NOLA Eats: Other food

Red beans and rice is a staple meal in New Orleans. It is the perfect food. Cheap, easy to prepare, nutritious, and can be well seasoned. The best red beans and rice we've ever had was in the student cafeteria at Loyola University in the garden district. Plentiful and cheap and very tasty. This particular plate is at Pat O's. Not bad, perhaps a bit too much sausage with the grilled bit and the chunks in the red beans. But a decent meal. I also had a salad with it. Pat O's makes a really nice balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The Phenom opted for the sample plate. Previously, he'd tried the red beans, but wanted to see what their jambalaya and gumbo was like.

The jambalaya was fiery tasty. I mean really hot. Like sweat breaking out on your brow and you can't stop eating hot. I don't know if Phenom even got around to the gumbo because the jambalaya was such a hit. I know that future trips will include a meal that is Pat's jambalaya.

The only bone I really have to pick with Pats . . . as well as other establishments is that the iced tea is unsweetened. Um, don't let the yankee tourists change the whole sweet tea thing!! It's the south . . . we need the tea to be sweet.

Another favorite spot of ours is the Camilla Grill. You have to take the St. Charles streetcar all the way through the garden district until it turns onto New Carollton Ave. It's a diner and only has a limited number of counter seats. They are well known for their breakfasts . . . especially something called a chili omelet. The guys who work there have been there forever, and get to know their customers over the visits. I can't resist their most excellent Reuben sandwiches. . .

They grill the pastrami and there is something about the russian dressing (which normally I wouldn't touch) that I love. Someday, I want to walk up to the Camilla Grill, one of the guys to see me, and just automatically throw a Reuben on the grill for me.

The Camilla Grill nearly didn't reopen after Katrina. But, locals would stop by and put little notes on the door, imploring the owners to reopen. When they did reopen, they took all those little notes, and made a collage out of them. It's hanging in the Grill now. I love it, and find it a touching reminder that despite it being a tourist hot spot, real people live and love and fight and die in New Orleans. I may love it as a visitor, but for the people who live there . . . it has an entirely deeper meaning.