FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - Sugar Freak

Sugar Freak (Yelp Link: ***)

37-11 30th Ave Astoria, NY 11103



Boy oh boy. I cannot remember the last time when I’ve brunched in Astoria. So a couple of friends and I hit up this New Orleans-style restaurant. Random: I keep wanting to call it Superfreak because of Ricky James’s song. Walking into this restaurant, was a trip back in time into the deep South. Fortunately, the Klan and/or lynch mobs were not present in the restaurant.

LOL, at the old school toilet where you had to flush it with an overhead chain.

For my dining pleasure, I went with the Oysters Rockefeller Eggs Benedict and a side of grits

FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - A TOUR OF NEW ORLEANS

Preface:

Since the hubby and I had quite a few dining excursions in between me running Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon and having fun, New Orleans-based cocktails, I figure that I would mention a couple of spots for this edition of Food Pics of the Week.

Overall, I thought the food for many from many of the spots was in the OK to good range. LOL because during the trip the husband kept asking me which restaurants were the best. I was like Dude, I do not know. I have not lived in New Orleans since I graduated college in 2002. Also as a broke a** college student, restaurants like the Outback were “fancy” spots for us.

Our Tops:

Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar (Yelp Link: ***)

Chargrilled Oysters (left); Turtle Soup (right)

OMG. If I could, I would have these oysters every freaking day. This stop here was more of a snack break, but I wish that we had one of our dinners here . . . primarily to enjoy more of the chargrilled oysters.

NOLA Poboys (Yelp link: ***)

This was my first stop after dropping off my crap at the Inn on Friday. I wanted to get something simple and easy (a shrimp po’boy) to line my belly before getting into some Bourbon St. f*ckery. Note: Since the hubby was meeting me the next day in New Orleans, I had all of my Friday night to myself. As some may know, I love my hole-in-the-wall spots. Good food without any BS.

Oceana Grill (Yelp Link: ***)

While this was an impromptu visit, I’m glad this was our last meal in New Orleans. Look at that Ultimate Bloody Mary!!! C’mom this thing came with a fried crab, and five fried shrimp and oysters. Extra points for the presentation of the Bloody Mary. Also, my shrimp crawfish omelet was on point. A few points in deductions because the cheese was not completely melted.

The Wack:

New Orleans Creole Cookery (Yelp Link: ***)

Taste of New Orleans – Jambalaya, Red Beans & Rice, Shrimp Etouffee, and Crawfish Creole (left), Fish (don’t remember which one) Creole (middle), and Alligator Bites (right)

This probably was one of our least favorite dining experiences during the trip. While the restaurant atmosphere was nice, the food was struggling. Dare I say, this place was a bit of a waste of money. Put it like this, for my Taste of New Orleans sampler, the red beans and rice (probably the easiest New Orleans-based dish to make) were the best part of the “taste” . . . and they were not all that great. Also, my shrimp etouffee was WAY too salty and nasty. The Alligator Bites were tired, through, and delayed. Food aside, I was also disappointed that the restaurant’s bathroom was disgusting. I really hope that the restaurant was having an off night during our visit.

Honorable Mentions:

Café Du Monde (Yelp Link: ***)

While I know this is a must-do in New Orleans, I never got the hype surrounding Café Du Monde (even while living in NOLA). Sometimes, I think some people over-hype Café Du Monde as a means to justify waiting 50+ minutes for french powdered doughnuts (yes, I know they are called beignets) and coffee. Actually, this excursion almost did not happen. I walked past Café Du Monde (Saturday morning) the way to pick my race stuff at the convention center. Let me tell you, that line extended almost two blocks, and I was like hell to the no. When the husband and I visited on Saturday evening (around 7 pm), I was shocked that there was no line. I think a lot of people were at the Chewbacca parade and probably hit up Café Du Monde after the festivities.

I guess that my nearly two-decade grudge with Cafe du Monde is officially over. I don’t remember what caused the grudge back in college, but a table and/or chair might have been turned over.

Daisy Dukes – French Quarter (Yelp Link: ***)

I’m always am going to be Team Biscuits and Gravy, and this place was pretty decent. My only (minor complaint) is that I think my plate was left out for a bit before the waitress bought to my section of the bar. That said, the restaurant was slammed packed, so I will not hold this against them. Also, there was quite a bit of confusion with a table of rowdy guests. But the restaurant gained some points because it has free refills on Bloody Marys (why not call it bottomless). Clearly, I did not read the entire description for the Bloody Marys and missed the part about free refills.

The lack of detail is what caused the confusion with the rowdy table. Four folks at a table ordered about 6+ mimosas each thinking they were bottomless, which they were not. Let’s just say that they were very upset when they received their bill because each mimosa was about $15. Unfortunately, they took this out on the waitress and left her a $4 tip. I mean, it’s not the waitress’s fault that the FOUR of you didn’t properly read the menu. However, I think the waitress should have mentioned that the mimosas were not bottomless especially seeing how many they were ordering and that they looked like they were in their VERY early 20s.

Final Thoughts:

We had a nice time dining (and drinking) on what New Orleans had to offer. However, the hubby mentioned that New York City has spoiled us, and to some extent, I can agree. Not to be like one of those people, but I do recall saying on a few times that I have had better (albeit inauthentic) Creole and Southern food in New York.

Food Pic of the Week

Cap’t Loui (***) 

3147 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

At this point, I probably should be saying “food pic of the month” instead of “food pic of the week”. That said, I will try to update this thing more often with yummy food pics. Because of the pandemic, it has been difficult to try out new food spots around the city. Since things are beginning to open up (a little too fast for my liking), I think that I will be able to update this blog more frequently.

Have you ever pass a restaurant on multiple occasions and think to yourself that you should try out the joint? A couple of weeks ago, Cap’t Loui was that place for us. To be perfectly honest, the hubby and I were going to have ramen at another spot about a block away from Cap’t Loui. Before going to the ramen place, I was like screw it, let’s do to Cap’t Loui.

Man Oh Man, I’m so glad that we went to Cap’t Loui because it was AMAZING. Long story short, the restaurant is pretty much a New Orleans-style seafood boil spot. You pretty much will pick a boil and select 1+ seafood options (crawfish, shrimp, crabs, etc.), a sauce, and any extra fixings. For our boil, we went with shrimp, mussels, corn, potatoes, garlic noodles, and sausage. Since I spent my undergraduate years in New Orleans, I guess that I was supposed to select crawfish as one of the seafood options. Under normal circumstances, I would have gone with crawfish, but I was EXTREMELY hungry and did not have time to fiddle around with crawfish. Sometimes, I find getting to the meat of crawfish takes too much effort for a little reward.

One tip: Wear clothes that you do not care about messing up because the food will be quite messy (especially because of the butter sauce).

Although I did not relive my memories of New Orleans through crawfish, I did relive my time in New Orleans years through a Hurricane cocktail at Cap’t Loui.

In my opinion, I found my Hurricane WAY too sweet. Maybe Hurricanes are supposed to be really sweet, and I never really noticed the sweetness as a 21/22 year-old. Let me stop lying about the 21 year old thing, I probably had a few Hurricanes as an 18-year old freshman. If memory serves me correctly, I think Louisiana (or maybe it was just New Orleans) raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 a couple of years before I started college so many bars in New Orleans were pretty lax in serving underage folks. Yeah, I think it was the state because Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) successfully lobbied to withholding federal funds for Louisiana unless the state raised the drinking age.

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