For today, let’s talk about my favorite aspect of the Big Easy, the food, glorious food! When we arrived in the French Quarter, we first headed to the Clover Grill for a quick and easy meal. There used to be a sister joint called Poppy’s, but now only this one remains there on Bourbon and Ursuline. They serve breakfast 24-hours a day, and though I really like their breakfast, I came for their greasy hamburger. You know the kind I’m talking about. They are the ones we used to be able to get years and years ago before everybody started getting healthy, the ones where you can feel your arteries hardening with every scrumptious bite. They still grill these under a hubcap so they stay really moist and juicy. Not a real extravagant “foodie” type of choice, but definitely a wonderful way to kick off our visit and prepare our bellies for the break from salads and healthier choices. I always look forward to a burger at this place at least once during my visit.

We walked around the French Quarter and I’m very pleased to say, it’s back! We were a bit worried that things might not be the same after Katrina, and while it isn’t outside of the Quarter, inside it is pretty much business as usual. If you are familiar with the French Market, which is an outdoor flea market type arrangement on Decatur, right next to the river. They are taking this opportunity to redo part of it so it is about a third of the normal size, but there still were the $4 sunglasses, the $5 T-shirts, and most of the usual suspects, just not as many different booths to choose from.

For dinner Friday night, some friends took us to Cochon on Tchoupitoulas which if you speak French, translates to Pig, and man o’ man, do they know how to cook pig! We actually started with their Louisiana Shrimp and Crabmeat pie which looks more like an empanada. Next we had some fried boudin, or blood sausage. For soup, I selected the Chef Donald’s Black-eyed Pea and Pork Gumbo which is one of the best gumbos I have ever had. For dinner I split the Louisiana Cochon with turnips, cabbage, and cracklins and the smoked beef brisket with horseradish potato salad with Larry. It’s hard to pick which one was better as they were both incredible. Needless to say, there was no room for dessert.

One interesting thing that happened in this restaurant on Friday night and was repeated on other occasions, locals asked us if we were visiting and where we came from. Every time, they thanked us for coming back to the city. Folks, these are wonderful people with a wonderful city to enjoy. They really had a terrible ordeal, but they are a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the desire to live the American dream. They are fiercely proud of their city and with good reason. It was incredible to have them stop and recognize us and thank us each for visiting.

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