through all of memories from the trip and picked out some mvp's (most valuable pictures)

in front of the law school in buenos aires

in the "la boca" neighborhood of b.a.

almost every meal we ate looked like this. al primo canto, take note*

from b.a. we took a ferry to colonia, uruguay

and then to montevideo by bus...

there was a lot of travel by bus

we traveled back into argentina to visit some ruins...

the complete group of travel buddies, fallon, myself, magdalen and missy

iguazu falls was an incredible place

missy was dragged onstage to dance with some brazilians

fallon and magdalen shared a romantic moment on horseback while i was almost thrown and had to ride back with a ranch hand

this is in curitiba, brazil:

and here is paraty:

it was july in the southern hemisphere, so the weather didn't always agree with us...

but at least we can say we were there.

i hope you enjoyed looking through these! i really miss this trip.